Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“Is this…” I turn in a circle, zoning in on other structures and accents I don’t recognize. “Shelburne Falls?”
“Yeah.”
But the streets aren’t the same. Some of the structures are new, variances in others. “I don’t…” I pause, realization dawning. “Oh, I see it.” My gaze flits from one thing to the other as I swipe my hands and move the image, taking me from High Street to Fall Away Lane and back to the downtown to City Hall, the police station, and Rivertown Bar and Grill. Windows are bigger, overhangs extended. “Passive solar designs,” I say. “Green roofs, rainwater harvesting, the outdoor green spaces…”
This image shows a renovated Shelburne Falls for energy efficiency.
“Walking and bike-friendly streets,” she adds.
I look down at the road, seeing that there is a bike lane added.
“The Falls is expanding at a higher rate,” I hear her say as I continue to explore. “And now the talk of a train for commuters to and from Chicago…”
I nod, understanding. “Madoc’s worried about urbanization. Would that necessarily be a bad thing, though?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” she concedes. “More people means more jobs and businesses. As long as it’s not a McDonald’s.”
I let out a laugh, removing the headset and handing it to her. “Fallon, the old-timers are never going to agree to this.”
“And I would never try to convince them. You know I hate to talk.”
She and Madoc prove the old saying that opposites attract. Madoc thrives in a crowd. Fallon detests anything but her small circle. I’m not her kid. But I could’ve been with the way I take after her.
She sets the VR headset down. “You change people by showing them, not telling them. We start renovating our houses next year.”
Renovating…
“You mean…the whole family?”
She nods once.
I can’t help but smirk a little. “Jared’s never going to agree to that.”
“Jared doesn’t like to upset his wife even more.”
True.
I drift a little, taking in her workshop with its open spaces and a place upstairs to meet with potential clients. All their houses, huh? Fallon’s, Juliet’s, and Tate’s. It’s a huge challenge to take on, and it makes me love them even more. That they embrace possibility and lead by example.
“Quinn will love the bike lanes,” I tell her.
“She’s who I thought of.” Fallon grins. “She’s always heard music that no one else does, and no matter how much her brothers get on her case about a car, I’m going to help her hold out for as long as possible.”
I drop my eyes, feeling guilty. Quinn needs more Fallons around her.
“It’s cool.” I point to the headset. “I’ll have to take that idea back to Dubai with me.”
Clients would be able to really see my vision.
“But I am still partial to your old school models,” I say. “I used to love staring at them—wishing I lived inside them.”
“Well, don’t forget your old school model.”
She tips her chin up the stairs to the landing. Following her gaze, I spot a few tables, before you get to the conference room, and I can just make out miniatures of homes, office buildings, and other constructions.
My model? And then it occurs to me. The ski resort I used to think I was going to build someday.
I hit her with a bemused look. “You don’t still have it.”
She beams.
Shaking my head, I can’t resist. I jog up the stairs and find it immediately, sitting on a table, the wood and paint and trees a little dusty, but otherwise in the same condition as when I left them.
I study it with more experienced eyes, seeing that the scale is way off. Chalets far too close to the slopes, not nearly enough dining options, and where’s the spa? There has to be one.
And for some reason, I thought every skier would be expert level, because I don’t see a single green or blue run.
“Well, thank God it was never built!” I shout out to her downstairs. “I think this design would’ve killed every skier on the mountain!”
I stare at it, hearing her voice. “The only flaw in a dream is if you never begin.”
She walks off, back to work, and I gaze at my first model, remembering how I used to picture myself walking through it someday. This was made back when everything was in front of me.
I remove my jacket, loosen my tie, and start pulling apart the model to start over.
Hours later, and I’m finally leaving the workshop. I can’t stop the feeling that I’m floating. When was the last time I lost hours like that, caught up in working on something that didn’t feel like work?
Fallon still has stuff to do, taking advantage that Hunter, Kade, and A.J. are busy at the summer camp all week. I climb in Jared’s Boss, the summer breeze filling my lungs in a way they haven’t felt filled in a long fucking time.