3. Chapter Three
Chapter three
R yder
Today had been a shit day. Like the Mondayist Monday that ever Mondayed.
I was behind on this current job because the company delivered the wrong size windows, and while my customer wasn’t angry with me, they were angry.
They had family coming in next weekend and were hoping to have their new sunroom finished in time for the gathering.
When I got the job, I’d told them I could have it done in time, no problem, but this was the third delay through no fault of my own, and I didn’t know if I could get the correct windows delivered in time.
I hated letting people down. Honoring my commitments was important to me, as was the reputation of my business.
There wasn’t anything else we could do there until I got the windows, and it was too late in the day to start a new job, so I sent Desi home and came to my favorite place. The local home improvement store.
That may sound crazy to some people, but I loved it. This was the place I came to look at flooring, to get ideas for future projects, and to buy the supplies I needed to knock things off my to-do list. Nothing boosted my mood like tackling a project on my list, and after today I needed a boost.
It seemed like a good day to change the faucet in my spare bathroom.
That had been on my list for ages, and it would be a quick project that I could finish tonight.
I grabbed a cart and headed to the plumbing section.
It took me a while to get there, of course, because I swear, I was such a sucker for stuff on the endcaps.
But I really needed a new garden hose, and you can never have too many pairs of work gloves.
I turned the cart down the correct aisle and stopped in front of the faucets.
I’d been slowly redoing that bathroom, so I already had a good idea of what I was looking for.
It didn’t take me but a minute to find the rubbed bronze faucet with the high arch that I’d planned on buying.
Luckily there was one left on the shelf, so I put it in my cart.
I started to leave when a conversation from the next aisle over caught my attention.
“Good lord, Keegan. I have no idea what to buy. The video made it look so easy, but you should see all this stuff. U’s and L’s and T’s and they come in all different kinds, like there are light blue plastic ones, and white plastic ones, and dark gray plastics ones.
But they all have different names, so I don’t think the color is the only difference.
Then there also metal ones in both gold and silver.
I have no idea what I need. Look, I’m going to go and watch the video again.
Maybe then things will make more sense.”
I chuckled to myself. Sounded like another do-it-yourselfer who had no idea how to do it himself.
I should’ve just kept going. I didn’t work here, and there were plenty of people who did who could help the guy out, but there was something in his voice that made me want to help.
I reminded myself that it wasn’t my job to fix this stranger’s problem as I slowly pushed my cart to the end of this aisle, giving someone else a chance to jump in and help.
But when I turned my cart around the corner to the aisle where he stood, I was glad no one had.
He had curly blond hair and a swimmer’s body that was accentuated by his low-hung jeans and tight-fitting blue t-shirt.
I’d guess he was somewhere in his mid-twenties and knew nothing about plumbing, if the way he was picking things up, examining them, and then shaking his head before putting them back was any indication.
Couldn’t hurt to give a pretty young boy a hand, now, could it? I walked up to him and said, “Hey, do you need help?”
“No, I got it, thanks,” he mumbled, looking at his phone. I glanced over his shoulder to see that he was watching a video of a guy replacing a pipe under a sink.
He said no, so that should’ve been enough for me to just keep going with a clear conscience. I asked, he refused, end of story. But then, he looked up at me with big blue eyes under long beautiful lashes. “It’s just he makes it look so simple, you know?”
Yeah, no way I was walking away now. “I take it you have a leak under your sink?” I asked.
“A leak? More like a geyser. But the pipe isn’t broken. It’s the part where the pipe changes directions for some reason. I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to just go straight to where it needs to go instead of looking like a freaking spaghetti highway down there?”
“Look, kid, plumbing is like life. If you know what the pipe’s purpose is, where they’re coming from and where they’re going, it all makes sense.”
“Oh my god,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air.
“Doesn’t that just fucking figure. This was such a shit day.
And now I’m stuck in a hardware store with a hotter than fuck stranger who’s talking about plumbing using metaphors like he’s freaking Socrates or some shit.
” He glared at me. “Plumbing is like life,” he mimicked.
I forced myself not to laugh, which was hard because, in hindsight, it was a pretty stupid thing to say.
Instead, I ignored the fact that he called me hot and focused on the fact that he was having a meltdown in the local home improvement store.
Apparently not over a burst pipe, but over…
well, I wasn’t sure exactly what over, but obviously something bigger than a pipe.
“Shit,” he continued. “I can’t figure out what my purpose is or where I’m going. So how am I supposed to use that metaphor to figure out a bunch of stupid pipes?”
“Hey,” I said gently, reaching out and placing my hand on his forearm. “What’s your name?”
