CHAPTER EIGHT – THE ART STUDIO

By the time the moving trucks had come and gone the following day, unloading the carefully curated pieces into Jasmine's new home, she could scarcely recognize the desolate woman she'd been just forty-eight hours earlier. The ache and anger remained, yes...but they had been smoothed into something almost manageable, something she could begin rebuilding herself around. Speaking of rebuilding – Claire immediately set to work assembling the design team to transform one of the auxiliary rooms into a cutting-edge art studio space for Jasmine. She treated the endeavor with the same meticulous attunement to details as if spearheading an architectural overhaul of her own. "Just think of all the prolific masterpieces that will spring from this hallowed space," she declared as they stood surveying the blank canvas before them with the work crew. "I want every element to facilitate Jasmine's creative process to the utmost." The two women moved in a flurry around the studio, Claire deftly h