Her eyes sparkle! She scrolls through some pictures and hands me the iPad. It displays a stunning image of an ornate wooden double door crisscrossed with squares. Each square is intricately carved and has a circular carving inside it. The center of each circle has a molded flower with a polished gold center. Each of the doors has a huge circular knocker ring attached to it.

“This is quite...magnificent.” I face her with a look of awe. “I can imagine these doors gracing the entrance of that new wing in Jonathan’s house. They would look spectacular.”

“Indeed,” her lips arch into a small smile as she looks at the picture. “I found these doors randomly during a visit to a small city in Rajasthan. They were part of an ancient crumbling mansion and the owners were selling the artifacts housed there. They hadn’t even considered the door until I asked them to sell it to me. They were quite shocked that I wanted it and they sold it to me for literally peanuts. The door was old, broken in places and crumbling. But I knew how magnificent it would be once done. This is how it was when I bought it.”

She skips through a few pictures and shows me how the door was when she bought it.

“Shit! It was truly dilapidated and destroyed,” I comment.

“Yes. The base structure was intact along with the crisscrosses but nothing else remained.”

I flip back to after it was refurbished.

“Wow, Aaliya! This is truly... an incredible transformation. Hats off to your clever imagination.”

“See, impressed you, didn’t I?” she says with a twinkle in her eyes.

I hold my hand out to her. “Welcome to Gamma Inc., Miss Singh. It’ll be a pleasure to work with you on this project.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” she says with her usual sass, as she takes my hand in a firm grip.

Aaliya

A WEIGHT LIFTS OFF my chest and my spirits rise. I cast a furtive glance heavenward and thank my stars that Damien’s agreed to let me work with him. I am one step closer to my mission of getting him to fall for me again.

I lean back on the sofa and listen to Damien as he puts forth his own ideas for Jonathan’s estate. Sitting next to him, watching him articulate himself with hand gestures, all of it feels so familiar and endearing.