Page 55 of Never Fall Again
“That’s the one.”
“She wants to see what we’ve done this week.”
“Be sure to ask her about those windows. We need to know by next week.”
“I will.”
Emmett sent another nail home. “She comes by a lot.”
“She helped design the building, and she’s invested in the outcome.”
Emmett smirked. “I’ve been here every day since we started this job. Noticed a few things.”
Cal didn’t bite.
“Noticed she doesn’t come by when you aren’t here.”
Cal focused on his work.
“Noticed you drop everything to talk to her when she comes by.”
“We’re friends, Em.” Cal congratulated himself for the way he put a touch of humor in his voice.
“Noticed that.” He shifted his position on the scaffolding before adding, “Looks like you’re real good friends.”
Cal had no good options. If he acknowledged Emmett’s remark, he’d be giving the man more fuel for the fire. But if he ignored Em and said nothing, he might as well be flying a flag that said “Cal likes Landry more than he’s supposed to.”
Before he could decide how to handle Emmett’s nosy nature, Eliza’s voice cut through the sounds of the rest of the crew packing up. “Mr. Cal! Mr. Cal! Mommy said you’re going to show me what you’re working on!”
Emmett had the decency to keep his laughter quiet as he clapped Cal on the back. “I got this. You’d better go get your girls.”
Cal gave Emmett the dirtiest look he could, then turned to wave at Eliza, who jumped up and down by the fence like she had springs in her shoes. “Hey, Liza Lou. Hang on a minute. I’ll be right down.”
He refused to make eye contact with Emmett, who was nowlaughing so hard he was hanging on to the scaffolding bar for support.
“Can I climb up there with you?” Eliza yelled to him.
“No!” Cal and Landry replied in unison. Eliza stopped jumping. Landry mouthed “Thank you” to him.
“You’ll have to be older before you can start scrambling around on the scaffolding.”
“How much older?”
“Much, much older.” Landry widened her eyes at him as she answered Eliza.
“You heard your mom.” Cal opened the gate, and Eliza and Landry walked inside. “Let’s go wait in the trailer while the guys clear out.”
“I know we’re early. Somebody”—Landry nodded to Eliza—“couldn’t wait and then ran almost the whole way.”
“It’s no problem.” He led them into the small trailer where he had a desk. The walls were covered with blueprints, and a small refrigerator was stocked with water, soft drinks, and recently, juice boxes.
Maisy greeted them with exuberant woofs. She nudged Cal’s leg, then Landry’s, before succumbing to Eliza’s embrace. Eliza put her arms around Maisy’s neck and was rewarded with a lick to her cheek. Eliza pointed to the fridge. “May I have a drink?” It was unclear to Cal who she was asking, but Landry spoke up. “Go ahead.”
Eliza went to the fridge, and Cal asked Landry, “Would you like anything?”
“No. I’m good.”
Eliza made herself comfortable in an ancient chair that had made the move with the trailer since Cal was a kid. Maisy jumped into the chair and took over most of it while Landry studied the blueprints on the wall. “It’s amazing to me how you take thistwo-dimensional drawing and turn it into a three-dimensional building.”