Page 95 of Caught in the Crossfire

“Delayed. I’ll talk to him after dinner.”

True to his word, Mason returned soon, and they sat around the table to eat. Halfway through dinner, Nicole said, “You haven’t told us how your day went, Mason. How did the inspection come out?”

“Building 7 passed with flying colors. Dean and I worked on Building 6 today.”

“Is scheduling so many inspections back-to-back normal?” Linc asked.

Mason shook his head. “Brian accelerated the pace for good reason. We landed a new development and, if everything goes according to plan, we start building soon. We need the Oakdale site complete before then.”

“That’s great,” Nicole said. “Brian must be ecstatic.”

“He is. No one else knows, though. He plans to announce the deal tomorrow evening at the company picnic.”

She’d forgotten about the picnic. Nicole glanced at Dawn who already had her phone out. “Are you checking our schedule?”

“Yep.” A moment later, she said, “Thank goodness. We have a slow day tomorrow. Only 15 dogs, four cats, and a rabbit. As long as we don’t have a run on drop-in appointments, we should be finished by 4:00 tomorrow.”

“That’s perfect.” Mason squeezed Nicole’s hand. “The picnic starts at 5:00.”

“Do we need to bring anything?”

“I’ll take care of it. Brian promised to turn us loose tomorrow at 3:00.” He looked at Linc and Dawn. “You’re welcome to come.”

“Sounds like fun.” Linc glanced at Dawn. “You game?”

“Sure. We’ll stop by the store for chips and a dessert. Thanks for asking us to come, Mason.”

After dinner, Linc and Dawn volunteered to clean up. With Linc’s pointed look at her, Nicole knew she couldn’t delay talking to Mason any longer. “Want to sit outside for a few minutes?”

“More stargazing?”

“Just to talk.”

He wrapped his fingers around hers and led her to the swing on the deck. With her tucked against his side, he asked in a quiet voice, “You ready to tell me what’s troubling you?”

“Before I do, you said you had good news. Did you mean the new development?”

“The new development prompted Brian to ask me again about the home rehab position.”

She straightened. “What did you tell him?”

“I agreed to take it as long as Dean was assigned to me permanently. Brian agreed. You’re looking at the head of the home rehab division of Elliott Construction.”

Nicole hugged Mason. “Congratulations! You worked hard and deserved that promotion.”

“We’ll see if the rest of the crew agrees with you. They’ll find out tomorrow at the picnic when Brian announces the news about the development.” He eased back from her. “Now, tell me what’s going on, Nicole.”

She first told him about Rod’s visit to Pet Palace.

“Zane traced the emails to the Otter Creek library. Leah, Dean’s wife, might be able to help us with that. I’ll find out tomorrow if she was successful. What else happened?”

“You know me too well, Mason. One of your coworkers stopped by the salon today.”

He stilled. “Who?”

“Ed Fisher.”

That brought a frown. “What did he want?”

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