Page 23 of Novel Problems

“Are you okay?” Hannah asked, her voice now clear.

“Yes. Thank you,” I managed to say as I made my way down the boxes, my pulse beating double-time. I could still feel the warm imprints on my butt where Hannah’s hands had been.

When I reached the bottom, I took a deep breath and then walked back to the window, standing on the box to peer out. I’d planned to ask Hannah if Novel Gossip was okay but she wasn’t there.

A muffled noise near the door drew my attention. I turned around just in time to see the door shake and then open. I exhaled in relief. Hannah was standing there, pink-cheeked and out of breath, holding a long, curved pizza cutter. My heart bounced. She looked like some gorgeous leading woman out of an action movie, coming to save the day.

I resisted the urge to fling my arms around her and hug her. I’d just had Hannah’s hands on my butt, and I didn’t want to cross any more employee-employer boundaries tonight. “Thank you so much! I’m so sorry about all of this. How’s Novel Gossip?”

Hannah smiled. “It’s fine. The kitchen is a littlesmoky, and the cornbread is definitely ruined, but the pulled pork looks and smells amazing. The exhaust fan was on, so that helped a lot, and I also opened a few windows to help clear the air. I don’t think there will be any lasting damage.”

Relief washed over me. “Oh, thank god,” I said as I grabbedThe Glass Denand walked out of the shed, taking a deep breath of fresh air. I locked the door behind me, resolving to call someone in the morning to fix it.

Hannah examined the pizza cutter. “Hopefully I haven’t damaged it. It was the only thing I could find to lever the door open. I can’t imagine Romina will be thrilled if it’s bent.”

“It looks fine from here, but I wouldn’t put it past Romina’s eagle eye to spot something we’ve missed. To be on the safe side, I’ll keep pizza off the menu for now,” I said, grinning. “And here’s the book, by the way.” I handed HannahThe Glass Den, which she’d left on a box in the shed.

“Thank you. After all that, hopefully it lives up to the hype.”

We walked back into Novel Gossip, and I sniffed the air. There was a distinctly smoky scent, mixed with the delicious, rich smell of pulled pork, but the smoke wasn’t overpowering. Hopefully nothing a good airing out wouldn’t fix.

The smell got stronger as we entered the kitchen. Trays of blackened cornbread muffins were sitting on the stove, under the exhaust fan, which was running at full power. Hannah had taken the pot of pulled pork off the stove. I walked over to it, opened the lid, and was nearly bowled over by the mouth-watering smell that hit me. I grabbed a spoon from the utensil rack and stirred it.Phew. It hadn’t stuck to the bottom of the pot. In fact, it seemed to have been caramelized to perfection.

“It smells incredible, doesn’t it?” Hannah stepped closer to me and peered into the pot.

“Sure does.” I grinned. “Hey, if you’re hungry, would you like some?”

Hannah looked up at me sharply, her eyes wide. “Won’t Romina notice?”

I chuckled. “That’s okay.She actually said it was fine to eat some.” I loved that Hannah had already picked up on who the real boss in the kitchen was.

“It is a wholelot more appealing than the leftover pasta dish I was planning to eat,” Hannah said.

“Come on. It’s the least you deserve after climbing out that window and saving the day. And then saving my ass!” I grinned.

While the memory of Hannah’s hands on my butt still made me cringe, I could see the funny side now that we were safely out of the shed, and Novel Gossip hadn’t sustained any lasting smoke or fire damage. “I’m planning to have some too. I can steam some greens to go with it, and while unfortunately we don’t have any cornbread, there’s some mashed potatoes left over that I could heat up.”

“You’ve convinced me,” Hannah said, her eyes twinkling. “My sad pasta and vodka sauce leftovers can’t compete with that!”

I prepared the greens, and Hannah heated up the mashed potatoes, and before long, we were sitting at one of the tables in the café, digging into the food.

“I really built up an appetite after our impromptu escape room experience,” Hannah said.

I chuckled. “I’d forgotten some people pay good money to be trapped in a room and work out how to escape. That will be twenty dollars for the privilege, thank you.” I held out my hand.

Hannah laughed. “The very real risk of Novel Gossip burning down really added an extra level of pressure. You could probably charge a premium for that.” She took another bite and groaned. “Thank goodness the pork survived. I think it’s on par with last night’s beef Wellington, if not better—if that’s possible.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Does this mean you’re giving up our plan to bring back the hits of the ‘80s?”

“No! I’m fully committed to the cause.” Hannah’s lips curved upward. “But I will also be campaigning to keep pulled pork on the menu.”

“You know, after last night’s conversation, I half expected you to show up today wearing a fanny pack and a mullet.” I put a forkful of pork in my mouth and chewed slowly, savoring the tender, juicy meat and rich smoky flavors.

“A fanny pack would be incredibly practical for work. Perhaps you should make it part of the staff uniform. But unfortunately, I don’t have one just lying around. Although, you never know—I still haven’t finished unpacking, so who knows what treasures I’ll unearth in the process.”

“Did you just move here recently, then? Or are you just one of those people, like me, who take their time to unpack?” I asked, jumping at the excuse to find out more about Hannah. “I have a bad feeling I still have one or two unopened boxes from my move here, and that was three years ago!”

Hannah laughed. "That always happens to me too. But in this case, I did just move here last week, so I have an excuse.”

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