“Sorry it took so long,” I gushed, feeling like an

ass for leaving her hanging. “Are you ready to get back to work on those plans?”

But Isobel merely lowered her book to her stomach and said, “It’s one forty-five.”

I frowned. “Okay?” What did that mean?

She sent me a sad smile. “You leave in fifteen minutes. There’s not really enough time to do anything today.”

Oh, shit. I’d completely forgotten I was leaving at two since I’d gotten here so early.

“We might as well wait until tomorrow to return to the plans.”

This time, I was the dejected one as I nodded and left the library.

But I was back at seven the next morning, eager to go. We ran the path around the lake in the opposite direction than we had the morning before. And then I took another shower in the amazing rock cave pool house. After that, we ate breakfast in the kitchen, and yeah, Isobel ate with me, if you call granola and yogurt a meal. By that time, Mr. Nash had already left for work and Kit and Mrs. Pan were off elsewhere. So were Lewis and Constance. It was just the two of us.

We discussed the Inheritance series over a cup of coffee before putting our dirty dishes in the dishwasher and retreating to the library. This time, we put in about half a day’s worth of planning before Constance showed up, needing help with a potted plant she’d accidentally knocked over. Turned out, it was more like a potted tree and the pot probably weighed three hundred pounds. I tipped it upright for her and she vacuumed away the spilled soil.

The rest of the week progressed in the same vein. We were interrupted constantly by either Lewis, Mrs. Pan or Constance, needing help. It was Saturday before we had a solid set of plans outlined with a calculation of how much wood and supplies we’d need. That was actually a nifty coincidence, though, since Saturday meant Mr. Nash was home.

Clutching my list of supplies in my hand, I made my way to his office and knocked, waiting until he called before I entered.

I didn’t even get to the third item of the list, however, before he nodded and waved a hand, cutting me off. “Good, good. It sounds fine. Go ahead and get whatever you need.”

“Wait, you want me to buy the supplies?” There was no freaking way. Even if he did plan to reimburse me, I couldn’t even afford a tenth of everything we needed.

Henry glanced up from whatever he was writing. “I’ll set up an account at the lumberyard and give them permission to give you unlimited access to whatever supplies you want.”

“Oh!” I said, surprised he would be so generous, but still… “Thank you, but, uh…” I winced, feeling like a failure.

Mr. Nash sighed. “What’s the problem, Mr. Hollander?”

“It’s just…” I flushed hard. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a truck…you know, to transport the supplies from the store to here.”

“You don’t?”

Jesus, this was humiliating. “No, sir.”

“Oh. Well, right, of course. I guess I just assumed you for a truck man.” Then he chuckled. “I suppose it would be hard to haul a pallet of wood in the trunk of your car.”

“No, I don’t have a car, either,” I offered quietly.

Mr. Nash blinked at me. “You don’t…” This time, I stumped him. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t…I have no automobile at all.”

“At all?” he repeated, clearly not understanding.

“Well, I did. But I sold it to help my mom with…” It didn’t seem necessary to finish that statement. Understanding filled Mr. Nash’s gaze.

“Then how have you been getting to work each day?”

“I walk.”

“Oh,” he murmured, his mouth falling open before he snapped it shut. Then he cleared his throat and glanced away. “Well, then…” He flung out his hand. “I’ll have the supplies delivered. No problem. That’s the list of everything you need, I presume?”

“I…” I looked down at the list in my hand, only to rattle myself back to the topic at hand. “Yes. This is everything.” I handed it over. “Thank you, sir.”