Like her grandfather, she looked forward to having the house full of people. Nothing could take her mind off worry easier than friends and work.

Or a good, sweaty workout, she thought, and started to turn into her own room to change when she heard the front door open.

She went to the top of the step. “Popi. You’re back early.”

“They’ve got everything under control. And I wanted to talk to you about a couple things.”

“I got the ribs, I got the chicken,” she began as she started down. “Everything you wanted for the summer trifle.”

“Not that.” When she reached him, he held out his car keys. “I’m turning these in. I nearly went through the stop sign on Woodbine, and it’s not the first time.”

“Popi.” She took the keys, then wrapped him in a hug. “I know this is hard. I’ll be your chauffeur. Anytime, anywhere. I promise.”

“I’ve got more than half a dozen people willing to haul my ancient butt around. You can be one of them. Starting now.”

She tipped her head back. “Where do you want to go?”

“Something I want to show you, talk to you about.”

“Mystery!”

“Where’s our girl?”

“She’s out back.”

“Let’s get her, take her for a ride.”

They took Adrian’s car, since Dom’s for the last several years had been a compact pickup she knew he loved. Because she knew he didn’t like the AC, she opened windows. Sadie happily stuck her head out the one in the back.

“Go on into town, turn right on Main.”

“Gotcha. I ran into Raylan and his kids at the grocery.”

“Those are good kids.”

“They are.” She entertained him with cereal wars and makeup debates on the drive in.

“Monroe brought that pistol of a boy of his in for pizza right before I left. Said they were having a man day—and giving Teesha a break. You want to turn left at the light. And right there.” He gestured. “Pull up right over there.”

“The old schoolhouse.”

“Old elementary, so old I went there. They still used the paddle back in those days.”

“Ouch.”

With a grin, he nudged up his glasses. “So I said more times than I care to remember.”

The old, scarred brick with its loose mortar formed a squat square. What had once been a playground had become pitted asphalt and weeds blocked off by an old chain-link fence.

A few of the windows, broken over time by weather or a well-aimed rock, sported plywood boards. Gutters, what was left of them, sprouted more weeds.

“Tried a few things with it over the years,” Dom said. “It was an antiques shop for a while, but that just turned into a dusty old flea market. I recall it being a repair shop once—lawn mowers and the like. Nothing stuck.”

“It’s pretty easy to see why. It’s a mess.”

“Been let go, that’s why. Man who owns it had big dreams, sly ways, and not enough money for either. He was going to open it as a bar. Now he’s just getting fined for a safety hazard, and there’s talk of condemning it.”

“Well—”

“Can’t have that, Adrian.” That jaw set solid as Dom shook his head. “Can’t have it. That building’s a hundred years old. It has history. It needs to have purpose again.”

She understood sentiment, she understood history. But.

“You want to buy it?”

“I want your say-so in this because I’d be pulling from your inheritance.”

“Popi, don’t be silly.”

“And not only that, when I join your grandmother, this would be your responsibility.”

“What would? What are you thinking?”

“Let’s have a look. I’ve got the keys.”

“Of course you do,” she muttered. She intended to leave Sadie in the car, but Dom was already opening the door.

“Come on, girl. We’re going to explore.”

“Is it safe? It doesn’t really look safe.”

“Safe enough for a look-see.” In his khaki shorts and navy golf shirt, he led the way across the sidewalk, up crumbling concrete steps to the double front doors.

“You’ve got to use your imagination,” he told her as he fished out the keys.

“I bet.”

It smelled. Her first impression was it smelled, of spiderwebs, dust, muck, disuse, and the mice and—potentially—rats who’d used it as a toilet.

But Dom’s face shined.

“You feel that?”

“I might feel something crawling up my leg.”

He put an arm around her shoulders. “Kids, all those memories of kids, walking through here. Now there’s not much left of the original woodwork, and that’s a damn shame. But the asshole who owns it gutted the place right out without a thought for that. Foundation’s still sound,” he continued as he walked on. “Roof’s not, but we’d raise that, add a second story.”

“Would we?”

She saw ancient plaster walls, yellow with age, a chipped vinyl floor where someone had tried to pull it up.

Dom pointed down. “There’s hardwood under there, and I’m betting it can be sanded down and polished again. Needs all new plumbing, and the electric brought up to code from the old knob and tube. Need to clean up the exterior brick, repoint. Outside, you’ve got to clear up, clean up, new asphalt, and it needs a handicapped accessible ramp.”

He turned to her, to see what she thought, but all she saw was a big, ugly, smelly space with broken and dingy windows. “I had Mark Wicker—he’s a damn good contractor—take a look. He figures it’ll take most of a year, and about a million.”

“Dollars? A million dollars? Popi, I think you need to lie down. I think I do, too.”

“Maybe, but hear me out first. The selling price is—or was—way over the moon. I countered, he came back. I walked away because he needs to sell, and he’s living in some greedy dream world. He came more down to earth today, so I said I’d talk to my partner and let him know.”

“I’m your partner?”

“You’re my everything.”

Damn it. He wanted it, whatever it was, so much.

“Let’s go outside, because I don’t want to think what we’re breathing in right now. And you can tell me what you want to do for a million—God, that takes my breath away—a million dollars.”

He walked out with her, locked up again. Then, taking her hand, walked around to the sagging fence.

“Skinned my knees there, more than once. Played tag and ball and keep-away.”

She leaned against him.

“Not so many people in town back then, not so many kids. And a lot of them living out on farms. It’s different now. The town’s grown. It’s a good town. You know what it doesn’t have, Adrian?”

“What?”

“A place for those kids. Somewhere to go after school, during the summer. A place they can play ball, or Ping-Pong, their video games, maybe even study or just hang out in a safe place. A lot of working parents, a lot of latchkey kids. That’s how it is.”

“You want to build a youth center.”