a power cut,’ he whispered and wrapped his arms tighter around her body, drawing it closer to him and trying to find a comfier position on the narrow wicker sofa. The moon was higher and lighting the room but the candles had burnt out an hour ago.
She nodded and then lifted her head. ‘I can smell something burning. Is it our dinner?’
He chuckled for a full second before the smile dropped from his lips and with a deep groan of regret he took hold of Toni’s hands.
‘Nope. Not the dinner. That’s the smell of electric cable burning. Sorry, Toni. I need to find out where the problem is.’
‘Not without me,’ Toni said and they pulled on their clothes and Scott dashed out of the conservatory and into his father’s apartment, the moonlight at their backs guiding their steps.
Scott was right. The burning smell grew stronger the closer they got to the main staircase and when they opened the door to the apartment there was smoke in the hallway.
‘I left a torch in the store room,’ Toni called out as the lights started to flicker. ‘Just inside the door to the right.’
‘On it,’ Scott called back and took the stairs two at a time and Toni saw the torchlight beam out only seconds before all the lights went out and she was left in the smoke and darkness.
‘Scott! Are you okay?’ she called out and blinked as the torchlight blinded her.
‘It’s in the fuse box,’ a dark shape called out through the smoke which was so thick that she could hardly make out his face. ‘No time to grab your coat. We’re leaving and we’re leaving right now. Before this whole building goes up in flames.’
Toni shrugged her arms into an old cardigan belonging to Scott’s father that she had found hanging on the back of a chair. But it was no good. She still stank of smoke. All of her clothes and certainly her hair and skin were dirty with soot and grime and no amount of rinsing her face could clear her eyes of that horrible gritty feeling.
She peeked around the corner of the main office and watched Scott direct the electricians to the totally burnt-out junction box which was the source of all of the smoke. No actual flames, thank goodness. That would have been truly terrifying.
Scott was even filthier than she was!
Hardly surprising. He had been amazing. Once he had known that she was safe outside on the pavement, he had dashed back into the service room with only a small fire extinguisher and the torch held between this teeth.
That was a sight that she was not going to forget in a hurry!
Her heart had been in her throat for the whole ten minutes until he had emerged, coughing and smoky. Through the smoke, it was obvious that the ancient electrical system had finally given up and had been totally burnt out and would need to be replaced.
The emergency electrician who arrived to make the building safe gave them the bad news in the middle of the night. The whole building would have to be rewired to bring it up to modern safety standards. In fact he was astonished that this had not happened earlier. He had never seen anything this old still in operation. Anywhere!
Sitting in a coffee shop in their stinky clothing at first light was not exactly how she had imagined her birthday dinner would end. Scott wasn’t going to get another up close and personal second viewing of her new burgundy underwear after all. Not tonight, anyhow.
It hadn’t taken long for the shock to wear off and the real impact of the damage to sink in and they had sat in silence for a lot of the time, deep in thought.
Neither of them was stupid. All of that work had been wasted! And what would this mean for the financial plans for the building? Rewiring a two-hundred-year-old building was no easy task. Wooden panels and flooring were not designed to be easily removed and replaced. The work could take weeks!
Any plans to use Elstrom Mapping as a film location were officially on hold.
The true extent of the smoke damage was only really obvious when they braved the smell and went back in to open every window to try and clear the smoke. And this time there was no way that she would stay outside and leave Scott to do the work alone.
Her camera and the precious maps and charts had all been safely locked away in the mapping room drawers before she left the previous evening but other paperwork and some of the archive papers had been covered in smoke and smelt horrible.
It was heartbreaking to see this fine building that she had come to care about so much looking so wrecked and damaged.
Heartbreaking to see Scott trying to sound positive on the phone to Freya and the insurance company. Heartbreaking to sit with him and look at the damage and know how much work was needed to restore the greatness of this fine place.
And heartbreaking to know that she only had one more week to help him. Her boss at the media company had already emailed her twice to make sure that she would be at the airport on Monday morning for a flight to Madrid and then on to Athens a few days later to shoot a three-week commercial campaign for a housewares company. Her time at Elstroms was coming to an end.
What was she going to do? What could she do?
It was almost a shock to hear the phone ringing on Scott’s desk and she jogged around and picked up the handset, just as Scott strolled into the room.
‘Elstrom Mapping.’ Toni said, trying to sound professional, but her throat was still a little hoarse to pull it off. ‘Good morning.’
‘Not from what I’ve just heard,’ a high-pitched male voice replied. ‘I need to speak to Scott right now. Is he there?’
Toni beckoned Scott to her and he gave a quick nod and stretched out his hand for the phone. ‘One moment, please. Who shall I say is calling?’
‘Just tell him it’s Travis. He’ll take the call.’
Scott must have seen the surprise on her face and his eyebrows creased together for a second before he put the phone to his ear, but that was nothing compared to the look of absolute rage that seemed to transform his face the second he heard the other man’s voice.
‘I wondered when you would call. It didn’t take long, did it?’
Scott was on his feet, walking back and forth in front of the desk with exhaustion only too clear on his face. But, as Toni sat back in his office chair, every word that exploded from Scott’s mouth sounded like cannon fire.
‘Sell the building? Now, why should I do that? A bit of smoke damage only adds to the character.’
Something Travis said must have upset Scott even more because suddenly he froze. ‘How the hell do you know what my father wants? When was the last time you even spoke to him? Oh, yes, I remember. Just after you started screwing my wife. Forget it, Travis. I’m not selling. You’re going to have to find some easy money somewhere else. Now, get off my phone. I have a business to run.’
Toni leant back as the phone came sliding across the desk towards her and she could hear the sound of Scott’s breathing as he continued to pace
