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With her stomach sinking, Mack jogged to the entrance and stepped inside.
“Are you okay?” Mack asked. “What’s going on?”
Chaos covered the shop. A paper-towel-and-rags bomb had exploded. Water piled on the floor. A bucket propped open the back door. Chairs topped tables. Like trying to boil the ocean, a human-size puddle had one pathetic fan aimed at it.
“The shop flooded… last night… I don’t know what to do.” Charlie’s breathless and shaky words flew from her mouth. She released her hair from the ponytail elastic and regathered it on top of her head. “And Ben’s out of town. He couldn’t come, and I… ugh!”
“God, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe all of this happened from the storm.” Mack reached out to hug Charlie but dropped her arms. After last night, physical contact rules changed. With how abruptly everything ended after the kiss, no way would she make Charlie feel uncomfortable again.
“The storm messed everything up… I don’t even know how much damage happened.” Charlie swiped her wrist across her forehead and fanned her shirt.
“Let me help.” Mack rested her laptop bag on the counter as Charlie slapped the mop across the floor.
“I can’t ask you to do this.” Those were her words. But her eyes said, “Please help me.”
“You didn’t ask me to.” Mack dashed a glance around the room. “What happened?”
The top of the mop offered a resting place for Charlie’s chin. She inhaled and pushed a few escaped strands behind her ear. “Apparently, this place is sloped because the rain collected here.” She pointed to a several-foot-wide shallow puddle near the storage room. “I bucketed the corner, too, but I can hear it under my feet. The floors are supposed to be waterproof, but… I think it seeped in.”
“Do you have more towels?”
She nodded and walked toward the storage area. When she returned, she threw an apron at Mack and chucked a stack of towels on a table.
The next hour, they barely spoke. Area rugs were scooped up and hung against the iron railing in the sun. Dirty towels tossed in the washing machine. Water squeegeed and dumped outside.
Mack accepted the water bottle Charlie handed to her and toed different areas of the wood floor until water oozed out. She squatted down and pushed on the seams. “I think you’ll need to rip up the flooring.”
Charlie vigorously shook her head. “I can’t!”
A flood would be stressful for anyone. But Charlie looked like she was on the verge of an actual breakdown. And Mack’s heart verged on breaking by looking at her. She planted her arms firmly at her sides to avoid scooping Charlie into her arms. “Hey, it’s okay. Tearing out the floor sucks, but you have insurance, right?”
Charlie swiped her forearm across her upper lip. “I had to take out the highest deductible ’cause I couldn’t afford the premium. But I don’t have enough for the deductible.” Her voice cracked.
Mack’s gut turned. “I’m no expert, but maybe the contractor screwed something up and it’d be on them to fix. Do you have their number?”
The wooden mop hit the floor with a resounding thud, and Mack flinched. She took a tentative step towards Charlie, who dropped her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook and a wail escaped her lips.
Hug or not? Charlie pushed her away last night. Mack didn’t want her to think she was using this moment as an excuse to touch her. But the sobbing was so raw that Mack’s skin prickled. She gnawed on the inside of her cheek and placed a gentle hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
“I know this is super stressful, but I can help.” Mack kept her voice calm. “Do you not have their number anymore?”
Charlie leaned into the wall and slid down on the wet ground. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “I know where the numbers are, but no way in shit am I gonna call them.”
Whoa.
“Why not? Your place is great. Everyone loves it here, but the construction maybe isn’t the best. No way should the seams be like that.”
God, she hoped the truth wasn’t insulting. Charlie obviously spent a ton of time decorating, each detail perfect and beautiful, but Mack had noticed some odd woodwork and doorframes that didn’t line up on day one.
“I can’t.”
Mack slid down next to her. “Talk to me.”
Charlie exhaled a sad, defeated breath and pinched her nose’s bridge. “I’m so behind on bills. I owe them money, and I owe the vendor money, and I owe everyone money, and I’m totally failing.”
The tears returned.
Screw it.Mack scooped Charlie into her arms and held her tight as her neck turned sticky from Charlie’s tears. Her rigid body shook in Mack’s arms, and Mack firmed her grip until Charlie’s body softened and collapsed. Mack whispered everything would be okay while she rubbed Charlie’s upper back.
