He picked up his ladder, propped it against the side wall, and climbed three rungs without looking back down.

“I’ll have a contractor look at the roof rafters on Thursday,” he called down.

“We need an assessment before the county land audit.”

I went back inside before he reached the roofline.

By twelve fifteen, I was sitting at my grandfather’s oak desk in the small back study.

Knox laid his dark head across my left boot, his tail giving one quiet thump against the cold floorboards.

I pulled the bottom drawer of the oak desk all the way out until the heavy brass rollers caught on the iron stopper.