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Five hours later, Molly was in her bedroom having spent eight minutes in the shower instead of her allotted six, most of those minutes just standing beneath the hot stream, letting the water run over her head and down her tired, aching shoulder and arm muscles.
She’d moved the tiles to a safer place while her so-called employee bent over a makeshift work table doing his stupid calculations. She didn’t count the scaffolding he’d built on the side of the roofless part of the hacienda because that was his job. He was roof-building. All roof builders had to do strenuous stuff with planks and poles. Although, generously, she’d offered to give him a hand—hoping to get up on the roof—but he’d told her it was too dangerous. This from the man who thought he was God’s gift to Molly. She was the one who’d been up on that roofless roof more times than him. Infuriated wasn’t the word to describe her mood, but she’d hidden that fury from him and gone back to her tiles. Wasn’t that impressive? Women who were making a stand had to deal with all sorts, and hot-Saul would have to learn that or get lost. After he’d built her roof.
She donned a clean pair of jeans, pulled her leather ankle boots on, then threw herself into a T-shirt and grabbed Alice’s suede-fringed jacket, which she often borrowed because it was vintage and way cool—like Molly was way cool—and headed out of her bedroom, slamming the door behind her and striding in a don’t-mess-with-me manner across the vast living area in the lodge house.
“What are you doing with my albums?” she asked, amazement halting her purposeful stride. She’d meant to walk out without a glance, but he was poring through her photographs.
“They were stacked on the table,” he said, looking up at her. He tapped a page with his finger. “They’re good.”
“Of course they are.”
He pushed out a laugh. “I hadn’t actually doubted that, I just wanted to take a look.”
“Those are from the past ten years. Some are from when I first started, so not brilliant, but the past three albums contain work I’m proud of. I’m going to use them on my website.” When she got one.
“Good idea. I like the ones of your family, too. Your cousins—they’re your cousins, right?”
She nodded.
“They look like good sorts. You’ve got friends and family here.”
“My cousins aren’t here. They won’t come back.”
“Why not?”
Molly shrugged. “Stuff.”
“Superstition stuff?”
She didn’t answer. No point going into it all in depth.
He gauged her for a moment, then looked down at the album in his hand. “Well, you’ve got your mother, Alice, Davie—and the hacienda. Makes me wonder why you didn’t come home sooner.”
He’d hit a sore point. In the last few weeks she had fallen in love with her town, and the hacienda, and had never expected to. A sense of shame almost engulfed her. But she was addressing her wrongs. “Are you sure you won’t change your mind and come to the meeting?”
He shook his head.
Molly didn’t press him. She could do this herself. She was making a stand, after all.
She turned for the front door.
“Molly,” he said, halting her.
He rose from the leather sofa and carefully placed her album onto the others on the coffee table. Then he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “What are you going to do about the debt collectors?”
“Why is that your concern?”
“I don’t want to be dragged into any more of this than I’m already roped into.”
So this was why he didn’t want to come to the town meeting. She couldn’t blame him. Momma had made the humiliating suggestion that he strut around town without his shirt, so if he turned up at the meeting, goodness knew what Momma might suggest. His photo had gone viral—if all over Texas counted as viral, which in Molly’s life, it did. If her bad credit rating rumor got out, he might be dragged into it as a cohort to that, too.
“Tell me how you’re going to get out of it,” he said.
Maybe he was worried about her not being able to pay him for the roof building. “I sold my own car before I left Colorado—I used the money to pay for the lodge house renovations, and there’s enough left to pay you for building my roof.”
“I wasn’t questioning that. But you do realize that if you don’t pay the missed repayments it’ll be a black mark against your credit rating. That’s not going to do your new business much good.”
“I know that. I’ve got a plan. I know exactly what to do to get myself out of this.” Or she would, as soon as she’d had a chance to figure it all out.
“Why on earth did you do all this for him?”
“It was couples stuff. Not that you’d know anything about what stuff couples have.”
He shook his head and Molly got all riled up again.
“Don’t shake your stupid head at me. I thought he loved me.” She’d thought she loved him, too, and had endured a long fight with herself when she’d started thinking perhaps she didn’t.
“How could you fall in love with a jerk like that?” he asked.
“Whoever I choose to love, it’s my business. Whoever I choose to love will always have my full support—including my money—so stop shaking your head.”
“You’re too trusting, Molly.”
