A Haven on the Bay - Nicole Ellis Page 0,44
boss walked away, Tia tapped on the iPad screen to wake it up but didn’t look at it immediately. Usually, Zoe was the most put-together, Type-A person that Tia had ever met. If even the unflappable Zoe could fall apart sometimes, maybe there was hope for Tia yet.
She’d managed to tick off a few more boxes on Zoe’s checklist when one of the event staff, dressed in black pants and a white shirt, burst into her line of sight.
The young woman was out of breath and had to compose herself before speaking. “Zoe needs you. She’s freaking out.”
Tia’s alert level shot up to a Code Red. When Zoe left twenty minutes ago, she’d been rattled, but not anywhere near a panicked state. “What’s wrong?”
The woman took another deep breath, then let her words pour out. “There’s a leak in one of the bathrooms upstairs. I was making coffee in those big urns in the kitchen and I heard her calling out. I tried to get Shawn, but I can’t find him anywhere.”
Shawn may have gone back to his cottage to change into his party clothes. Tia gave her a reassuring smile. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll go check on her.”
The woman nodded and scurried off, happy to be relieved of her burden. Tia jogged over to the Inn, took the stairs two at a time, and flung open the door. Days like this were why sensible shoes were a necessity.
“Zoe?” she called up the staircase to the second floor.
“I’m up here!”
Tia ran up the long flight of stairs and stepped directly into a stream of water snaking its way along the non-carpeted portion of the hardwood-lined hallway. Her heart sank. This wasn’t good.
She followed the trail of water to the room at the end of the hallway. In the attached bath, Zoe knelt in a puddle, frantically attempting to mop up the mess with their brand-new, fluffy white guest towels. She’d wrapped another towel around a pipe linking to the pedestal sink, but it hadn’t done much to stem the flow of water.
“Where’s Shawn?” Zoe swiped her hand over her head to smooth back all of the hair that had fallen out of her once-neat ponytail. “I need him.” She might have been mostly fine earlier, but now she was now in a full-on panic. Tears streamed down her face, dripping onto her soaked blouse and jeans like little tributaries leading to the river.
Tia shook her head. “I don’t know.” She whipped out her cell phone and called the number for the emergency plumber that she’d programmed into her contacts. After getting their assurance that they’d be there within fifteen minutes, she stopped to assess the situation.
“Did you try the shut-off valve?”
“It’s stuck.” Zoe uttered a harsh laugh. “I came in here to get dressed, but discovered a flood instead. Of course this would happen on the most important day of my life.”
Tia’s heart hammered in her chest as she reached forward to try her luck with the handle on the valve. It refused to budge. “It’ll be okay.” She wasn’t sure she believed that herself, but Zoe needed the reassurance. Think, Tia! Water sprayed out of the pipe, and she winced at the dark splotches forming on the skirt of her dress. It’s only water. It will dry. However, dry seemed a far-off concept at the moment.
Tia snapped her fingers. “Hold on.” She exited the bathroom and tried the handle on the door to the supply closet. It was supposed to be locked, but it turned easily. Luckily, Zoe hadn’t done her final walkthrough yet to make sure the second floor was ready for the partygoers to explore.
The party. She checked her watch again. Less than five minutes until the guests were scheduled to arrive.
She yanked on the doorknob and the door swung open on well-greased hinges. Shawn’s toolbag lay open on the floor, right where it had been last week when he’d asked her to fetch him a flathead screwdriver to tighten up a chair in the living room.
She grabbed a pair of pliers from the jumble of tools and ran back to the bathroom. Zoe hadn’t moved and her face had taken on an air of sad acceptance. Tia clenched the jaws of the pliers around the shut off valve and applied downward pressure, jiggling it a little. Finally, it gave. She dropped the pliers and turned the valve handle until it met resistance.
They stared at the leak. The jet of water slowed and became a