Nora Roberts: Best Laid Plans

"Maybe, but it's late for teenagers to be out necking." He slowed to negotiate the turn.

"Well, we're here to look around, anyway. If they were vandals we'll find out soon enough."

He parked the car by the trailer. In silence they stepped out of opposite sides and stood. The main building, with its dome and spirals, was shadowed in the predawn light. Like a sculpture, it rose up out of rock, a product of imagination. The interior was rough, and the landscaping had yet to be started, but Abra saw it now as Cody had.

In this very fragile light it looked more fanciful, yet somehow more solid, than ever before. It didn't meld with the rock and sand, nor did it harmonize. Rather, it stood with and against and for-a celebration of man's ingenuity.

Standing apart, not yet connected by the flower-bordered paths, was the health center. Castlelike, it grew out of the thin, greedy soil, its arches and curves adding a richness, even a defiance, to the stark strength of the landscape. The early light struggled over the eastern rise and sprinkled on the walls.

They stood, hands lightly linked, and scanned what they had had a part in creating.

"It's going to have to come down," Cody murmured. "All or most of it."

"That doesn't mean it can't be built again. We can build it again."

"Maybe." He slipped an arm around her shoulders. The sun had yet to rise, and the air held the clean-edged chill of the desert night. "It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be quick."

"It doesn't have to be." She understood now, as she never had, just how much of himself he had put into this. These weren't just walls, weren't just beams and supports. This was his imagination, his contribution and, though only one who built could feel it, his heart. She turned to put her arms around him. "I guess it's time I told you the truth."

He kissed her hair, and the scent was warm, sundrenched, though the air was cool with dawn. "About what?"

"About this place." She tilted her head up but didn't smile. He saw that her eyes were gray, like the light in the east. "I was wrong and you were right."

He kissed her, taking his time about it. "That's nothing new, Red."

"Keep it up and I won't tell you what I really think."

"Fat chance. You always tell me what you think whether I want to hear it or not."

"This time you will. You may even be entitled to gloat."

"I can't wait."

She drew away to dip her hands into her pockets and turn a slow circle. "It's wonderful."

"What?" With a hint of a smile, he gripped her shoulder. "Must be the lack of sleep, Wilson. You're light-headed."

"I'm not joking." She pulled away to face him again. "And I'm not saying this to make you feel better-or worse, for that matter. I'm saying it because it's time I did. For the past few weeks I've been able to see what you envisioned here, what you wanted to say, how you wanted to say it. It's beautiful, Cody, and maybe it sounds overdone, but it's majestic. When it's finished-and it will be finished one day- it's going to be a work of art, the way only the best buildings can be."

He stared at her as the sun peeked over the ridges of rock and brought the first hints of daylight. "I know I'm supposed to gloat, but I can't seem to manage it."

"You can be proud of this." She rested her hands on his shoulders. "I'm proud of this, and of you."

"Abra…" He skimmed his knuckles over her cheek. "You leave me speechless."

"I'd like you to know that when it comes time to rebuild I want to be a part of it." Tilting her head, she smiled. "Not that there shouldn't be a few adjustments."

He laughed and yanked her close. He'd needed this. "There had to be that."

"Minor ones," she continued, holding on to him. "Reasonable ones."

"Naturally."

"We'll discuss them." She bit his ear. "Professionally."

"Sure we will. But I'm not changing anything."

"Cody…"

"I haven't told you that you're one of the best." Now it was her turn to look astonished. "As engineers go."

"Thanks a lot." She pulled back. "I feel better. How about you?"

"Yeah, I feel better." He ran a finger down her cheek. "Thanks."

"Let's take a look around, then. It's what we came for."

Arm in arm, they walked toward the main building. "The investigation's going to be rough," Cody began. It was easier to talk about it now. "It could mess up your plans to start your own business. At least for a while."

"I know. I guess I've been trying not to think about that. Not yet."

"You'll have Barlow behind you. And Powell and Johnson."

She smiled as he pulled open the door. "I appreciate that. I never asked you what Nathan said."

"He said he'd be on the first available plane." He paused just inside the door and looked.

The walls were up, the drywall smeared with compound and sanded smooth. Empty buckets were turned over, some of them bridged with boards to make casual seats. The elevators that had given Abra such grief were resting at ground level. The forms for the curving stairs were in place, the windows secured. Instead of the buzz and whine of tools, there was a silence, an echoing one that reached from the scarred subflooring to the brilliantly colored dome.

As they stood there she knew how he felt, even how he thought, because her own frustration at the futility of it all rose.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." But he'd had to come and work his way through it. Minute by minute, it was becoming easier. "It'll pass, but I've got to say I don't want to watch when they start tearing it out." "No, neither do I." She walked in a little farther and set her purse on a sawhorse. It did hurt. Maybe it would help for them to look beyond the immediate future to a more distant one. "You know, I've always wanted to come into a place like this as a patron." She turned with a smile because she felt they both needed it. "I'll make you a deal, Johnson. When it's done and your damn waterfalls are running, I'll treat you to a weekend."

"There's a resort I designed in Tampa that's already open."

She lifted a brow. "Does it have waterfalls?" "A lagoon, in the center of the lobby." "Figures. It's too dark to see much in here." "I've got a flashlight in the car." He rocked back on his heels. "I'd like to take a closer look, make sure whoever was down here wasn't poking around where they shouldn't have been."

"Okay." She yawned once, hugely. "I can sleep tomorrow."

"I'll be right back."

She turned back into the room when he had gone. It was a waste, a terrible one, she thought, but it all hadn't been for nothing. Without this project, these buildings, she might never have met him. They said you didn't miss what you'd never had, but when she thought of Cody Abra was certain that was wrong. There would have been a hole in her life, always. She might not have known why, but she would have felt it.

Building had brought them together, and it would bring them together again. Maybe it was time she stopped sitting at the drawing board and planning out her personal life. With Cody, it might be possible to simply take, to simply act. With Cody, it might be possible to admit her feelings.

Scary, she thought, and with a nervous laugh she began to wander. She'd have to give the idea a lot of thought.

He cared for her. He might care enough to be glad if she told him she would relocate in Florida. They could go on there the way they had here. Until… She couldn't get beyond the until.

It didn't matter. She would deal with until when she got there. The one thing she was certain of was that she wasn't going to let him walk away.

With a shrug, she glanced up at the dome. The light was trickling through, thin but beautifully tinted by the glass. Pleased, she circled around. It was lovely the way it fell on the flooring, seeped into the corners. She could almost imagine the tinkling of the waterfall, the thick, cozy chairs circled around the clear pool.