Page 18 of Hiding Rose
I shook my head. “I’m more of a sneakers girl right now. Can I pass on the Minnesota Viking helmets on mine? They’re cute on Bim’s, but…”
He laughed and clapped his hands once. “No, you can’t. Come on, you’re from Minnesota. What’s the problem?” he asked, still laughing.
“Seriously?” I asked, my nose curled up.
“I’m kidding, Rose, but you can’t blame me for wanting my boy to cheer for the home team, even if others aren’t as full of team spirit.”
I laughed with him and rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “I’ll stick with all white, thanks. I’ll do this on one condition,” I said and he stopped laughing to pay attention. “You have to let me pay you.”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Can’t you let me do this for you because I care about you and don’t want to see you in pain? It doesn’t cost me anything to diagram your leg, and the material to make the brace is under fifty bucks. If you want to reimburse the lab for materials, I’m sure they would appreciate it, but it isn’t necessary. I make these for kids all the time. A lot of parents can’t afford the ones made in orthopedic clinics, but mine are a tenth of the price. We give them an option to get the brace made for their child without breaking the bank.”
I rubbed my hands on my thighs. “Please tell your lab technician to keep track of the cost. I want to pay him for materials if nothing else. In the grand scheme of things, a hundred bucks is a drop in the bucket compared to being confined to a wheelchair or having another surgery. I’ll do whatever I can to avoid those two options.”
He rubbed his hands together. “It’s a deal. If you take your shoe and sock off I’ll do the measurements right now.” He lifted a wand out of the case and it looked like one they would use at the store to scan items. “I’m going to hook this up to my computer and as I move the wand around it will build a 3D model on the screen. Once I’m done, we’ll mark any spots that are tender or sore, so we can make sure the brace doesn’t push on them.”
“Makes sense. I’ll sit and you direct,” I said. He nodded, setting the wand down and opening his laptop which lay next to the briefcase. I leaned forward and rested my hand on his arm. “Thank you, Niko, I appreciate everything you’re doing to make my quality of life better.”
He returned my smile and patted my hand. “You’re welcome, but I think you should thank Sawyer for coming up with the idea.”
I leaned back in the chair and did an internal grimace. I had managed to avoid him all but once since the other night in my apartment. A few nights ago, he stopped me in the hall and asked if I would meet him for dinner tonight to talk about the daycare center. I told him whenever we met for dinner we never got any talking about the center done. All he did was grin, as if he didn’t care about the center, but it was a great excuse. Who was I kidding? Of course I was joining him for dinner. As Niko started mapping out my leg, I started mapping out my heart. How did I feel about Sawyer and how big of a part did I want him to play in my life? Neither question was easy to answer, unless I let my heart do the talking.
My new office was in the basement sandwiched between Ellie’s and Gideon’s. If you ask me, they put me in the tiny space to keep an eye on me and make sure I was safe. I didn’t care too much, since I wasn’t there a lot. It was temporary anyway, since my office would eventually be upstairs near the center somewhere. If only I knew where the center would be. In the meantime, my office barely had room for my desk and a chair opposite it. I didn’t need much space right now, but eventually I would want to have room for parents to come and address concerns, or talk about their child’s development privately.
There was a knock and I looked up, not surprised to see Gideon; he stopped by at least once a day. I waved him in. “What can I do for you?” I asked, holding the letter I had been reading. I shook it in the air. “I have great news.”
I held it out to him and he took it, reading it quickly before glancing back to me. “They approved us already?” he asked. His voice sounded as shocked as I felt.
“Apparently. Since we’re a center inside a business we’re the kind of facility they want to place their students in. I think the free use of the gym and pool for the students as an added bonus sweetened the pot.”
He laughed and clapped as the paper floated back to my desk. “This is excellent news. How soon can we get a student to start?”
I pointed at the paper. “The letter said to call them and they’ll place someone as soon as we’re ready. I think once we decide on the new center location we should call. Then it frees me up from having to be in the room part-time. I’ll need every second I can get to make sure we get everything up to code and all the equipment we need to make it the quality center I envision.”
He sat in the chair opposite me and dropped a folder on my desk. “Guess you better call then. Times a wasting.”
My brow went down in confusion and I opened the folder. There were full color 3D diagrams of the new center. My breath hitched in my throat when I saw how wonderful it had come together. I glanced up at him and he had a giant smile on his face. “This is fantastic.”
He motioned at the papers and rested his elbows on the desk. “I asked Niko to help me make the 3D design. I wanted to compare the two choices by getting a real-time glimpse into the spaces and how they would work best. We used the suggestions on the documents you gave me. I wanted to offer you a better idea of what it would look like when finished. This can all be reworked, of course, but I wanted you to see where the door would be, the access to outside, and the room division the way you suggested.”
I couldn’t hide my smile as I gazed at the new Play Castle rooms. “I’m secretly thrilled you decided on using the existing space. You did decide, right?”
He laughed and nodded. “Financially and logistically it doesn’t make sense to build onto the hotel. Frankly, it would be a nightmare getting the permits; we’re talking probably six months to a year just for those. I don’t want to wait two years to get this going. If we use the rooms we have, it will take three months start to finish.”
“Wow, I had no idea it would take so long to get an addition done, but secretly I’m glad, too. I feel better keeping the kids on the inside area of the hotel, especially during cyclone season.” I flipped a few more sheets and came upon a sheet with a fully designed play area. I snapped my head up at him. “This is incredible. It’s even handicapped accessible.”
Gideon shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense to me to build a playground and not make sure any child can use it.”
“I agree. I thought about it, but didn’t think anything this extensive would be possible. Where would this be located?”
He motioned for me to flip the next page and I did, shocked to see the outside. It was in the shape of a sandcastle, with three sides closed in by netting and one side a long chain link fence. “You’re going to build a sandcastle playground?”
“It makes sense, right? If we’re going to have guests using the program we have to have space for them to play and for activities. The sandcastle will have room for movie nights, to teach crafting classes, and the area for the playground equipment.
I stared at him dubiously. “It would have to be enormous Gideon.”
“Which is why the whole back lot, other than a small drop off area for parents, will be used for the daycare playground.”
My jaw dropped open. “The whole thing?”
