could have easily spread out down in the library to do my work. But somehow, I needed to keep that separate.
The secret library with thousands of books that held all kinds of mystical secrets was a slap in the face reminder that my life has become unpredictable and dangerous.
Working on my laptop at the bright kitchen table overlooking part of the city and the Sound lets me have some semblance of a normal life.
Today, I’m sending out emails to update vendors on One Bean. Yesterday, which was exactly ten days since the fire, I was notified that the arson investigator’s findings were inconclusive, although they suspected it was faulty electrical wiring.
That brought on a whole new set of business problems because the insurance company was not eager to pay the claim if they could blame the fire on someone else—such as the original electrician and contractor who wired the building.
I had updated Carrick about this last night as he ate dinner by himself at the large dining table because, frankly, since being rebuffed, I’m not all that keen to be in his presence. It hurts a little too much, so, for the last two evenings, I’d made a sandwich and ate it in my bedroom while watching TV. He’d offered to train, but I declined, citing a fake sore knee. I know it’s obvious I’m avoiding him, but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I put myself out there, and it didn’t work. My bruised ego will heal soon enough, though my heart might take a bit longer, and then I’m ready to get back to business as usual.
Carrick agreed that as long as the insurance company had a slight chance of denying the claim due to it being someone else’s fault, they were not going to make a speedy payment. My heart dropped but laid low only briefly because Carrick stood from the dining table, leaving his meal half-eaten.
“Come with me,” he said in a clipped tone, and I followed him to his office.
I stood in the doorway as he unlocked one of his desk drawers and pulled out a checkbook. He bent over his desk, quickly signed every single check in it, and then tossed it to me. I opened the front flap to see “Byrne Enterprises” at the top of the first check.
“A bunch of blank checks?” I asked, needing a bit more clarification of what he wanted to be done.
“I’m going to have one of my general contractors, a guy by the name of Philip Hostein, get up with you tomorrow. He’ll start work on the rebuild. He’ll hire the subcontractors. You just need to pay his invoices as he sends them, and he’ll handle paying the people under him.”
“And that’s it?” I asked hesitantly. “You don’t need me to check bids or make sure you’re not price gouged?”
Carrick gave me a smile that sent a chill up my spine. “Phillip has been working for me for a long time. But he’s also a light daemon. He knows if he were ever to try to take advantage of me, I’d make him pay for it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’d kill him for double-crossing you?”
Carrick smirked. “No, but I’d sure make him wish I’d killed him.”
Before I could pry further or try to give myself a gut check as to whether Carrick was serious, he turned away and reached back into the unlocked drawer. Out came a large lockbox, and, after he put in a three-digit code, it opened.
He reached in, came out with a stack of credit cards, and flipped through them until he came upon the one he wanted.
A simple black card that he handed over his desk, forcing me to take several steps toward him to accept.
“That card has no limit, so use it on whatever else you need to get equipment, furnishings, stock, and decor.”
My jaw dropped open just a tad, but Carrick wasn’t paying any attention. He merely closed and locked his drawer, walked by me out of his office, and didn’t acknowledge my murmured, “Thank you.”
So on the heels of Carrick’s generosity, this morning dawned bright for me as I awoke to the knowledge that One Bean was on its way back. Carrick had warned me that even with a quick start on construction, it would still take a few months as some specialty item materials could take a while to get in.
Regardless, the morning got better when Philip Hostein called me at eight AM and wanted to know if