Page 64

There was no point in denying it. I'd been standing at the jobsite for forty-five minutes and the truth was I'd thought about the porch for half the time we were there. I rubbed the back of my neck. "Let's try to focus."

"We are focused. The retaining wall needs to come up, we need to call the civil engineer, and you kissed Zoe Avery on her porch two nights ago and you've been useless ever since." He spread his hands. "All related issues."

"They're not remotely related issues."

"They both could affect the foundation," Renzo said gravely, then broke into the full grin of his, again.

I pointed at him. "Don't."

He held up both hands in surrender and we started walking the line toward Lot Eight. For a minute the only sounds were our boots and the wind off the hills and the sound of a hawk high above.

"She's good for you," Renzo said, not teasing now.

"You don't know that."

"I've known Angelica my whole life. She doesn't voluntarily spend time with people she doesn't think are worth it. She adores Zoe, and she likes you. Angelica thinks the two of you⁠—"

"Are you going to be a meddler or are you going to be an architect today?"

He laughed. "I can do both. I'm multi-talented." He pulled his own tablet out from under his arm and glanced at it.

“Since you’re all up in my business, I want to run something past you. You have nieces and nephews, right?”

“They’re coming out my ears. Is this about James?”

I nodded. “James has some opinions.”

He gave me a sideways glance. “Like what?”

“After having spent the evening over at Angelica’s while Zoe and I went on our date, he thinks she should be my girlfriend.”

Renzo stopped. He turned to look at me. Something passed across his face, a kind of compressed, desperate quality, and then he lost the battle with himself and started laughing, and not quietly. The full deal—shoulders shaking, one hand pressed to his chest.

"It's not funny," I muttered.

He was having a hard time breathing. Served him right.

"Renzo. It's a real problem. He specifically said he wanted Angelica because she was pretty. His word. And then when I asked him about Zoe, he said—" I stopped.

Renzo wiped his eyes. "What did he say?"

"He said, I guess she could come." I looked at him. "With a sigh. The kid sighed about Zoe."

Renzo lost it again.

"James is four," I said.

"James is four and already has a type," Renzo wheezed. "Oh God. That kid."

"It's not funny. I don't know how to explain to him that Zoe and I are—" I gestured around at the open field.

"That you're the touching kind of friends?" Renzo suggested helpfully. His shoulders were still shaking.

"I don't even know what we are."

"You stood on a porch for a very long time," Renzo reminded me. "My sister said so."

I started walking again because it gave me something to do. After a moment, Renzo fell in beside me, professional again, or at least attempting it.