Chapter 7
NIX
“You have to be fucking kidding me.” I turn the handle on the shower one more time, just to make sure I’m not the problem. It wouldn’t be the first time—or the last time—that my house issues were user error.
Nothing happens, which is exactly the problem I’ve had all morning. Nothing comes out of the sink faucet either. While I might normally convince myself that there’s a perfectly rational reason and not to panic, there’s a sinking feeling in my stomach that I can’t ignore.
Robe on to keep my neighbors from getting a little too much of a view this early in the morning, I head downstairs. In the kitchen, I send a quick prayer up to anyone who might be listening before I turn on the sink.
Whoever answers prayer requests is still asleep, because just like upstairs, it sputters briefly, then nothing.
That feeling in the pit of my stomach? It gets much worse.
A quick peek outside my window tells me that my neighbor, Margie, is awake and eating breakfast. Maybe there’s some sort of town-wide water outage that I haven’t heard about. Or a main on our street that broke. I decide to send her a quick text to check in.
Does your water work?
Through the window, I watch Margie pick up her phone and give the screen a scowl before typing back a reply.
Margie (neighbor)
Of course it works. Why wouldn’t it? What did you do?
I made one teeny tiny mistake while doing some electrical work, and the whole block never lets me forget.
And really, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
People were only without power for a few hours.
And some of them were at work, so they didn’t even notice.
At least until Margie spread the word. I’m convinced she went door to door, handing out flyers explaining how terrible it was that I moved in.
They never did that to my great-aunt. Probably. I’ll never get the chance to ask her. There are so many questions I have after living here for a few years that I wish I could ask. Sadly, I’m on my own to figure them out. Just like I’m on my own to solve the water problem.
Except that this seems beyond my wildly mediocre home-improvement skills. Which means calling a plumber. My least favorite thing.
It also means that at some point today, I’ll have to come home to meet the plumber.
Not exactly an easy feat with the shop. It’s why I should really consider getting more help long-term, not just during the summer months.
Someone I can trust to be in charge when I’m not there.
It’s just hard to find someone that I trust with my baby.
Chase doesn’t count. It’s his first day working at the shop. I can’t very well leave him in charge for an unknown period of time. Sure, he was great yesterday, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to take over the shop.
Thirty minutes later, I arrive at the shop as fresh as possible without running water.
The water in the pitcher I keep in the fridge came in handy for brushing my teeth and splashing some very cold water on my face.
Not exactly the level of freshness I strive for, but it wasn’t enough for anything resembling a shower.
Would it be weird to ask Chase to let me use his? It is technically mine, but the space is his right now. I’m trying to be respectful of that and not interfere with whatever he has going on.
“Are you okay?” Chase is standing behind the counter when I arrive.
“I should ask you the same thing. You’re”—I check my watch—“fifty minutes ahead of your shift.” It’s not that I don’t have things for him to do, but what I really need is time to get myself together and figure out exactly what I’m going to have him do.
If I’m going to keep from having a repeat of last night’s performance, I need him working at the opposite end of the shop.
Preferably where I can’t see him or his short shorts.
“I was bored.” He shrugs. I’m not buying it. There are a million things he could be doing besides standing here staring at his phone. Like lying in bed, staring at his phone.
“Is Nick upstairs?” Whatever his deal is with Nick, it’s hilarious. Nick’s a beast, there’s no doubt about that, but he’s the sweetest and softest one imaginable.
“I don’t know how he’s getting in.” Chase throws his hands up in the air. “The door was shut and locked. It shouldn’t be possible, and yet, he’s up there having a nap on my bed right now.”
It would be funny if it didn’t pose a real problem for the space’s future marketability. Maybe a cat that joins you, uninvited, could be a selling point? Some people might even pay extra for a vacation cat. I would.
Of course, when those people were here, Nick would take the opportunity to disappear completely. Then I’d get complaints saying that I promised a cat that didn’t exist. I have a feeling that where Nick is concerned, there’s no winning. Except for Nick. Nick always wins.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Chase comes around the counter, making a beeline for me.
