A cold, hard knot formed in the center of my stomach, replacing the fear with something else entirely.

I stared at the empty screen of my phone as the crane began to lift the kitchen ceiling into the air.

The shadow of the crane’s yellow boom swept across the dry grass, cooling my face for a brief second.

I stood there, the heat of the Texas afternoon radiating off the dirt.

My thumb hovered over the screen of my phone, the eighty-two-dollar balance still glaring back at me.

“Alexandra?”

Nathan Cole walked toward me, his heavy boots crunching on the gravel.

He wiped his forehead with the back of a gloved hand, leaving a streak of grey dust.

“We’re ready to rig the main living room section,” Nathan said. “But my office needs that confirmation number for the second wire.”

I closed the banking app and locked the screen.

My hand was shaking, so I shoved it deep into the pocket of my linen trousers.

“There’s a temporary delay with the money market account,” I said.

My voice sounded hollow, even to my own ears.