1980s: Dreams fullfilled

As Cathy and Beth are getting their lives in order, so is Susan. Work wise, she is making great progress, and the polluted, run down area she moved to is quickly becoming one of the most desirable places in town. Lots is left to do, however, and Susan is more than eager to throw herself into her work. 

Next on her list is the "recreation centre" in town, as much old factory as everything else. What she sees on her inspection is shocking. A "playroom" for toddlers in a container that gets way too hot in summer, toxic waste on the yard next to a basketball hoop for the guests. When she confronts the owners there is a long list of things they need to address immediately, and an equally long list of things they can improve should they choose to. 

Luckily The owners are more than willing to listen to Susan's ideas and plans, and not only do they adress what they legally must, but this turns out to be one of Susan's biggest triumph's yet. 

Gone is the toxic waste and storage crates, as well as the dark brick walls, now replaced by light see through wooden fences and low hedges. The ground is covered by grass, and trees and bushes provides shade and take care of water from downpours. 

Up front a new entrance way has been created, with large planters to reduce pollution and welcome visitors. 

The metal crate has been removed, and replaced with a larger wooden structure for the kids, letting in lots of light from outside while still shaded from the large trees that has been planted, a gift from the city.  

Large glass doors allow parents to see their children when in the café area, and a cot is placed behind a curtain for the little ones to nap in if tired. 

Upstairs, a gym has been created, and both here and downstairs, the walls of the café area has been covered in an environmentally friendly plaster, holding the toxins in the brickwork at bay. 

While the reception area, now an espresso bar, which was never exposed to toxins, still have the brick walls exposed bricks to honor the buildings history. Susan is one of the first to order on the grand re-opening of the space. 

The endeavour is so successful that it earns Susan a promotion. 

On opening night, Thomas comes and sees his daughters achievements. He's proud, even if he can't really understand the new music playing. 

Overall, Susan sees much more of her parents now that they are closer by. Her mother comes and meet her at the market place which is another plan that Susan has worked hard to realise. 

They walk around and check out all the sold items at the crafts tables, and Susan introduces someone who has started to become important to her. The neighbour just below her, Russell. 

Because for all Cathy's attempts to set her up with someone, Susan never enjoyed dating. Spending time with a neighbor, a neighbor that's a bit of a loner, generous and who never pushes her into anything she isn't comfortable with... well that's easier. Starting out as friends, talking, getting to know each other, has slowly opened Susan up for the possibility of maybe. 

And so it's she who takes the first step, knowing Russell will never do it on his own. For that he has too much respect for her history and past, for her fears and insecurities. 

And once she has taken the first step, he is more than happy to take the next. 

And before they've even moved in together, Russell goes down on his knees and proposes, saying he knows this is fast, and that they do not need to get married right away, but he wants her to know he means it, and that he's committed and wants to be with only her. 

It's exactly what Susan needs to hear to feel safe. 

But just as they are about to start their lives together, with Russell about to give notice on his apartment and move in with Susan, Russell finds out that the company he's working for is breaking the law to make money.

While he could look away, Russell's honest nature forbids him from doing it. He turns the papers over to the feds, watching his now former boss be arrested and picks up his things as he's fired. 

He returns to Susan dejected, stating that there is no way he can move in with her while he does not have employment on his own. He will not let her support him while he looks for work. That should not be her burden. No matter what she does to try to cheer him up, he is adamant that he will not move in with her until he can pull his own weight. 

Susan is completely taken aback. In a relationship you support each other. And Russell who is so generous towards everyone else should know better than to reject generosity directed at him. 

Fortunately, the situation is solved soon enough, as the feds call him up and asks if he can work for them, doing the same thing he just did. Exposing companies who deal with these types of illegal activities. This is something he can more than imagine, and so his joblessness is not a long one and Susan can relax as their plans to move in together is once more on track. 

Susan's next hurdle is a career one. She's found another one of the city's many abandoned factories, and this one is beautiful! Or at least she thinks it is. She works hard on the prospect. Visiting even in pouring rain, calling contractors, contacts, potential interested buyers...

She gets the city to sign off on the permits, allowing the building to be used for other purposes than industrial, and some funds to remove containers, but that's where she runs into a brick wall. Try as she might, she cannot get a buyer for the property, no one who can see what she sees. All they see is the money needed to change it into something desirable. If they can even see that. 

She's left with all the right permits, but no one who wants to take the project on. 

So it's a feeling of dejection she drives to San Sequoia to go to Abby's coming of age party, and that's in spite of the fact that Aunt Barbara's house is one of her favourite places in the world. 

But as Abby blows out her light and start her life as an adult, Susan gets the breakthrough she had lost hope of. As if her own wish came through when Abby blew out her lights. Around a small table in the garden, in spite of the chill of the night, Susan and Grace are involved in a deep conversation. And just like that, Susan has found an interested buyer with a vision much like her own. 

"Let me talk to David," Grace says. "Maybe it's finally the right time to open that restaurant we've been talking about for the last twenty years."

David, who has dreamed of owning his own restaurant for as long as he can remember, is eager to accept. "But can we afford it?" he asks his wife who has always been the one that handles the finances, as she's so much better at it than he is.

"We'll have to sell the house," she says. "But we'll get much more for the house than we paid for it, and apartments in Evergreen harbor is cheap in comparison. We'll still need a loan, but we can probably keep it to a minimum if we do a lot of the work ourselves. Yes, I think we could make it profitable. At least enough to survive on," she concludes. "And we'll live closer to Ken," she adds, even if she knows his father misses him as much as she does. 

Said and done, Grace and David spring to action. The old mill is transformed, with green areas outside, and large spacious dining areas inside. Upstairs hosts a bar and small seating area for people who wait on their tables, or have finished eating. 

At the top floor, Grace has her office, which also act as storage and some space to sleep. For the first few weeks this is the only home they have, until Susan and Russell manage to arrange for them to overtake Russells old apartment. Even so, it happens more than once that they just sleep at the restaurant after a late night's work. 

David loves to be in the kitchen of his own restaurant, rather than to work for someone else. 

And Susan is more than happy to see another successful renovation take place. "It's beautiful here," she says as she and Grace sit outside in the sun enjoying David's cooking before opening. For Grace this is a time of happiness as she once more gets to use her education and skills while also being closer to her son again. 

After lunch, and before she goes back to work, Susan helps Grace and David plant some ingredients in the restaurant's gardens. 

It's with light steps she returns to work. With Thanksgiving coming up, as well as hers and Russell's thirtieth birthday, Susan thinks about all that she has to be grateful for. She is one step away from the top of her career after having transformed a community from a polluted, run down, ghost-town to a thriving clean community filled with businesses and desirable homes. She has a fiancé who loves her, and respects her and treat her right, and friends and family on her doorstep. It's hard to believe that five years ago she was shying away in shame from the people who mattered most, cowering from the hands of the man she thought she loved but most of all feared while living in an apartment she hated and having nothing but her career to live for. 

Back then, this was not a future she could see. Back then she could barely see a future at all, and now the future is what she can barely wait for. She doesn't know what will happen, but she trusts that it will be worth living.