Page 29 of Ten Beach Road

Avery closed her eyes and tried to think soothing thoughts, but really, what was the use? “If he calls me Vanna one more time, I’ll be able to plead insanity.” Avery turned a grim smile on Madeline. “What do you think about the chairs? Do we want them here in the kitchen? Or shall I just tell him to shove them up his ass?”

Robby the plumber arrived after Avery’s second cup of coffee. He was somewhere in his midtwenties with a chunky build, a moon face full of freckles, and the carrot red hair that went with them. His big brown eyes were friendly and calflike.

“Hello, ma’am,” he said when she stepped around Chase to introduce herself and shake his warm, doughy hand. “You’ve got a great house here. I look forward to working on it.” He smiled shyly.

He was sweet and his glance was admiring, but he was awfully young. “Have you ever . . .” she began.

“Robby’s family has been working for Hardin-Morgan Construction since before Robby was born,” Chase said. “He worked with his father on a number of renovations in northeast St. Pete so he has some experience with cast-iron pipes and older plumbing systems.”

Robby smiled. Chase gave her a curt nod. She was not invited to accompany them on their tour of the house and its bathrooms and water lines. As they left the kitchen she poured herself another cup of coffee and sank into a chair at the kitchen table, where Madeline was making a list on a legal pad. Without comment, she reached over and slid the box of doughnuts toward Avery.

“He acts like he’s being generous when he gives me any information at all.” She selected a chocolate-covered doughnut and practically inhaled it. “He’s completely maddening.”

“But you do feel like he knows what he’s doing?” Madeline asked, her brow creasing.

“Oh, probably.” The admission was grudging. “But I’m not going to spend an entire summer being treated like I have no brain or experience.” She ate half of the second doughnut before she realized what she was doing. “Great. Day one and he’s already driving me to eat.” She stood and dropped the rest of the doughnut in the garbage. When the next truck pulled into the drive, she strode toward the front door, determined to be included.

Enrico Dante, the roof man, could have been anywhere between fifty and seventy. He was small and wizened, like a grape that had been left a bit too long on the vine. When he swept off his baseball cap in greeting, he revealed a head as smooth and round as a cue ball.

“Buon giorno, signorina,”he said in a marked Italian accent. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I understand we will do some work on the roof tiles, yes?”

“Well, possibly. We’ll have to see whether . . .”

Before she could finish, Chase was there and stepping forward to engulf Enrico in a bear hug.“Buon giorno, mi amico. Come stai?”

They conversed easily in Italian for several moments, apparently happy as clams to see each other. Avery stiffened when Chase ruffled her hair and said something in Italian that made both men laugh.

“You know,” she began, trying desperately to hold on to her temper. “I don’t appreciate—”

Once again Chase cut her off. “Before you ask for Enrico’s credentials I’ll tell you that his grandfather was one of your hero Addison Mizner’s favored artisans. He and his brothers came over from Italy to work for him and they did the roofs of many of the best known homes in Palm Beach. No one is more qualified to assess what needs to be done to Bella Flora’s roof.”

Enrico bowed and smiled at her. Chase shot her an insolent wink as he threw an arm around Enrico’s shoulder and left her standing in the foyer while they retrieved a ladder from Enrico’s truck and carried it around to the back of the house.

Avery wanted to climb that ladder and see the damage for herself. She wanted to hear Enrico’s take on what would be needed and get some idea of time and cost, but once again Chase had cut her out. Just as Trent had. She stood in the foyer staring out through the open front door as this sank all the way in. Was she going to just sit back and be dismissed again? Was she going to let someone else relegate her to pointing and gesturing?

Only if she allowed herself to be.

Avery slammed the front door shut. Turning, she strode down the central hallway and out the rear French doors to the covered loggia. She saw the ladder perched against the west end of the house. Refusing to second-guess herself, she climbed quickly up the ladder and stepped carefully onto a flat expanse of roof. Enrico and Chase crouched a few feet away on a sharply angled gable.

She stepped closer and up onto the angled section so that she could peer over their shoulders. “This is where the old sleeping porch was joined to the master, isn’t it?” she asked.

Chase started in surprise and for a second she thought he was going to tumble backward and take her with him. “What are you doing up here?”

Enrico put a steadying hand on Chase’s shoulder and the moment passed. The roofer stood easily, as sure-footed as a mountain goat. Chase didn’t look quite as comfortable, but then he was considerably larger than Enrico and had to tread more carefully.

“I wanted to see what the problem was,” Avery said. “It’s where the roof segments are joined, isn’t it?” she asked Enrico. “That’s always the weakest spot.”

“Yes, signorina,” Enrico said with an approving smile as he beckoned her closer.

Avery moved next to him and peered down into the master bedroom. “That bird probably fell in the first time,” she said. “And then decided to build its nest there.” She looked beyond the roof and out over the Gulf of Mexico for a moment; the angled section of barrel tiles like a red arrow pointing toward the postcard picture view. “Can we get tiles that match?”

“Yes,” Enrico said. “I have a resource for this, but it will take several weeks to get them. We’ll put a tarp for now to keep the elements and animals out. Then I will spend about a week repairing the wood battens and mudding so that I can affix the tiles when they arrive.”

She didn’t press for figures. Enrico was a professional and Chase’s ownership should ensure that he would watch the expenditures carefully; she wasn’t looking to throw her weight around, she just needed to know and approve of what was going on.

“Great. Thanks.” She smiled her appreciation at the roofer and then climbed down the ladder satisfied.

Reminding herself that she could only be cut out if she allowed herself to be, she went to find Robby and ask his take on the scope of what he’d need to do. His answers weren’t exactly what she would have liked to hear—they were going to be down to the kitchen and one bathroom for the foreseeable future as he shut off everything below the main waterline, but he answered her questions clearly and easily and he didn’t speak down to her like Chase did. In fact, he seemed exceedingly eager to please.

---