kinds of age-related issues, but they don’t warn you about the sleep problems. I’m up before the crack of dawn each day, but if I sit for more than a minute during the day, I nod off. Getting old ain’t for the faint of heart,” she said with a chuckle as she pulled a trivet from the drawer and set the pan on it.
She turned and looked at Audrey. “Have a roll before you go, and take one to your boss, too. That man looks as if a stiff breeze could blow him away.”
Neither Mr. Lebowitz nor Maggie May had any family to mention so they both spent holidays with Audrey and the kids.
There was a look in Maggie’s eyes that had Audrey wondering all over again... Mr. Lebowitz and Maggie?
She had to admit there was some merit in the idea. She wondered when she could get them together again without seeming obvious.
She laughed. She’d never managed to make a relationship work for herself, so why on earth did she imagine she could help other people hook up?
“Mr. Lebowitz will be thrilled. No one makes a better cinnamon roll than you do,” she said.
Maggie puffed up a bit. “Well, that’s sweet of you to say. Now where are the kids?”
“Still in bed.”
Maggie May shook her head. “That kind of sleep is wasted on the young. They don’t appreciate it. To be honest, a lot of things are wasted on the young. You all are always in such a hurry to make your mark and get to this or that. Sometimes you need to slow down and smell...”
Audrey interrupted. “The cinnamon rolls.”
Maggie chuckled and got out one of Audrey’s storage containers, popped a couple rolls in it and said, “Now see to it your boss eats one of these.”
“I will,” Audrey promised.
“Have a good day,” Maggie said. “I think the kids and I are going to go spend the day at the pool.”
Audrey bought a membership to a local pool every summer. Bea especially loved the water. She was going to have a blast on Saturday.
“Have a good day, Audrey,” Maggie said.
“You, too.”
“Oh, I will. I’ve got a new JoAnn Ross book. I plan to curl up under an umbrella and have at it.”
Maggie was a bookworm. “Tell the kids I’ll call at lunch.”
“I will. But we’ll be fine. Shoo.”
It was a ten-minute drive from her home in Wesleyville to work in downtown Erie.
Abe Lebowitz had opened his firm in a historic brick storefront on West Fifth Street. Audrey loved that from the office she could walk down to the dock or to Erie’s Perry Square, a two-block downtown park.
Today, as she went inside, she took a moment to study the photos in the public reception room, pictures of homes Mr. Lebowitz had helped design or remodel. Someday Audrey hoped to have such a body of work behind her. Though she’d taken on a few projects that she ran point on and Mr. Lebotwitz simply supervised, the Greenhouse was the first project that she truly felt was her baby. It would be the first picture on her wall.
When she’d graduated, she’d considered applying for a job at a bigger firm in a bigger city. But she knew it would take years before she’d have a chance to really get some hands-on work. And truly, the city of Erie was as close to a home as she could come.
As an intern for Mr. Lebowitz’s one-man business, she’d had a chance to take more active roles in design and meeting with clients. That’s what convinced her that going to work for him was the right move. And she’d made a good choice. She was basically his girl Friday. She did a little bit of everything and felt she had more practical experience than a lot of architects her age.
She glanced at the clock on her phone.
Half an hour before clients—the Castellinis—came in.
She had to get her day started.
As if on cue, Mr. Lebowitz called out, “Audrey, is that you?”
“No, Mr. Lebowitz. It’s someone else entirely.”
“Cheeky girl,” he called, laughter tingeing his voice. “Come in here if you have a moment.”
She left the reception room, headed past her office door and Mr. Lebowitz’s public office to the back room she called his “cave.” He was in a white button-down shirt that was open at the collar and had its sleeves rolled up. He smiled as she walked in.
Audrey set the cinnamon bun in front of him and his smile broadened. “Maggie was baking this morning.”
“She made this from scratch?” he asked, picking up the roll almost with reverence.
“She did,” Audrey informed him. “She said to be sure you ate it because you’re too thin.”
“Other than seeing clearly,” he said, patting his slightly paunchy stomach, “is there anything that woman can’t do?”
“Nothing I know of,” Audrey assured him.
He took a bite and groaned. “Wow.”
“You called me back because you wanted something?” she prompted.
Mr. Lebowitz was lost in a cinnamon brain fog. Audrey watched as he tried to clear his head enough to remember why he’d summoned her.
“Oh, yes.” He dug through a precarious-looking pile of papers and pulled out a neon orange Post-it. Audrey did the ordering for the firm, and chose the brightest sticker notes she could find so they would stand out amid the clutter.
“Marcia James, the mayor’s assistant, and Ms. Wilkins, the educational enrichment coordinator for the school district, set up a tentative meeting for Friday. Marcia asked that you confirm.”
She took the Post-it. “Sure. I can make that work.”
“Great. Now, go get ready for the Castellinis. I’m going to sit back and savor my cinnamon roll. And when you have a minute, could you give me Maggie’s phone number so I can thank her properly?”
Audrey tried to keep the speculation out of her voice as she said, “She’s at my house with the kids today, so you can reach her there.”
“Great. I will.”
And because the matchmaking bug had hit, she added, “You know, you should probably think of a way to reciprocate. Maybe ask her out to dinner some night?”
She left before he could respond.
What was with her? She had romance on her mind, and that wasn’t like her at all. Between the kids, work and now the Greenhouse, her life was full. She didn’t have time to date, which was good because her last attempt had been a disaster.
She’d been held up at a meeting that ran late, and got home just in time for Maggie May to apologize profusely and say she
