Page 81 of If You Love Me

She sighed. “Good.”

We talked for a little while longer before I had to leave to head to work. After scheduling my appointment, I left the office and climbed into my dad’s car… well,mycar. When I got home Sunday afternoon, there was a brand-new SUV sitting in the front yard. When I walked into the house and asked whose car it was, the man handed me the keys and told me to enjoy. I really did have the best parents. Even at my big age, they were going to make sure I was okay.

I couldn’t ask for better people to love me.

When Ms. Laceytold me to come back to work, I had to be willing to learn and apply, I should have known she was going to test me in the field. From the time I walked into her office, she put me to work. I had to re-familiarize myself with different fabrics, aesthetics color schemes, and all types of shit. Then she told me she had an appointment at twelve in which I would accompany her on.

Currently, we were in the home of Eliana Devereaux, a very prominent plastic surgeon. She and her husband, Malachi, a professor, had just bought this home for their ever-growing family. It wasn’t a total blank canvas because they had already moved in, but it was a bigger space than their previous home. She was currently six months pregnant with twins. They alsohad a four-year-old son, a seventeen-year-old daughter, and a twenty-three-year-old son that came to stay with them often.

Eliana sat on the couch, rubbing her belly, while Ms. Lacey arranged fabric swatches on a mood board, and I looked on carefully.

“Alright, Evenie. Take a look at the concept I’m working with. What do you see?”

I took a step closer to the board to study it intently. “Well, you have mostly neutral tones. I see a lot of warm grays and creams, but I see you also have this gorgeous peacock blue accent.” I looked around the space. “That matches the accent chair. I take it that is the accent color you’re going for?”

Eliana nodded. “Yes. I want my husband to feel at home too. I figured there was nothing more manly than blue, other than black, but I didn’t want something dark in here. I wanted it to be warm and inviting.”

Ms. Lacey nodded. “And this is an excellent choice. The key to working with bold accent pieces is to create a balanced foundation first. See how I’ve layered different textures within the neutral palette? That’s what keeps a neutral space from falling flat.”

Eliana tried to get up from the couch but was having a hard time. I giggled as I reached for her hand.

“I’ve got you, mama.”

She smiled as she allowed me to help her to her feet. She came over to the mood board to take a closer look.

“I love how this marble piece has specks of the blue accent color.”

Ms. Lacey smiled. “That was intentional. Every element of the design process should have a purpose. That’s the difference between a room that looks ‘decorated’ and one that feels very well put together.”

We spent about an hour talking to Eliana before her husband, daughter, and youngest son got home. They all filed into the living room to love on her. I smiled, watching them rub her belly and talk to the growing babies inside.

“Ma, tell Daddy to let me go to this party, please,” her daughter begged.

“Violet, you aren’t going to a college party.”

“But, Mama, I’m a college junior—”

“You’re also seventeen and underage. The answer is no. You wanna party, go party with your brother while he watchesDoggylandon YouTube.”

Violet huffed as she reached for her little brother’s hand. He happily skipped along beside her as they headed upstairs.

Malachi chuckled. “She keeps forgetting she’s not the same age as her peers.”

“She said she was a junior?” I asked.

Eliana nodded. “Violet is gifted. She graduated high school at fifteen and entered college as a sophomore.”

“Wow! That is amazing.”

“Thank you. We have to remind her that she is still a kid and not ready for the wild college lifestyle. You can’t tell her that, though. She figured because she made friends with girls in her classes that she is on their level, and she’s just not yet.”

“She’ll get there, love,” Malachi said, kissing her cheek. “Ms. Tommin, do you have a minute to look at this mother-in-law suite? We want to make it into a space for our in-laws when they visit.”

“Sure. Lead the way.”

She followed behind Malachi, leaving me and Eliana alone.

“So, you’re new?” she asked, easing back down onto the couch.

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