“Pizza’s here,” she said, reaching around him for the doorknob. “What does this all mean?” she asked.

He knew she wasn’t talking about doorbells or pizza toppings. “It means we see where this goes.”

“It can’t go far,” she warned him. “I’m not staying.”

“My nice crisp five dollars says otherwise,” Silas said, opening the door for her. He could already smell garlic and tomato sauce.

“Sy.” She stopped him in the hall with a hand on his arm. “It’s not a game. I don’t want either one of us getting hurt.”

He slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “I know, darlin’. But it’s bound to happen. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can start havin’ a good time. Not getting hurt isn’t a good enough reason to not enjoy yourself. You tell me when you’re ready.”

He gave her another squeeze before releasing her and whistled his way in the direction of pizza and chatter.

They gathered in the front rooms, where the floors had been sanded down and most of the wallpaper stripped. It already felt lighter and brighter in here. And filled with a dozen workers, the house seemed like it was alive.

“Maggie, you ever think about getting some furniture?” Jim asked from his perch on a toolbox.

“How do you watch TV?” Marta wanted to know.

Maggie wandered over to the pizza boxes and selected a loaded slice. “What would I do with a couch and a TV?” she asked.

“Maybe relax for thirty minutes?” Dean suggested from his perch in the bay window across the hall.

“Then who would run the rest of your asses ragged while I had my feet up watching soap operas?” she teased.

Silas glanced around and gave it some thought. The woman was living and working in a construction zone. She was camping under a roof. It sure made it easier to consider circumstances temporary when they were that far from comfortable.

An idea began to take root. A diabolical one.

He got drawn into a good-natured argument with Jim about the high school team’s shot at the state wrestling title next school year and let the idea start to bloom.

The rain wasn’t letting up, and the play-by-play from everyone’s weather apps didn’t make any outdoor work likely until after four. The siding crew called it a day and made a mad dash for their trucks. While Silas convened his guys in the dining room to plan for the next day, Maggie wandered by with a bucket of hot, soapy water.

“Anyone seen Kevin?” Silas asked, noticing his dog wasn’t around, mooching leftovers.

“Not since he took the pizza crust off my plate,” Rudy reported.

Dismissing his crew, Silas stood in the rotunda and called for his dog. But the burly beast didn’t come running.