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Zoe would love this site and looking at my plans. She would be able to see how the two would evolve, just by looking at the drawings. I just knew she would.

"The grade change from the survey is off by about eighteen inches on the east side," Renzo called out.

"I know." I stood up and made another note.

"Which means the retaining wall on this elevation needs to come up."

"I know."

The view of the Smokey Mountains from here was breathtaking. This is exactly where the windows in the main hall would point. I couldn’t wait for Zoe to see the finished home.

A pause. "Adam."

"What?"

"I said the retaining wall needs to come up, which means we're probably looking at a revised drainage plan for this lot and we should loop in the civil engineer before the Harmon family signs off on the revised⁠—"

"The revised foundation spec, yeah." I looked up from my tablet to find Renzo standing at the far stake, arms crossed, squinting at me.

"You weren't listening to a word I said."

"I was listening." I protested.

"You said 'I know' twice and then you trailed off somewhere around the phrase 'drainage plan.'"

I looked back down at my tablet. "I was thinking."

"About site drainage?"

"Exactly," I agreed.

Renzo walked toward me slowly, picking his way around a stack of grade stakes. He was grinning. I didn't like it.

"My sister called me last night," he said pleasantly.

I looked down at my tablet and typed in revised drainage plan.

"I had an interesting conversation with her."

"That’s nice." I continued to type.

"Fascinating, really. Very detailed. I’m pretty sure she and Zoe talked recently.”

That caught my attention. “They did?”

He stopped a few feet away, rocked back on his heels and nodded. “She told me what Zoe was wearing. Hell of a choice. I would have needed ice water at that expensive restaurant you took her to.”

I put my tablet under my arm. "Are we seriously doing this now?"

"Beautiful, over-the-knee boots, she told me. On a woman who, and I'm quoting directly, ‘looked like a poem that had grown legs.’" Renzo tilted his head. "Her words, not mine. Angelica has a flair for the dramatic."

I sighed. "She does."

"She also said there was a significant amount of porch time.”

I couldn’t stop my grin. “There was.”

Renzo pointed at me. "And there it is. You were thinking about the porch."