He ignored my question and continued on, “I should’ve just called a plumber, but I don’t have a job, and I wanted to save the money. Besides, I should know how to do stuff like this. Isn’t knowing how to fix stuff like this basically Adulting one-o-one?”
“Actually, a lot of people have no idea how to do things like this. That’s why plumbers always have so much work.”
“Really? Are you a plumber?”
“No.”
“But I bet you know how to do it, don’t you? How to fix all kinds of shit, and maybe it isn’t Adulting one-o-one, but it sure is a requirement to keep your man-card, now isn’t it?”
There was a lot to unpack in that statement about his man-card, especially since just a few seconds ago he called me hot, but this wasn’t the place for a major intervention.
Instead, all I could do was try to make him feel a little better.
“Says who? Nobody gets to set rules about what makes you a real man.”
He let out a wry chuckle. “Yeah, well, tell that to my dad.” His eyes got even larger, if that was possible, when what he’d just said hit him.
He let out a deep breath, and his shoulders dropped.
The spirited man who had mimicked me a second ago was gone, and in his place was a young guy who was obviously at the end of his rope.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. What did you say your name was? ”
“It’s Ryder.”
“Well, Ryder, I’m sorry for dumping my crap all over you.
I just had a shit day, you know. I’m job searching, and it isn’t going well, and I just moved here so when the pipe burst, I didn’t have anyone to call.
Back home, I could’ve called my dad, and while he would’ve given me crap for not knowing what to do, he would’ve come and fixed it, you know?
But still, none of that’s your problem. You were just trying to help. ”
“I’m sorry you’ve had a shit day. Mine was going pretty bad, too, but now it’s looking up.”
“Oh really? How’s that? Do you enjoy having helpless strangers dump all their emotional baggage on you in the middle of the plumbing aisle?”
I laughed. “No, but I do always like an opportunity to help a beautiful stranger. Now tell me your name and tell me about the geyser in your kitchen.”
He blushed, which had to be just about the most adorable thing I’d seen in ages.
“It’s Brennan, and as far as the pipe, I don’t know.
I heard water spraying, and it took me a minute to find it.
It was actually the puddle on the kitchen floor that kind of clued me into the location.
Anyway, I opened up the cabinet door, and the place where the pipe was attached to the other pipe had water spraying out. ”
“Okay, so your fitting is broken, not the pipe.”
“Right, so I called my roommate, Keegan. It’s actually his house.
He’s just letting me stay there till I find a job and get situated here in Austin.
Anyway, I called him and asked him where the water cut-off was.
Because you know stopping the water was most important.
” I nodded, agreeing with him. “But he didn’t know where it was.
So, I grabbed some duct tape, because a video said that would be an okay temporary fix, and then watched another video on how to fix it.
And now here we are.” He threw his hands out to the side, palms up in a what-are-you-gonna-do gesture.
“So, you didn’t get the water turned off?” I asked.
“No, but the video was right about the tape. The water stopped spraying.”
“Okay. That’s important. Water can do a lot of damage in a short time, so you did good.”
“Really?” he asked.
“Yes, really. But the problem is you can’t fix it with the water on. You’re going to have to take the pipe apart to replace the joint.”
“I guess I knew that on some level, but I thought I’d figure it out when I got that far.”
“Why don’t we do this. Let’s get the things we need to fix it.
Then I’ll come and take care of it for you.
I was already planning on doing some plumbing tonight anyway, as you can see.
” I gestured to my cart. “It might as well be yours instead. Mine isn’t urgent, just something that’s on my list to do at some point. ”
“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that. That’s—”
“You didn’t ask. I volunteered. Come on. Let me do it.”
He looked at me for a minute, trying to decide. I could tell he wanted to do it, but he wasn’t sure if he should. Which made sense. He didn’t know me from Adam, and he was a cute little thing.
“Look, I’m not the big bad wolf, I promise. This is what I do for a living, honest.”
“I thought you said you weren’t a plumber.”
“I’m not. Here, look.” I took out my wallet and pulled out one of my cards.
“Davis Construction and Remodeling. Turning your dream home into your reality. That’s a great tagline,” he said with a grin.
“It is, isn’t it? I wish I could take credit for it, but my sister came up with it. But see, I really do know how to fix your problem.”
“Yeah, but I can’t afford to pay you, no job, remember.”
“I don’t want to charge you. I just want to help. It probably won’t take me but a few minutes. It’s no big deal.”
He looked at me again and then back at my card. Finally, he nodded and said, “Okay, but you have to let me cook your dinner in exchange. It’s the least I can do.”
“I’d never turn down a home-cooked meal.”
“Okay then.” he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “Show me what to buy.”