Chapter 4
HUDSON
Iscrolled through the messages I'd exchanged with Angela last night. I was doing a good thing even if it felt like I was making a huge mistake getting entangled with her.
That house was a starter home for me and an investment. I figured I could rent it out one day, and it would be an additional stream of income.
I'd been slow to clear the house out and set a price for the realtor. Something was holding me back, and now I wondered if it was because I was supposed to offer the house to Angela.
She was grateful for the place to stay but worried about how much it would cost. I didn't want to make things harder for her. She was a single mom with a new business, and I didn't want her paying more than her current rent.
I stopped at Sweet Dreams bakery, saying hello to Reina, the owner.
"What can I get you?" she asked.
I scanned the glass case that was full of pastries this early in the morning. "I'm picking up breakfast for Angela and her daughter."
She made a sympathetic noise. "I heard about the water damage in her shop. How's she doing?"
I straightened, speaking to her over the case. "She's upset about having to close the shop before Christmas."
Raina's forehead creased. "Please tell her we'd like to help however we can."
"For now, we're waiting for the floors to dry out before we make any repairs."
"Do we need to worry about it happening in other buildings?" Reina asked.
"I'll need to inspect everyone's pipes. I assume everyone's plumbing uses the same material that will eventually wear down and break."
Her face screwed up. "Not what I wanted to hear."
The door opened, and a large family filed in, talking and laughing.
"Let me order so you can help the rest of your customers. Do you know what Angela and Ayla would want?"
"I know exactly what they like." Reina smiled, then moved away, packing pastries in a bag and telling the barista what drinks to make.
When she handed me the bag, I said, "You didn't ring me up."
"Breakfast is on the house."
"I couldn't possibly accept that," I said as Reina raised a brow.
"You're holding up my line."
I put a generous amount of cash in the tip jar that read Cake? The other one said Pie? Cake was winning.
Then I moved to the side while I waited for our drinks. I spent so much time in Christmas Town that the shop owners knew who I was. I enjoyed the small-town feel.
I grabbed the drink carrier before heading across the street to Tempting Dreams. It was a fitting name, because I was tempted by Angela in that skimpy lingerie yesterday. Hopefully, she didn't make it a habit to wear lingerie to work.
I should be safe since Ayla would be present today. She'd make the perfect buffer.
I used the key that Eve gave me to unlock the door and set everything on the counter.
The door opened. A little girl with long brown hair burst through the door. "It's empty."
"Remember? I said we put everything upstairs so it wouldn't smell."
Ayla stopped, and her nose wrinkled. "It stinks."
I chuckled. "It's hard to air things out when it's winter. Too cold to keep the doors open."
This morning, Angela was dressed in jeans and a jacket. It should have been a relief, but I couldn't get the vision of her bare legs in those shorts yesterday out of my head.
I held up the white bakery bag. "I brought breakfast."
Ayla grabbed the bag from my hand, and pulled out a donut.
Angela removed her jacket, revealing a soft-looking green sweater that I was itching to touch and brought out the green flecks in her blue eyes. "Ayla, you shouldn't grab things from people."
Ayla looked up at me with a regretful expression. "I'm sorry."
"I bet you're starving. There's no food at the house," I said.
"I'll have to go to the store when we leave," Angela said as Ayla took a large bite of the donut.
I handed Angela the drink carrier. "Reina said she knew what you liked."
"Thank you." Angela grabbed her cup and sipped the hot liquid.
I handed Ayla the smaller cup, and she said sweetly, "Thank you for breakfast."
"Of course." I had a feeling if I had a little girl like her, I wouldn't be able to say no to her when she used that tone of voice.
Ayla chatted, her voice echoing in the empty room. When we were finished, I threw out the garbage. "Want to check out the damage?"
To my surprise, Ayla jumped up and said, "Yes!"
They followed me to the break room. "This is where the pipe burst. You want to see it?"
Ayla's eyes widened. "Yes, please."
I pulled out the same pipe I showed her mother yesterday. "This material isn't the best and deteriorates over time."
"What does de-ter-ate mean?" Ayla asked, faltering over the unfamiliar syllables.
"The material breaks down over time, and it can get holes where water can leak."
Ayla frowned at me. "Why would they use something that breaks?"
"When they installed these, they weren't aware that they wouldn't last. Now we use a different material. But what that means is that all the pipes in town will need to be inspected and replaced if they're the same material."
Angela's brow furrowed. "How will you handle that?"
"Eve wants your shop fixed first. But I'll probably inspect the other buildings while we wait for the floors to dry."
Angela sighed. "It's frustrating to sit around and wait. I want to do something."
"You were going to start your new shop, remember?" Ayla prompted her mother.
Angela shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "That's more uncertain. I know that this store will sell product before Christmas. But an online store is an unknown."
"You won't know unless you try," Ayla said with an upbeat tone.
"You're opening an online shop?" I asked, curious about her plans.
She sighed. "I've been thinking about it for a while. There are a lot of things to consider, and I've been putting it off. But maybe this is the time to get serious about it. I need multiple streams of income, especially when something like this happens."
"That's not a bad idea." I knew nothing about selling online.
My business had always been a service-based one.
The only way I could streamline things was to hire more people.
I could only do so much work myself, and this project was making that painfully obvious.
"There's not much you can do here. At least not until the floors dry out. "
Angela blew out a breath. "Patience is not my strong suit."
