~*~*~
Nate stalked through the garage. The scent of burnt wood still lingered in the air, but hopefully after a couple of days of having the garage open it would dissipate. The majority of the damage had been done to the back corner of the building which was where his office was. For the time being, he'd have to do his paperwork elsewhere.
The sounds of the mechanics at work soothed him somewhat. At least it was the sound of what normal had been before everything had fallen to pieces. He was glad that the fire marshal had cleared him to reopen the garage sooner than expected provided they steered clear of the corner of the building that had been damaged. That wasn't an issue since the guys rarely went to his office. In fact, he avoided his office if at all possible as well.
"Everything okay?"
Nate turned to see the manager of the garage approaching him. "Hey, Don. Glad to see you guys all here this morning."
"Yep. We're glad to be able to get back to work. Know it can't be easy for the guys in Sanford. You gonna re-open there?"
"Not anytime soon. The garage there is in the same state as my house here. It will have to be ripped right down and rebuilt. I still have to work with the insurance to see what their final settlement will be. Not something I'm looking forward to, but in the meantime the guys in Sanford will have to find other jobs, I think."
"That's a shame. Especially for Marty. Really like that guy."
"Me, too." Nate rubbed a hand over his head. "I would consider bringing him on here, but there's not enough work. Plus I doubt he wants to drive this far for a job."
"Yeah, not likely any of these guys are going to quit onyou. They all like you too much."
Nate gave Don a weary smile. "I'm grateful for that."
"They catch the guy yet? The one who did this?"
"Nope. Last I heard they had rounded up some of his buddies, but no one was talking."
One of the mechanics called for Don, and after he had excused himself, Nate continued on to his office. He wanted to take a peek, just to see how much damage there was. He supposed he should be thankful that early last week he'd accepted Don's offer to have his teenage daughter come in to scan all his un-entered invoices into his computer. All of that was now available to him through his online backup. He needed to do a deposit as well to get all the money into the bank and then pay some bills. Life had to go on. Thankfully Lance had offered him the use of the library at the manor until he was able to get back into his office at the garage.
Nate collected the cash and checks from the fireproof safe that had preserved them. After he'd gathered what he needed, he headed back out into the garage area. He spotted Don standing with one of the mechanics and interrupted them briefly to let him know that he would be available by phone if anything came up that needed his attention.
Back at the manor, he carried the file box inside.
"Hey, Nate," Amy greeted him with a smile. "How're things going at the garage?"
"As well as can be expected. Very thankful that it is still functional."
"It's horrible how much damage fire can do. My mom said the other day they're just finally getting around to clearing out the damaged building at my old school."
"Yeah, I'm not sure when I'll be able to tackle the mess in Sanford." He lifted the box. "Lance told me I could make use of the library here since my office was damaged in the fire."
"Sure, it's just through there." Amy motioned with her hand. "We're having a bit of a late lunch today. Can I make you a sandwich?"
"I hate to be a bother," Nate said, though food sounded very appealing since he hadn't had breakfast that morning.
Amy laughed. "It's no bother to make another sandwich. Ham okay?"
"Yep. I'm not fussy."
"I'll bring it to you when it's ready."
Nate thanked her then headed for the library. He put the box on the desk before heading up to his room to grab his laptop which had been spared in the fire since he’d had it with him in Sanford. He glanced toward Lily's room, not surprised to see the door was closed. It was possible she wasn't even in the manor right then. Not that it mattered to him.
Or at least that's what he kept telling himself.
Back in the library, he settled down at the desk and let out a long sigh before opening his laptop. This was absolutely the part of the job he hated the most. He and his dad had slowly been turning over the paperwork side of things to Lily. She'd taken some courses on bookkeeping at the college in order to help them out. It had pleased Nate to have Lily working alongside him in the business that would one day have been theirs. But then she'd just up and left...
Nate stared at the screen of the laptop, trying to pull his thoughts back from that path. He'd been on the verge of hiring a bookkeeper to help him out, but that would have to be put on hold. For now, he'd have to keep doing it himself and hope his accountant could sort it all out come tax time.
With a couple of clicks of the mouse, he pulled up the page that showed his uploaded files. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the files were all there. He’d been pretty sure they would be, but he had needed to see it for himself.
