That only makes me angrier about the whole thing when the door opens without a knock. Leah never barges in unless something's wrong, so when I look up and see her face, I'm already halfway out of my chair.
"What happened?"
She holds up a single sheet of paper with official letterhead and the Beaufort city seal. "Some guy walked in, handed this to Karen, and walked out. He didn't give his name, but this looks for real, Em. And he looked official too."
I take it from her and hold it up to read it. It's a notice of inspection from the city health and safety office. The letter says we'll have to make sure everything's up to code sooner than the last inspector gave us. In January when they did the walkthrough, they warned me that by next year our "faults", as he put them, would have to be remedied. If they're inspecting again so soon, it means someone is pulling something.
"This doesn't make any sense. We did our annual four months ago."
"I know," she mumbles, and I watch her shrug.
"We have until next January to make everything good… I was waiting until after festival season." I run a hand through my ponytail and scowl. "There's no reason to schedule another one unless someone filed a complaint."
Leah leans against the door frame and crosses her arms. "And who do we think might've done that?"
That damn asshole Langford wants this place so badly. I wouldn’t put it past him to do something so low-down and conniving.
"What did the guy look like?" I ask, pushing past her into the kitchen. This isn't right and someone needs to stand up to these people. If I shut down operations right now to fix the repairs, I'll lose weeks of income. I'll miss my mortgage payment or worse, default on utilities. I can't do all of this at once, either, and basedon this assessment, I have six weeks to have this place fully ready for inspection.
"I didn't see him. Karen did."
I find Karen at the end of the counter boxing up a pie order. Her shoulders are hunched and she looks sad as I ask, "The man who just came in with the paper, what did he look like?"
Karen looks up, confused. "He was older, grey suit, kind of stiff. He didn't even say hello, Emily. He just handed me the envelope and walked out before I could ask him what it was about."
I turn and scan the boardwalk through the front windows. The lunch crowd is filling in and the sidewalk is busy, but there's nobody in a grey suit. He's gone—vanished into the crowd like the weasel he is, and I can't even protest what's happening now.
"Em." Leah is behind me now, her hand on my shoulder. "Come sit down."
"I don't want to sit down."
"I know you don't, but you're scaring the customers." She steers me gently back toward the kitchen, and I let her, mostly because she's right. There's a woman at the display case watching me with wide eyes and a half-eaten scone in her hand.
How can this be happening? I know men like Langford play dirty, but honestly, it's not fair. I worked so hard to get this place up and running and if he comes in and takes it, what will I do? Even at ten times the real estate price, there won't be another plot of land to even consider buying in this town. He's scarfed up every good location in three counties and location is everything for a business like mine. I'm lucky I got the deal I got here on this boardwalk. Nan's money bought this. It's all I have left of her.
"What do you think he's trying to do?"
"He's trying to shut me down." I hold up the notice. "He can't make me sell, so he's going to bury me in inspections and fines until I can't afford the bills. And when the city shuts off my power, I'm out."
"Can he actually do that?"
"If he's got people at city hall, yeah, he can do whatever he wants." I fold the notice in half and shove it in my apron pocket. "A failed inspection means fines. Fines mean I fall behind on payments."
Leah stares at me for a second. "So, what do we do?"
"We pass the inspection." I look around the kitchen, but I feel my heart tugging at me. We have a few pricey repairs I was hoping to save up for over the summer. To make matters worse, the only affordable place in town is the one place I don't want to call. "Pull the health code binder and make sure everything's current. Temp logs, cleaning schedules, all of it. I want it perfect."
"It's already perfect."
"Then make it more perfect." I let my hair down and then tie it back up tighter, giving my hands something to do. "And if that man shows up again, you get his name and his card and you come find me immediately."
Leah frowns at me as we hear Karen calling her name, and she snaps to attention, rushing out to help with customers while I lean over the prep table stewing.
If I lose this place, I lose everything. Without this bakery, I'm a single mom with a culinary degree and no savings, starting overfrom scratch in a town that's being eaten alive by a man in a nice suit with deep pockets. And worse, I lose myself in the process.
This place was my anchor for years. I poured everything into it because I had to prove to myself—and everyone else in this town who pitied me—that I didn't need a man to be worth something. It's more than just my job or my business. It's my motivation to get out of bed in the morning and be a better version of me, not the bitter woman I could be.
I take a breath, pull the notice out of my pocket, and read it one more time. If Lanford wants a fight, fine. I'll give him one. And I don't intend to lose, even if it means calling Jaxon's father to ask for help.
