Frank was sitting at the oak desk in the construction yard office when I opened the screen door at ten o’clock.

A green ledger book lay open between two blue plastic mugs of coffee.

“The gravel supplier in Culpeper cleared the back invoice this morning,” Frank said, tapping a red rubber stamp against a paper receipt.

“That leaves us clear on every account back to June.”

Frank pulled a yellow notepad out from under his desk blotter.

“The three carpenters we hired back last week finished framing the south gable on the Miller house yesterday,” he said.

“They came in two hours under budget.”