Page 37 of Until We Weren't

“Let me guess,” Destiny said. “You want to do a garden.”

Faith raised her brows. “Now why would you think that?”

Destiny smiled. “Because the building itself is rather bland and boring, plus… The people inside need something beautiful to look at and also something pleasing to the senses when they do get to go outside.”

Faith couldn’t hide her surprise as she stared at Destiny. That’s exactly what she was thinking.

Destiny chuckled. “I know you, Faith.”

“Yeah, you do.” God how Faith had missed this. Why did she ever let Destiny go? Why were her fucked up insecurities so loud back then? Why couldn’t she simply trust Destiny?

“I happen to agree with this plan,” Destiny continued, clicking on a file. “Besides, we talked about it in the shack.”

“You realize it will take more to maintain than some of our other options.” Faith smirked. “I know you, too, and you’re always thinking of upkeep costs for the customer.”

“You’re right,” Destiny said with a smile. “I do, but in this instance I think we need to go big. The architecture is rather subdued and the landscaping can make it stand out. We simply have to convince the contractors.”

“They don’t seem to be the type to want to blend in,” Faith said. “At least that’s not the impression I got.”

“Me neither,” Destiny said. “Do you have an idea of what plants you want to use?”

Faith nodded.

“Okay.” Destiny held her hands over the keyboard. “Tell me what you’re thinking and I’ll build it in the software.”

Faith smiled. They had done this several times when they worked together before and easily fell back into their routine. “I think we need something here that’s not as bushy,” she said. “More sparse, you know what I mean.”

“Like this?”

“Yes! Look at that, Des! When we add the color, that will be the perfect background.”

Destiny stopped and looked over at Faith. “You know, I was thinking that we might build into the contract an option for us to come and reassess the property every so often. We could keep the landscape up to date as trends change as well as the seasons.”

“That’s a great idea,” Faith said. “I don’t think the big firms offer that.”

“I would love to structure the bid so we do the maintenance and they pay us monthly,” Destiny said. “A stream of income from a property like this would be huge. Don’t you think?”

“Absolutely,” Faith agreed. “Maybe we could structure the bid to give them options.”

“Hmm,” Destiny murmured. “It all begins with the design, but let’s be honest. That can be subjective depending on who oversees the project and decides on the landscaping. If we give them options that include with or without maintenance and throw in the option for upgrades as trends change?—”

“That’s so much more than landscaping!” Faith exclaimed. “No one does that, but we could.”

Destiny smiled. “We certainly could.”

“You’ve been thinking about this,” Faith said, studying Destiny with a smile.

“I have,” Destiny said quietly.

“Come on, Des. You’re holding back. What aren’t you telling me?”

Destiny put her hands in her lap and released a deep breath.

Faith recognized this behavior. Destiny wanted to share something, but was hesitant. “It’s me,” Faith said.

Destiny looked up at Faith. “I used to think up things we could offer, for when we started our own company, that would be different from the other landscaping companies.”

“This was one of those ideas?”

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