by June Beyoki
The fire chief walked away, leaving Clarke standing there, wondering what she was going to do next.
Chapter Six
Clarke walked around her shop with her arms crossed, scooting her shoes through piles of ash. Most of the damage was done to the Easter part of the shop going on into the wedding stuff. All the flowers that were sitting out at the time were too damaged to sell because of the smoke and water. The entire right wall was burned down so that the drywall would need to be replaced, and the coolers on that side of the room had shorted out. Plus, whatever had caused the fire needed to be fixed. It was extremely stressful, especially since she still had clients to see and needed to keep them coming in. Not to mention she couldn’t imagine the ridicule and lecturing she’d get if her mother found out. This had to be fixed quickly.
A knocking came on the glass at the front, and Clarke looked up to see a guy in a pair of jeans and a button down shirt. She assumed it was the guy coming to give her an estimate of how much it would be to fix her electrical problem, but why in the world would he wear such nice clothes to look at a half burned shop?
Clarke shook the thought from her head and welcomed him in, holding out her hand to shake. “I’m Clarke Bennett. You must be Trevor; am I correct?” she asked, looking him up and down. In order to get this guy there she’d had to call in a favor with the guy she had slept with a few nights before. He was an electrical technician at some company, and the guy he sent was his direct supervisor. Hopefully the guy didn’t know any gory details about their relationship. It was awkward enough.
“Yes, that’s right. This looks like a real doozy,” he commented, looking around. It made her think of her favorite comedian, Bill Engval, and his skit about stupid people needing a sign. This guy was one of them; stating the obvious. It was a fire for goodness sake! Of course it was a “doozy.”
Clarke rolled her eyes before nodding and shooting him a friendly smile. She led him over to the worst part of the damage, and he began to look around at everything, chipping away at pieces of wall and grabbing wires in his hands to inspect. He looked more like a cheesy detective than a professional.
Finally, he stood up straight and came over to her, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket along with a pen. She watched nervously as he seemingly wrote an amount on it and then signed below. She guessed it was his way of giving her an estimate.
He passed the slip to her and began explaining what happened in technical terms, trying to sound like he was worth more as a worker than he actually was. Although, that piece of paper seemed to show that he really did believe he was worth an awful lot. Clarke scoffed at the ridiculously high number. “What the hell is this?” she asked sarcastically. “Get the hell out, buddy. No way are you scamming me like this,” she called out, ready to shoo him like a bug out the door.
Trevor put his hands up in surrender and backed slowly towards the door. “Look, ma’am, that’s how it works when you’re working with a franchise. I don’t have much control over that. I can see that you’re looking for a good deal, so I’m going to offer you some advice. Up to you whether you take it or not.” She nodded him along. She didn’t have all day, but she appreciated his honesty about the rip off if nothing else. Plus, she was desperate for a fast solution to her problems. “I have a cousin that does all kinds of work. He works for himself, so he’s real cheap, and I bet he could help you clean up the place too and do a little remediation. I’ve seen him do it before. The thing is, though, he has no licenses or certifications. He just does this stuff, so you’d really have to trust him and be okay with that.”
Clarke thought about it for a minute and decided that anything was better than paying that price for just part of what needed to be done. She knew that insurance wasn’t going to give her anywhere near that much for something like that. “Okay, do you have his number?”
“Sure I do.” The man pulled a small card out of his pocket. It had a name and number on it, but that was all; no picture or fancy business name. It was somehow comforting. The name read Vince Forester.
“Alright, thanks for the tip, buddy. I appreciate it,” she said flatly, ready for him to leave now she got what she wanted from him. He gave her a toothy smile before walking out, rubbing his hands down his jeans. She didn’t waste any time. She picked up the phone and dialed the number in her hand. Hopefully, this would be the solution she so desperately needed.
A young sounding guy with a slight southern accent picked up. “Hello there, this is Vince. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” It sounded almost comical coming from such a voice, but at least he was attempting to be professional.
“My name is Clarke, and I got your name and number from your cousin. I really need some help.”
“What kind of job is it, and when do you need an estimate by?” the man asked simply. She liked that and needed that right now. Vince was really going to be a life saver if he could get to it sooner rather than later.
“I own a flower shop in town, and there was an electrical fire. So, really, I need help with everything; the clean-up, the set up and whatever went wrong with the electrical. And I really need you as soon as possible. I need to get the business back up and running. Can you even do that?” It sounded like a big job to Clarke, and it made her nervous. Would this guy even take all that on? No way could she ask her staff to do all of it.
“Yeah, I can do that. Are you free to do the estimate now?”
Clarke perks up, feeling a hint of hope course through her. Maybe she really would be able to keep this a secret after all. “Absolutely. It’s called “Virginia Clarke’s Petals”. Do you need the address or can you just Google the directions?”
