Page 1 of A Sudden Romance

CHAPTER 1

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BY EXPERIMENTING AND taking risks, Iris Stone asserted her talents and identity to find her place in the family. Being the youngest of eleven and the only biological child, she’d grown up in the center of attention. Having protective siblings felt great when she was younger, but at twenty-nine, she needed to be Iris Stone. Not the family baby.

She loved and looked up to her siblings, but she couldn’t take the same approach to things they did. Okay, in several ways, she learned from them, but in her job, she had to stand on her own without being a pampered baby.

She thought of her birth order now as she stood on the uneven rocky ground taking photos for her work project. Navigating the drone mid altitude at a forty-degree angle, she worked to snap one side of the building’s rough staging phase. The complex should look similar to the forty-two-story buildings on the left.

She adjusted the radius and captured the building at a lower altitude with a seventy-degree angle. Capturing photos at various angles was crucial to creating a 3D model for her client to monitor their progress.

The wind howled, blowing her short hair in her face. The nearby crane seemed to struggle against it to lower its load to the proper floor, but the drone’s propellers were snug, steady to hold up through the wind. She snapped the high pen shots on the left and then to the right.

Yellow high-vis vests and orange hard hats flashed against the dull backdrop on the building’s lower level, just as the percussion of drills and hammers thudded against the dull monotone of a cement truck.

While the work should slow down in the winter, especially on inclement days like today, her architect firm in Boston had ongoing projects throughout the year in different parts of the US.

As a partner and designer architect, she was involved in designing the projects and overseeing the drawings’ execution of the overall design. Architects got sued and had many nuisances to keep up with. Dimensions, something not up to code, building material quality, and multiple ordinances just for starters. Each time she signed her name on something, she put herself on the line. So she visited the sites often to ensure mistakes weren’t made.

The drone helped her see things on the roof or inaccessible higher elevations. While inside the building, she used the GoPro selfie stick to capture spaces she couldn’t reach.

By photographing the project, she could document weather conditions, work in progress, outstanding questions, and other issues needing to be resolved. Wind tugged at her hood. With such a windy day, no wonder so few people were outside working.

After taking enough photos, she lowered the drone and put it in the carry bag with the remote control. Sliding the strap over her shoulder, she walked toward the support beams to talk to the project manager.

He stood between the studs next to a worker hunched and cutting the cord from the stack of drywall.

She’d dressed for the construction site—boots, jeans, sweater, and windbreaker—but she needed a hard hat to walk onsite. So she stayed at the entrance until the manager saw her.

He smiled, then waved before walking over. “Got some good shots?” He slid off his safety glasses and ushered her outside beyond the fencing. “Things are flying a bit, and you’re underdressed.”

Iris followed him. “I got all the photos I need, but I wanted to check if you have any more questions.” Besides the ones she’d jotted on her iPad earlier before sliding it into the carrier bag.

“I can’t think of any more right now.” He crossed his arms. “That assistant you introduced last week—Would you rather I direct the questions to her until further notice?”

While she would rather have her assistant inspect the site twice a week, flying from Boston to Maine that often wasn’t easy.

“She’ll be here in person once a week, but if she can’t answer your questions, you can email or text me.” She’d rather not have to work while planning her family’s reunion, but she’d best keep herself available rather than deal with mistakes while the project was underway. Unlike nine-to-five jobs, hers had varying hours, and she often put in extra time working from home to meet a deadline.

Today, the last day in November, was too early for Christmas gifts, but it was her final site visit before her one-month break. She retrieved five cards from the side pocket of her bag and handed them to him. “Merry Christmas.”

“How sweet.” His white teeth flashed a grin as he shuffled through the cards until he found one with his name and opened it.

During the months they’d worked together, she’d come to know which restaurants the manager, site safety supervisor, foreman, and the other team leaders favored.

“I love Chick-fil-A.” He put the gift card to his chest and bowed his head. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She leaned in to give him a side hug. “Please tell everyone I said goodbye and hope they have a wonderful holiday next month. I’ll see the team after the New Year.”

At his nod, she walked toward her rented Audi, eased out of the windbreaker, and tossed it over her carrier bag in the passenger seat. She then started the car, cranked up the heat, and retrieved her phone from her handbag on the passenger mat. While the car warmed up, she’d return missed calls and texts before driving to the airport.

Her oldest brother, Eric, had trained her not to chat on the phone while driving after his first wife died in a wreck years ago.

Iris’s phone screen displayed three missed calls from two of her siblings. She called her sister Julia first, and she answered on the first ring.

“Are you still leaving for The Peak tomorrow?”

The Peak was their childhood home in Colorado. “Yeah. What’s up?”

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