I freeze.
Mara looks at me.
“Kim…”
I run to the back and yank open the fridge door.
Warm air breathes out at me.
I punch the wall.
Once.
Hard.
Pain flares up my forearm.
“Okay,” I say, voice too steady. “Okay. Everybody listen up.”
The kitchen goes quiet.
“We move dairy and meats into the walk-in. We ice everything else. We don’t close. We don’t panic.”
Ishaan wipes his hands on his apron.
“That compressor doesn’t just die like that.”
“I know,” I say.
Mara’s phone buzzes.
She looks at it.
Then looks at me.
“We just got a city inspector check-in notice,” she says. “Surprise audit. He’s ten minutes out.”
I laugh.
It comes out ugly.
“Oh, they are really on schedule today, huh.”
Mara grips my arm.
“Kim. This is coordinated.”
“No shit.”
The inspector shows up with a clipboard and a face like he hates sunlight.
He walks in slow. Deliberate.
Like he’s on a runway.
“Kimberly Fierson,” he says. “Health and safety compliance inspection.”
“Of course it is,” I say.
