“Of course,” she said, although he was probably the last person she wanted to see in her private space. She’d won the contest, so she knew she shouldn’t feel intimidated by him, but she did.

Martin stomped off the snow before stepping into the warehouse, where he took off his hat and ran a hand through his thick red hair.

“I just wanted to see if you need any help,” he said. His hands were in his jacket pockets as he took in every inch of the warehouse as though he’d be tested on it later. “A lot more space than I have in my little attic hovel,” he said, good-naturedly, she thought.

“I was fortunate the mayor … your cousin … suggested it,” Anna said, trying to forget how she’d felt the evening before when dark shadows filled the space.

Martin pulled his pipe from an inside pocket of his jacket and lit it, the sweet scent of the tobacco rising into the air. “Ah,” he said, walking toward the wall with the cartoon paper. “You have the paper up.”

“The students who are working with me helped me,” Anna said. “We did that yesterday.”

“Will you make a grid?”

“Yes, I’ve got it on my sketch and when the students arrive, we can—”

“Let me help you with it,” he said. “We can get it done in no time at all.”

Anna’s insides coiled. She couldn’t accept help from him. It felt wrong. Plus the thought of him seeing her sketch made her nervous.

“Oh, no,” she said, before she could stop to think. “I’d feel unfair accepting your help.”

His eyes narrowed and his expression seemed to darken as he held his pipe away from his face. “Don’t patronize me,” he said. “I genuinely would like to help you.”

They were off and running on the wrong foot, Anna thought.

“I apologize,” she said, giving in. “I would love some help with the grid.”

He took off his jacket and they began to work together. It was clear Martin had done this before at some time. He cut plumb lines of twine and they hung them twelve inches apart from the top of the paper to the bottom. They coated them with charcoal and snapped the vertical grid lines into place. In short order, they’d completed the vertical lines, and Anna stepped back to study their work. It would have taken Theresa, Peter, and her at least an hour to accomplish what she and Martin had done in twenty minutes.

“Voilà,” Martin said, lighting his pipe again. “Shall we leave the horizontal lines for your young charges to handle?” he asked, and she agreed.