“Jaxon, where the hell are you? The site’s on fire! The whole crew’s here trying to contain it. Get your ass over here now!”
I drag myself up, brushing sand off my jeans, and start running toward the truck. My dinner with Emily is done, but the night isn’t over yet.
22
EMILY
I've wiped the same counter three times now and Karen finally walks over and takes the rag out of my hand. "It's clean, Emily. It was clean an hour ago. Go make coffee or something before you wear a hole through the stainless steel."
She's right, but I'm too nervous to do nothing. Keeping busy helps me distract my mind from worrying about how badly this could go. So I make coffee and rearrange the mugs on the shelf above the machine. Then I check the walk-in cooler for the second time even though Karen already checked it.
I hardly slept last night and I got up super early this morning when I finally gave up on sleeping. My eyes hurt and my body feels like I ran a marathon, but I'm here. We worked so hard to get this place ship-shape and today is D-day.
"You seem upset," Karen says, passing by me when I stop by the dry goods rack. I swear I've already swept this flour up three times this morning, but I have to do it again.
"Yeah, well…" I huff and rub my forehead. "I am." Jaxon hasn't answered his phone once. After I left him on the beach last night,I figured things were different. He finally got the guts to open up to me and I immediately understood why it'd been so difficult for him. But telling me doesn't seem to have affected his reliability at all. I've called him four times this morning, hoping he could be here to talk to the inspector, and his phone goes straight to voicemail every time.
"Look, it'll be fine," she says, grabbing my wrist and squeezing gently. "I'll get this." She nods at the floor. "You get a cup of coffee and sit down. You look like you might fall over any second."
Scowling, I say, "I feel like I might fall over." Then I huff out a sigh and chuckle with her as I stalk over to the coffee counter and pour myself a cup of the blueberry brew I love most.
We've been on edge hoping to make sure everything is perfect for weeks now and if today doesn't go how I hope, I may just have a mental breakdown. It's one of the reasons I wish Jaxon were going to be here. As much as I love Leah, she just can't hold me together the way I know he can—or at least, how he used to before he left. And besides, Leah had a late night last night. I told her not to bother coming in this early with a late shift scheduled for today.
I get my coffee doctored up and before I even take the first sip, the inspector shows up. He's a stout man with a mustache and a tan sport coat. He waits for me to unlock and invite him in.
"Good morning," I say softly, forcing a smile I'm not feeling.
"Morning, Ms.…" He stares down at his clipboard and then grumbles, "Carter?"
"Yes, Emily…" I offer my hand, but he narrows his eyes at it and looks up to see Karen walking in.
"Shall we get this over with? I have plans this afternoon." His grumpy demeanor isn't doing him any favors, but then he's not here for tea and scones.
I exchange a fast glance with Karen as we follow him around into the dining room. He starts at the fire extinguisher by the front entrance, checking the tag and the pressure gauge. Then he looks at the mount on the wall. "When was this last serviced?"
"March," I say. "We're on a six-month rotation with a company out of Morehead City."
He nods and writes something on his clipboard, then moves to the emergency exit next to the restrooms and pushes the bar. The door swings open cleanly and the alarm chirps a few times. He lets it close, checks the hinges, runs his hand along the seal at the bottom.
"Good. No daylight coming through, seal is intact." He writes again and moves toward the kitchen.
Karen holds the kitchen door open for him and I hold my breath. I've been through a dozen of these things, one every six months for the six years it's been functioning. They never get easier.
He pauses at the ventilation hood and looks up at it, then pulls a small flashlight from his shirt pocket and shines it into the ductwork. He stands there for a good thirty seconds, shining the beam around inside, before he steps back.
"When was this work done?"
"Uh, it was finished up a few weeks ago while other repairs were being done. Cole and Son's Construction…" I hope that by dropping the name, he'll get the point. We've paid good moneyfor this work to be done. Money I didn't have, but I didn't have a choice.
"They did a nice job. The airflow is strong, filter housing is properly sealed, no visible buildup in the duct." He makes a note and moves to the back door, which he opens then closes then opens again. He tests the latch with his thumb and checks the frame where it meets the wall. This time, all he offers is a grunt before he starts moving again. But he's not writing anything down this time.
Karen catches my eye from across the kitchen. I let myself breathe a little. We're past the worst of it and on to things I know will pass. It's a good sign. We've got this locked up and I have Jaxon and his guys to thank.
Then the inspector opens the walk-in cooler and steps inside. I hear him moving things around on the shelves before he comes back out and checks the temperature readout on the outside panel. "Nice, nice…" He looks at the dates on the containers nearest the door. "Your labeling is consistent… A lot of places get lazy with their rotation." When his eyes meet mine, I feel pride swelling. "Well done."
Everything is going according to plan, just the way we need it to until he stops by the dry goods storage and crouches down with his flashlight pointed at the bottom shelf where we keep the bulk flour and sugar. I don't like how quiet he gets or how closely he's inspecting things. He slides one of the flour bags forward and I see a ragged tear in the paper about the size of a quarter, with flour spilling out onto the shelf below.
"Oh, God," I mumble, swallowing my shock. "I swear we just restocked yesterday and that wasn't there." I'm so stupid. I knew I'd seen flour and sugar on the ground three times this morning.This is so messed up. We've never had a rodent problem before. Not ever.
