Page 34 of Her Hidden Smile

“Maybe.”

“And when you get it for us, Renzo, then you can get licensed to work as an architect here in Tennessee.”

“Yep,” I agreed.

“Then afterwards, the sky’s the limit for Sadowski Construction.”

I looked at my boots.

“Come on, boy, you know you don’t want to leave here, Jasper Creek is growing on you.”

I knew Harvey was hoping that I would work as his company’s architect, but that wouldn’t be happening unless I was a full partner.

“Let’s talk about this later, Harvey. I don’t want to be late.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Harvey pestered me.

“Look, I’d like to be working here in Jasper Creek after I get my license, but you and I both know there’s a couple of places in Gatlinburg and Knoxville where I could work on bigger projects. Hell, I might just move to Nashville.”

“Now let’s not get too hasty.”

“I don’t intend to. I’m just exploring all of my options. Now, I’ve got to get a move on if I want to arrive a couple of hours early.”

“That’s what I always do. You want to be there for the coffee and pastries and start making friends,” Harvey grinned. “Don’t forget to call Jenny.”

“I won’t.” I gave him a nod as I left the construction trailer and headed for my truck. When I finally got on the road out of town, I used my truck’s Bluetooth to place a call.

“Hi, this is Millie.”

“You didn’t check who was calling. I got your professional voice,” I teased her.

“Renzo. I should have known it was you.”

“Hey, you make it sound like I’m some kind of stalker. I’ve only called you every two or three days.”

“You made my point.”

She was a feisty little thing.

“I was calling to talk about the wedding. Bonnie still hasn’t figured out if it’s going to be indoors or outdoors.”

“The wedding in September? Your brother Jace’s wedding? The wedding you invited me to? The wedding I told you that there wasn’t a chance in hell I was attending? That wedding?”

I had to stop myself from laughing. “Yeah, you’re going to love it. I can’t wait for you to meet my brothers and sisters, but especially my parents.” When she didn’t respond, I really wanted to laugh. It took everything I had to keep it together.

My Millie was funny.

“I can’t wait for you to show me the photos.”

“I’ll come over tonight. I saw you have some chicken parm in your freezer. We can thaw that out. I’ll bring some wine and dessert. Then we’ll FaceTime with Jase and Bonnie. Hell, maybe Jase can talk Amber and Lachlan to join the call. It’ll be a riot.”

“Now why on earth would I want to do that?”

I was getting to her. Yeah, she sounded exasperated, but I could hear a little bit of laughter in her voice.

“Don’t you want to feed me? Come on, you’re a great cook. Don’t chefs want to feed people?”

“You’re a goofball, you know that, don’t you?”