"Mine either," Ayla said, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"We'd better get to work. Let me know how things go," Angela said to me as she ushered Ayla out of the room.
I should have been relieved that they were going to work elsewhere. But I enjoyed their company. I'd never thought much about having kids, but Ayla was sweet, and I could see the appeal.
It would be nice to teach a child skills that my father taught me. I'd be carrying on our family's traditions.
I estimated the amount of pipe I'd need to fix this building and sat at the break-room table to place an order on my laptop.
The table was wobbly and there was only a single-cup coffee machine on the beat-up countertop with a minifridge.
I had a feeling Angela didn't spend money on things that customers didn't see.
The front of the store was nicely designed with wood floors, crown molding on the ceiling, and crystal chandeliers. What I'd seen of the displays yesterday were tastefully done. Angela ran a classy shop.
I'd just placed the order when Angela came inside the room. "I was hoping I could talk to you about the house."
"Is there something wrong?" I asked, worried that I'd overlooked a necessary repair.
She frowned as she sat across from me. " If anything, it's nicer than where we live now. It's making me want things we're not quite ready for."
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing unless she couldn't afford it, and it made her feel like a bad mom. I could understand wanting to give your child everything.
Her brows furrowed. "Can we talk about the rent?"
I didn't want to talk about this at all. At first, I loved the idea of getting income from a property, but now that I'd met Angela and Ayla, I didn't want to burden them.
"Eve called and said she'd suspend our rent for the apartment and the shop until everything's fixed. So I have money to pay you.
I wanted to tell her she didn't have to pay me anything, but I figured that would be something she wouldn't expect. She was a proud woman who prided herself on taking care of her and her daughter. "Pay me the same amount you were paying Eve for the apartment."
"Are you sure? You don't even know what that is."
"I wasn't earning any money on that property. Anything's better than nothing. But if you can't swing it—"
She shook her head. "No. I can."
She was proud and stubborn, all traits I was finding I admired in a woman. "There's no rush. I don't want to add to your to-do list."
She drummed her fingers on the table. "I'm focused on creating the website. It's giving me something else to do besides worry about this store being closed. At least when the online shop is open, I'll always have that revenue stream. Assuming it's successful, of course."
"I'm sure it will be."
A crease formed between her brows again. "How can you be so sure?"
"You're a determined woman, and I never discount someone who's persistent."
She smiled. "I am determined to make this work. It's easier to be my own boss than to work for someone else, especially as a single mother."
"I would think there are more demands on your time when you're running a brick-and-mortar store." I was genuinely curious about her thoughts.
"I like to be open during the hours I've posted. I want to build that trust with customers. It would be easier to hire employees, but I can't quite swing it yet."
"I need to do that. I have subcontractors I work with, but I need my own crew, especially if I'm going to do more work like this."
Angela stood. "I'm going to grab lunch for Ayla and me. Do you want me to bring something back for you?"
"Where are you going?"
"We're just picking up pizza to go."
I pulled a twenty out of my pocket. "Can you order me a steak sub?"
She took it from me, her fingers brushing against mine. "Of course."
"I'm going to meet with Eve, but I'll be back soon."
I closed my laptop and headed to the town hall. Eve was in her office, so I took the stairs and knocked on her door.
By now, I was familiar with her open-door policy. It meant that anyone in town was welcome to stop by and talk to her about concerns at any time. I just hoped she wasn't busy this morning.
"Come in," Eve's voice called.
I stepped into the room. "I ordered the pipes we need for Angela's building."
"I've been getting calls and visits from the other business owners, asking when their building will be inspected."
I sat on the chair across from her. "That's next on my to-do list."
"Assuming we need to replace all the pipes in town, what's a realistic timeline?"
"That depends on whether I can secure a crew or two. Let me see what I can do."
"I like the sound of multiple crews because everyone is anxious about having a flood that has the potential to ruin the floors and their product. No one wants to be out of business for the time it would take to make repairs."
"I can't promise that it won't happen, but I'll start with inspections and make a plan to tackle the repairs. I'll keep you updated every step of the way."
"I appreciate that, because people are worried and stressed."
"You still want me to complete Angela's repairs as soon as I can?"
Eve's expression was determined. "Angela is the priority no matter what other people might tell you."
From her tone, I assumed there were several people giving her a hard time. "I'll work as quickly as possible."
"I'll handle the complaints from other shop owners. You just worry about the inspections and the timeline for fixing the plumbing."
"I can do that." That made me think that Eve was getting the brunt of the other owner's anxiety.
"How's Angela holding up this morning?" Eve asked.
"She likes the house, and she's working on setting up an online shop."
Eve's face softened. "Thanks for offering her a place to stay. I was worried she wasn't going to take you up on your offer. She doesn't like to accept help. She thinks she has to do everything herself."
"Yeah, I'm getting that," I said dryly.
"We'll both be working around the clock until this thing is resolved."
I had a feeling it was a good thing for my business. I was going to finally have to hire more crews and not on a subcontractor basis. If I was going to take on large scale projects, I needed one I could count on. One that worked directly for me.
"Please let me know if Angela needs anything. I have a feeling I'm going to be busy with the other business owners' concerns and holiday issues for the next week or two."
I didn't want to be the one to keep an eye on Angela because I needed to create space between us. Especially now that I'd met her daughter. I had no business getting closer to them.
I needed to focus on this project. Nothing could distract me. But I couldn't say no to my boss.