Page 7 of Hazel
“I don’t understand,” I say, but before I can finish my sentence, the door swings open and there’s a man with a clipboard standing there.
Seamus gets up and shakes his hand. “This is Paul McCallister,” he says, “an old friend of mine. Our boys go to school together. Turns out their soccer team needed a few new jerseys, and when Paul here saw a nice big donation in my name, he thought he’d give me a call and say thank you. One thing led to another, and the topic of your search for a safety inspector happened to come up. And wouldn’t you know it, Paul had a bit of free time this morning, said he could slip you in. Wasn’t that kind of him?”
“Aye,” I grin, hugging my brother and then shaking Paul’s hand. “Very kind, indeed, Paul. A real lifesaver.”
7
Hazel
I’m just getting out of the shower when my phone rings. My hair is wet and I shiver as the air conditioning sends chills across my naked body.
“You better get down here,” Finn says.
“What is it?” I ask, my mind instantly racing to all the possible disasters that could have struck during the night.
What if another pipe has leaked?
What if a meteor has fallen out of the sky and reduced my bakery to a pile of smoldering ash?
What if aliens arrived on a big spacecraft and decided to park on my bakery? Destroying my building and any hope of opening tomorrow...
It would be just my luck that human kinds first encounter with aliens would happen at the site of my bakery.
I try and get more information out of Finn, but he’s being annoyingly tight-lipped.
I console myself that, if aliens have arrived and ruined my grand opening, at least I might be able to charge tourists to visit the site, and therefore not end up homeless, and penniless, and holding a cardboard sign on the corner of skid row with the words “will bake lovely cakes in return for sexual favors” scrawled in barely legible letters.
Flinging on the first clothes I can find, I run out of the house.
The drive to the bakery feels like it takes forever. Like there’s a conspiracy to see who can drive the slowest and stop me from getting to where I need to go.
I let out a sigh of relief as I pull into the parking lot behind the bakery. Everything seems to be in order.
Tentatively, I push the door open. I sniff the air, expecting to smell the foul stink of sewage or the caustic, burning tang of my dreams.
“Hello?” I shout, oddly worried that there doesn’t seem to be any noise coming from the shop area.
“Hazel?”
Finn appears at the door. His huge size fills the entire frame and blocks out any light from behind him. I let out an involuntary groan. The mere sight of him is enough to make my core tighten.
But any sexual fantasies soon disappear as I notice the serious look on his face. “What is it?” I ask. “What’s happened?”
He takes a step towards me. “I’m sorry,” he says, his voice is soft and low. If I wasn’t so worried about the news he’s clearly trying to break softly, I’d probably collapse into his arms and rest my head against his rock-hard chest.
“What is it, Finn?” I say. “I’m a big girl. I can take it. Just give it to me straight.”
“It’s the inspector,” he says, taking another step towards me. Our bodies are so close I can practically feel the heat radiating off his skin.
I put a hand to my forehead and rest my hip on the nearest counter. Deep down I knew things would never work out. They rarely do. My life has been one failure to the next. Especially when it comes to men. But somehow, I’d managed to convince myself this time would be different. Even when the pipe burst and there was garbage all over the floor, I’d remained optimistic.
“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s not your fault. I’m sure you did your best.”
He pulls an envelope from behind his back. Passing it to me, his face loses its serious, bad-news look, replaced by a cheeky smile. Dimples frame his thick lips.
I take the envelope from him. My hands are shaking so much I can barely open it. But, as my eyes frantically search the pages for the bad news I’ve been waiting for, two words jump out at me… fully compliant.
“But this says…”
