Chapter 8:

Annie got back to Nashville Monday afternoon, as tomorrow would be the teleconference with Justin and Jessica about the start of their house. She emailed the plans to Justin when she got home, and was nervous to what he would say, as she didn’t follow any of the things Jessica had wanted.

While in Millington, she talked to the people who meant the most to Justin to get some inspiration, even going to the local library to do research. She wanted to make sure the house would feel more like home, and not just some sterile place to live and raise a family. Annie didn’t want to create a huge Hollywood type home, where it was so big that the family would never see each other while they were home, and just to get one side to another side it felt like a mini-marathon, plus who really needs 13-bathrooms in a house that has 3-bedrooms?

Sure, Nashville has its fair share of huge homes, but they also have the country charm to them, some even have historical value added. It’s a whole different atmosphere when it comes to Nashville and Tennessee.

When she arrived to work on Tuesday, she threw her stuff in her office and headed into the conference room to get set up. Justin responded to her email late last night, saying he liked the plan so far. So today will be quite interesting to say the least.

Jessica wasted no time getting straight into things.

"So Justin sent me the plans last night after you emailed them to him…"

"And…"

"Sorry Annie, but those aren’t going to work as there are none of my recommendations or the things I listed that I wanted in the house. I thought you wrote them down."

"Um… where is Justin?" questioned Richard, Annie’s boss.

"Oh he had to go LA at the last minute."

Annie rolled her eyes. "Of course he did," she mumbled.

"What was that Annie?" Jessica asked staring Annie down.

"I said of course I wrote down your suggestions."

"So why aren’t any of them part of this plan?"

"Because as you said in the first meeting that they were only suggestions. Plus, you’re in Tennessee, not LA. So you really don’t need a 10-bedroom house, unless you’re planning on having 8 to 9 kids."

"Well Annie, there’s always a chance," Jessica smirked.

Annie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Look what you want style wise is not going to work. You can’t put Tuscan, Victorian, Craftsman, and Tudor styles all in one! They’re on opposite sides of the design spectrum. You’re asking for a clown house, with all these as part of a single house!" Annie said. "This isn’t LA, this is Tennessee. It’s not that hard to understand!"

"I don’t care, I want everything I listed in the first meeting. So I don’t know what you did with the list, but everything on it needs to be included in the house Annie," Jessica sternly said staring Annie down.

Annie stared right back at Jessica. "Well your list… is on the side of I-40 somewhere between Nashville and Millington, so…"

"Well you better go back and find it, because you know, Annie, I always get what I want," Jessica leaned in.

Richard just stood there watching the verbal match between the two ladies, afraid to speak up.

"Well Jessica, not this time. I’m pulling myself off this project," Annie said gathering her things, and then headed to leave but stopped before opening the door, "Let me know how that conversation goes with Justin, because he replied to the email, saying the plans looked great, and reminded him of home."

Then Annie slammed the conference door shut, and went back to her office.

Jessica just sat there and stared at the door, "Can she do that? Can she pull herself off this?"

Richard just nodded his head.

"But you’re her boss- can you do something?"

"I could assign another architect, but if you’re implying that I fire Annie, that’s not going to happen. Plus, she was right, you’re list was stupid crazy and you’ll probably find that no descent architect will make everything you want happen. You need to let whatever beef you have with Annie, and I’m thinking Justin is part of it, go, but you need to let Annie do her job, she’s good and it, and then if you don’t, then you might as well find another firm to work with your crazy demands," and with that Richard left Jessica alone in the conference room.