Occasionally one or both of them came out to check the progress, ask questions, offer him coffee or a cold drink, depending on the time of day he dropped by.
The rhythm fascinated him enough that he stopped Carter one morning.
"School's out, right?"
"The summer of fun has begun."
"So I notice you head over to the big house most days."
"It's a little crowded in the studio right now. And noisy." Carter glanced back toward the buzz of saws, the thwack of nail guns. "I teach teenagers, so I have a high tolerance for confusion, and still I don't know how she works with the noise. It doesn't seem to bother her."
"What the hell are you doing all day? Plotting pop quizzes for next fall?"
"The beauty of the pop quiz is that it can be repeated endlessly through the years. I have files."
"Yeah, I bet. So?"
"Actually, I'm using one of the guest rooms as a temporary study. It's quiet, and Mrs. Grady feeds me."
"You're studying?"
Carter shifted his feet, a tell Jack recognized as mild to middling embarrassment. "I'm sort of working on a book."
"No shit?"
"It may be shit. Parts of it probably are. But I thought I'd take the summer to find out."
"That's great. How do you know when she's cleared out-the clients? Does she call over, tell you it's safe to come home?"
"She's trying to schedule clients in the morning, whenever she's doing a shoot here, and shifting most consults over to the main house while the construction's going on. I just check her book for the day, so I don't come back during a shoot, break the mood or her concentration. It's a pretty simple system."
"It seems to be working for you."
"Speaking of work, I didn't expect all this to move so fast." Carter gestured toward the studio. "Every day there's something new."
"Weather holds and the inspections pass, it'll keep moving. It's a good crew. They should-Sorry," he said when his phone rang.
"Go ahead. I'd better get started."
He pulled out his phone as Carter walked off. "Cooke. Yeah, I'm on the Brown site." As he spoke, Jack moved away from the noise. "No, we can't just . . . If that's what they want we'll need to draw up the changes and get a revised permit."
He listened, continued to walk.
His job visits also gave him a clear idea of Emma's basic routine. Clients came and went like clockwork in the beginning of the week. Midweek, she'd take deliveries. Boxes and boxes of flowers. She'd be working with them now, he thought. Early start, on her own. Tink or one of the others would probably come in later, do whatever they did.
In the middle of the day, if she could manage it, she'd take a break and sit out on her patio. If he was on-site, he'd squeeze in the time to sit out with her awhile.
How could a man resist Emma sitting in the sunlight?
And there she was now, he realized. Not on the patio, but kneeling on the ground, her hair bundled under a hat while she turned dirt with a garden spade.
"Tell them two to three weeks," he said, and she turned, tipped up the brim of her hat and smiled at him. "I'm heading out from here in a few minutes. I'll talk it over with the job boss. I'll be in the office in a couple hours. No problem."
He flipped the phone closed, scanned the flats of plants. "Don't you have enough flowers?"
"Never. I wanted to plug in some more annuals here in front. It makes a nice show from the event areas."
He crouched, kissed her. "You make a nice show. I figured you'd be working inside."
"I couldn't resist, and this won't take long. I'll put in an extra hour at the end of the day if I need to."
"Busy after the end of the day?"
She cocked her head, slanted him a killer look from under the brim of her hat. "That depends on the offer."
"How about we go into New York for dinner? Someplace where the waiters are snobs, the food's overpriced, and you look so beautiful I don't notice either."
"I'm definitely not busy at the end of the day."
"Good. I'll pick you up about seven."
"I'll be ready. And since you're here." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and took his mouth in a deep, dreamy kiss. "That should hold you," she murmured.
"Pack a bag."
"What?"
"Pack what you need for overnight and we'll get a hotel suite in New York. Make a night of it."
"Really?" She did a quick dance in place. "Give me ten seconds and I'll pack right now."