Wright with Benefits

“Any luck?” she asked, her voice laced with hysteria.

“No.”

“I think I had it before the shower. I remember taking it off and leaving it by the sink.” Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at the sink. “What if it fell down the drain? I’ve had that since I was eighteen.”

“It’s okay, Annie. We’ll find it.”

“I don’t want to go to my interview without it.”

“I know you don’t, but you don’t need it either,” I said, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to look at me.

She bit her lip. “I’ve had it forever. My parents gave it to me at high school graduation.”

“Hey, listen, you’re an amazing doctor, and you’re going to kill this interview. A ring isn’t going to change that.”

She nodded slowly, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. “You’re right. You’re right. I don’t have time for this. Can you keep looking and let me know if you find it?”

“Of course. I’ll retrace our steps yesterday and see if someone found it.”

She beamed. “That’s a great idea. Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

After I got her calmed down enough to function, she threw a jacket on over her suit and headed out the door. I had a car waiting for her on the curb, and she texted me when she realized it.

You didn’t have to do that!

That was the reason I’d done it.

Then, instead of spending my morning getting caught up on work, I got dressed again and walked every step we’d walked the day before, even going inside the coffee shop to see if anyone had found a ring. No one had, of course. If it wasn’t lost somewhere in Pike Place Market, then it had fallen down the drain, and we’d never see it again.

I decided to let Annie know.

Hope everything is going well for you. No luck with the ring.

She responded almost instantly.

* * *

I hated that I couldn’t fix this for her. I knew what that ring meant to her, but there was nothing more I could do. I should have returned to the hotel and worked the remainder of the afternoon. Instead, I trudged down the bleak Seattle streets in the fog and misty rain. It felt like home.

Annie had asked if I missed it, and I’d said I did, but being out here showed me how much I had missed it. I’d never lived anywhere but Vancouver and a four-year stint in Seattle for college. And Lubbock was about as opposite as it could get. Who knew the Pacific Northwest would hold on to my heart so decisively? That I’d want to wander through the mercurial weather just to feel like I lived here again.

I ended up in front of the bay when my phone rang. Hollin’s number was on the screen.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Jordan, sorry to bother you on vacation.”

“I’m always available. You know that.”

“For sure, dude. There’s a guy here at the winery who says he’s with the health department.”

“The health department?” I asked incredulously. “What does he want?”

“I don’t know. He said he got a complaint and needs to do a full inspection of the location.”

“We’re not even open.”

“I know, dude,” Hollin said in frustration.

“And he wants to do the inspection right now?”

“Yeah.”

I tapped my finger on the railing. “I’ll look into it. Let him do the inspection if he must. I don’t know what he could possibly find, considering we’re not even fully operational yet.”

“All right.”

“See if he has an order or knows who filed the complaint. I want to follow up with it. I’ll check with his superior.”

“Okay. I’ll get on it.”

I hung up the phone and wanted to chuck it into the bay. When we’d been told that the winery was haunted, we’d thought it was a joke. That all the bad luck was of the supernatural variety was outrageous. I never would have believed it until the last couple weeks of ownership. This health inspection was the last of a line of things that had gone wrong, starting with the higher offer. At some point, the electricity was cut for no particular reason. We had a containment permit, which we were certain had already been filed, go missing. We just had to refile it and get it approved, but still, it made no sense. Then Hollin had had one too many workers back out of employment contracts right before signing to work with us.

It was maddening. I was starting to think less ghost and more that someone was doing this to us.

I just had no idea who.

Annie returned to the hotel long enough to change for dinner and go out again. They’d set up a special dinner for those interviewing this weekend. I ordered takeout from a local Ethiopian restaurant. One of the things I missed most about Vancouver: the food.

She came back two hours later, a little tipsy from wine at dinner, and immediately started digging through the bathroom again.