Chapter 7

By the middle of summer, the gazebo is finally finished. Dad manages to drop by at least once a week to appraise my work. He seems satisfied and I consider that high praise. The day it's finished, Rose Ann walks out to admire it as I finish brushing on the stain. She absolutely loves it and I, of course, am obscenely proud of my work.

I'm very, very careful to never touch her inappropriately and she finds ways of showing her appreciation. At least once a week, she manages an occasion for us to screw each other into exhaustion and cap it off with a long soak in her spa. Of course, I would prefer far more frequent bouts but there's this thing about looking gift horses in the mouth. What our lovemaking lacks in frequency is made up for in quality.

Dad is going great guns on the aquatic park. He's found a grant source that will cut the other donor's contributions in half. He's also found an architect in the next town down the road who's very interested in the job. He takes my sketches with him when he drives over to interview the guy. Apparently the man likes my sketches so much he asks Dad if he got them from another architect. When Dad tells him I did them, the guy suggests Dad start looking for a good college of architectural design to get me enrolled into. The big concern, of course, is the cost of tuition but the suggestion gets me thinking seriously about ways to make it happen. I hadn't seriously thought about architecture as a career before but I begin to like the idea more and more. Hell, I hadn't planned to go to college at all.

Even before the committee approves the final design submitted by the architect (which looks very similar to mine), the area has been roped off and dozers are moving earth. That means the time required to mow the lawn has been cut by more than half. YES!

We live far enough south that really cold weather is unusual. We might get a couple of light snowfalls but nearly all our winter moisture is in the form of rain. For that reason, we expect construction to continue through the winter and finish in time for a grand opening on Memorial Day.

As summer comes to an end, Rose Ann is running out of enough projects to keep me employed full time. The contractor who's doing most of the work on the aquatic park knows and respects my Dad and says he'd be happy to put me to work. This is great for me because I'll making some reasonably good bucks and I'll be able to watch my brainchild progress from beginning to end. When I tell her about hiring on to the construction crew, Rose Ann congratulates me on the job and hints that she'll probably be able to find some occasional special jobs for me - wink, wink.

Not having a driver's license is going to be really inconvenient when I start the construction job but I know better than to ask Her Honor for any favors in that area. I don't doubt for a minute that that would ruin everything good between us. The lady absolutely does not compromise her principles. Well, maybe fucking me is an exception.