Chapter 10

As soon as her architectural practice began to take off, Helen had recognized the need for an office staff that could support her design work and keep things going while she traveled and, after her move to Cap d'Agde, provide a Paris location for her consulting business. She had looked for an office for some time, but wasn't satisfied either with dingy quarters near Montparnasse or elegant offices on the Right Bank. It didn't seem to matter where they were, they were all expensive. And she wanted a place that was convenient to the airports and railroad stations since she spent so much time traveling.

In the end, Helen had chosen a location mainly because of the romance of it all — a fairly roomy first-floor flat in a funny old building facing the Place Dauphine on the Isle de la Cité. The Place Dauphine itself is a small, bare patch of dirt with a few trees and benches. But it is just behind the Palais de Justice, and from the front windows of the apartment she could see the spire of the Sainte Chapelle. It was an extravagance, in a way, but one she treasured and never regretted.

Today, she walked to the Pont Neuf and crossed to the Cité, climbing the narrow, dingy stairs to the office.

"Good morning," she called as she entered the sunny front room. There were several workstations, and in front of one, her project architect, Marie Dutoit, a handsome, sturdy woman with dark curls and a sunny smile.

"Bon jour, Helen."

"Where is Céci?" Céci was the drafter who worked with the details of the plans and related materials.

"She went out to get a baguette." Marie looked out the window. "Here she comes, now."

Shortly, Céci, her drab dress and mousy hair appeared with not one, but two baguettes. Coffee was poured and they sat down at a table in front of the window, overlooking the Place.

"As I told you on the phone last Friday, we got the Schellen project, the Wald Sauna," Helen began, "I'll have contracts in a week, and I have a signed letter of intent. But, we have a lot of work to do because we've changed a lot from the proposal in the competition."

Marie looked resigned. "You did say you didn't think they could build it as requested."

"Right. Schellen said so, right at the start. He wanted us to use some cheap-jack contractor to 'cut costs.'"

"Is that this guy, Sauter, we found out about?" Marie asked.

"Well he never said so, so perhaps not. And I said 'no' right away; insisting on our condition of being the prime contractor. But Rummy and I had been working on an alternate proposal, and that's what he went for." She patted her laptop. "I've got it here."

Céci sighed, "I suppose that means we have to change everything."

"Well, no, not everything. You know I don't work that way, Céci," Helen said with a trace of irritation: Céci did not take well to changes.

"We're going to do the same structures, but with all the custom details and finishes replaced with off-the-shelf stuff. And we'll get the outside saunas as well as the boutique saunas from Majava in Finland."

"In fact, here's what we'll do," she said, turning to Marie, "I think we can go through the Bills of Material and simply modify them. We'll use stock Hansgrohe plumbing fixtures — just, top of the line — and the same for hardware and so on. Where they wanted custom tile, we'll use something that doesn't have to be made to order. Then, we can back those into the drawings."

"I'll still have to make some changes." Céci objected.

"Yes, but you'll be making corrections, not major changes. I don't want to change the structures at all."

"But what about all those boutique saunas? There are five of them," Céci whined.