Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,89
wasn’t certain. If someone kicked off at the Bait and Burgers, it would definitely slow business down.
“It’s all over the Internet. The story was picked up by a local reporter who gave the story to one of the big newspapers. It then got picked up by Hello, America. Apparently, Sheriff Goody has been fielding calls from reporters who want to come here and interview everyone involved. That would be your friends.”
Jake’s gut cramped. That would be bad. He didn’t need Vivian to draw him a picture. The national media would eat the Hot Nuts alive. Pecan Creek would come off looking unprofessional and unsafe, especially once it was dug up that Sugar hadn’t bothered to get any permits or health inspections. It was a rookie mistake in the food business. He knew how the mistake had happened, because he was in the food business. You got a big idea, you had a thousand things to decide for the business, and little things like codes and permits and health inspections never came up in your own house where you were cooking in your own kitchen.
There had been a dead body of questionable origin in their place of business.
“Have any suggestions?”
Vivian kept silent as their burgers were placed in front of them.
“Hello, Mrs. Bentley,” Evert said with an enthusiastic grin.
“Hello, Evert,” Vivian said. “Please say hello to your mother and father for me. I heard that your mother recently made up a new batch of her delightful divinity. I’m hoping her shop gets lots of business during our parade.”
“She does, too.” Still grinning, Evert shambled back to the grill.
“So?” Jake said.
“There’s only one way to save this. They’re going to have to shut down their business.” Vivian took a bite of her hamburger, nodding. “Delicious.”
Jake stared at his mother. “Shut it down?”
“How else do you propose that this train wreck gets stopped?”
He lost his appetite, looked out over the parking lot. For once he could tell his mother wasn’t operating from a position of spite. She wasn’t even bitching about the fact that there was a business in their home, or about the Hot Nuts. She seemed totally concerned with Pecan Creek’s reputation as the Most Honest Town in Texas not being tarnished by talk of dead bodies, sexy pecans and a business that hadn’t been vetted by the local health authorities. “They’re hoping to launch in two weeks.”
“During the parade?” Vivian shook her head. “Terrible timing. Sheriff Goody says the reporters will be here then, specifically because of the parade. But they’re sending some reporters ahead to do some local interest scouting.”
Jake leaned back. “I can’t tell the Cassavechias to shut down.”
“I know. But I’ve stretched my mind to think of another way to solve this, and I can’t. Either they take their business elsewhere, or they close it down. It’s never going to be a working business model. There’s too many negatives involved. Imagine what would happen if one of the old-timers keeled over in your restaurant.”
“I know.” Jake blinked. “The body was upstairs in Lucy’s bed, not in the kitchen.”
“Which destroys the house value and any chance we ever have of leasing it or opening it up as a B&B,” Vivian said, without any rancor in her voice, “and it will still affect their business. It’s just bad, Jake.”
Even he could see that time was short. They could maybe jam through the necessary permits; they could make the arrangements with the health department and hope they moved fast, although this close to Thanksgiving, it might be questionable. Jake frowned. There was still the fact that a breaking-and-entry pervert had died in the same house. “That business is their dream.”
“I know.” Vivian shook her head. “I know what it feels like to lose a dream. Believe me, I don’t approve of them, but I don’t want them to lose their business. I better than anyone understand what it means to be a woman with a livelihood when you have no one else in the world to depend on.” She sipped her soda, wiped her lips delicately. “And I don’t want our home affected any more negatively, I’m not going to lie. I also don’t want bad publicity for Pecan Creek. But the thing is, there’s going to be a lot of bad publicity once the story gets out, and their business is sunk.” She sighed. “I don’t envy you having to tell them.”
He’d promised Sugar January and February for advertising on the billboard. “I’ll think of something,” he said, and