Part 6: The Photograph

Teresa received the photograph and sent one of her own. It showed the workshop on its opening day, with Helen adjusting a lamp and Teresa holding a paintbrush. A handwritten date appeared on the back.

The women brought both photographs to the mediator. Their advisers compared the dates with the invoices and found a payment that had been recorded under a different equipment description. The new record did not answer every question, but it narrowed the disputed balance.

They agreed on a settlement for the remaining amount and a process for deciding which drawings could be returned, copied, or used. Nina's attorney reviewed the arrangement because the building owner had possession of the materials. The agreement did not give either of our companies the right to use a drawing without the appropriate permission.

Nina invited Helen and Teresa to visit the building together before construction began. I asked whether they wanted Julian and me there. Helen said yes, but only if we did not attempt to interpret their conversation.

“We can carry the drawings,” Julian said.

“You can carry the coffee,” Teresa replied.

In the old workshop room, Helen pointed to the wall where she had tested different lamps. Teresa showed us a mark in the floor where a workbench had stood. Neither mark was enough to reconstruct the entire room, and Nina's conservator documented them without assuming what every feature had been.

Teresa apologized for keeping the unmailed letter instead of asking Helen to discuss the payment. Helen apologized again for the client accusation. They did not claim that one meeting erased the years apart. They agreed to speak directly if another question about the drawings arose.

Afterward, Julian and I walked along the river. He asked whether I was comfortable working together now that our mothers had reached a settlement.

“I was comfortable once the contracts were clear,” I said. “The settlement helps them. It doesn't replace our work.”

He took my hand after asking if I wanted him to. I did. We had been seeing each other for several weeks, but the project remained a separate responsibility. If we disagreed at work, the teams needed a process that did not depend on our dinner plans.

We told Nina about the relationship before it could affect a decision. She asked us to document how conflicts would be handled. Our companies agreed that each project lead would raise concerns through the project manager and that budget changes required written approval. Nina said that was sufficient for her review, subject to the contracts.

At home, Helen asked whether the relationship was serious. I said it was still new. She asked whether she could invite Julian to dinner. I said she could ask him, provided she also accepted no as an answer.

He accepted. Teresa was not invited to that dinner, and Helen did not turn it into a meeting about the old workshop. She served pasta and asked Julian about the restoration team. He asked her how she had learned lighting design.

She described a teacher who had made her sketch the same room at different times of day. Julian listened without checking his phone. When he left, Helen said she liked him.

“That's useful information,” I said. “Not a decision you need to make for me.”

She smiled. “I'm learning.”