“We can walk away if the terms aren’t fair,” she said.

“But I don’t want you teaching yourself to vanish every time his name appears on a document.”

We required clear boundaries and a project manager with no connection to Callum’s family.

The committee accepted.

Our team began work that autumn.

The project wasn’t glamorous in the way the wedding had been.

It involved drainage studies, accessible seating, drought-tolerant plants, and a budget that needed to cover labor through the following summer.

There were long meetings about soil and water pressure.