She heard a muffled chuckle come through the receiver. “I can Google it,” he answered before hanging up. Clarke shut her phone and was ready to do a cheer, only she’d probably land herself in a pile of ash that also reeked of mildew from the water that had piled up after the firefighters stopped the fire. But she felt saved. Someone was going to fix her shop so she could open back up.
She stepped outside and waited for Vince to show up, not wanting to stand in piles of smelly ash any longer.
Chapter Seven
A white pickup pulled up about ten minutes later and parked in front of the business. As the man inside got out, Clarke had to fight her jaw from dropping to the floor. He wasn’t at all what she expected; not really. He wasn’t much taller than her, and he had thick red hair that made him look like a cute little boy at the same time his defined arms made him look like a man. His cut off flannel top showed his muscular and pale arms, and he had on a pair of white washed jeans with holes in the knees that were not made by some designer. He had a smile on his face that displayed two large dimples that just defined his masculine jaw even more. He looked like the type of guy that might do ranch or farm work. He was handsome but in a very rugged and manly way. Even in Virginia, men that looked like that were few and far between.
“Hi,” she managed to squeak out before leading him inside her damaged shop. She watched as he walked around, looking at everything. Like his cousin, he also dug in the wall and took a look at the wiring. He also checked the wires at the back of the freezers. She watched nervously and impatiently, tugging at her lip and following his movements with her own while trying not to breathe down his back.
He finally stopped and leaned against what was left of the front counter. He looked so laid back. “So, it looks like your electrical wiring has needed some updating for a while as well as the circuit breaker. Basically, the outdated setup couldn’t handle everything you were running in here. Did you add anything recently? Because my bet is on those two freezers.” He pointed at the two that were on the side where the fire occurred.
“We did just add those for this season. We usually only have those other two.” Clarke pointed to the freezers on the other side of her, and Vince nodded.
“Okay, well, normally when there’s an overload the breaker should alert you, but it obviously didn’t
. That means you have some worn out connectors on there that need to be addressed as well. The overload triggered the fire. So, you can either back down on the appliances you’re using, or I can update the wiring. Either way, I need to fix the breaker box connectors. I’ll also have to clean up the water and make sure there’s no mold or mildew going on so I can fix that first. I can also clean up all the smoke and soot and dispose of damaged property.”
“And how much is all of that going to cost?” she asked with her hands on her hips. It almost sounded like a scam; like he was making up problems so she would pay for them. But that was probably a response to the last guy who’d tried to cheat her out of her money.
Vince stood there for a moment, looking around again like he was thinking about it before he finally answered. “A couple thousand I think, maybe a little bit less depending how bad some of the damage to the walls and floors are and how cheap I can get parts.”
“That’s it?” It was still a good chunk of money, but it was definitely less than the first estimate. “When can you start?” she asked, rummaging in her purse for an advance to give him for supplies. Whatever she could do to make it go faster, the better it would be for her.
“Whenever you want me to start,” he answered, running his fingers through his red hair before she slapped down a few hundred dollars in his hand. Her fingers brushed accidentally against his rough skin, and she pulled it back quickly.
“You’re a lifesaver!” she exclaimed, ready to give him a giant hug. “I’ll need you right away. It’s very important I get the business running again. How long do you think it will be?”
“A couple of weeks,” he answered with a crooked smile. “But once the serious stuff is taken care of, you can probably open up for a few hours, and I can work around customers. We’ll see. I’m going to head out and get some supplies and be back. I have some free time and might as well get started now.”
Clarke watched him walk out, realizing his walk definitely had some swagger to it. “Oh yes, we will see,” she whispered to herself before heading over to the coffee shop. She needed to eat and have some coffee in case she decided to stay all night and supervise his work. She’d brought in some battery powered lamps just in case. As great as he sounded, he was still not licensed, and she couldn’t afford for him to make mistakes. And a tiny part of her thought that watching him work would be quite fun in those tight jeans he had on. He certainly had one night stand written all over him.
Chapter Eight
Clarke shot Vince the fifth annoyed look in an hour. Her thoughts on him had been completely reversed as she stood there and watched him work. He was no longer as attractive as he was at first glance. He had been whistling the whole time and seemed to be having fun while he worked at a disjointed pace. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or rhythm to what he was doing, and he completely ignored any flirting that had come his way. She’d pretty much given up on him. She would fire him for it if she didn’t need him to fix everything up so badly. But the way he was working, she wasn’t even sure he would do a good job.
She was about ready to leave and give him the key so he could lock up when he was done. Watching him get dirty wasn’t at all what she had imagined. “So, why the rush?” he asked, stopping to look up at her as she huffed out a sigh.
“Excuse me?” she asked, feeling even more annoyed that he suddenly wanted to talk to her.
“Is there some rule about not talking to each other?” he asked, chuckling a bit. He was having way too much fun for someone who was cleaning up after a fire. “I mean, since you insist on being here while I work, it means we’re going to spend a lot of time together. We might as well get to know each other.” He shrugged and went back to work like it didn’t faze him one way or the other.
