Burning Flowers - Page 24/56

A white pickup pulled up about ten minutes later and parked in front of the business. As the man inside got out, Clarke had to fight her jaw from dropping to the floor. He wasn't at all what she expected; not really. He wasn't much taller than her, and he had thick red hair that made him look like a cute little boy at the same time his defined arms made him look like a man. His cut off flannel top showed his muscular and pale arms, and he had on a pair of white washed jeans with holes in the knees that were not made by some designer. He had a smile on his face that displayed two large dimples that just defined his masculine jaw even more. He looked like the type of guy that might do ranch or farm work. He was handsome but in a very rugged and manly way. Even in Virginia, men that looked like that were few and far between.

"Hi," she managed to squeak out before leading him inside her damaged shop. She watched as he walked around, looking at everything. Like his cousin, he also dug in the wall and took a look at the wiring. He also checked the wires at the back of the freezers. She watched nervously and impatiently, tugging at her lip and following his movements with her own while trying not to breathe down his back.

He finally stopped and leaned against what was left of the front counter. He looked so laid back. "So, it looks like your electrical wiring has needed some updating for a while as well as the circuit breaker. Basically, the outdated setup couldn't handle everything you were running in here. Did you add anything recently? Because my bet is on those two freezers." He pointed at the two that were on the side where the fire occurred.

"We did just add those for this season. We usually only have those other two." Clarke pointed to the freezers on the other side of her, and Vince nodded.

"Okay, well, normally when there's an overload the breaker should alert you, but it obviously didn't. That means you have some worn out connectors on there that need to be addressed as well. The overload triggered the fire. So, you can either back down on the appliances you're using, or I can update the wiring. Either way, I need to fix the breaker box connectors. I'll also have to clean up the water and make sure there's no mold or mildew going on so I can fix that first. I can also clean up all the smoke and soot and dispose of damaged property."