“I thought I was part of a couple, not a three-way. I was going to benefit, too. I’m not wholly crazy.” Just partly, since she’d allowed herself to be duped. “I had a lawyer draw up an agreement that my ex-fiancé signed. He was going to build the business and once it was built, I was going to get a half share in it. I was investing for my future.” But now she’d left him, he’d probably just about lost his business, or had let it fall into decline again, so that agreement meant nothing.
She didn’t mention the ring. She’d given the thing money to pay for it. He’d said if she went out and handed over her credit card it would make him feel like half a man, so he suggested she give him the cash and he’d deposit it onto his visa and pay for the ring.
She hung her head. How dumb was she? No way was she telling shaking-his-stupid-head Solomon that part of the story. From now on, Jason could keep the ring. Alice had told her to look for it because she had it, but she didn’t have it. She’d thrown it at him and the new girl—who’d probably pocketed it once she’d gotten her clothes back on. Molly didn’t want the ring or the money from the sale of it. As far as she was concerned the new girl could have it.
“Crazy Molly,” she muttered. The title fit.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re not crazy,” Saul said, his tone deep, and mellow enough to have her look up at him. “You’re fighting for what you believe in. The valley. But you need to think about how you’re going to really stand up and fight for the towns.”
“I’ve got plans.”
“That’s just a buzzword, Molly. It means nothing. It’s screening the larger issues in order to get people interested.”
“What’s wrong with that? A lot of people in the valley don’t know how to get themselves out of this fix. They can’t afford to leave, and they’ve got no jobs if they stay. I’ve got to help them. In whatever way I can.” She pronounced the last sentence with gusto.
He smiled, and eased down, his shoulders relaxing and his facial expression softening. “Okay, Spark. You go show the town your plans. I’ll get back to my roof-building plans. Which,” he added, “are a lot more steadfast and secure than your smokescreen buzzwords.”
“Oh, shut up.” She nearly gave him the finger. “Know-it-all.” He was right, but she hadn’t thought of it this way before, that was all.
She turned for the door. She’d think about this on the drive to town and if it worked at the meeting, she’d consider thanking him when she came home. You need a roof. Do not piss off the contractor.
VALLEY MEETING 7 pm Co-op market hall
“We will not be kicked out!”
(Weekday special: Trim and blow-out $50 Valley residents only)
“Did you see the headline on the Texas Portal about me being a debauched psychic?” Molly whispered to Momma while everyone got their chairs and a slice of one of the many cakes Momma had baked.
“I looked it up online,” Momma said. She put an arm around Molly’s shoulders. “You’re not a psychic, baby, you’re a mystic.”
“I’m neither. I’m not sexually debauched, either. Did anyone here see it?” She swept an eye over the room.
It looked like about fifty of the ninety-seven valley residents had turned up. That was good, considering thirty-seven of the remaining residents were incapacitated by age, disability, or were simply without a car. The other ten were probably in the bar at Surrender.
“What do you think I should do about the headline?” she asked. “The Amarillo Globe want to interview me and I don’t know whether I should ignore the whole thing, or talk to them.”
“I called them. I’ve told them I’ll do the interview. That way we can open up, reporter to reporter.”
“Don’t say anything off the record, Momma. Nothing is ever off the record. And don’t mention Jason. Please don’t mention Jason—I do not want people knowing about any more of my shame and humiliation than they already know.”
“I’ll be putting the record straight about your greed, and the other appetite. And I promise I won’t mention that sorry, ab-less creep to anyone.”
“Who told you he was a sorry, ab-less creep? Have you spoken to Lauren or Pepper?”
“No. You must have told me, honey.”
Had she? Molly couldn’t remember. She was coping with so many things at once.
“Don’t worry about anything,” Momma said. “I know what I’m doing.”
Molly hoped so. “I want to see the final copy of the interview before it goes out.”
“Trust me.”
If only she could. “How’s the blog going? Did you get it up and running?”
“Blog is running but it only went live late this afternoon. I had problems with a couple of plugins on the site but I’ve fixed those.”
“Well done, Momma. I didn’t realize you knew all that stuff.”
“I’ve got 875 blog subscribers already.”
“No!”
“I haven’t checked in the last two hours, so I could have topped a thousand by now.”
All this because of the debauched greedy psychic and the hot-builder with hot abs.
“You couldn’t get him here?” Momma asked.
