"Uh, yes..." Mr. Armstrong grumbled. "Well, I'm not sure when I'll be back this way..."
"Let's see what you have," I suggested, gesturing for him to pull out his phone. "I'm sure we can accommodate your schedule, sir."
The man's head was swinging from side to side as he tried to look at both me and Darnell at the same time. Giving in, he pulled out his phone and sighed a little too heavily. "I have Tuesday of next week," he admitted. "I'm not sure you'll be able to do everything in that time, but I won't be back this way for a month after that."
"Oh, we can make it happen," Darnell promised. "Now, Tuesday, you said? What time?"
"Morning," the fire marshal admitted. "Probably about ten, give or take, what with the time to drive here."
"So we will be ready for you at nine," I promised. "Now, the smoke detectors are in - what else do we need?"
"Fire extinguishers," Darnell said. "We can make boxes outside each door. Means they'll be available if there's a fire in another building. I'm sure the wiring all passed the inspection. So, sir, what else is required for this property to be considered up to code?"
"That should be all," the man admitted.
"And if you could just write that down for us," Darnell pressed. "I'll need to have it in writing to turn over to the owner. Just list anything else that could possibly cause a problem later, if you would?"
Mr. Armstrong nodded, clearly feeling a little overwhelmed by our "enthusiasm" for this. While we both waited, leaning over his shoulders to watch him write, he filled out the paperwork to notify us of the required upgrades necessary to pass inspection. Darnell kept pointing, asking about things, and then asking for him to put the restrictions down so he could check that too.
In all honesty, I was rather impressed with my old friend. He was wearing filthy clothes and covered in dust from moving things around. With his tattoos, he looked like a general laborer, not a brilliant business owner, and I was sure that Mr. Armstrong assumed Darnell was trying to keep himself from getting in trouble. What he didn't realize was that Darnell was systematically making a legal record that I had a feeling would end up in Cessily's hands shortly.
"Ok," the fire marshal said as he signed the bottom and passed the page to Darnell. "Sounds like I might as well get out of y'all's hair, then."
"Oh," Darnell said, pushing the paper back at him. "Can you write down the appointment date and time too? Just in case we're not here that day, you know. Want to make sure whoever is working won't have an excuse to keep you waiting."
"Yeah. Right." The man did.
Once Darnell had that, he gestured towards the door. "Sorry to have wasted your time, sir. Let me just show you the easy way back to your truck, since I'm headed up to the house anyway." Then he looked back at me. "Luke will probably need a hand moving out that old stove. Thing has to weigh a ton."
"Which is why you didn't want to help," I teased. "Yeah, I'll handle that. Since you're headed up to the house, tell Cess to get a dumpster ordered for us?"
Darnell smiled at the name I'd picked in that sentence. "Yeah, man. Kinda what I was thinking. Here's hoping the boss is in a good mood, right?"
"Exactly," I agreed, sure now that we were both on the same page.
Because if this man was going to try to give us the runaround, we would make sure that he met our attorney. If he'd thought Violet was intimidating that first time, I couldn't wait until he saw her and Cessily together. He'd quickly learn that Paul Simmons might be a big fish around these parts, but Southwind was run by vipers.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cessily and Violet spent the rest of the day pouring through county and city laws for the fire code. Blaze made a couple of phone calls as well, clearly knowing someone who knew someone. I stayed out of their way, using the need to order fire extinguishers as my excuse. Even better, I found a local handyman willing to pick them up in bulk and attach the "break glass" style cases on the front of each cabin. To me, that was a win-win-win. One local person hired and one problem dealt with while avoiding two very frustrated women.
But by that evening, the problem had been solved. Cessily not only had a copy of all applicable laws, but a solution for any new issue that might come up. The only other thing we might possibly require was a fire escape plan. That was actually Faith's idea, since they did fire drills at her school. She didn't know the proper name, but Blaze decided that she could help him design the plan.
Luke kept smiling at the pair. Blaze was so gentle with that girl, and it was pretty adorable. Then again, so was the way Luke seemed to puff up a bit when others liked his daughter. I couldn't get enough of what a good father he was. That wasn't exactly my kink, and yet the appeal was growing on me - quickly.
Cy was the same way with his little dog. There was just something sexy about a big, strong, sexy man taking care of something so small and helpless. When I told Violet about it that night, she giggled at me. It was almost like we'd gone back in time, the pair of us lying across the bed while talking about boys. The only difference was that these boys were now our boyfriends and I was the one going on and on about Luke's green eyes while she fawned over Cy's sweet little smile.
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same, it seemed. I was thinking about that the next morning as I approved Faith's photos in the official layout for the catalogue. I flipped around the positions on one page, making the overall spread feel a little more balanced, then sent the correction off to Leslie. I was clicking to move on to the next when my phone rang. I expected it to be Leslie explaining to me why that change wouldn't work. Instead, it was an unknown number.
"Ashton Walker," I answered.
"Mr. Walker," the man on the other end said, "I have a note here that we're to contact you about the state approvals for a potential employee for the Southwind Teen Rehabilitation Center. It's for, um..." He paused. "Emily Harding."
"Any problems?" I asked.
"No, sir," the guy assured me. "She meets all minimum and standard requirements for working with children. I'm sending you the complete report to the email address you supplied." And then he listed off the address I used for Southwind business. "Is that correct?"
"It is," I told him. "Thank you. Is there anything else that could cause a complication with hiring her?"
