I’d been sleeping peacefully at the B&B, honestly, better than I had in a long time, when a loud crash jolted me awake.
I shot upright, heart pounding.
Water.
That’s the first thing I noticed.
Still in my shorts and T-shirt, I stand up next to the bed, and my feet touch ice-cold water. I grab my shoes and anything else on the floor, making sure to either set them on the bed or in my waterproof luggage. I step lightly until I’m in the hallway and stop. Water gushes from a pipe in the bathroom. My wall is next to it, so that must be why it’s seeping through my room.
My brain is still trying to wake up, and with the darkness, it’s hard to figure out how to fix it.
I run downstairs and knock on the main suite.
It takes a minute before Brock makes his way to answer the door, his eyes barely open.
“A pipe just burst in the bathroom upstairs. Do you have buckets? Towels? Anything?” I ask.
The color drains from his face. He pushes open the door,wearing nothing but boxers and a T-shirt. He takes off past me and races up the stairs.
I meet him at the top. “What can I do? Should we turn off the water for a bit?”
Brock rubs his hands over his face. “Yeah, that’s our best bet. Downstairs in the control room. Chloe will show you.”
The panic is still there, but it looks like he’s doing what he can to stay calm. I hurry downstairs and we get the water turned off. Then I take as many supplies and towels upstairs as Chloe can gather, getting to work on the cleanup.
“How bad is it?” Chloe asks, walking over to Brock.
“Worse than I thought,” he says flatly. He disappears into one room and then goes to check on another. “It’s affecting the other two rooms as well. Let’s get this water cleaned up so it doesn’t ruin the rooms across the hall.”
I use the mop to soak up as much water as possible, getting the bathroom cleaned out.
“You don’t have to help, Max,” Chloe says, holding an armful of used towels.
I chuckle. “I’m not going to let you guys do this yourself. It’s two o’clock in the morning, and I’d rather help you get this figured out if possible.”
With only about a week until the busy season, at least from what I’ve been told, this is the worst possible timing.
“I think we’ll be okay,” Chloe says, though she doesn’t look convinced.
“Are you sure? I can help,” I say. “I know construction crews are slammed right now with everyone prepping for The Season.”
Brock nods. “I’ve done some remodel work before—on a car and a vacation home. I’m just hoping Mike can get here to fix the pipes first. Then we can move on to Sheetrock and everything else.”
“Do you need me to hunt down some fans?” I ask. Maybe ifeverything dries out properly, it won’t need a complete replacement.
“We have some in the attic,” Chloe says. “We’ll get those working now so it can dry out what we can save.”
We get things taken care of, and Chloe ushers me into a room that wasn’t touched by the flood.
“I’m so sorry this happened, and in your room too,” she says, giving me a sad smile. “We’ll give you a refund in the morning.”
Shaking my head, I say, “You couldn’t have predicted this would happen. Although I do think some of the pipes in this town could use a serious upgrade. I just fixed one over at Avery’s apartment.”
She gives me a reassuring smile.
I yawn. “I think it’s time to head back to sleep. Thank you again for allowing me to stay in the—” It’s only then that I glance around to see yellow and black everywhere, with bees as the main decor. I’m not sure how long it took to paint the black-and-yellow stripes on the walls, but I can’t look directly at it for too long, or I’ll go cross-eyed.
“Honeybee Honeymoon suite,” Chloe says with a little laugh. “Brock’s grandparents owned and ran the bed and breakfast before he took it over. His grandmother decorated, and as much as I’ve tried to get Brock to upgrade the decor, he’s one of those ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ people. We get some interesting reviews on this room.”
