Page 76 of Finding Forever

Natalie went quiet.

“I know,” Beth said.

“Can it be repaired before the opening?”

“They think so.”

Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry, Beth. We’ll find the money.”

Beth wished she shared Natalie’s confidence. “I’ve already started looking at the budget. There are a few things we can cancel.”

“Don’t cancel anything yet. We’ll go through it tomorrow.”

After the call ended, Beth stared at the spreadsheet again. Maybe Natalie was right. Except the sewer wasn’t the only problem anymore. Beth picked up the shelving invoice and carried it into the storeroom. She checked the manufacturer’s label one more time.

There was no mistake. Returning to her desk, she wrote the actual product beside the invoiced one. Then she did the same with the hinges. When she realized there’d been a mistake with the faucets, she’d thought they’d been incredibly lucky.

Now she wasn’t so sure. One mistake was possible. Two might be coincidence. But expensive faucets, upgraded shelving, better hinges and acoustic treatment she hadn’t ordered? Something was wrong. Either someone had been quietly covering the difference, or the center owed money Beth knew nothing about.

Neither possibility sat comfortably with her.

She picked up her phone to call Dave. Her thumb hovered over his name, then she lowered it.

If she asked him now, he’d tell her not to worry. He’d say he’d look into it. And because it was Dave, because she trusted him, she’d be tempted to leave it with him.

Not this time. She wanted the facts first.

Beth opened her budget and added a column for the product number of each item that was delivered.

Before she spoke to Natalie, she’d find out where the money for the upgraded orders had come from.

Chapter 38

Hank’s call came while Dave was halfway through a meeting at Finley Point. He listened for less than thirty seconds before reaching for his jacket. “How bad is it?”

“Bad enough that you should see it,” Hank replied. “The plumber ran a camera through the sewer line. Part of the pipe has collapsed between the building and the main connection.”

Dave closed his eyes briefly. “I’m on my way.”

Forty minutes later, he pulled into the arts center parking lot and saw a plumbing van beside the curb. Orange markings had already been sprayed across a section of ground near the side of the building.

Hank met him outside. “The break’s about fifteen feet from the foundation,” he explained as they walked toward the marked area. “Old clay pipe. Looks like the ground shifted and crushed part of it.”

Dave crouched beside the access point while the plumber showed him the camera footage on a small screen. There was no mistaking the problem. The pipe had caved inward, leaving barely enough room for anything to pass.

“Can you replace only the damaged section?” Dave asked.

“That’s the plan. We’ll excavate from here, cut out what’s failed, then tie new PVC into the sound pipe on either side.”

“How long?”

“Two days if nothing else goes wrong.”

Dave frowned. “And the cost?”

The plumber named a figure close to eighteen thousand dollars.

Dave straightened. It was a lot of money, but not enough to jeopardize an opening they’d spent months working toward. “I’ll cover it.”