Her grin took up her whole face. “Just found out yesterday. Dallas is over the moon. Me, too, actually.”
“Congratulations! Your mom must be excited.”
“Delirious. And since she revealed her identity last year and her readers know M.R. Morrison is a woman, she can brag about being a granny of nine, soon to be ten.”
“That’s awesome. Don’t tell anybody, but I think my mom’s jealous.”
“No babies yet?”
“Nope. No weddings, either. With eight of us, she probably expected at least one or two would be married and having kids by now.”
“The McLintocks were the same until my big brother Sky started us off. Then it was like dominos.”
“Huh. Is he the oldest?”
“Yep. I think he’s older than you. He just turned thirty-five.”
“I’m thirty.”
“You’ve got time. He was thirty-two when he married Penny. I’m sure we weren’t consciously waiting for him to lead the way, but—” She peered at him. “Here’s a nosy question. You got anybody special waiting in the wings?”
“Me?” Heat crept up from his collar. “Not really.”
“I see. You do but you’re not at liberty to say. I recognize the signs. I’ve been in a similar position myself.”
“It’s complicated.”
“It always is, my friend. C’mon, let’s go check on Kendall and Kieran, make sure they’re not playing poker and drinking beer up there.”
He laughed, both in relief that she’d dropped the subject and the ridiculous idea that Kendall and Kieran would goof off. He’d never met a more dedicated crew.
As she started up the gracefully curved staircase, she tapped on the banister. “I can’t remember if we talked about it, but I’d like to refinish the railing, give it a protective finish.”
“Sounds good.” He unzipped his jacket but left it on. The crew preferred it chilly while they worked. “Hey, I wanted to ask if you thought we could build a tunnel upstairs.”
“A tunnel! That sounds like fun. For the kids, I assume?”
“Yes, but we’d better make it big enough for adults or you know what will happen.”
She chuckled. “I do. Stucksville. Where would it go?”
“Since we’re using adjoining bedrooms, the tunnel could be a passage between them.”
“Wouldn’t be very long.”
“It would if you put the entrance and exit near the middle of each room, maybe disguise it to look like part of a bookshelf.”
“Now I’m getting the idea. Someday you need to come see the revolving bookshelf in my house, which is patterned after the one in Mom’s house.”
“I’d like that.” He followed her into the front room to the left of the landing, the one with the bay window that rose to become a turret. Tracy’s favorite spot.
Kendall and Kieran were building bookshelves on either side of the window. Kieran turned off the table saw he’d set up in the middle of the room and pushed his goggles to the top of his head. “Mornin’, Adam! Good to see ya, boyo!” Pulling off his glove, he stuck out his hand.
He gripped it, Kieran’s lilting Irish brogue making him smile. “Good to see you, too. Hey, Kendall.”
“Greetings, Adam.” Kendall took off her noise cancelling headset and hung it around her neck.
He pointed to the bookshelves. “Those are perfect, like they should have been there all along.”
