“I like it,” she said, stepping around the drawings and looking down at them.
She finished her sandwich and drink, then picked up the photo paper, scissors, and tape dispenser. Making a model this way wouldn’t be easy but if it could be done, she’d somehow manage it.
When she heard the door open it was nearly six P.M. Izzy was home! For a moment it ran through Alix that her friend would leave soon and she’d be alone—not a happy prospect.
Alix ran to the door and was greeted by Izzy with what looked to be a dozen giant shopping bags embossed with store names. “I take it the shopping on Nantucket is good?” Alix asked.
“Heavenly, divine,” Izzy said. She dropped the bags and rubbed her fingers where the handles had made grooves in them.
Alix shut the door behind her. “Come on and I’ll make you a drink.”
“Not rum,” Izzy said as she followed Alix into the kitchen. “And there’s food in one of those bags. Scallops and salad and some dessert with raspberries and chocolate.”
“Sounds great,” Alix said. “Why don’t we take it all outside? I think it’s warm enough to eat out there.”
“You want to keep watch on his house, don’t you?”
Alix smiled. “No. I want to soften you up so you’ll be gentle in your critique of what I did today.”
“Is it still a church or have you made it into a cathedral? I can see flying buttresses of unfinished cedar. Will the windows be stained glass of some brawny sea captain?”
Alix started to defend herself and explain, but instead she went into the family room, got the model, brought it back, and set it on the kitchen table.
Izzy had retrieved the plastic containers from the bags and she’d put them down on the counter. For several moments she just stood there and stared at the little white model. It was so simple with its slanted roof and bell tower, but the proportions were perfect.
“It’s …” Izzy whispered. “It’s …”
Alix waited but Izzy said nothing else. “It’s what?”
Izzy sat down on the built-in seat behind the table. “It’s the best thing you’ve ever done,” she whispered, then looked up at Alix.
“Really?” Alix asked. “You’re not just saying that?”
“Truthfully,” Izzy said. “It’s the epitome of all you’ve worked for. It’s truly beautiful.”
Alix couldn’t help doing a few dance steps of triumph around the kitchen, then she began pulling dishes out of the cabinets and putting food on them. “I was really fighting it. I thought I was never going to come up with new and original, and old and traditional, at the same time. I went against the well-known Montgomery creed of following the land, but I did think of it as being built on Nantucket so that—” She broke off because when she looked back at Izzy, her friend was crying—just sitting at the table, tears rolling down her face, her eyes focused on the model of the chapel.
Alix went over and hugged her. “We’ll see each other,” she said. “I’ll only be here for a year, then I’ll be back. You and Glenn will—”
Izzy pulled away, sniffing. “It’s not that. I know you’ll be back.”
“Oh. Is it Glenn? Do you miss him?” Alix got up and opened a drawer to pull out a box of tissues and handed one to her friend.
“Do you know where everything in this house is?”
Alix knew Izzy needed time to recover and Alix was going to give it to her—then she was going to find out what the problem was. Her best friend was deeply upset over something, but Alix had no idea what it was. Her intuition told her that whatever the problem was, Izzy had been holding it in because of Alix’s recent emotional drama.
Alix turned away to let her friend have time to recover her dignity. Using an old blender that looked to be from the fifties, she made a tall drink for Izzy. For herself, she made a rum and Coke, with lots of lime juice added. Alix pulled a serving tray from inside a cabinet, knowing just where to find it, filled it, then took it all outside. It was almost too cool for sitting outdoors, but Alix knew that Izzy loved gardens.
She treated her friend gently as she settled her in a heavy teak deck chair and handed her a drink. Alix wasn’t going to push her friend but just waited for her to speak.
“Glenn called and I have to leave in the morning,” Izzy said.
“He wants you back?”
“Yes, of course, but …”
Alix waited in silence. Izzy and she had been friends since the first day of architecture school. By the end of that week it was clear that Alix was more talented, that she had a shot at doing something that the world would notice, but Izzy had never been jealous.