Designed for Love by Erin Dutton Page A

yard out back, your target buyer is a young family who will make their own memories.”
    “That’s nice of you to say.”
    They passed dishes back and forth until both of their plates were filled. The aroma of roast beef and rich gravy mingled with fresh-baked rolls that Jillian would bet were made from scratch.
    “Are you looking forward to spending more time with your family?” Jillian took a bite. “This is delicious.”
    “Yes. I have three great-grandchildren. And for so many years it was just my daughter and I. It will be nice to have family around.”
    “It must have been difficult raising a child on your own.”
    Despite a few rough patches, Jillian’s parents were still together, and she couldn’t imagine her mother trying to cope alone. Her parents had sacrificed a lot of time to provide her and her brother with their upper-middle-class lifestyle. As a surgeon, her father had been away often during her upbringing, leaving her mother, an obstetrician, with the bulk of the child-rearing responsibilities. But he’d done his part financially, which enabled them to hire a nanny to supplement her mother’s unpredictable schedule.
    “Single parenthood definitely wasn’t as prevalent as it is now. As a high school math teacher, I didn’t make much money, so we had some lean times.”
    “Wasn’t Aunt Mary a teacher too?”
    Rose nodded. “For several years until she married. Her husband didn’t want her to work.”
    “I only met him once. My mother isn’t close to that side of her family. She never understood what Aunt Mary found so appealing about small-town living.” Jillian recalled her mother’s numerous derisive comments about her Southern ancestors. “As the years passed, their visits with one another grew fewer and farther between.”
    “As often happens, people grow apart.” Sadness colored Rose’s words, but before Jillian could question it, Rose stood and began to stack their plates. “Would you like a slice of pie? Coffee?”
    “That sounds great.”
    “It’s a beautiful night. Why don’t we take our dessert on the back porch and watch the sun set?”
    Rose waved off Jillian’s offer to wash the dishes, insisting she would do it later. So, instead, they settled on the porch, sipped coffee, and enjoyed fresh peach pie.
    Jillian stared at the night sky and wondered whether she could see this many stars in Cincinnati, or if she’d just never bothered to look. Though the days were warm and humid, the nights were still cool and the air felt crisp. Crickets had replaced the sounds of the city. Normally a driven person, Jillian wouldn’t have thought she could enjoy sitting still so much. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent an entire evening socializing. When she didn’t skip her meals altogether, she either combined them with client meetings or ate on the run. She hoarded what little free time she did have, often taking a quick jog through her neighborhood to clear her head. But the pace of life was slower in Redmond. Maybe she should embrace the opportunity to relax, because she wouldn’t have that chance when she returned home.
     
    *
     
    “Andy, bring me some more water, will you?” Wil passed her Nalgene bottle over her shoulder.
    “Sure thing, boss.” Andy squeezed Wil’s shoulder and bounded down the stairs toward a large orange cooler of water on the open tailgate of Wil’s truck.
    Andy had been on Wil’s crew the longest of the three women. In fact, they had gone to high school together, though they hadn’t hung out with each other then. Andy was the star player on the basketball team and had run with the popular crowd. When a knee injury blew her college scholarship, she had applied for work with Johnson and Son. Wil had been heading a crew of men at the time, and Bud had assigned Andy to work with her. Since then, as each of the men left the company, a woman had replaced him, at Wil’s request. She preferred not to deal with the egos of men who