It Finally "Alcoves" Into View

"Guess what, though- big news!  We got into San Diego State!" I told my mom over the phone. 

"That's great, but what's going on with the buildout?" she asked.  

"No, you don't understand, how big this is.  SDSU's one of hardest markets to get into-"

"Yeah, I get it- I'm glad you guys are still working, but you guys are still paying rent up there right?"

"Well, yeah, but we're-"  

"I mean, is it ever gonna happen?  Or is there still time to get out of it?"

She had a point there.  It had been over a year now since we'd signed the lease.  The landlord had given us a few breaks but he needed his money too.  Kate & I had had more than a few arguments over the whole project & were still frustrated by by our architect, Chris' lapses in updates.

"No.  We're gonna get this thing done.  I'm calling him first thing in the morning to see how close we are.  Just hang in there," I told her, more for me to hear out loud myself.

"Well, you know the old saying, 'sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease," my mom said.

When I called on Chris the next day, it went straight to voicemail.  I left a message & made a point to call every day until I got a response.  After about a week or so, he finally got back to me amongst a rumor that he had been in Europe for the last few weeks.

Kate & I were really pissed when we heard that.  Here's the guy we paid to help take our business to the next level, out galavanting around time zones away & there wasn't much we could do about it.

"Look, sorry I've been out of the country for a minute.  There was a personal issue I had to deal with, but can we meet at the site this week?  I have a few ideas for us to get by some of these hangups," Chris told me over the phone.      

A few mornings later, we both met him at OB Beans, a coffee shop two doors down from our storefront.  It was the first time we'd seen him face to face in over six months.  Chris came prepared though, he had written out a list of things I could do to get the wheels turning.  His focus was a little off, however.  He kept looking at the entrance like he was expecting someone.

"You know maybe, we could get around this whole ADA front slope issue by putting in something like that."  He got up & walked toward the street & the hallway-like alcove that lined the front double door on each side.  

Kate & I sat there a little puzzled, watching him looking at their entrance way as if he'd never seen one before.  And, then he walked out & we quickly followed to see what he'd do next.  

He was in front of our storefront with a tape measure, talking to himself, like he had just solved a riddle.  It was the most animated that we'd seen Chris about anything.

Now, we were getting somewhere.