Page 152 of Rhodes

“No, all good. I figured you were off, so that's why I hung up. Are you really working on the second of January? I figured you'd milk the Christmas holiday for a few weeks.”

“The shipping business doesn't take holidays. I was slow before Christmas, but I've been back since the twenty-seventh.”

“Well, look at you. Wonders never cease.”

I smile before I can help it. “Figured I had to grow up eventually.”

Another pause slips between us, not terrible, just unfamiliar. We managed ten minutes at The Boot a couple of weeks ago without falling apart. Apparently, talking on the phone is different.

I lean against a stack of empty pallets.

“How was Christmas?”

“Good. Loud. Grandbank and Cooper almost stopped speaking over a football game, so basically normal.”

“That sounds about right.”

“How was yours?”

“Good. Cain had everybody over. Sisue got enough toys to open a store.”

“That's fun. I bet Christmas is really cool now with all the little ones.”

A forklift turns into the aisle behind me, and I step farther out of the way. Tallulah clears her throat.

“I actually called because I need to ask you something.”

Every stupid possibility I have been refusing to entertain all day disappears.

“I'm all ears.”

“Cooper says this might be in your wheelhouse, but I don’t really know exactly what you do now.”

“That makes two of us some days.”

She laughs softly. The sound gets me worse than her voice did. I look toward the loading doors and make myself pay attention to the truck pulling into position instead.

“Our shell supplier is tapped out.”

“Oyster shell?”

“Cured oyster shell. We need it for the next phase at Oak Moss. Our last few orders helped wipe out most of what they had stockpiled. Dale, my foreman heading up the restoration, has called suppliers from Jacksonville to the Outer Banks, and he can probably piece together enough volume, but nobody has all of it.”

“How much do you need?”

She gives me the number. I straighten a little.

“That’s not nothing.”

“I know.”

“When do you need the first load?”

“Second half of January would be ideal. We have some flexibility, but not a lot.”

“And the shell already exists? We’re talking inventory that’s cured and ready to move, not something you need processed first.”

“Right. At least that’s what we’re trying to find. The problem is that once we start pulling smaller amounts from several places, the freight gets expensive fast.”