By Design Read Online Free Page A

at six-thirty on a chilly November
morning.
    “One second,” Candace had replied. “No parakeets
in the living room,” Candace muttered. Pearl wrinkled her nose in confusion as
Candace hit the enter button on her keyboard dramatically. “What did you ask
me?” Candace turned her attention briefly to the older woman.
    “I asked what has you so amused this early in the morning,” Pearl repeated her question.
    Candace started to answer and then looked at the
computer screen. “ Orinthophobe ! Ha! She
probably thinks I need to look that up.”
    Pearl shook her head. “You dealing with another health care bill?” Pearl guessed.
    “What?” Candace asked. “Oh, no,” she said as she
typed. “Smart ass. No, no, Pearl, I am dealing with a snarky architect.”
    “Is there a cure?” Pearl asked cheekily.
    Candace was gloating over something she had written. “A cure for the snarky or for the architect?” Candace quipped. Pearl
turned away to conceal her smirk. She heard Candace let forth a caustic
chuckle. “Yeah, I know. I know what a hip roof is. No, I don’t think they had
them at Woodstock, you lunatic! And, no I wasn’t there. I was nine.”
    Pearl listened for the next twenty minutes while
the senator typed away, making comments as she went, occasionally groaning, only to start laughing in another instant.
“You know, you’re going to miss your flight if you don’t get moving,” Pearl
reminded the senator.
    “ Oh, shit!”
Candace chastised herself. “Crap! It’s almost seven. Why didn’t you say
something?”
    “You seemed intent on solving your snarky artifact
problem,” Pearl said.
    Candace finished typing something and closed her
computer. “Architect, Pearl. It’s a snarky architect; a snarky, expensive architect .”
    “Well, I’m sure you’ll find a remedy,” Pearl
responded.
    “I always do,” Candace said with a kiss to the
older woman’s cheek. “I will see you next Tuesday.”
    “I’ll be here.”
    Pearl
pulled herself from her musings and noted that Jameson was watching her
attentively. “So, what does my Candy have in store for you?” she asked the
architect.
    Jameson
laughed. “Something tells me that I should be the one asking you that
question,” Jameson replied.
    “You’ll
do just fine,” Pearl said. “You want some coffee, Ms. Reid?”
    Jameson
looked around the large kitchen. “J.D.” Pearl gave the architect an odd look.
“My name is J.D. or Jameson, whichever. And, coffee would be great.”
    “So,
Jameson,” Pearl began. “What are your plans for this old place?”
    Jameson
pulled out her laptop. “Would you like to see some of them?” she asked
excitedly. Pearl nodded and took a seat beside the young woman. “It all really depends on Candace,” Jameson said earnestly as she booted up her computer. She
pointed to the screen. “I’ve discovered she has a bird aversion.”
    “A
bird aversion?”
    “Yeah,”
Jameson said pointing to the screen again. “In the eighteenth century wall
coverings were block printed. See, here? I suggested parakeets. She didn’t like
that concept,” Jameson smiled.
    Pearl
tried not to laugh as she gained a new understanding of the senator’s musings
earlier in the week.   “I see.”
    “Um.
So, I suggested pigeons,” Jameson showed the older woman a different design.
    “Pigeons?”
    “Um.
She didn’t like that either. Bird aversion.”
    Pearl
laughed heartily. “You’re not too far off there,” she said.
    “Really?
Candace is afraid of birds?” Jameson asked. “Oh shit,” she whispered. “I’ve
been sending her bird designs all week,” she said.
    Pearl
watched the color drain from Jameson’s face and chuckled. She put a comforting
hand on the architect’s shoulder. “No, no. She’s not afraid of them,” she said.
Jameson looked up hopefully. “She had a pet canary when she was small. Her
older brother let it out of the cage one day and,” Pearl stopped.
    “And?”
    “Jinx
ate