Second Chance (Cold Springs Series Book 1) by Nancy Henderson Page B

State’s point system, correct?”
     
    “I don’t.”
     
    The inspector sighed.   “New York has a point system.  Zero to thirteen is an A.  Fourteen to twenty-five is a B, and twenty-eight or higher is a C.”
     
    “C is bad?”
     
    He looked at her as if she’d sprouted horns.  “C is bad.”
     
    Sam watched as he ran two fingers across the counter and wrote something down on his clip-boarded papers.
     
    “Is something wrong?”
     
    “This is a 5C.”  He pointed to the wooden cutting board on the counter.
     
    “A what?”
     
    “Contact with a surface area with unwashed material.”
     
    “Well…”  No, this was not happening.  “What if I throw it out?”
     
    “See that you do.”
     
    He went to the cooler and took a thermometer out from his shirt pocket.  He set it in the cooler, waited, then took it out and examined it.  “Your temperature is off one degree.  You need to have this forty-one degrees or below.”  More writing on the clipboard.
     
    Sam felt like she was going to throw up.  “Will I still be able to open tomorrow?”
     
    “Yes, but you’ll need to get that fixed right away.”
     
    Sam breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe she’d get through this with no problems. 
     
    She wouldn’t have guessed what happened next would’ve occurred in a million years.  What could have been the largest rat she’d ever seen scurried across the kitchen directly in front of the inspector.  Chance scurried after it, catching it in his mouth.
     
    “Oh my God!”  The inspector jumped three feet.
     
    Sam caught Chance in her arms, and with the rat still in the kitten’s mouth, threw them both out the back door. 
     
    “I’m so sorry.” She had no idea how the cat had gotten in.  She’d purposely double checked and made sure Chance was securely shut upstairs in the apartment.  She’d been so certain she had shut the apartment door…at least she thought she had. Maybe because she was so hurried and stressed today she had forgotten.
     
    The inspector was writing so fast, he could run out of ink in no time.  “This is a 4K violation.  Condition five is rat infestation.  Condition four zero is live animals in an establishment.  You, madam, will not be opening tomorrow.”
     
    Sam couldn’t believe what was happening.  “Isn’t there some way around this?”
     
    “How about money?”  Burt was standing behind him.  He held a handful of bills. “Two thousand should keep your trap shut.”
     
    The inspector stared.  Sam stared.  Chrissy was frozen like a statue. 
     
    “Burt, no.”   A 5C, a 4K rat infestation violation, now Burt was bribing the inspector.  What next?  A night in jail?
     
    The inspector snatched the money from Burt’s hand, filled out another form and handed it over to her.  “Best of luck on your opening day tomorrow.”
     
    And with that he packed up his briefcase and left.
     
    Chrissy sat down at the counter.  “That was so wrong.  He just took the money.  It was like something out of a movie.”
     
    “Burt, I can’t let you bribe… Who walks around with two thousand dollars in their pocket?  Who does that?”
     
    Burt just grinned.
     
    “No, really.  In New York they’d kill you for that.”
     
    “This ain’t New York.”
     
    “Burt, I can’t let you do this.”
     
    “It’s already done.”
     
    Sam didn’t know what to say.  “I’ll pay you back.”
     
    “You open tomorrow, right?”
     
    Sam got Burt another cup of coffee.  “Right.”
     
    “You hire Ian as your cook, and put Jean’s eggs Benedict and sausage gravy back on the menu, and we’re even.”
     
    ~ * ~
     
    Sam spent the remainder of the day preparing for tomorrow’s opening day.  She let Chrissy go home after explaining the ropes for tomorrow to her.  She was just about to head upstairs and nuke a frozen dinner when Ian Woods knocked on her door.
     
    She held the door for him.  “Hi.”
    “Hi.”
     
    He stood in the