“Here, let me.” Heaven swirled a makeup brush through pink powder and lightly swiped it across my cheeks. Something about the gesture warmed my undead heart: the light brush of the bristles, the care with which she dusted my face.
Vlad was thrashing and yelling by this point. “If you don’t let me outthis instant—”
I waved dismissively in his direction. “He’ll be fine.”
A knock at the front door interrupted us and I glanced at my phone. Tyrone wasn’t supposed to be here for another ten minutes.
“Stay back,” I said. “You don’t want to be near anyone yet.”
“I think you’ve been overhyping this bloodlust thing,” said Heaven.
“Just stay out of the way, please.”
At the landing, I paused. The chandelier cast little orbs of light through the room. Butterflies tickled my stomach at the sight of Tyrone’s silhouette, visible through the opaque glass in the doorway.
Tyrone knocked again.
I gave the girls a quick adjustment, smoothed my shirt, and opened the door with a smile. “Tyrone, you’re early—” But it wasn’t Tyrone. A boring-looking man with thinning hair and a Willy Loman aura stood on my doorstep.
“Miss Blair,” the man who tragically wasn’t Tyrone said, “I’m Wayne Jarvis with the City of Valentine. I need to talk to you about a few things.”
Whatever he wanted to talk about would have to wait. “I’m sorry,” I said, “I’m on my way out. Is it important?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for some time.”
“I understand, but I was just on my way out, Mr.—”
“Jarvis.”
“Okay, five minutes, but that’s it.”
Looking unimpressed, he launched into his spiel. “Like I said, I’m from the city. I’ve been trying to reach you for some time. I have mailed multiple letters and attached notices to the door.”
A memory surfaced of a piece of paper going up in flames. “Do you mean the condemnation thing? I meant to straighten that out, but I haven’t had a chance yet.”
“The condemnation thing?” he repeated, incredulous. “So you know?” When I nodded, he said, “You must not understand what it means, then.”
“Yes, tear down the building. I get that, but you don’t have to.” Igestured to beautiful room. “I already started fixing it up.”
“Miss Blair,” he said, getting all huffy, “you can’t ignore notices like that. I’m doing you a favor by coming out here after hours to notify you in person that the city is about to tear this structure down.”
“What? I just moved in!”
“Again, you should have received a notice to vacate the premises.”
“Yes, but…”
“There are no buts. This is a legal matter. If you want to dispute it, you need to come down to city hall and take the proper steps. There are procedures.”
Tyrone was going to be here any minute. I tapped my foot impatiently and looked over the man’s shoulder. “I hear you, but I’m fixing things up. I just inherited this inn and haven’t been here very long at all.”
He took a breath. “I can appreciate that. This is probably a lot to take in.”
“Yes.” I nodded. The communication was working.
“If I see that you have intent to fix some of the bigger problems, it might be possible to give you an extension.”
I clasped my hand to my heart. “Thank you so much, Mr. Jarvis.”
