Chapter 16 #2
‘The good news is that the till that started the fire tripped the breaker very quickly so that particular circuit that feeds that socket is fine, otherwise I’d have a lot of rewiring to do.
The upstairs electrics seem fine, on the surface at least, they are on a separate circuit board but that circuit board is fed by the downstairs circuit board so right now there are no electrics getting to the upstairs.
Unfortunately, the downstairs circuit board suffered quite a bit of damage in the fire.
Many of the individual breakers are melted and completely unusable.
Now I can replace the circuit board fairly easy, it would take me around half a day.
After that, the electrics in the flat and the shop should work fine, although I will need to do further tests to be sure.
Unfortunately I have to order it in as I don’t have spare circuit boards just lying around.
I can put an order in today and I should get it maybe Wednesday next week.
I have a few other commitments but I should be able to install it on Thursday or Friday. ’
Immy’s heart sank. They had worked so hard to be ready in time for the Easter egg hunt and, while they could run it from the back room, the front, main part of the shop would be too dark without lights.
‘I know that’s not the news you want to hear because of the Easter egg hunt on Sunday, but it’s a relatively easy fix once I do get the new circuit board.
If I had to rewire the shop it would take weeks or months and would be very expensive.
At least you should be back up and running by the end of next week. ’
‘Thank you,’ Immy said.
‘I’ll be in touch with a date as soon as I get it delivered,’ Tony said.
Immy nodded and he waved and walked off.
The men were silent for a moment.
‘Well, there’s some good news,’ Archer said. ‘At least it’s not a massive overhaul.’
‘Yes, rewiring would be a massive pain and would take ages to do,’ Logan said.
‘We will sort it somehow, we can still run the Easter egg hunt,’ Xander said.
Immy nodded. ‘I know, it’s OK. It’s not what I wanted but I’ve been so lucky with everything else and I’m incredibly grateful to have such wonderful people helping me too.’
‘We’ll finish off the flooring tomorrow and put some shelves up and do any other little jobs that need doing. At least the place will be clean and tidy,’ Logan said.
‘Thank you.’
‘Why don’t we go and meet Max and Etta on the beach?’ Xander said. ‘You’ve had a long day and it won’t take long to finish the shop tomorrow. As far as we can.’
‘Yes, good idea.’
‘We’ll lock up,’ Logan said.
Immy nodded and she and Xander left them to it.
Xander held Immy’s hand as they walked down onto the beach. He could see Max and Etta playing with Jacob a little way ahead.
He glanced down at Immy, who was clearly thinking about something.
‘Are you OK? You’re very quiet. I know you’re disappointed about not being able to run the Easter egg hunt from the shop but at least we can still run it.’
‘I know, and that’s the important thing.’
‘Are you thinking about what Judy said?’
‘Sort of.’
‘I’m not just with you because of the baby, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ he said.
‘The baby brought us back together, but I’m with you because I’m crazy about you.
I suppose my gut instinct was to marry you because if we’re raising a baby together it would make sense to be married.
And I know how that must have come across.
But it was more than that. I was so annoyed with myself for pushing you away when you were everything to me, and I thought I had lost you when I mistakenly believed the baby wasn’t mine.
I thought you were going to get married to the baby’s father and live happily ever after, while I was left with my stupidity and bitterness.
And then when I found out the baby was mine, I felt like I’d got a second chance to get this right, to be with you, so I wanted to grab hold of that with both hands.
I am delighted about the baby but it’s you I want to be with. ’
She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. ‘I know. I can see you’re not with me for duty or loyalty. The way you touch me, look at me, make love to me, none of that is just because I’m pregnant. Judy was wrong about that.’
‘Well, what was she right about?’
‘The huge amount of Easter chocolate that you haven’t sold because you’ve closed the shop to help me.’
‘But I don’t care about that.’
‘But I do.’
‘We still have the Easter weekend and we’ll get a lot of customers on Sunday before and after the hunt.
I’m closing for a few hours so I can do the hunt with Etta but I’ll be open after that.
Whatever I don’t sell, I can reduce. People don’t mind eating Easter chocolate a few days late as long as it’s cheap.
And I can always remelt the chocolate and use it again so you really don’t need to worry. ’
‘I can always sell your Easter chocolate on my table at the hunt while you’re with Etta looking for eggs.’
‘If you have the time and space, that will be great, but if not, I’m not worried so you don’t need to be either.’
She smiled although it didn’t quite meet her eyes. Then Etta charged towards them and any opportunity to talk to her was gone. He knew she had been hurt in the past by being made to feel an inconvenience by her ex-boyfriend and he could see he still had some way to go to fix that.