“It’s no bother at all,” she assured them. “What’s your name?”

“Isabella,” the little girl whispered, twisting her fingers in the pocket of her dad’s cargo shorts. “This is my daddy.”

“I’m Mateo,” he said. “We watch your show together every week.”

“We’re subscribers,” Isabella announced proudly, shedding some of her initial shyness.

“You are?” Maggie asked, clearly delighted.

Silas watched with something that felt a bit like pride as his date chatted with her fans and snapped a photo with them.

“I’m gonna build a house with a room for ponies to live in,” Isabella said. “Daddy said he doesn’t know if anyone’s ever built a pony room before. Have you?”

Maggie frowned thoughtfully. “No, I haven’t built a pony room.”

“You can build it first if you want to,” Isabella said graciously.

“Well, thank you. But I think it would be pretty cool if you built the very first pony room, since it was your idea.”

“Are you on vacation?” Mateo asked, trying and failing to sound like he wasn’t prying.

She saw right through him. “I’m actually working on my next project. This is my landscape architect, Silas Wright.”

“Wow!” Isabella gasped. “Can we see your new house?” Excitement had her voice entering near shriek territory, and Silas chuckled.

Mateo clamped a hand over his daughter’s mouth. “Maggie’s very busy, kiddo. We don’t want to slow her down. It’ll be just as fun to watch it on the computer.” Then he mouthed so sorry to Maggie.

Maggie leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “Do you see that house way up there on the hill?” she asked, pointing over Decked Out’s flat roof. The Old Campbell Place was visible on the bluff.

Isabella nodded, and her dad dropped his hand from her mouth. “It looks very, very small,” she said.

“That’s because it’s so far away,” Silas explained. “It’s Maggie’s biggest house and biggest yard ever.”

Isabella’s mouth fell open, revealing two missing teeth. “Even bigger than the Midtown Mansion?”

Maggie nodded. “Even bigger.”

Isabella was impressed into silence.

“I tell you what,” Maggie said. “If it’s okay with your dad and if you have time while you’re in town, you can come for a tour.”

The little girl was dancing on her tiptoes, giving Mateo puppy-dog eyes that could have rivaled Kevin’s. “Daaaaaaaaad?”

“Are you sure? We don’t want to impose,” he said, sounding more than a little excited.

“I wanna impose!” Isabella announced.

“I’m positive. I’ve been dying to show it off,” Maggie promised.

“Well, if you’re sure…”

“I’m sure.”

“Can I go tell Mom?” Isabella begged, her eyes wide.

“Quietly,” Mateo insisted.

“Mooooooom!” Isabella sprinted across the deck to a woman who was sitting at a table with three plated desserts.