Chapter 37
It’s a gorgeous morning on the Charleston peninsula the following morning. Blue skies, chirping birds, and sunshine front
and center. All right, and maybe I’m still up in the clouds a little over my kiss with Lincoln last night. I haven’t told
anyone about it, and I’m not sure I will quite yet. It’s nice to keep it all to myself.
Not to mention if I told Fitz, he’d rake me over any coal he could find, talking about the implications of it.
I pull up to the Daniel House and park. I walk slowly up the brick path to the house that’s come so far. Paint is about to
go up inside, and Marco’s crew is already at work repairing and patching siding. Soon enough, she’ll have a fresh new coat
of white paint on the outside, her iron railings shiny black, and the ceiling of her wraparound porch haint blue.
My phone rattles in my bag, and I dig through to find it. I recognize Jade’s phone number.
“Hey, Jade,” I say. “What’s new?”
She clears her throat. “Hi! Good morning. I just wanted to call because I’ve been trying to reach your mother, Ms. Bishop,
for a few days about progress on the house. The board has been emailing her and hasn’t gotten what they need, so they asked
me to check in with you directly.”
I stifle an eye roll. “Ah, I see. I’m sorry. Magnolia is notorious for not checking email and deleting anything she doesn’t feel like dealing with.”
Jade lets out a breath. “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but could we take some photos this afternoon? Nothing formal,
just Douglas and me with our phones?”
“Of course. The crew usually wraps up around five, sometimes a little before if it’s been a hot one. I’ll let them know you’re
coming.”
“Thank you.” Relief soaks Jade’s words.
“Anytime. You can always come to me if Magnolia is MIA.”
I hang up the phone, and just as I’m dropping it back in my bag, the front gate jangles behind me, and I turn.
“Hey, Theo,” I say. “Thanks for meeting me here.”
Maya said he’d jumped at the chance to work on our reality show project. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t? Especially
now that the local rumor mill had found this tidbit of gossip regarding our likely debut as reality television stars. Already
we’ve seen an uptick in followers on social media. “I’m happy to.” Theo props his hands on his hips and looks around. “Seems
we’ve got quite the blank canvas here. The perfect starting place, in my opinion.”
I join him in examining our barely-hanging-on grass that might actually just be weeds and the scorched-out beds.
“Yup,” I say. “We don’t need to save a thing. Not that there’s much to save.”
“I drew up some general designs based on the pictures Maya sent me, so we could go over those first, if you’d like,” Theo
says.
“That’s great.” I turn and start walking to the door. “Why don’t we set our things down inside first. Plus you can get a sneak
peek of the inside.”
“An offer I couldn’t refuse.” Theo follows me inside. “And just know—the designs I’ve put together are only a starting point. If you’ve got certain plants you’d like to include or others you can’t stand, just shout and we can move things around.”
My shoes clop on the shiny floors as I deviate off the paper-covered section to the kitchen that now has cabinets. This room
may not have been the center of the house when it was built so long ago, but it’s still the spot that feels like a command
center to me.
“Ok,” I say. “I have a few favorite plants, but between you and me, I don’t have much of a green thumb.”
Theo chuckles. “Oh, I bet you’d get the hang of it pretty quick if you gave it a try.” He stops in front of the kitchen and
looks around, eyes wide. “I mean, if you can do this? You could remember to water a plant or two.”
“Easier said than done,” I say.
Theo joins me at the newly installed breakfast table, one we pulled from storage until the final furniture pieces are placed.
“I’ll talk you through what I’ve done, the general feel, and the budget, and then once we’re sure we’re on the same page,
we can go outside and talk specifics.”
I nod. “Music to my ears.”
Theo launches into his pitch, and all of his ideas are spot-on for what I have in mind for this property—traditional but fun,
bright, and lively. Again, it’s probably the post-Lincoln effect, but this is running more smoothly than I imagined with Theo
being an out-of-town contractor, even if I was impressed by him on the day of the fellowship tour.
“Now, lay it on me, Theo,” I say. “How much is this going to cost?”
He grins. “Well, it’s right in the budget you set for me. I’m not the type to overspend someone else’s money.”
