He’d finished the meadow and cut the road. Tiffany was no more sure than he was about how to cut ditches and widen turns, but between them, they figured it out. When it was all done, he drove out to the lighthouse and parked the road grader with its nose pointing toward the sea. The engine turned over a few final, thudding times after he’d shut it down, then there was only the pinging of hot metal and the ringing in his ears.
Again, the infinite expanse of water spread before him. As his hearing recovered, the low roar of the ocean filled in the background. Then Tiffany’s soft breathing in the foreground.
He turned to face her and they were nearly nose to nose.
“Well done,” her voice was a whisper of praise that felt greater than any he’d received before.
“I couldn’t have done it alone
