Page 79

“The back room that’s going to be my office is already painted. It’s been

dry for a few days and there isn’t any smell. The door closes tightly and

when I ask Chloe to listen, she listens. She’ll be fine back there. I’ll let

everyone know she’s there and no one will bother her. I’ll be no more than

ten feet away and I’ll check on her every half hour. If you check every half

hour, alternating with me, she’ll have someone watching her every fifteen

minutes.”

“Me?” Christina gasped again.

“Yeah. You. Uh— she’s not running a fever or anything or there’s no

way I would have brought her today. I would have taken another day off.”

“I’ll be good,” Chloe said indignantly. She clearly didn’t like getting

talked about like she wasn’t even standing there.

“I know, sweetheart.” Taylor took her daughter’s tiny hand and walked

off towards the back of the building.

The crews were already busy with the usual. The fencing guys were

short a couple workers; one had quit and two were out with injuries. Taylor

had offered to help. The fencing took some time, and she didn’t have to be

overly skilled to make holes and set the posts. She’d done a lot of that work

on the farm. Not with chain link, but she could learn.

“But— Taylor—” Christina followed behind them, ready with her

long list of protests.

Taylor spun. She managed to be pleasant for Chloe’s sake, because

she’d always taught her daughter to be kind. “Yes?”

“I— I can’t— I mean—”

“Can’t what?” Taylor blinked innocently. “I just need to help with

the fencing to get everything done on time. I assume that later we can sit

down, maybe by the end of tomorrow, and talk about setting a solid opening

date. I know that you want this done as soon as possible and everything.”

Christina went totally red. “Oh, and before I forget, I have a short to-do list

for you. Just all the things that I thought you could use your considerable