Molly firmed her expression. She must have had a look of lust in her eye as she thought about Saul, and Momma must have seen it. “We had a little argument.”
“He loves your cute little nose, baby, he’ll come around.”
“Momma,” Molly said, feeling a need to express herself and get it off her chest. “I think I like him a lot.”
“Of course you do. You’re perfect for each other.” She turned to the hall before Molly had time to put her right on that. “I’ll introduce you, honey.”
“Everyone already knows me.”
Momma paused. “But not as Molly the leader, only as Molly the—well, you know—ordinary Molly.”
Ordinary Molly took a breath, and channeled Molly the leader. She quickly went over everything she’d thought about on the drive into town. She’d have to thank Saul later, because whether her words of wisdom worked on the crowd tonight or not, they were his words and Molly had a feeling they were indeed wise ones. She just hadn’t been given quite enough time to make them all work in her head, let alone come out of her mouth.
“Here goes,” she said to no one.
Half an hour later, when everybody had had a say and nothing had been finalized, Molly cleared her throat and began the finishing lines of her lackluster speech.
“So in conclusion, I think we need someone to take charge and deal with all aspects.” She swallowed when nobody agreed. “Do we need Donaldson’s? No, we don’t.”
“Not sure about that,” someone said. “I need a new car and they’re offering one.”
“But imagine being able to buy your own, Mr. Walnut,” Molly responded, with what she hoped was a serious expression of her intent to get them all out of this with a happy outcome.
“Mrs. Walnut wants that dishwasher, too.”
“It’s not the best on the market—and I know how particular Mrs. Walnut is for the best.”
“I don’t want a car,” another person interrupted. “But I don’t see how any of us are going to beat Donaldson’s Development no matter how much we want to.”
“It’s not a case of beating them,” Molly said. “It’s more a case of ensuring we’re not thrown out of our valley just because they want our valley. To do that, we have to move forward, move upward, move on with our plans.” Was that what Saul had said? Or had he said they all need to sit back and think more?
“What were our plans, again?” Mrs. Fairmont asked.
Molly’s shoulders slumped. She hadn’t given any of this enough thought. She hadn’t had time.
“Why don’t we take a break and have some more cake?” Momma suggested, standing and gathering Winnie and Davie and herding them to the table piled high with Hopeless sponges.
Molly stood on the stage and peered over the heads of the valley residents, wondering what kind of persuasion she needed next. Problem was—and she was happy to admit it—she wasn’t good at people-gathering. Give her a business idea and a laptop and she could create a brochure or business plan with the best of them. But not this way. She didn’t like talking in public. It wasn’t the same as putting her words and thoughts down on paper.
She almost stopped breathing when she saw Saul, leaning against the back wall and looking directly at her.
How long had he been here and why was he here at all?
She jumped off the stage and headed for him.
“How did you get here?”
“I walked. I didn’t like to think of you driving home on your own, in the dark.”
“I don’t need company on the way back.”
“Tough. You’ve got it. So what’s going on here?”
Molly leaned against the wall, defeated and ready to admit it. “I thought I’d try some of your ideas about gathering our thoughts before we actioned anything, but I’m no good with words and I got confused. I’m better on paper.” She gulped a breath. “But thank you for saying what you said earlier, I took it to heart. It’s just that I forget that you said we ought to gather up before we geared up.”
He looked at her for a long time without speaking. Molly wasn’t looking at him but she could feel his eyes on her.
“What?” she asked, turning her head a fraction and meeting his eye.
“That’s exactly it, Molly. Gather your thoughts before you gear up. I like that.” He smiled. “I knew you would have thought it out for yourself but maybe hadn’t had time to see everything that’s possible. I just prompted the idea, nothing more. I happen to believe in what you’re doing, and in your capabilities to run your business.”
That was generous of him. “But I’m not the right person to be in charge of all this, am I?” she admitted, stepping from the wall.
“You’ve got a blind spot.”
“Where?” She glanced over her shoulder.
He smiled again, sweet and slow this time. “You don’t realize how loyal you are. That’s your strength and you need to use it. You need to chill more and use your best skills to engage.”
“I’ve never had to do something as big as this all by myself—not that I’m not capable,” she added quickly. “Anyway—don’t talk to me about blind spots. You’ve got one, too.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You like to think you’re helpful—but in fact, you leave people once the attention becomes too much. You distance yourself.”
“I do?”
