Page 23 of Startup Fire

Wayne's heart hammered. This was the moment. The cliff edge. He could pull back, keep it casual, protect himself.

Or he could jump.

“Yeah,” he said. “That's what we're doing.”

Jess's smile could have lit the entire barn. She reached for him, pulling him close, and kissed him with such sweetness it made his throat tight.

“Good,” she murmured against his mouth. “Because I really like you, Wayne Drummond. And I'm tired of pretending otherwise.”

Wayne still was struggling to find words when there was a knocking at the door.

They both froze.

There was another knock, firmer this time. “Wayne? It's Fire Marshal Wygant. Need to do an inspection.”

Wayne's stomach dropped. Wygant. They'd worked together on the warehouse fire last spring. This was going to be mortifying.

He opened the door.

“Wayne.” Fire Marshal Wygant looked faintly apologetic. “Got a call about your barn workspace. Concerns about safety compliance. I know this is probably overkill, but I've got to do the inspection.”

“When?” Wayne's voice came out flat.

“We can find a good date.” Wygant shifted his weight. “Look, I've seen your setup before. I'm sure it's fine. But the paperwork needs to happen.”

“What about right now? Get it over with?”

“I had been hoping that,” Wygant said. “But I can come back if—”

“Now's fine.” Wayne stepped back to let him in, his mind racing. Someone had called in an inspection. Without telling him. Without asking.

Wygant spotted Jess near her workstation. “Fire Marshal Beck Wygant,” he introduced himself.

“Jessica Hartley.” She shook his hand.

His face changed as realization hit. “Hartley. Oh.”

The silence was excruciating.

“It was my grandparents who called, wasn't it?” Jess's voice was small.

Wygant made a noncommittal sound and turned to his inspection checklist.

Wayne's jaw clenched. The Hartleys had called in an inspection. Jess's grandparents. Without telling him. Without asking. They'd just decided his barn needed official scrutiny.

Because Jess had told them about the fire.

Jess's eyes found Wayne's across the barn. “I didn't know they'd call—”

“Let's just get this done.” Wayne turned away from her, jaw tight.

He showed Wygant around the barn with professional detachment, pointing out the ventilation system, the fire extinguishers—all five of them, strategically placed—the heat sensors, the fireproof construction, the first aid kit. Everything he'd spent years perfecting.

Jess hovered near her workstation, her expression miserable.

Wygant walked the barn's perimeter, checking extinguisher tags, examining the forge ventilation, making notes on his tablet. He tested the smoke detector, inspected the electrical panel, spent extra time examining the circuit that powered Jess's annealing kiln.

“This setup handles the kiln load?” Wygant asked.