Plain Jayne by Laura Drewry

this.”
    “Meaning?”
    Hague shrugged slowly. “Meaning according to the paperwork filed back in June, you only have seventy-two more hours to get the rest of the building cleared out.”
    Seventy-two hours?
Was he crazy? Before she or Nick could ask, Hague sighed.
    “There is a little good news, though. After our inspection in June, the FPO took Tilly over to City Hall and helped her fill out all the paperwork for the permits she would have needed to bring the place up to code.”
    Jayne frowned, but Nick perked right up. “How?” he asked.
    “They pulled the specs from the original building and based it on that. Took a little finagling, but the paperwork’s done. All that’s left is the work, which will of course have to be done on time.”
    “Or?” She looked from Hague to Nick, both of whom were staring at each other, waiting for the other to answer. Nick spoke first.
    “Or they can have it declared a safety hazard and knock it down.”
    “What?”
    “These buildings are old, Miss Morgan, and left as it is, it’s only going to get worse to the point of it being condemned by the city.” Hague cast a quick glance around the space they’d cleared. “You’ve already done a tremendous amount of work, and I’m sure with Nick’s help, you won’t have any trouble with the rest. I’ll be back Friday at nine to assess the situation. If you’ve cleared it out, I can do a complete inspection of the building and let you know what we’re looking at, but you should be prepared for the entire scope of work to be completed in short order.”
    A thick red haze began to form in Jayne’s eyes. “They’d knock down my store?”
    “Nick knows the building codes back to front, so you might want to talk this over with him before you decide to do anything more, but in the long run, Miss Morgan, it might be easier and cheaper for you to tear it down yourself.”
    “Tear it down myself?” Jayne gaped. “Are you crazy?”
    “I’m just saying it’s an option.”
    “No,” Nick growled. “It’s not. We’re done here.”
    He jerked the front door open and held it until Hague had barely cleared it, then waved his hand toward Jayne. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
    “I can’t go for a walk,” she sputtered. “There’s too much to do.”
    “ ’Course you can.” He took her hand, locked the door behind them, and pulled until she shuffled after him. “A little fresh air and exercise’ll help us think.”
    They walked three blocks to the end of town, then followed the road around past the yacht club and log sort, and on past the terminals office to the trail beside the slough. The path wound its way along the west side of the water, shaded by huge maple trees on one side and the shadow of the mountain on the far side of the water.
    Seventy-two hours. Three days. How the hell was she going to—
    “Breathe, Jayne.” Nick’s voice, even quiet as it was, snapped her into focus. “We’ll work it out.”
    “But—”
    “I know. Just breathe.”
    Right. Okay. She could do that. The air was cool, crisp, and each long inhale began to slowly ease the knot in her stomach and the tightness in her chest.
    Bright yellow buttercups danced in the wind, bending almost to the ground, but never breaking. A thin brown garden snake hesitated on the path ahead of them, then slithered into the underbrush before they got too close, while two red-winged blackbirds chased each other high through the trees.
    It was hard to feel anything but awe as they made their way along the trail. No worries, no piles of garbage, just the smell of damp sand wafting up on the breeze, the scattered warmth of the morning sun as it filtered down between the branches, and the sharp scolding they got from a big brown squirrel that watched them from the safety of a stump.
    About half a mile up, where the slough flowed into the sound, Jayne and Nick stood on the beach for a while and watched a lone seal bob its head up out of the water, then