Of course he did. That was why he’d come here tonight after saying he didn’t want to know. He felt bad about saying he wouldn’t come. It was just a shame he had come and witnessed her messy speech.
She slumped against the wall again. “You try.”
“Me?” he asked, with a laugh. “No thanks. I’m not getting involved.”
“Tough. You are involved. We can’t do any of this without my business starting up first. So you’re heavily involved because my business won’t go anywhere without a roof.”
“Now you’re negotiating like a pro.” He grinned. “Okay. I’ll give it a go—but that’s all,” he said, with a warning in his eye. “I’ll do what I can and nothing more.”
“Thank you.” She meant it. She really wanted to hug him actually. He could do it, she knew he could. She also felt excitement build. “Go get ’em.”
He debated for a moment or two, looking around the room with a narrow-eyed focus that told her he was already regretting saying he’d do what he could.
“I’ll try. Nothing more,” he said, and made his way through the crowd of cake eaters.
Everyone was chatting and eating, forks clashing on china plates but he made it up onto the stage.
Davie stepped forward and Saul bent to talk.
Then Davie put his fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly.
“Break over,” Davie said. “This guy’s got something to say and I for one would like to hear it.”
“Go for it, honey!” Momma called.
People took their seats again, cake plates in hand.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Saul Solomon.” He stuck his fingertips into the pockets of his jeans and gave his audience a smile so genuinely full of masculine charisma, Molly sighed in contentment. He could run for mayor with a smile like that.
“I’m sure you all know that I’m helping Molly build her roof.” He didn’t even have to raise his voice, it just carried and sang to the crowd like a lullaby. “She’s shared with me her plans for the photographic studio, and they’re great. It’s going to work—but here’s the thing.”
It felt like everyone in the room stopped eating cake and leaned forward a little.
“You’ve got to seek a way to build the valley’s reputation,” Saul said, “and that of each town. After a long period of decline, it’s not going to be easy.”
Murmurs of “True” and “You can say that again” filtered through the market hall.
“Like how?” Momma called.
Saul looked across at her. “As a guy just passing through, I notice things. Stuff you might not see because you live here.”
A guy just passing through. Molly sighed.
“Like what?” Davie asked. He was frowning and he had his thick arms crossed over his bulky bodyguard chest.
“Like the opportunities you’re not utilizing for this town open day.”
“What do you suggest?” Mr. Walnut asked.
“Well—how about something to keep the visitors occupied and grateful when they come to your town on open day? I’m thinking a car wash just past the Welcome to Hopeless sign. There’s enough space for a make-do car park. Wash their vehicles for free. Offer them hot dogs and tacos, or a barbeque—but charge them for that food—then give them a slice of the famous Hopeless sponge cake, for free.”
“So they get something, and we get something,” Marie said. “I love it. I’ll add a free hair appraisal booth.”
“I’ll do an art and craft stall,” Davie said.
“I’ll sew some little flags for the kids,” Mr. Jack offered, “and put them on sticks.”
“I’ll make my apple jam. My pantry is laden.”
“Great idea, Mrs. Wynkoop.” Saul smiled at her.
I’ll take photos. Molly would charge a dollar for a set of five photos of each family. But she didn’t want to interrupt the flow of Saul’s engagement with his audience by speaking up.
Suddenly, Saul looked at her and smiled, then took his focus back to his rapt listeners. “I’m sure Molly will take photos, if you ask her. All this will help to make Hopeless a great place to visit.”
“How can we show our proposed expansion when people visit?” Winnie asked.
“You want a big noticeboard for starters. You can put details of the plans for the town on it. Molly—you write up some plans for your business, including photos, and let people know what type of events they can hold at the hacienda.” He turned back to the crowd. “You ought to make Hopeless more family-friendly, too. You need more amenities in town for tourists, or hikers and cyclists. You’ll need the car park, and also bike racks. If I’ve got time before I leave, I’ll knock up some wooden tables and benches so there’s a picnic area.”
If he had time before he left. Molly smiled again when he caught her eye, but it felt stiff and unnatural.
“And how about a tourist information booth,” he added.
“I’d love to look after that!” Winnie said, standing.
“It’s yours, honey,” Momma said.
“I’ll do some walking one day,” Saul told Winnie. “I’ll map out the best areas to create proper trails, picnic spots, and horse riding tracks. That should kick you off. After I’m gone, you ought to call in a professional. Someone who knows the hiking business.”
