Ayla chatted, her voice echoing in the empty room. When we were finished, I threw out the garbage. "Want to check out the damage?"
To my surprise, Ayla jumped up and said, "Yes!"
They followed me to the break room. "This is where the pipe burst. You want to see it?"
Ayla's eyes widened. "Yes, please."
I pulled out the same pipe I showed her mother yesterday. "This material isn't the best and deteriorates over time."
"What does de-ter-ate mean?" Ayla asked, faltering over the unfamiliar syllables.
"The material breaks down over time, and it can get holes where water can leak."
Ayla frowned at me. "Why would they use something that breaks?"
"When they installed these, they weren't aware that they wouldn't last. Now we use a different material. But what that means is that all the pipes in town will need to be inspected and replaced if they're the same material."
Angela's brow furrowed. "How will you handle that?"
"Eve wants your shop fixed first. But I'll probably inspect the other buildings while we wait for the floors to dry."
Angela sighed. "It's frustrating to sit around and wait. I want to do something."
"You were going to start your new shop, remember?" Ayla prompted her mother.
Angela shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "That's more uncertain. I know that this store will sell product before Christmas. But an online store is an unknown."
"You won't know unless you try," Ayla said with an upbeat tone.
"You're opening an online shop?" I asked, curious about her plans.
She sighed. "I've been thinking about it for a while. There are a lot of things to consider, and I've been putting it off. But maybe this is the time to get serious about it. I need multiple streams of income, especially when something like this happens."
"That's not a bad idea." I knew nothing about selling online. My business had always been a service-based one. The only way I could streamline things was to hire more people. I could only do so much work myself, and this project was making that painfully obvious. "There's not much you can do here. At least not until the floors dry out."
Angela blew out a breath. "Patience is not my strong suit."
"Mine either," Ayla said, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"We'd better get to work. Let me know how things go," Angela said to me as she ushered Ayla out of the room.
I should have been relieved that they were going to work elsewhere. But I enjoyed their company. I'd never thought much about having kids, but Ayla was sweet, and I could see the appeal.
It would be nice to teach a child skills that my father taught me. I'd be carrying on our family's traditions.
I estimated the amount of pipe I'd need to fix this building and sat at the break-room table to place an order on my laptop. The table was wobbly and there was only a single-cup coffee machine on the beat-up countertop with a minifridge. I had a feeling Angela didn't spend money on things that customers didn't see.
The front of the store was nicely designed with wood floors, crown molding on the ceiling, and crystal chandeliers. What I'dseen of the displays yesterday were tastefully done. Angela ran a classy shop.
I'd just placed the order when Angela came inside the room. "I was hoping I could talk to you about the house."
"Is there something wrong?" I asked, worried that I'd overlooked a necessary repair.
She frowned as she sat across from me. " If anything, it's nicer than where we live now. It's making me want things we're not quite ready for."
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing unless she couldn't afford it, and it made her feel like a bad mom. I could understand wanting to give your child everything.
Her brows furrowed. "Can we talk about the rent?"
