Her Second-Chance Family. Holly Jacobs

took her hand in his and patted it. “You’re an asset, Audrey. Back when I started the firm, I didn’t worry about sustainability. Frankly, it wasn’t something I thought about much at all until I hired you. Now, I incorporate so many of your ideas into projects. Your passion is contagious.”

      “Willow says I’m trying to save the world one compost pile at a time whenever I make her take the kitchen scraps out, but really, I’m trying to save it one house at a time. One geothermal heating unit at a time. One thermal mass wall at a time.” She laughed, not because anything she said was funny but because she was happy and excited. She’d worked so hard on the Greenhouse.

      Willow had scoffed at the idea of all the time the project would take. All the work without any financial return. She’d said it didn’t make sense. But Audrey knew that the returns would be so much more lasting than money.

      “Your kids are on board with this?” Mr. Lebowitz asked.

      She nodded. “They’re behind me. To be honest, Clinton and Bea will be almost as excited as I am.”

      “And your new girl? Willow?” Mr. Lebowitz asked.

      “She’ll come around. I caught her throwing a banana peel in the compost bucket on her own the other day. And she did go see that Mr. Williams about mowing his lawn. Those are positive steps. She’s heading over to his house this afternoon for the first time.”

      She didn’t say it out loud, but she couldn’t help but remember Willow’s concern that morning about her nightmare. “Yes, she’ll come around,” Audrey said with certainty.

      “I’m glad. Maybe I could take the kids out on a field trip of sorts this summer? I haven’t been to Fallingwater in so long. That’s a shame, since it’s only three hours away.”

      Audrey had gone to the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house as a student, but hadn’t been back since. Mr. Lebowitz was right; that was a shame. “I’ve never taken the kids there. I’m sure Bea and Clinton would enjoy it.”

      “And do you think we can talk Willow into coming with us?” he asked.

      “We can try.” That was her mantra with Willow. I can try.

      Mr. Lebowitz nodded. “Maybe I’ll ask Maggie May, too,” he said a little too nonchalantly.

      His suggestion caught Audrey unaware, but she didn’t tease or prod him.

      She did, however, decide to try to find reasons to throw the two of them together this summer.

      Wouldn’t it be nice if two of her favorite people in the world got together?

      Maggie had said she was dating someone, but it couldn’t be serious yet. Audrey wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of it before. Mr. Lebowitz and Maggie.

      She almost laughed at herself. Playing Cupid wasn’t in her nature.

      “I’m sure Maggie would love a day out.” But what if Maggie had already fallen for the new man? “I mean, I think there’s a chance she’s been going out with someone recently.”

      “I’m not afraid of a little competition,” he said. “I like a challenge.”

      “I just wouldn’t want to see you get hurt,” she said.

      “Audrey, honey, you know you’re more than an employee to me, right?”

      She nodded.

      “Then I want to be clear this is your friend speaking, not your boss. Because a boss shouldn’t get too involved in an employee’s life. But a friend should.”

      “Okay.” She had no idea where he was going with this.

      “If I went out with Maggie and got my heart broken, that would not be your fault. It would be mine. Maybe hers. Not yours. When you interned here, I thought you were the most responsible twenty-something I’d ever met. I thought it was a strength, and that sense of responsibility is one of the reasons I hired you. And as a boss, it is a strength. But as a friend, I think there’s a chance it’s conversely one of your greatest weaknesses. You can’t be responsible for everyone’s pain.”

      “I just didn’t want to see you...”

      “Everyone gets hurt, honey,” he said firmly. “And if you never get hurt, then you’re never risking yourself. And playing it safe isn’t really living.”

      “Okay.”

      He sighed. “I’ve offended you now.”

      “No. Really.” She forced a smile. “Nothing could bother me today. I plan to walk on air. Mr. Lebowitz, thank you again.”

      “You did this on your own, Audrey.”

      “No, I didn’t. I did this with your help and with the kids’ support.” And she knew that she’d also done it because of that night so long ago. A night that threw her onto a new and unplanned path.

      Maybe Mr. Lebowitz was right. Maybe she did take responsibility for things outside her control. Maybe she needed to risk herself more.

      Maybe.

       CHAPTER THREE

      SAWYER OCCASIONALLY WORKED on Saturdays, and routinely pulled longer than eight-hour days, which meant he generally had some comp time available. He liked that his position gave him a little flexibility with his hours.

      Frankly, he just liked his job.

      When he was younger, he’d dreamed about being a firefighter, not a banker. He imagined there were a lot of jobs that children never dreamed of doing. Sometimes he wondered how anyone landed where they did.

      For him, it started in college. He’d taken some business classes and then he’d interned at a bank. When his internship was over, he’d gotten a job at the bank and one day he’d realized that he’d found his niche.

      He liked the certainty of numbers.

      He liked working with people.

      He’d juggled his hours this week so he could be home early this afternoon. He was in his upstairs office now, but no matter how many times he tried to focus on the computer, he kept looking out the window, watching Willow Jones mow his lawn.

      The girl might be a thief, but she was a meticulous worker. Each swipe of the lawn mower was parallel to the last. One neat row after another.

      She stopped every couple passes to empty the bag into a garbage can.

      When she was done mowing, she walked along the planting beds, pulling weeds and putting those in the bins, as well.

      He glanced at his watch. She’d been at it almost two hours without stopping for much more than a sip from her water bottle—a stainless-steel bottle she must have filled from a tap at home.

      It had to be beyond tepid at this point.

      He wasn’t sure why he was concerned, but he found himself going downstairs to the fridge for a cold bottle of water. Then he stopped. He didn’t know much about this girl, other than she was on probation for breaking into his house and that she lived with a hippie woman who probably frowned on store-bought water. That would explain why the kid had a stainless-steel water bottle.

      He grabbed a glass instead, filled it with ice and tap water and then headed to the backyard.

      “Thought you might want something cold,” he said by way of greeting.

      Willow looked at him a moment, then nodded. “Thanks. I should have stuck my water bottle in a cooler.”

      “I wasn’t sure if your hippie chick allowed things like ice,” he teased.

      He saw immediately that his joke fell flat.

      Willow shot him a penetrating glare. “Listen,