After he’d gone. Molly’s smile was now frozen in place.
“What do you think we ought to do with the other unused spaces in town?” someone asked. “There’s plenty of them.”
Saul paused, pursing his mouth as he thought. “Well, you can add a fenced-in grassy area for dogs. Maybe a kiddie area with a sandpit or a swing set or something. Between you all, you can get that done before the Hopeless open day. Anyone got any other suggestions?”
“How about a Tip-the-Bachelor into a barrel of water?” Momma asked. “For a mere dollar.”
“I’m not getting tipped into a barrel of cold water,” Mr. Jack stated emphatically.
Saul grinned. “I’m with you on that one, Mr. Jack.”
Everyone laughed.
“I know I came in late here,” Saul said, “and I know the valley is financially broke. I’m not trying to poke my nose in where it’s not wanted, but can I suggest a citizen-placement scheme where everybody gets a say, or hands in an idea.”
“I’ll draw that up,” Davie said.
Saul nodded at him. “From what I’ve heard about the bar in Surrender, you might want some security guys in the crowds.”
Crowds? Molly stifled a laugh, then ticked herself off. No matter how many came, Saul had given everyone the burst of enthusiasm they needed.
“I’ll organize that, too,” Davie called out.
“Okay, and lastly. I think it’s important you all recognize that without Molly Mackillop’s perseverance and trustworthy skill sets, none of this would be happening and you’d all have already sold your land to Donaldson’s and be stuck somewhere you don’t want to be, regretting your decision. So let’s hear it for Molly.”
Saul clapped, and immediately others joined in.
“Thank you, Molly,” Mr. Jack shouted.
“Three cheers for Molly.”
Molly looked up at Saul, her breath held high in her lungs. He smiled at her, and he was still clapping like everybody else in the room. His attention seared her to the wall. She felt the beam in his eye reach her heart.
He jumped off the stage and headed for her. Fortunately, he had to stop a few times as people slapped him on his shoulder or shook his hand, and Molly had time to regroup and get herself and her thoughts in line.
But, oh, why wasn’t she right for him?
“You look tired,” he said when he reached her.
“Not me. Nice speech. Well done.” She smiled her most friendly smile.
He frowned, and cocked his head to one side. “Are you pissed about me saying all that?”
“No! Of course not.” She was just pissed about the if I have time and after I’ve gone bits. “Brilliant ideas, and what’s more, you got us all off our seats.”
“Okay. Let’s go home—I mean, let’s go back to your home.” He looked confused for a second, as though he couldn’t make sense of what he’d just said. “Let’s get out of here,” he said at last, and walked past her.
Molly followed.
He drove. She let him. Contractors liked to feel in charge. Anyway, she was tired.
“I lied about my family,” she said suddenly, then clamped her mouth closed.
“When?”
“To the thing—my ex-fiancé—I call him the thing.”
“I call him the bastard.”
Molly melted in the dark of the cab. He had a name for her ex? That was thoughtful.
“I omitted to tell him I had a family,” she said. “Because of all the crazy, spooky stuff. It’s the reason I left home in the first place. I wanted to see if people outside Texas would notice how crazy I was.”
“You’re not crazy.”
“I know that. Other people don’t until they meet me.”
He laughed. “Stuff what other people think.”
“You don’t care what others think about you, but I do.”
“No, I don’t care. Although some people say I should,” he added quietly.
She shifted slightly on her seat so she was half facing him. “How come? What happened?”
“I lost my family.” He looked across at her briefly. “I gave them away.”
“How can you give a family away?”
He smiled but didn’t answer immediately. It looked like he was pulling thoughts out of the recess of his mind and Molly had a feeling they were thoughts he’d once considered but had buried.
He firmed his mouth and sighed. “Something happened to me. I discovered I wasn’t my father’s son.”
Pain shot through Molly’s chest. This was it. This was his heartbreak and she all but felt it as her own. It had hurt him so badly. “I’m sorry, Saul.”
“Don’t be. I’m over it.”
“No, you’re not.”
He grinned. “Let’s not forget you know nothing about me.”
“I know more than you think,” she muttered. “So how many family members did you give away?”
“My grandpa, my mom. My sister and three brothers.”
His family was growing every time he opened up about them and Molly wanted to know more. “That’s a big family.”
