I swallowed hard as he grabbed his keys from the counter.
My heart was telling me to rebel. To lie on the claims and lose my job and move in with this destitute carpenter I’d known for a few days. To choose love over logic for once in my carefully controlled life.
But my logical side was screaming that I didn’t even knowwhathe wanted. I could be another Michelle to him. Someone he enjoyed sharing a bed with but didn’t want more from.
Someone who would eventually leave because he’d never actually asked me to stay.
“I’ll be back in a couple hours,” Clayton rumbled, pausing at the door. He looked back at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “Don’t work too hard.”
Then he was gone, and I was alone with my coffee and my doubts and a stack of paperwork that suddenly felt like the most important decision of my life.
The house felt too quiet without him.
I spread Mrs. Andretti’s file across the kitchen table, forcing myself to focus on the photographs and damage assessments instead of the lingering scent of Clayton’s soap on my borrowed flannel.
Nuts and Bolts had gone with him, so there wasn’t even the comfort of their gentle snoring to fill the silence.
My eyes burned as I flipped through page after page, searching for something I might have missed. A loophole that would let me do my job without destroying a sweet old woman’s life.
The unpermitted repairs Clayton had done complicated everything.
If I reported them, her claim would be voided. And depending on how far back HomeGuard Insurance wanted to dig, Mrs. Andretti might have to pay back thousands she didn’t have from a claim she’d filed several years back. In addition, Clayton could face legal consequences for working without proper permits.
But if I lied on my paperwork, I was committing fraud. I was stuck in a moral dilemma, just like the one that had nearly cost me my career early on.
I rubbed my temples and reached for my coffee, which had gone cold while I agonized.
There had to be another way to fix this.
I pulled up the HomeGuard policy manual on my laptop, scrolling through sections I’d read a hundred times before. Standard coverage limitations. Exclusions for pre-existing damage. Requirements for licensed contractor work.
And then I saw it.
Section 7.4.2: Emergency Stabilization Coverage.
“Oh my god,” I whispered to the empty kitchen, as relief flooded through me. “Ifoundit.”
My heart started pounding as I read the clause more carefully.
Temporary repairs made to prevent further damage during weather emergencies could be covered under a separate provision, even if they didn’t meet standard permitting requirements. The policyholder just had to demonstrate that the repairs were necessary to protect the structure from immediate harm.
An ice storm tearing open a roof definitely qualified as immediate harm.
If Mrs. Andretti would state to me in writing that his repairs were temporary and not the final repair, I could approve the current hail damage claim based on its own merits and simply document the previous repairs as emergency stabilization. What she did with the insurance money after that was outside my control.
If this gets audited, I’m done.
Not because what I was doing was illegal. But because I knew my bosses always wanted me to side with the company.
But it was worth the risk.
In fact…
I pulled my phone out and dialed, aware that this simple act was going to change my life completely.
There’d be no going back after this.
Chapter 12
