“If they’re all here, we should start checking that the food’s still heated.”

On cue, we all moved.

Hadley and Owen went to the kitchen to do their thing.

Trent went out the regular office door. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I figured it had to do with the job he’d been hired to do here. And me? My job didn’t start—well, shit. I didn’t know. Tonight? Tomorrow morning?

I went to the kitchen.

Owen was checking the thermometers.

“Do I open the courts tonight?”

“Yeah. I think so.” He was distracted, going through all of the steam drawers. “Keith didn’t say?”

Hadley came from the dishwashing area carrying two serving spoons that were still wet from being cleaned. She waved them in the air, helping them air dry. “He mentioned that after dinner they’d do the opening reception with Trent,” she said. “Then maybe they’d all want to congregate on the courts after.”

No way I was going to ask Keith about this directly. “You’re thinking I should open it after the welcome ceremony and close it at midnight?”

Owen pop-locked his shoulder back. “Yeah. I think that’s a good idea. You can close them if no one shows up.”

I clipped my head in a nod. I almost saluted him—I was that grateful he hadn’t told me to go to Keith.

I glanced around.

I was still pretending I didn’t know who was filling up the cafeteria, but we were all hearing their voices.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

Owen was already moving around me toward the door.

Hadley eyed me. “Are you going to be okay? Got your question habit in check?”

I nodded. “I’m working on it. I used to have it in check.”

She nodded. “You always did like the dishes?”

It was said as a question, but also a suggestion. And she was right.

There was a whole mess of dishes already there, asking me to clean them. I could hear their voices. “Charlie. Wash us. Make us shine again. Pleeease.”

Okay, that was creepy, but there’s something about holding a power washer in your hand and aiming at any surface you want to punish.

The window to the cafeteria was open, where the dishes would be stacked, but I wasn’t paying attention. I wouldn’t pay attention. Walls. I needed them up and erect in my brain. I reached for that powerful nozzle.

The handle felt like it’d been waiting for me all these years. I almost heard it saying, “Welcome back, my little Charlie.”

And I smiled.

Chapter Six

There was Garth Carzoni.

I almost fell into the dishwasher.

I should’ve stopped gawking, but I couldn’t.