outside. Container homes can feel claustrophobic if there isn’t any natural light, so I’d have lots of glass windows and skylights, maybe even one of those fancy domed skylights that you created, Max.”
I saw Max scribbling doodles down on a notepad next to me. That was how his brain took notes, in doodle form instead of words.
“What else?” Tim asked.
“Umm, I would make the bed comfortable but also convertible. If you think about it, a queen size bed is big enough for most people and most couples, but it takes up a lot of room in a container home. So what if the bed were built into sections that you could pull out and easily lay down every night, but in the mornings, you could retract it to create a more open sitting space—kind of like a Murphy bed.”
“I like that,” Max mumbled as he sketched away.
“What color would you have the bedding be?” Tim asked.
“I don’t think my personal color choices would matter,” I said.
“Just tell me as an example.”
“I guess violet and like moss green. I would have the bedroom color scheme to reflect the entire space of the house.”
We talked back and forth between the three of us for long past the time that the coffee cart was returned. The assistant tried to come into the meeting, but Tim waved her away. She just left the cart by the door and wandered off to find something else to keep her busy until it was closing time. It was nice to be back and feel like I was working at my position here again. I loved this job and wished that things hadn’t gotten so complicated.
As if he could hear my thoughts, toward the end of the meeting, Tim asked me to return to the company.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said as Max watched on to see how this was going to play out.
“Please, Brooke,” Tim pleaded. “We need you here at Cubed. Your ideas and your help are valuable and needed here. I know you loved your job, and we want you back. Even if you decide not to return to me, at least return to the company. You can have the same position and everything. You can pick up right where you left off and jump onto the Spokane project with us.
“What about your new assistant?” I asked.
“She’s really pretty terrible at her job here,” Max laughed. “I hate to say that about anyone, but I just don’t think that girl is cut out to work for a big company. Are they hiring at the coffee shop?”
I laughed.
“Come on, what do you say?” Tim asked.
I wanted this job back. I wanted to be able to afford my own apartment again. I wanted to be able to work at a job that valued and used my talents instead of making lattes for grumpy downtown commuters. But if I came back to work at Cubed, then that would mean I would be spending each day alongside Tim, and I just didn’t know how I could do that. It was torture even just sitting here in this room with him now; I wanted to both kiss him and smack him simultaneously. I also felt bad just quitting on the barista job. It may have only been a coffee shop, but I owed Kate for it, and I didn’t want to bail on her. She was the one who stood by me through everything.
“Let me think about it for a night,” I said as I got up from the table to return the cart to the café before the manager thought I absconded with it.
“At least that’s not a no,” Tim smirked.
After I returned the cart to the coffee shop, Kate and I only had a few more minutes of our shift before hanging up our aprons to go home. I was surprised that the manager didn’t give me any trouble about being gone almost the entire day for one delivery, but she said that apparently, Tim had left such a giant gratuity on the bill that the manager would be happy for months.
When we got back to the apartment, both of us put on pajamas and curled up on the couch together to have some girl time. Nick wasn’t coming over tonight, so it was just the two of us, which was perfect. I wanted to talk to Kate and ask her what she thought about Tim’s offer.
“I think you should take it!” she said after