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“I don’t have time to figure this out now, though. I have to run.” He kissed Hollis and scurried past him to hit the stairs. He didn’t stop to have his usual coffee and rushed outside to his car.
The whole time he drove to the restaurant, his hands were white-knuckled on the wheel and his underarms were sweating. Dammit, he’d forgotten to put on deodorant. He had some stashed in his office, so he wasn’t too worried about it. Luckily, he’d also showered the night before.
He parked his little Volt in his parking space and jogged inside the restaurant to find everyone standing around in the kitchen as the health inspector moved about. Sean looked positively livid as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Tell me why you’re here again when you just did this a few weeks ago,” Ian demanded, hands on his hips as he faced the inspector.
“Multiple complaints of food poisoning have come in since then.”
“Since then, or have they been over the last week?”
The inspector, a small, thin man in khakis and a blue blazer, consulted his notes. “Looks like you’re right. All in the last week.”
“I haven’t heard a thing about this.” Ian waved his hand around the kitchen. “But go ahead, you know me. I follow all the codes to a T and keep everything in tip-top shape.”
“I know, Mr. Banner, but I still have to do my job.”
Ian watched as the man got busy. First, he washed his hands. He checked all their food storage, including using a thermometer to test the temperature of the freezer and refrigerator. He even tested the internal temperature of the food in the freezer. He looked over the shelves and saw they were clean and well-organized. He saw that all their prep tools were color coordinated to prevent cross-contamination. He checked the tableware and that there weren’t any entry points for pests to sneak in. He did all the things he’d just done a short time ago.
He was damn thorough, and Ian was glad because he had nothing to worry about. He kept things exactly the way they should be. Rialto meant so much to him, and keeping it up to code was important to him.
The inspector stayed to watch them work as they began prepping for lunch. Ian’s employees used the sink that was designated for handwashing often, and they kept everything separated the way they should. Several of them threw nervous glances at the health inspector, and Ian didn’t blame them. He was like a dark presence, looming over them to ensure no one made a mistake.
Inside, Ian was a mass of fury. Hot acid kept flowing up his throat. He could no longer think these were all random attacks coming along at the same time. This was someone out to get his restaurant, and the thought was like a fist to his gut. He had another enemy and just when he had so many good things going on in his life.
Ian closed his hands into fists before he forced himself to jump into the fray. He put on his apron and thoroughly washed his hands before heading to the vegetable section to chop veggies for the lunch salads. Might as well help and keep busy while he was there early.
By the time the health inspector was done, Ian was quivering from all the repressed anger. Rialto had passed with flying colors, which he wasn’t surprised about in the least. But still, the thought of multiple complaints made him sick. Something was definitely going on. He just wished he had some idea of why. His phone rang and he pulled it out to see Hollis calling.
He took the call in his office, happy to be in the privacy of the small room to decompress.
“How did it go?” his husband asked, and he felt warmth swell in his chest at the very welcome sound of that voice.
“Apparently, there were enough complaints about food poisoning to send the inspector here fast.”
“Wouldn’t you have heard something about that beforehand?”
“You’d think, but I didn’t.”
“It sounds like someone has it out for the restaurant.”
“It does,” Ian agreed as he sat in his office chair and rubbed his eyes. “What am I going to do, Hollis?”
“I don’t know, baby. Don’t think there’s much you can do with the kinds of attacks you’re getting. They’re all being done through professional channels. You looked into one of those reputation firms, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” Ian sighed, his eyes gritty and irritated as he worked to blink back tears. James was looking into the top three companies who did everything from monitoring blogs to populating search engines with positive information. But the attacks were happening so fast, Ian felt overwhelmed. He just wanted to go home and crawl into his man’s arms and forget about the world for a while. “I love you.”