“No bigger than yours. You’ve got your mom, your cousins, Alice, her sisters, Davie, Winnie. That’s a lot of people.”
“Yes, and they’re not all my blood family.”
He growled. “Don’t start. I’ve over it. I’m gone and it’s best.”
It wasn’t best and Molly persisted. “When you left your family who are no longer your family, you cared what people thought, didn’t you?”
He didn’t answer for a while, then he gave a hesitant response. “Yeah.”
They were silent then, and Molly didn’t like it. There was too much in the air. They’d opened up and there was more to say. Otherwise it would all just sit in the air and never get cleared.
She was tempted to tell him about the doubt and worry she’d had before she’d discovered Jason working the new girl, but maybe she should shut up and not involve Saul in any more of her problems. He’d probably never a met a woman who had so many problems.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“How do you know something’s wrong?”
“I can tell. You’re keeping something back. Something you want to tell me.”
“I bought my own engagement ring.” There, she’d said it.
He shot her a look. “He asked you to?”
“I was helping him out.”
“Yeah, right. And the bastard let you. But that’s not it. There’s something else. Spit it out.”
Molly swallowed. “I’m still lying. Alice said I was and I am.”
“Because you didn’t mention your unusual family to your ex?”
“No.”
“So what?”
“Something stupid. No big deal as it turns out.”
“I told you mine.”
Molly swallowed the moisture in her mouth and stared ahead. It was dark in the cab and there was safety in that. You could always tell the truth in the dark. “I don’t think I really wanted to marry him.”
He slowed the pickup and brought it to a halt, then turned to her and hooked an arm over the back of her seat.
“What’s so wrong with that?” he asked, pinning her with the focused look in his eyes.
“I was lying to myself.”
“So? I still don’t get it.”
“I never lie to myself. In my head, I’m always truthful.”
“You didn’t lie to yourself, Molly.”
“I didn’t?”
“No. You didn’t love him but you’d gotten yourself in deep. So you thought you’d be letting him down if you pulled up and left.”
“Did I?”
“Yes. And you’re not the sort to pull out when the going gets tough.”
“I’m not?”
“No.”
He was right. “I think I helped finance his sisters’ college education.”
“Oh, Molly.” He didn’t shake his head or give her a look of despair. It was as though he felt for her, or understood why she’d done that.
“So I ought not to ask for my ring back, and maybe not ask for my money either, because if I do, his sisters might end up illiterate and living in some shanty town and it’ll be my fault.”
He laughed, then took his attention to the road and pulled the pickup away. “I love your imagination, but you’re not to blame if his sisters can’t afford to go to college. Neither are you to blame for anything that might happen to the bastard once he returns what’s rightfully yours, and takes over that car lease, or lets you sell the car before they repossess it and you get the black mark.”
“You think so?”
“You bought your own ring and you hid your family from him because you were trying to prove to yourself that you’d been right about the choices you’d made.”
Molly contemplated all that he’d said. “You know what?” she asked as they came up to the hacienda arch. “I think you’re right.”
“It has been known to happen.” She heard a smile in his voice. “Maybe we’re a couple of idiots,” he said. “Well, you are—” He threw her a smile. “For not seeing your blind spot.”
“I’m a liar, you’re the idiot. Don’t forget you’ve got a blind spot, too.”
“Oh, right. That distance thing, yeah?”
“You think that’s going to keep you safe, but it won’t.”
“Didn’t keep me safe from you, did it?”
“We were meant to meet. Not that we wanted to, but we were meant to.”
“So you could get your roof.”
“Yes. You were meant to build my roof.” Damn, it hurt that she wasn’t right for him. She felt right for him. He felt right for her. “You have to learn to say no to people, instead of getting their hopes up by helping out for a short time then leaving them.”
“Fine. No, I won’t build your roof.”
“That’s different.”
“And then what?” he asked. “After I’ve built your roof. What then?”
“Then you’re meant to leave.”
“Yeah,” he said as he slowed the pickup before the turning for the hacienda driveway. “Then I leave.”
She ducked her head when he drove beneath the arch, then grimaced. He’d gotten her doing it now. “How is that crane going to get through my arch? Because it won’t.”
“It’s going to go around the side and up the dirt.”
“Good idea. That’s what I was going to suggest.”
She saw a flash of his white teeth in the darkness. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, boss.”
She smiled, then settled in her seat more comfortably for the short trip up the driveway and home.