“I guess….” Clarke trailed off, not knowing what else to say. She didn’t make it a habit of getting personal with people, especially guys. So, she wasn’t about to tell him it was all about her mother. “I just don’t want to lose any business. It’s time for Easter and prom, and wedding season’s coming up quick. So, it’s important I get open.” She nodded like a period at the end of the sentence; satisfied with her explanation.
“Mmhmm, well, I’m sure you can still meet with clients elsewhere. I sense something else is going on.” She shot him a look, and he put his hands up in surrender, not saying anything else.
“So, what about you, why don’t you have any licenses or work for a real company like your cousin?” she shot back, anxious to get the focus off of herself. But she was revealing more about herself with her disposition than she could have ever realized.
If the question offended him, he didn’t show it. Instead, he answered right away. “Because I like the adventure of getting to do something different every day, and I like being my own boss, essentially. It also means I don’t have to cheat people out of a lot of money for a crappy repair job like my cousin does. It also keeps me open to any opportunity that comes along; frees me up.”
His answer baffled her as she wondered how anyone could live that way, not necessarily knowing what was next. She would lose her mind. “Isn’t that a little unstable?”
“Ah, I guess it depends,” he began, wiping sweat from his brow. She could see the beads of moisture forming on his red tendrils. There was something so normal about him, so comfortable. It was something she could never pull off herself. “I’d imagine if I had a family to provide for that it might prove a little difficult, but that’s just part of the adventure. And I don’t have that. It’s just me. You’d be surprised how uncomplicated my life is because of it. Whereas someone like you is reliant on this place which has now failed you for the time being.” He motioned around him to the damaged shop.
Clarke narrowed her eyes at him, clearly not liking what he had to say. “My shop has not failed. It just needs to be repaired, which is what I’m paying you for. And just because I’m driven and organized doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy anything. I enjoy knowing what’s going to happen next. That’s stability and success like I’ve always wanted.”
“Measuring success based on knowing what comes next isn’t smart because you can never know what’s next. Take this fire, for instance. You couldn’t foresee or control it. By your standards, that means you failed. Life doesn’t always go off your plans, so I find it better not to plan. That way, it’s all a surprise without disappointments.” He gave another dimply smile.
Clarke shook her head, unable to handle anymore. She pulled the key out of her purse and placed it on the counter. “Please lock up when you leave. I’m going home for now, but I’ll be coming by to check the progress first thing in the morning.” She marched out of the shop as he waved mockingly at her.
Chapter Nine
Clarke blew into the flower shop at around eight the next morning with her cup of coffee in her right hand. She had pulled her hair back into a short, sleek ponytail and opted for some nice jeans and a blouse instead of a dress or skirt. There was no reason to be in a closed shop with all that dirt and mold around in something so nice.
Vince was already there, and he opened the door for her. She looked around and saw that there were four large fans set up inside the business, drying out the space. She could barely hear anything else over their hum, even the traffic that piled up outside the door as others headed to school and work.
She saw also that more of the wall was opened up, probably so he could fix all the wiring. A sledgehammer lay on the floor against the corner of the room. Many of the flowers had already been removed or put into bags to go out in the trash. It made her wonder how many hours he had been working or if he had even slept. “Do you need me to go back over there and get you a coffee?” she called over the loud noise of the fans.
He squinted up at her, pulling an ear bud out of his ear. Apparently he’d been listening to music. She supposed it was better than listening to those fans all day. “How long have you been here?” she asked, rephrasing.
He held up two fingers, which she wa
s pretty sure meant two hours. She held up her coffee cup and pointed out the door towards the coffee shop. It was crude, but it wasn’t like she knew sign language. He smiled, and she could tell his body was starting to shake with laughter, But then he gave her a thumbs up and walked outside with her, leaving the loud humming behind.
Holding up one finger as he began to walk towards the coffee shop, Clarke turned around and went to lock the door. She couldn’t stand leaving it unlocked even in the state it was in, but then she realized she didn’t have the key. She ran after Vince to grab the key, but he just kept walking. “No one’s going to want to go in there. It’ll be fine,” he assured her, walking inside and up to the counter.
She kept her stride next to him and stood at the counter with him as Joe approached the cash register. Great, just the guy she needed at the moment. What was he going to think about her being there with Vince after all the times she’d turned him down?
Joe looked back and forth between them before quietly taking Vince’s order. It was a miracle not hearing the petty insults or attempts at convincing her he was the best guy to date. Maybe she should have bought a guy coffee there sooner!
His coffee was ready pretty quick, and she headed for the door. But Vince sat down in a window seat instead, so she froze, wondering what he was thinking. “Don’t you want a break form that place to sit down for a moment? How about we enjoy our coffee?” He raised his cup as if in a toast before beginning to sip at it and look out the window.