God, I hope I don’t smell too bad. Oh God.
What if I still smell like cum after last night?
I cleaned up a bit, but I saved the rest for the shower I thought I was getting this morning.
The washcloth I ran over my body might not be enough.
“Something’s wrong with the water at my place.
There is none. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.
I called a plumber who’s coming at two, but that means I have to close the shop for at least an hour.
Then I have to hope the issue is small and not something massive.
Plus, I have to work all day feeling gross because I didn’t get a shower this morning.
Oh, and that cat is going to ruin all my plans. ”
Chase stares at me, a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to word vomit all over you.” Like the water, my filter seems to be off this morning.
Suddenly, he snaps out of it. The exact moment is clear on his face, like a lightbulb literally turned on in his mind.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. First, you’re going to go upstairs and take a shower.
There are plenty of clean towels in the cabinet.
Any that are in there, I haven’t touched.
I’ll go to your house this afternoon, meet the plumber, and let you know what happens.
If they need to talk to you, then we’ll call.
As for Nick, well, I don’t have any great ideas right now, but I’m sure we’ll think of something. ”
I’m so relieved that I let my head fall to Chase’s shoulder—well, more like his chest since my head doesn’t reach all the way to his shoulder.
Running this business is my life’s passion, but sometimes it’s so lonely.
Yeah, I have Russ, but he’s almost a thousand miles away.
There are others in town, like Kyler, but it’s not the same.
Having someone to lean on—literally—is a nice change.
“Thank you. I’m sorry. Just, thank you.”
“It’s no problem. Really. You might have to lend me your car to drive to your place, though. Actually, I don’t know where you live. If it’s close enough, I can walk.”
“No, you can take my car. Then you won’t overheat.” Especially important considering he can’t get a drink of water at my place. The last thing I need is a call that he passed out on my front lawn. However, that might replace the gossip about me. At least for a few weeks.
“Go, take a shower. You’ll feel better.” I can only hope that his urgency has nothing to do with my odor and everything to do with the store opening in an hour.
At the door to the backroom, I turn around and look at Chase.
He’s still the old version of himself that I remember from high school, but also so much more.
That Chase never would’ve stopped to think about someone else’s needs for more than two minutes.
Not that he wasn’t kind and caring, but he was also pretty self-absorbed. Like every teenager. “Hey, Chase?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s really nice having you here.”
“It’s nice to be here.”
CHASE
“I’ve got good news and bad news. What do you want first?”
It’s a trick question. There’s never good news when it comes to home maintenance. Only bad news couched as good news so that they can pretend there’s an upside. I heard him say, “Oh shit, when he entered the basement. That has to put this into at least four-digit territory. Maybe five.
“Give me the bad news first.”
“It looks like a lot of the pipes here are original to the house. Which would be fine, but they haven’t been maintained.
They’ve corroded, and some of the biggest ones have completely disintegrated.
Probably been leaking for some time, given the water damage.
You’re going to have to replace most of the plumbing.
Plus, I’d suggest tearing up the damaged flooring and redoing it.
Make sure there’s no mold, too. That kind of thing can really hurt the overall structural integrity in the long term. ”
“You said there was good news?” Right now, all I can see is a lot of time and money. Nix isn’t going to be happy.
“Yeah, it should only take me about a week to get the water back on. It won’t be finished, but at least the house will be habitable.”
Somehow, I doubt Nix will see that as good news. He hasn’t indicated that he expects not to come back here tonight. “Thanks. I’ll let the owner know. Do you have an estimate I can give him?”
The man forks over a sheet of paper that includes a lot more zeros than I expected. Yeah, Nix might actually explode when he sees all this.
After I wrap up with the plumber, I make my way back to Tannenbaum Books. The drive is short—honestly, every drive around here is short—and I park his car in the back. For a few minutes, I don’t move. I don’t feel like being the bearer of bad news, but I guess that’s my job today.
And you know what makes everything better? Carbs.