Stone Hearted Single Dad (Not Looking For Love #19)
Chapter 1
Chapter one
Zoe
Icould’ve sworn I was hallucinating.
It wouldn’t be a surprise, I’d been hearing little noises in the small apartment I lived in, above Steele Cut Hair, since I’d moved in almost a year ago.
The constant whirring had gotten louder though and it was almost like it was haunting me in the salon while I was mixing a colour in the back room.
“What the eff is that sound?” My boss, Bella Steele, stated as she walked in behind me. She’d been making a valiant effort to curb her swearing since she found out that she was pregnant a few months earlier.
“You can hear it too?” I should’ve been relieved that I wasn’t suffering from some form of PTSD driven delusion, but that also meant that the noise was real and that meant it could be trouble.
Then a bang sounded from above us and I ran out the back door, and up the stairs to my small apartment. Fear creating a pit in my stomach, I fumbled with the key before opening the door to pure chaos. There was water everywhere.
And I mean everywhere.
“I’ll call Damo,” Bella shouted from behind me.
Her future brother in law might’ve been a grumpy ass, but he was a plumber.
I watched as my boss ran down the stairs, following the instructions she was given.
She swore at the phone, and I heard doors slamming but within minutes the water had stopped and I was able to walk into the room and see just how much trouble I was in.
The apartment was never lavish, a large room with a small kitchenette and a separate bathroom but it had been enough. I’d moved to Hartwood Bay in a bit of a hurry and rather than stay with family, I was grateful that the job my cousin, Audrey, found for me could also offer me somewhere to live.
I’d moved from Melbourne with two suitcases in the back of my hatchback and I’d barely obtained anything more in the eleven months since.
I knew this job was only a twelve month contract so I didn’t want to settle in too much in case I wasn’t able to find another job in this small town, and I had to move back to the chaos that was my life in Melbourne.
Walking over the soggy carpet, I took in the scene and was overwhelmed with where to start first. I steered clear of the kitchen, it appeared to be the wettest area in favour of assessing if there was anything dry in the place.
The lounge was soaked and my bed was too.
I was just checking my wardrobe when I heard movement behind me.
“It might be better if you went downstairs while I check this out,” the gruff voice of Damien D’Amico interrupted my inspection.
“I’m just trying to see if there’s anything dry in this place.” My voice sounded defeated even to my own ears.
“I’ll call you up when I’m done here.” He gave me a grimace that I think he thought would be reassuring.
With slow steps I made my way to the salon below. Bella had a coffee waiting for me and she’d picked up a tray of various desserts from The Bean and Bushell cafe, all cut into bite sized pieces.
“How is it up there?” Bella asked as she passed me the caffeine fix.
“Wet, everything is wet.” The long black coffee hit my lips, and I let out a sigh. I could feel my life spiralling again. I hadn’t felt that in months but the reality that my safe little bubble here in Hartwood Bay was about to burst hit me.
“Well at least Damien was close when I called him,” Bella said. I could see the worry etched on her face.
“True.” I glanced around the salon and saw that the closed sign had been flipped over and only Audrey had a client with her. “Wait, why are we closed?”
“When I shut off the water for your apartment, it also shut it off in here,” Bella replied. She didn’t need to explain to me that it meant we wouldn’t be able to wash off any colour we’d apply to our clients or that we wouldn’t be able to shampoo hair.
“We’ve rescheduled most of our appointments,” Quinn, one of the other stylists replied. I took another sip of the coffee and grabbed a piece of the Tim Tam cheesecake, it looked like an afternoon of re-organising my station in between a couple of quick cuts.
It seemed like I’d been waiting for Damien to come back downstairs for days.
When he appeared, he wasn’t alone. Brock Marin stood next to him talking to Bella and I knew it wasn’t going to be good news.
Brock was Bella’s sister's partner but he was also a local builder so if Damien called him in, it meant that whatever needed fixing, it wasn’t going to be quick.
I watched them as my anxiety escalated. There was already a limit on my time in Hartwood Bay and I could feel like things were getting ready to eject me.
Bella approached me, worry etched on her face. “The news isn’t great I’m afraid. Damo had to call Brock in because he found some damage and long story short, you can’t stay there tonight, maybe not for a while.”
“Oh no…” I felt that familiar vice wrap around me and start to tighten.
“Good news though, Damo has a ground floor, semi self contained flat at his place that he’s kindly offered for you to stay in.
” Bella hitched her thumb over her shoulder, pointed at her fiance’s brother.
Damien looked anything but happy to have a last minute guest if the scowl on his face was any indication.
I walked back up to my little sanctuary to pack what I could with my boss following me, offering to help. Checking inside the wardrobe, my clothes appeared to be dry so I dug the suitcases out and packed back in what I’d brought to the Bay, feeling like this was the beginning of the end.