Page 6 of Never Fall Again

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Page 6 of Never Fall Again

Landry didn’t try to hide her relief. “Really?”

“Really. You can certainly contract with your own architect, but we have one in Asheville we use for our custom designs. She’s a mountain girl at heart and knows what’s important in a home up here.” He glanced at her drawing. “She’ll love this.”

Why did the thought of this architect send a trill of something not nice through her veins? She didn’t know this woman. And Cal obviously thought highly of her. What was her problem? She shook it off. “I don’t have any contacts with architects. If you trust her, I can’t see why I wouldn’t at least talk to her.”

Cal stood and walked behind his desk. He opened a drawer and rummaged around for a few seconds before he produced a business card, which he handed to her, and resumed his seat. “I’ll talk to her next week. Her people will call you to set up an appointment. You’ll need to spend time with her fleshing out some of the ideas here so she knows what to do.” He glanced to the corner of the room where Eliza was asking Maisy to shake and giggling when Maisy immediately went through her entire repertoire of tricks. “Feel free to take Eliza when you meet her. Rachel won’t mind. She has grandchildren who run wild in her office on a regular basis.”

Rachel was a grandmother? Well, wasn’t that nice? Very nice. “Sounds good.”

Carla peeked her head through the open office door, and even though Landry had only met her a few minutes earlier, she knew from the expression on the woman’s face that something was wrong. “Cal. Sorry to interrupt. Please answer line three.”

“Excuse me a moment, Landry.” Cal stood and leaned over his desk, lifted the receiver to his ear, and pressed a button on the base. “Callum Shaw.”

Landry watched in morbid fascination as his eyes widened with surprise, flicked to hers, then back to the drawing that sat on the table, then back to her. His lips, which were quite full—and whyshe’d noticed that she had no idea—went white around the edges as his skin paled under his golden tan.

“What do you need me to do?” The question was clipped. A pause. “I’m not going to leave her to face it alone.” No compromise in that. Whoever theshewas, and thisshewas clearly in trouble, she would have Cal Shaw at her side.

And then her world tilted sideways when Cal said, “She’s sitting in my office. Eliza’s playing with Maisy.”

She.Shewas the she? “What happened?” Was that her voice? She swallowed and tried again. “Cal?”

He held up one finger. “Got it.” A pause. “Yep.” A nod. “Beep, breathe. I’ve got it. I’ll take care of Landry and Eliza. Go.”

He placed the phone back in the cradle and walked to her. He squatted beside her chair, and while he didn’t touch her, his presence was a wall of strength and security. “That was Bronwyn.”

Landry managed a small nod.

“Favors is on fire.”

On fire? That didn’t make sense. How could it be on fire?

But Cal wasn’t done.

“The fire is currently contained to the shop, but Bronwyn says it went up like someone poured lighter fluid all over it. It’s looking like a total loss.”

Landry knew she should say something. “Did everyone get out?”

“Bronwyn said everyone is safe.”

“My pottery...” Her voice trailed off as Cal shook his head. “One of the firefighters who was inside told Bronwyn that from what he could see, most of the shelves had fallen.”

Her work. Her art. It would have shattered. All of it.

Gone.

Landry’s eyes burned, but she wouldn’t cry. She hadn’t cried since...She wouldn’t cry.

Warm dog breath, a damp nose at her knee, and a low caninewhine announced Maisy’s presence a moment before she shoved her face against Landry’s stomach.

“Good girl,” Cal whispered to Maisy, and Landry found herself weaving her hands through Maisy’s soft coat.

She heard Carla speaking to Eliza in that cheerful voice adults use with children when they’re trying to keep them from picking up on the tension in the room. Cal leaned closer. “Do you mind if Carla takes Eliza to our break room for a snack? Does she have any food allergies? Anything off-limits?”

“No allergies. That’s fine.”

She pulled it together and turned to Eliza. “Doodlebug, Mrs. Shaw is going to take you to grab a snack. Best manners, yes?”

Eliza was halfway to the door before Landry finished speaking. She called out a quick “Yes, ma’am” and kept going.




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