“Wonderful,” I say. “Let’s head outside and you can show me where it all goes.”
Theo and I dip outside, and he begins his guided tour of our gardens-to-be.
“I think if we line the entry path in boxwoods, it’ll really give the house that grand entrance it deserves. We’ll keep them
pruned short—or your regular crew will—but they’ll have a great effect and set off the richness of the brick really nicely.”
I nod and follow him all the way down to the front.
“Now along this front iron fence, I’m thinking we want privacy,” he says.
“Definitely,” I say. “It’s not a super-busy street, but in case of private events it could be nice.”
“I think so too,” Theo says. “We’d plant tall, slim evergreens along here, and they’ll grow just slightly above that high
fence line. They’ll be easy to maintain and won’t grow out of control every spring.”
I know landscaping is important, and I’ve seen firsthand its impact, but something about the Daniel House is in such dire
need. The house itself is finally showing off all the work we’ve put into it, and in contrast, the scruffy gardens stick out
like a neon safety vest. We can’t have Theo’s plans in place soon enough.
“We’ll do more lawn than a typical historic home downtown,” Theo says, walking up the gentle slope to the house. His eyes
land on the path. “And I’ve got the perfect guy to repair the bumps in the brick. It won’t be perfect, but we’ll save it.”
“That’s fabulous. The last thing I want is people tripping on their way in. And I’m on board with more lawn. Filling all of
this with plants or breaking it up with hardscape would be a nightmare for maintenance. Not to mention visually busy.”
“And here I was preparing to have to argue with you on that one,” Theo says with a wink.
We reach the top of the slope and stand in front of the porch. “I may have grown up as a debutante, but there’s a deep-seated practical part to me as well,” I say.
Theo laughs but quickly returns to his presentation, the consummate professional. He walks us around toward the back and points
out where the beds will flow, and we discuss the back half of the property.
“I know it’s a large space back here, and it’ll need to function to host an event, but I really want the feel of it to be
like that of a family home,” I say. “Now that I’m hearing myself say it, it sounds like an oxymoron.”
“We don’t want it to look like a massive blank slate when there’s not event furniture set up,” Theo says. “I think we can
avoid that by adding a bit of variation to the landscape, even if it must be on a larger scale.”
“Exactly.”
“What about a gravel area with a nice fountain in the middle? Again, we’d use a boxwood divider around the border but also
to create pockets around the fountain in the center. It’s really up to you, but it could be left open as a walking area for
tours and such, or for event tables and chairs to be set up. If for whatever reason in the future a single owner took over,
they could easily re-landscape the area without tearing out pavers or concrete. Especially with the termite damage y’all had
and that terrible deck, we want to go easy on the grounds for a while.”
I laugh. “Maya kept you updated on all that? And yes, I love the vision.”
Theo shrugs. “What can I say? I was excited about this project from the get-go. You had me hooked since the first one. I went
to Charleston Southern for college, so I have a special place in my heart for the gardens of this city. I called more than
once to check in .”
“Well, at least you can say you were all-in before the reality TV bonus got thrown in,” I say.
We smile and walk to the back end of the property where we problem-solve creating a screen for the property line. Theo and
I agree on some fast-growing evergreens in front of a high wooden privacy fence painted a dark emerald to camouflage.
“We can run a trellis up in the same color, and we’ll have vines growing over it before you know it. It’s so far back from
the house that it’ll blend in, and eventually those evergreens will fill in any gaps.”
We make our way back to the house, and I thank Theo for his work. Before I send him on his way, I ask him the same thing I
need to start asking all of our contractors.
“I have to get forms for everyone eventually, but if Exquisite Interiors happens to be filming on your workday, are you comfortable
being on camera?”
Theo pulls his keys from his pocket. “Oh, I’m not sure I’m the best to be on camera, but if they catch me in the background,
it won’t be an issue. I’ve actually got a few guys I’m sure would jump at the chance to shoot a clip.”
“Works for me,” I say.
We shake hands and Theo takes off. The plan he leaves behind has me even more excited for this home to come together.