Page 50 of Never Fall Again

“We try. We aren’t perfect. Not by a long shot, as you’ve already learned.”

“It’s okay. I-I still feel bad that I basically forced you into sharing your pain with a near stranger.”

To her surprise, Cal grinned. “But I didn’t. I shared it with my friend. She’s a new friend. Still figuring her out. But so far, sogood. She hasn’t beaten me up for letting her daughter use a nail gun. She didn’t lose her mind when I mentioned the wordroofa moment ago, and she seems to be the kind of person who wants to hear the truth for herself rather than jumping to conclusions. I can work with that.”

“Did you sayroof?”

Cal’s laughter echoed around them and got the attention of the three in front of them.

“What’s so funny?” Connor asked.

“Did you let my daughter get on a roof?” Landry asked.

Connor and Chad exchanged a look.

“That means yes.” Bronwyn was grinning.

Cal, still chuckling, said, “The roof was five feet off the ground, Landry.”

She punched his shoulder.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“For giving me a heart attack!”

Bronwyn, Connor, and Chad stopped, and they all turned to face the area Bronwyn pointed to. “Right there.”

Landry pointed out the blazes on trees where Bronwyn had gotten a little happy with a can of spray paint. The new space would be significantly larger and a bit removed from the rest of the resort. Landry couldn’t wait.

“Why here?”

“That’s the best part!” Landry didn’t try to hide her excitement. “This is the first phase of several new buildings that will need to be constructed over the next few years. We need to grow in this direction, and the guests have no trouble finding the out-of-the-way areas. They like the way the restaurant and fitness studios are tucked to the side. This will continue that tradition.”

Bronwyn picked up the thread. “We’ll have room for the shop area and Landry’s classroom space. She wants to move her mainstudio and kilns to her property once her house is built, but I’ve convinced her that she needs an on-site studio for the guests who want pottery lessons.”

Cal, Connor, and Chad asked questions about square footage and drainage and water supply and electrical supply, most of which Bronwyn and Landry were able to answer because they’d already covered these details with the architect they’d met with in the spring. Cal jotted notes on some kind of stainless-steel storage clipboard that looked to Landry like it might have been used as a hammer more than once. It wasn’t dirty, but it was scratched and dented.

“You know,” she said in a low voice, “in this century, we have these things called tablets.”

He tapped the clipboard. “Never runs out of battery. Doesn’t break when I sit on it. Gets the job done.”

Landry pinched her lips together to keep from laughing. Cal had a shiny truck with all the bells and whistles. His phone was the latest model. And his office had a multiscreen Mac setup. He wasn’t afraid of technology. But for some reason, he was attached to that clipboard.

They spent an hour discussing the project before Connor and Chad left to check on other jobs. Cal took some measurements, asked more questions, and thirty minutes later declared he was ready for lunch. “Can I invite you ladies to Triple Ts?”

Landry loved Triple Ts. The official name was Through Thick and Thin, but she’d never heard anyone call it that. It was only a few miles from The Haven, and she took Eliza there every couple of months for burgers and milkshakes.

“I’m so in,” Bronwyn said. “Landry?”

“Sure. I cleared my schedule for today so we could talk about the shop.” If they finished lunch early enough, she planned to work in her studio before Eliza came home.

“Great.” Cal pointed toward the path. “I’m starving. And whenwe finish lunch, I have to go stare at my computer until my eyes cross so I can get you an estimate as soon as possible.”

“It doesn’t have to be done today.” Bronwyn pushed a branch out of the way as she maneuvered through the woods. “I know these things take time.”

“They do, but the sooner we get this place done, the sooner Landry gets her house.”

“Fair enough.”

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