She caught him staring at her mouth. Apparently, he was just as turned on when she talked about fuel surcharges as when she physically changed out an oil filter.
“Nothing.” He swallowed. “When—”
He’d been about to ask when Biyen’s father was leaving, but Trystan walked in with Storm doing her wiggle dance in the sling.
“Are you lost?” Logan asked.
“Reid said to find you.” He texted as he spoke. “He wants to talk to us.”
“About?”
“That’s all the information I have.” His phone dinged and he glanced at it. “He’ll be here in a sec.”
“Good. I want to talk about our emergency procedures.” Logan sat back and couldn’t stop himself from cutting a glance at Sophie, still mad at her for putting herself at risk. “That rescue was a shit show. We’re lucky it turned out as well as it did. We had too many hands on deck, not enough coordination from shore.”
Sophie sniffed and walked away, slipping onto the stool at the other computer and turning to tap its keyboard.
“It wasn’t great,” Trystan allowed.
“No, it wasn’t. I’ve had a look at the safety manual. The procedures are reasonably up to date, but we need to run a few drills. Reid will have to rewrite some for the new lodge and the rest of the new construction.”
“Sounds like you guys have it under control. We love it when the heroes do all the work, don’t we, Storm?” Trystan let her grasp onto his fingers so he could bring her arms over her head like a champion.
“You’re not off the hook. Your purview will be lost hikers and wildfire response. Anything that happens to our guests on land outside our lease is your jurisdiction.”
“Since when?”
“Maybe be careful with that one?” Sophie pivoted on her stool. “I’ve always found it good practice to check in with the tribal council office in Bella Bella before sending a team offsite. That way we’re not trampling up a sensitive wetland or other meaningful place.”
“Absolutely we should coordinate with them,” Logan agreed. “But let’s not be dicks. We can’t put it on them to rescue our guests.”
“I’ll touch base with them, see how they want to handle it,” Trystan said.
“Handle what?” Reid asked as he came in on the tail of Trystan’s statement.
Logan caught him up.
“I actually had a reminder in my calendar to run a fire drill before the cruise. It fell off my radar, but it’s top priority now.” Reid looked around. “I forgot what a dim little place this is. Why don’t you wash that window?”
“I’ve hosed it down four times since I’ve been here. It doesn’t stay clean,” Logan said.
“There’s an exhaust from the repair shop below,” Sophie pointed out. “It kicks up dust off the embankment.”
“Move the exhaust,” Reid said with a shrug that said, Problem solved.
“Is that the best use of your money?” Sophie asked. “Because I can exhaust it to the other side of the island if money is no object, but the view out that window is a muddy hillside. I sit with my back to it. Fresh air is nice when I want it, but what do I care whether I can see out the glass?”
Reid looked to Logan.
“This is my life,” Logan said. “I tell her how to spend our money and she tells me how to save it. It’s kind of annoying. Tell him what you said yesterday about the Missionary II,” he prompted Sophie.
She blinked. “I thought the consensus was that it was even more boring than regular. You just watch TV and go to bed.”
Reid choked and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You did not just say that to your bosses,” Logan said, because that was not what he had meant. At all.
“I thought it was an action movie,” Trystan confided to Reid.
“It’s not a lunar launch?” Reid asked with mock surprise.
“That wasn’t even dirty!” Sophie defended. “You should have heard some of the things my old boss said to me before you three came along.”
“Please don’t drag us into that workplace harassment claim,” Reid said smoothly. “And thank you for the laugh. I needed it.”
“She suggested we buy it,” Logan said of the damaged vessel.
“That was off the cuff,” Sophie said with a dismissive wave. “Two of the crew from the Missionary II would have stayed if they could have found a place to live. I just said to Logan that it’s too bad we couldn’t have kept it as a floating staff house, especially for the summer months.”
“See? It’s a solid suggestion,” Logan said. “The fire damage is mostly in the engine room and replacing the engine will be very spendy. If we bought it as is, repaired the hull, and parked it, we would instantly gain two-dozen bunks.”
“We don’t need that many rooms for staff. Once the renos are finished, we won’t have so many contractors on site, either.” Reid was skeptical.
“It could be a cheaper option for the sports fishermen who still want to come here, but don’t want to pay the higher price at the renovated lodge,” Trystan pointed out.
“We could book it out for private parties. Family reunions. Weddings,” Logan added.
“I don’t hate the idea,” Reid said. “We definitely need more accommodation available in summer months. Adding it into the lodge reservation system would be simple enough. Put some hard numbers together and a plan for the remodel. Let’s circle back on that.” He nodded at Logan. “Right now, we have a more pressing matter. But thank you, Sophie. That was a great suggestion.”
