Page 96 of Major Love

But I still wish that I had the right materials for the diner.

Sensing where my head is at, Mitch says, “Jace, they’re just gonna be grateful to get it fixed. Red, brown, or sunshine fucking yellow, as long as they have a roof over their heads, they’re not gonna give a shit.”

“Is it just a tile job or is it the integral timber, too?”

“Just the tiles,” Mitch replies, followed by a roughthank fuck. “The old ones were apparently cracked like hell. Then after the heavy snow, a whole row slid loose.”

If the interior is still in good shape, then a re-tiling job will be easy – especially seeing as the snowfall has paused, meaning that we can get up there with no problems.

Hell, even with us working the roof, the diner can still run business as usual.

The crew’s original plans for today will be pushed back, but we’re always ahead of schedule so it isn’t really a problem.

“You got Tate to help you out?” I ask, dropping the box of tiles beside my gear bag.

“It’s Saturday,” Mitch says drily. “Where d’you think he is?”

I can’t help but breathe out a quiet laugh at that.

Without exception, Mitch’s son wraps up his Friday shift as early as he can, and then he spends the entirety of his weekend either at his fiancée’s dorm or at his place. Seeing as he likes to take her to his favourite church on Sundays, more often than not they’ll be at his place in Phoenix Falls.

“I’ve got other guys who can help out, if you’re busy,” Mitch adds, as if he can tell that I’m torn – but roof-work is as easy as breathing to me, so I feel like I should take this one.

“I can–” I’m about to say, but then my eyes flick to the sudden buzzing on the counter.

My work cell has been non-stop vibrating and it’s not even five-thirty in the morning yet.

But when my gaze settles on the most recent message, I close my eyes and drag a hand through my hair.

“Mitch,” I tell him gruffly, “I’m not going to be able to make it.”

He grunts on the other end but still manages to get out a low, “It’s okay. No stress.”

“No – I would have joined, at least for the morning,” I tell him. The more hands they get on that roof before the snow falls again, the quicker they’ll finish. “But I’ve just got an SOS that I have to deal with.”

Not only can I not make Mitch’s tiling job, even myowncrew is going to be without me this morning.

And as soon as I say SOS, Mitch knows exactly what’s going on.

“Search-and-rescue,” he says, not as a question but as a fact.

I glance at the notification on my work phone, memorising the location as I map out which route I need to take.

“Some out-of-towners didn’t realise that the snow was going to come down so heavy. So they set up camp in the mountains, and it got too deep for them to climb back down.”

Luckily they have a satellite phone, so we’ll be able to find them ASAP.

“Which mountain?” Mitch asks.

I shrug on a jacket. “Which d’you think?”

They’re halfway up the evergreens behindmy fucking house, so there’s no way that I can leave this mission for someone who doesn’t know these ridges like I do.

“Want me to still bring the tiles and gear to the town square before I head?” I ask.

“No way, I’ll come grab ’em,” my brother replies instantly. “Don’t waste time on that shit. Just leave the tiles inside the front door and I’ll take it from there – I’ve got a key.”

We hang up and then I’m dialling Knox, letting him know that there’s a mission I need to run this morning. Seeing as he’s doing some of the final electric checks on the bar – which, luckily enough, is just across the road from the diner – I let him know that I’ll stop by the second that the rescue’s done.

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