I received the foundation's final payment three weeks later.
It didn't cover the interest on my bridge loan, but it covered the principal. I paid my staff first, then signed a smaller check to myself than I had planned. The delay cost me a new project and most of the money I had saved for a larger office.
I kept the apartment. I went back to work. I stopped reading the articles.
Ethan and I didn't speak for two months.
Then he sent an email with no subject line. It contained one paragraph.
"I have asked the foundation to preserve the two Claire Rowan records separately. The original sketch is now credited to Claire Rowan, landscape designer, and the restoration is credited to your firm. I won't contact you again unless you ask me to."
I read it once. I did not answer.
In the spring,
