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“Enter,” a deep, male voice called out.

She opened the door, gestured Johnny in and left.

Mayor Cook appeared to be in his early forties. He was a stout man with a receding hairline and dark brown eyes. From everything Johnny had heard since being back in town, Jeff and his wife, Myra, were well liked and respected not only by the people in town but also by the swamp community.

As Johnny stepped in the door, Jeff stood from behind his large desk. “Good morning, Mr. Night.” He offered his beefy hand out for a shake.

“Please, make it Johnny.” The two men shook and then Jeff gestured him to a chair in front of the desk.

“I think you know why I called you in here this morning,” Jeff said once they were both seated.

“I have to admit, I’m hopeful,” Johnny replied.

Jeff offered him a big smile. “Now you can be more than hopeful. After some consideration, the town council has chosen your company to build the gazebo. The plans you submitted were spot-on, and we found your bid quite reasonable. So, the only thing left to discuss is when can you start the work?”

“We can get started as soon as tomorrow,” Johnny replied as pleasure filled him. He’d definitely wanted this job that would keep him busy for the next six to eight weeks.

“That would be terrific. Maybe the construction of something that will be beautiful in the center of town will give everyone something to talk about other than murder.” A deep frown cut across the mayor’s wide forehead.

“The buzz around town has definitely been about the murders,” Johnny replied. “But you’re right, maybe we can give them something else to talk about.”

“On that note, I have a check for you.” Mayor Cook held it out to Johnny, who rose and took it from him. “That’s the first of three. When you’re about halfway through and the town council approves it, I’ll give you the second one, and when the gazebo is finished, you’ll get the final check.”

“Sounds perfect,” Johnny replied. He folded the check and put it in his wallet. The two men shook hands again and then Johnny left the office.

He was so pleased that he’d gotten the job of building the huge gazebo. Getting local work was exactly what he wanted from now on. The family business would still be building shopping malls, apartment buildings and other structures wherever they were hired. The only difference was Johnny now had good foremen he trusted completely to do the work away from Black Bog. That would leave Johnny free to stay in the small town and close to Mimi.

Once the gazebo was finished, then he would actively solicit more local work. No job would be too big or too small as long as it was in Black Bog.

She said they no longer knew each other, that they were different people than they had been five years ago. She might have a more mature body than she’d had back when…and her features might be more grown-up now…but her heart was still the same.

He knew from watching her with her friends and Gramps that she was still the caring, loving woman he had known five years ago. She was also a wonderful mother to the boy he believed was his son. He saw it each evening when he spent time with her and the others in her shanty.

As he left the building and walked out into the heavy sultry heat, he shoved thoughts of her away. He had to stop thinking about her right now.

What he needed to focus on when he got home was pulling together a team of men who could work here for him for the next six to eight weeks. There were some locals he could hire on, but he also might need to import some of the workers on his payroll who lived out of town.

A sense of satisfaction swept through him. He would never leave Black Bog for work again unless it was a one-day trip. It was one of the steps he was taking that would hopefully make Mimi trust him once again.

When he got home, he settled in at the kitchen table with his laptop and began making a list and calling people to cement who would be working for him on the gazebo.

He still couldn’t bring himself to sit in the beautiful den with the lavish desk and chair and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves where his father had sat so often when he weighed in on Johnny’s many failings. Eventually Johnny intended to strip the room bare and redo the whole interior. Hopefully new furniture and curtains and different wallpaper would chase out the painful memories the room currently held.

The site for the gazebo was right across the street from the grocery store. He would be that close to Mimi as they both went about their jobs.

It had been two days since he’d asked her out on a date, and she still hadn’t given him her answer. He would love to get her all alone, away from the three fishermen who were always present when he was there. He wanted to talk to her about the past and the fact that he wanted her future.

There were so many things he wanted to tell her, to explain to her, but so far he hadn’t gotten the opportunity. It was frustrating as hell.

By four o’clock that day, a preternatural darkness had fallen outside. Dark clouds chased each other across the sky. He had a small crew of men set up to begin work. He’d filed for the appropriate permits and hoped they would be granted within the next day or two. He shut off his computer and stretched with arms overhead.

He stepped outside onto his back porch to check out the weather situation. Despite the clouds overhead, it was miserably hot and humid. However, there was the distinct scent of impending rain in the air.

He went back inside and walked into the living room where he turned on the lamps on the glass-topped coffee tables next to the sofa. The furnishings in the big house were cold and sterile. It was all glass and silver, more for show than for homey comfort. Johnny had certainly never felt comfortable except for when he was in his bedroom.

Frank had moved out the day before, and the silence in the big house was deafening. If by some positive twist of fate he got back together with Mimi and they were going to get married, he’d sell this big house in a heartbeat and move in with her in the swamp if that was what she wanted. He loved being in the shanty. It felt cozy and welcoming.

If all that came to pass, he would open a small office on Main Street and work from there. It was a scenario he wanted to come true.