“Yes, that’s me.Good morning.This is my mother, Donna Ward.”
Momma shook her hand.And the woman introduced herself.“I’m Nancy.I work for Mr.Ellis.He should be right out.”She smiled sweetly then sat behind the desk.Nice.Efficient.Not overly friendly.I didn’t want to judge.
A moment later, as predicted, Godwin appeared from the same hallway.“Mr.Ward.Good to see you.”
“Please, it’s Derby.And this is my mother, Donna.”
“Right.Derby.Nice to meet you, Donna.Since you’re here, come on back and take a look at these plans with me.”For half a second, I hoped he was going to flirt with me, but despite my teasing glance, he turned and headed down the hall he’d come from.Totally professional.Why was that such a disappointment?
My wanting inhispants didn’t mean he wanted in mine.And if he hadn’t been professional, wouldn’t I have thought less of him?Yes, yes, but still...
I couldn’t deny my desire for him.My dick started to wake up with that lust.And Momma was right there.
Momma’s house.Plans.Right.Focus, Derby.
The room he led us to was filled with a long conference table.In the center of it, he had blueprints rolled out.“Okay.Here’s how we’d like to position the house on the land.”
I looked at the first sheet he pointed to.It showed the outline of the property and the building centered and pushed back a bit from the road but still leaving enough room for a decent-sized yard.“Great.”
“Oh my.That seems lovely,” Momma added.
He pointed out the driveway and the big rectangle that represented the house.“I think that’ll be nice with some subtle landscaping.Trees to give a little shade.”
“Agreed.”It was perfect, and so was standing close to him.I accidentally bumped my shoulder against his and felt the heat of his body against my arm.I was so distracted by it, I missed what Momma was saying about the plans.
Godwin knocked his elbow into me a little.“Derby?”He pointed to the second sheet that showed the details.
“What?Sorry?”I had to focus.
Momma cleared her throat.“The house seems to have a nice flow.”
“Yes.Right.”I waited a beat for her to say something about me not paying attention, but when she didn’t, I pushed forward.“What else?”
“What about putting the laundry by the master instead of through the kitchen?”Godwin asked.
I stared down at the plans.They had the laundry room on the other side of the house.His suggestion warmed my heart.That was the connection that made me feel amazing, simply standing next to him.Somehow, without hardly knowing me, he got what was important.“Momma?What do you think?You’re not getting any younger.Maybe it’d be nice to not have to haul laundry through the house and damned if you’ll let me hire anyone to do it for you.”
Momma smacked my arm.“Don’t be smart.But that is true.And it would be nice.I see your point.”
“Let me see what I can do.Hang on.”Godwin pulled out a tiny ruler, examined a few things, and jotted down notes in the side margin.“We can do that for sure.I think you’ll like it.”
“Are you an architect also?”I asked.
A wistful expression crossed his face for a second before he schooled those glowering features.“No.I’ve studied and worked with our architect a long time.So I have a pretty good idea of what would work, but it’ll have to go back to him for the official changes.”
“Will that slow us down?”I wanted Momma in the house as soon as possible.
“No, not at all.We have a little way to go before the foundation is set.There are normally a few small changes at this point.”He waved his pencil over the paper on the table.
“Oh, okay.I’d like to see the progress already made and show Momma.”Anything to spend a few more minutes with him.“If you have time?”
“Sure.I’ll take ya’ll out there when we finish up.Anything else here?”He pointed back to the plans.
I wanted to change a million things, stretch out our time together, but that was ridiculous.The house would be perfect for Momma, and it was more important to get things rolling.“How much is that change going to cost?”I asked, getting back to business.
“Oh, that’s minor.You know?Since we’re still in the planning stages and all.Only a couple hundred bucks to pay the architect.It shouldn’t take him long to work it out.”
“Uh-huh.”
