Page 31 of Hot Zone
By the time Ziva showed up, I’d restocked all the incense, candles, and resins. I’d also taken all the crystal pyramids and spheres off their shelves, dusted everything, and put them all back. I was in the middle of rearranging the shelves in the front room to make them look more inviting to customers.
“Wow, someone’s been very productive today.” Ziva tossed her purse under the front counter, put her hands on her hips, and looked around.
“Yeah, I was pretty far behind on a lot of stuff since the fire.”
“Well, you’ve had a lot going on,” she said with a shrug. Which was nice of her because we both knew I was always running behind. The fire was just a good excuse.
“Yeah, but with Samhain coming up, I really need to make sure everything’s ready. But for now, it’s time to open. Will you flip the switch on the open sign, and I’ll unlock the door.”
We were fairly busy that morning, which was a good thing because that meant I had less time to think about what a mess I’d made out of everything. During lunch, Ziva ran and picked up Chinese take-out for us to eat, and I grabbed my laptop so I could look and see what rental properties I could find.
I’d found two that were possibilities, but I wasn’t crazy about the location of either one. They were both on the south side of town, which was a bit more of a drive than I was used to.
“Any luck?” she asked when she came back in.
I shrugged. “A couple on the south side but nothing close to the shop, but right now, I’m more focused on lunch. That smells fantastic.”
“I know. I had to smell it all the way from Sunset Chinese to here.”
She dug around in the bag and handed me a container. “One order of Moo Shu Pork for you, and here are your spring rolls.”
“Perfect, thank you, Ziva.”
“You’re welcome. Now let me see the houses you’ve found.”
We spent the next half hour eating and flipping through property management listings. The chime on the door let us know we had a customer about the time we were finishing up.
“I’m in the tea room,” I called out. “If I can help you, just let me know.”
“I’ll take the trash.” Ziva stood and started cleaning up our mess.
“It’s just me,” Mika said, coming around the corner. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your lunch.”
“Don’t worry about it. We were all finished.”
“I’m off work today, so I thought I would come by and see what you’ve been up to.”
“Not much, just trying to replace all my stuff. Today, I’m looking at rental houses to see if I can find a place.”
“Oh cool, any luck?”
“Maybe. This one doesn’t look too bad.” I turned the computer around to show him a little bungalow-style house. “It doesn’t have a fenced yard, which I prefer, but it’s just me and Kismet so that isn’t a deal breaker.”
“I’m dreading doing this when my lease is up after the first of the year.”
“Oh, are you planning on getting a different place?”
“I am. The roommate thing is getting old.”
“So far, this one’s the one I’m leaning towards.”
“It’s not too bad. No garage or carport, though. We should take a drive by after you get off and see it in person.”
“Why don’t you two go now?” Ziva said. “I’ve got this covered.”
“Do you want to?” I asked.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Mika said with a grin. “We can take my car since it’s parked out front.”