This wasn’t the small-town romance of my fantasies. Finn was paying attention to me. One could even say he was flirting. But it didn’t mean anything. I was a convenient distraction. Another visitor in town staying in the same hotel. I couldn’t lose focus on the purpose of my trip. Since I wasn’t writing a story for Hustler or a similar publication, picturing Finn naked was not the way to go.

I didn’t have any questions prepared, but Vick and the three other workers—Emma, Johnny (“Clumsy Smurf”), and Dean—made conversation easy. From the moment Finn walked away, they talked and talked…and talked. They spoke over and around each other, and my head whipped from side to side as I struggled to catch everything. I couldn’t use Johnny’s devotion to the paleo diet, Emma’s argument with her mother about the safety of store-bought egg salad, or the video of Dean’s son’s solo in the church choir in the story, but all had excellent entertainment value.

Vick, the patriarch of the quartet, raised his voice over the others. “Since Adina’s too polite to ask how any of this is relevant to her story, I will.”

The three of them looked adequately chagrined, but it was Johnny who stepped forward. “I can show you a blueprint of a unit if it would help.”

“I’d love to see one! A two-bedroom, maybe?” The enthusiastic response was more personal than professional. My city-loving mother would never agree to move here, but it couldn’t hurt to check it out.

Johnny unfolded a long piece of construction paper and laid it on top of a stack of plywood the height of my belly.

Hovering over the floor plan, I focused immediately on the square footage as noted on the bottom of the page. A two-bedroom apartment at The Hollows was 1,314 square feet, as compared to the 900 square feet of my home. The master and second bedrooms were located on opposite sides of the unit for maximum privacy, with the common living/dining area and kitchen in the center. Based on what I could see in black and white (or blue and white, in this case), it was a great setup.

“Originally, there was going to be a washer and dryer in each unit, right here,” Johnny said, pointing to a space on the floor plan next to the foyer now labeled Closet.

“What happened?”

“The Hollows was meant to be affordable luxury living. Finn made the point that in-unit washers and dryers would drive prices up and make it harder to attract the intended demographic—namely, buyers who couldn’t afford the same frills closer to the city.”

“It was Finn’s idea, huh?” My lips tugged up with a will of their own. “Is that his job? I’m not too proud to admit I have zero clue what a project manager does.”