tucked them into the collar of his shirt, ‘I’ve had lunch. You must be Ava?’
‘That’s right,’ she wiped her hand on her denim shorts before offering it to the pristinely dressed man in front of her.
‘Andrew Duffy,’ he smiled warmly as he shook her hand, ‘but please, call me Drew.’ He glanced up at the house and whistled. ‘She sure is a beauty.’
‘Yeah the house isn’t bad either,’ Killian laughed and elbowed Ava good naturedly, causing her to roll her eyes.
‘Are you the architect then?’ she continued to clean up.
‘Sure am,’ he leaned back against his car, ‘and I can’t wait to get my hands on your house. It’s a dream to work on an original Talbot.’
‘Talbot?’ she questioned.
‘George Isaiah Talbot. He was practically the Michelangelo of 19th century architecture. He was born in England but moved to Boston as a young man. Some of his Victorian follies are just gorgeous, but buildings this size? He only built a few of them and this one is extra special because it was his private residence. He built it specifically for himself but after he died, his son, who didn’t have half his talent but had a lot of gambling debts, was forced to sell it, to your ancestor I believe, Ephraim Lynch.’
‘So I’m told,’ she replied.
‘He must have been very shrewd,’ Drew nodded. ‘I’ve seen the bill of sale and he bought the house for well under its actual value. Talbot’s son must have been desperate.’
‘That’s a sad legacy.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Drew agreed. ‘Anyway, I’m itching to see how much of the original features have survived. I’ve tried to track down the original blueprints to the building but so far, no luck, which is really strange. All of Talbot’s blueprints were preserved and archived, every single last one of everything he ever built, except this particular house.’
‘Is that strange?’ Ava shrugged, ‘I mean it was over a hundred and what…fifty years ago?’
‘We’ll see, won’t we,’ Drew replied. ‘I’ve got my people trying to track them down.’
‘Will it matter if we don’t have the original blueprints?’
‘It would make my job easier if I had access to the originals, not to mention more interesting, but I can do without them. It just complicates thing a little as I’ll have to measure everything by hand.’
‘So, what now?’
‘Now,’ Drew pushed away from the car and leaned in, retrieving a hard hat, a folder, and several other items, ‘now we take a little stroll through your house and make some notes.’ He turned to look at Killian. ‘Can we go in?’
‘Sure,’ he nodded, ‘just be careful. Stick to the ground level for now. We’ve got most of the supports in; fortunately, the main structure’s still pretty solid. The boarding is just coming off the windows now so you should have some natural light to work with. We’ll tell you when you’ll be able to get a look at the upper levels, but it probably won’t be today.’
‘I can work with that,’ Drew nodded. ‘Ava? You ready?’
‘Wait,’ Killian asked, ‘where’s Bailey?’
‘Asleep in the RV,’ she replied. ‘She’d have gone nuts while I was cooking sausages.’
‘Okay,’ he nodded in satisfaction.
‘Who’s Bailey?’ Drew asked.
‘My dog,’ she answered easily. ‘Just give me a moment will you. I need to finish cleaning up before we go in.’
‘No problem,’ he leaned back against the car and watched her as she bustled around, storing food and picking up empty paper plates.
‘You may as well pop your eyes back in there, pal,’ Killian leaned against the car beside him. ‘Kelley’s already staked a claim.’
‘Damn,’ Drew’s eyes trailed down her long, tanned legs. ‘You Ryans have all the luck.’
Killian grinned. ‘Hope says hi by the way.’
‘Does she?’ he glanced across at his friend. ‘You know I should hate you for marrying my prom date and knocking her up.’
‘Hey,’ he smiled, ‘it was your choice to leave the island for the bright lights and big city.’
‘Yeah and I’m beginning to think I might’ve made a mistake,’ his eyes landed on Ava.
‘Really?’
‘No,’ Drew smiled. ‘As tempting as that tall drink of water is, I’m happy where I am.’
‘Okay I’m all done,’ Ava headed back over to them, taking the hard hat Killian offered her and putting it on.
Drew chuckled and shook his head.
‘What?’ Ava asked.
‘You even look good in that ugly yellow plastic.’
‘Hey, yellow worked for Snow White,’ she relied.
‘So it did,’ he pushed away from the car. ‘Come on then princess, let’s go fix your castle.’
She smiled widely at him and for a second, he had to