Jessica pulled her hand away from the cat. He meowed loudly in protest.
“Your temporary event catering permit.”
Julie tried not to panic. “Gram didn’t mention that. I can call her…”
She was fishing her phone out of her pocket when Jessica stopped her.
“She might not know. It only became municipal law about five years ago. If you ask me, the town council just wanted a good excuse to collect another fee. But without one, I won’t be able to do any cooking on-site.”
“And you have to do the cooking on-site?”
“I do. I don’t have big enough ovens at home to cook everything, let alone drive it here while it’s still hot. But don’t worry, it’s easy to get one of the permits. All you need to do is call Ted Thorndike and have him come in for an inspection. I can give you his number.” She glanced toward the kitchen sink at thedrip, drip, dripcoming from it. “But you might want to get the plumbing fixed first.”
The phone in Julie’s hand rang. At this point, it was probably more bad news. She glanced at the screen, and it took her a solid two rings to recognize the digits she’d called earlier to reach Ned Wheatley. Relief washed through her, and she held up the phone.
“That won’t be a problem. That’s the plumber now. If you’ll excuse me for just a second?”
Jessica nodded.
Julie couldn’t walk far without losing the patch of good cell phone signal, but she moved a few steps away before answering the call. She heard Jessica cooing softly to the cat.
“Hello?”
The pause at the other end of the line was significant. Julie raised her voice and repeated herself, in case the line was obscured with static on the other end.
“You sound just like your grandmother.” The voice on the other end of the line, male, sounded a bit choked up.
“I’m told I look like her too. I’m Julie.”
“Yes, Julie, sorry. This is Ned Wheatley. I’m returning your call.”
“I’m happy to hear from you. I’m at the inn, and we have a bit of a plumbing problem.”
Again, silence on the other end of the line. It didn’t comfort her.
“How big of a plumbing problem?”
Julie frowned. “Well, nothing’s flooding, but we have a leak under the kitchen sink.”
The relief in his voice was palpable. “I can make it out next week to take a look at it.”
Julie stared at the phone in her hand for a moment, hoping that she’d heard wrong. She lifted it back to her ear and tried not to screech her answer. “Nextweek?” Panic knotted in her throat, making it difficult to breathe.
“Yes. I’d come out sooner, but there has been more than one emergency in the area, and I’m not as young as I once was. I can only do so much.”
Julie grimaced. He sounded, like the handyman, to be around Gram’s age—and Gram had been forced to retire because she couldn’t keep up with the workload. “I understand that.” And she did, even if it didn’t help her building panic. “But I have to get an inspector out here for the catering permit, and I don’t think we’ll pass muster with a leak in the sink.”
“Don’t you worry about it,” Ned assured her. “I know Ted. It won’t take him five minutes to do the inspection. If need be, he could even do it the morning of the party, but I don’t think it will come to that.”
Julie wanted to be reassured, but every muscle in her back was tense. “You’ve heard about the party.”
“Of course! It’s wonderful that you’re putting it on one last time. I used to go every year with my brother. But those days are gone now…” He fell silent then cleared his throat. “Tell you what, if you don’t mind last-minute notice, I’ll come by one day to take a look at the problem. If it’s an easy fix, I might be able to do it on the spot.”
Julie bit her lip. “And if it isn’t?”
“Then we’ll at least know how much time it will take. Don’t worry, Julie. We’ll get you straightened out in time for the party.”
Julie wished that she shared his confidence.
