When the bird began executing some sharp choreography that included high kicks and fancy spins, Nathan jerked himself awake. He stared at the window, half expecting to see a richly animated cartoon extravaganza.
"Jesus." He ran his hands over his face. "No more canned chili at midnight, Delaney."
He rolled over facedown on the pillow. Then he realized that while the bird wasn't there, the whistling was.
Grunting, he crawled out of bed and stepped into the cutoffs he'd stepped out of the night before. Brain bleary, he blinked at the clock, winced, then stumbled out of the room to find out who the hell was so cheerful at six-fifteen.
He followed the whistling-it was "San Antonio Rose" now-out the screened porch, down the steps. A shiny red pickup was parked behind his Jeep in the short drive. Its owner was under the house, standing on a stepladder and doing something to the ductwork while whistling his heart out. The ropy muscles rippling outside and under the thin blue T-shirt had Nathan readjusting his thoughts of quick murder.
Maybe he could take Whistling Boy, he considered. They looked to be close to the same height. He couldn't see the face, but the gimme cap, the snug jeans, and scruffy work boots said youth to Nathan.
He'd think about killing him after coffee, he decided.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Whistling Boy turned his head, shot a quick, cheerful grin from under the bill of his cap. "Morning. You got some leaks here. Gotta get it up and running right before AC weather hits."
"You're air-conditioning repair?"
"Hell, I'm everything repair." He stepped off the ladder, swiping a hand clean on the seat of his jeans before holding it out to Nathan. "I'm Giff Verdon. I fix anything."
Nathan studied the friendly brown eyes, the crooked incisor, dimples, the shaggy mess of sun-streaked hair spilling out of the cap, and gave up. "You fix coffee? Decent coffee?"
"You got the makings, I can fix it."
"They got some sort of cone thing with a . . . " Nathan illustrated vaguely with his hands. "Pot."
"Drip coffee. That's the best. You look like you could use some, Mr. Delaney."
"Nathan. I'll give you a hundred dollars for a real pot of coffee."
Giff gave a chuckling laugh, slapped Nathan smartly on the back. "You need it that bad, it's free. Let's go fix you up."
"You always start work at dawn?" Nathan asked as he shuffled up the steps behind Giff
"Get an early start, you enjoy more of the day." He headed directly to the stove, filled the kettle at the sink. "Got any filters?"
"No."
"Well, we'll jury-rig her, then." Gaff tore off some paper towels, folded them cleverly, and slipped them into the plastic cone. "You're an architect, right?"
"Yeah."
Nathan ran his tongue over his teeth, thought fleetingly about brushing them. After coffee. Worlds could be conquered, oceans could be crossed, women could be seduced. After coffee. Life would be worth living again. After coffee.
"I used to think I'd be one."
to think you'd be one what?" Nathan prompted as Giff dug into the cabinet over the stove for coffee.
"A architect. I could always see these places in my head, houses mostly, windows, rooflines, shades of brick and siding. Right down to the fancy work." Giff scooped coffee out of the can and into the cone w th the careless precision of habit. "I cou (I even walk myself inside, go through the layout. Sometimes I'd shift things around. That stairway doesn't belong over there, it's better over here."
"I know what you mean."
"Well, I could never afford the schooling or the time to go off and study, so I build instead."
In anticipation, Nate got out two mugs. "You're a builder?"
"Well, now, I don't know if I'd say that. Nothing that fancy, really. I do add-ons, fix things up." He patted the tool belt cocked with gunslinger swagger on his hip. "Swing a hammer. Always something needs to be done around here, so I keep busy. Maybe one of these days I'll take one of the houses in my head and build it from the ground up."
Nathan leaned back against the counter and tried not to drool as Giff poured boiling water into the cone. "Have you done any work at Sanctuary?"
"Sure. This and that. I worked on the crew that remodeled the kitchen for Brian over there. Miz Pendleton's got in her mind to add on a little bathhouse. A solarium, like. Something where she can put a Jacuzzi tub and maybe an exercise room. People look for that kind of thing now when they're on vacation. I'm putting together a design for her."
"The south side," Nathan said to himself. "The light would be right, and it could be worked right into the gardens."