What would his lips taste like? She ran the tip of her tongue over her own lower lip. If he kissed her here under the sycamore…Whirling, she shrugged the sweat-slick shirt from her shoulder blades. Hopefully, the Amish weren’t known for mind-reading as well as carpentry.

Finished with his inspection, he stopped in front of her family’s carved initials.

She winced. Did the Amish frown on tree defacement? When he peeked around the trunk, he looked so like his niece she couldn’t help but smile. One side of that bowed upper lip lifted in return.

“TRM. That’s you?” he asked.

“Yes.” She took a tentative step in his direction.

He rested one shoulder against the trunk and crossed his arms. “What is your full name?”

She studied patchy grass at her feet. “Tessa Rose.” She sighed. “Tessa Rose Meadows. I always thought it was a bit much. Rose Meadows. Botanical overkill.”

“It suits you, Tessa Rose. For the roses in your cheeks.”

She covered the familiar, flaming bloom with her palms. “So, what do you think? Will my idea work?”

Taking a step back, he regarded the site. “I believe it will. The ground is mostly even, and the pines are a fair distance away. A few of these lower branches will have to come down, but removing them won’t harm the tree. It’s healthy.”

“I’m so glad!” Until he said it, she hadn’t fully believed he’d take on the project. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she barely kept from dancing.

He fetched a tape measure from the toolbox and circled the tree again, measuring the thickness of the trunk, the height of the lowest branches from the ground, and the distance to the nearest trees.

“Do you need me to take notes?” she offered.

He shook his head. “I’ll do most of my building here. I can cut the lumber ahead of time, but all assembly will be done right around the tree.” He slid her original drawing out of the toolbox. “Here’s how I imagine it.”

She took the paper, and her eyes went wide. Encircling her original design were a dozen or more smaller sketches. His drawings rendered cross sections and details: a view of the ceiling from below, the overlay of cedar shingles on the roof, a railing constructed of twisting branches in their natural state. The finely worked plans framed her rough sketch like an illuminated manuscript. “Oh, Jonas, it’s exquisite.”