Chapter Twenty-Three
Oliver
Monday morning comes way too fast. I’m putting on my shoes when Ally comes out of the bathroom.
“So, I’m going to do some work over at the apartment today while I’m here, but then I need to get back to writing. I like to keep a tight schedule and I’m way off.”
“You shouldn’t let yourself get so distracted. I mean what could you have been doing all this time that was so important?” she teases, straddling my lap.
I grab her by the waist and pull her to me and tumble us back onto the bed. “Gee, I don’t know. I guess I’m just easily distracted.”
“Well, I have to work and be responsible, so you should go,” she bops my nose with her finger and runs away laughing.
I finish tying my shoes and meet her by the door.
“Have a good day. Call me later?” she asks.
“I will. See you.” I lean down and give her a long kiss until I need to come up for air. “Bye, sweetheart.”
“Bye.” I hear her sigh as I walk out door.
*
I’m huffing andpuffing in bliss as I arrange Ty’s gym equipment. I never thought I’d be happy doing something like this, but after the weekend I just had, I can’t keep the smile off my face and the joyful tune out of my whistle.
It’s nearly twelve and just as I’m about to call Ally to take her to lunch, my mom’s number comes up on the caller ID.
“Hey Mom, what’s up?”
“I’ve got a major leak in the new plumbing. Can you come help?”
“Of course, did you call the plumber?”
“Tom said to turn off the water and he’d come over when he was done with his last job of the day. Can you stop and pick up a shop vac?”
I take a deep breath to summon my patience. “I’m on my way.”
I lock up Ty’s apartment and head out of the city. I stop by the hardware store to get the shop vac Mom asked for as well as some rags and cleaner, just in case.
As I’m driving my mind drifts back to my amazing weekend with Ally. The intensity of the bond between us. I’ve never had that with anyone before. Tracy would be mad if I messed up her hair. But with Ally it’s all passion, and we just fit like puzzle pieces. I do have several confirmations that I was hitting all the right spots. I’m hoping it won’t take long at Mom’s so I can surprise her with a romantic dinner tonight. My mind continues to conjure up future plans, both in and out of bed, with Ally and before I know it, I’m pulling in Mom’s driveaway.
I grab the supplies and head to the door. “It’s me, Mom,” I yell as I walk in with my arms full.
“I’m down here,” she calls from the basement. I find my mom wringing out water from a mop. “I came down to take some measurements and found water leaking from under the shower stall,” Mom explains while I unbox the shop vac.
“That sucks. Thankfully it looks like it didn’t get too much of the carpet.”
“Yes, thank goodness.”
“When’s Tom getting here?”
“I’m not sure, just whenever he’s done for the day.”
“He’s usually pretty good. I wonder what happened.”
“I have no idea. I’m sure he’ll get it fixed. He’s been reliable all these years.”
As we’re vacuuming up the water, Tom calls Mom and she lets me know that he’ll be later than expected, but he’ll at least look at it tonight to see what needs to be done. He recommended we leave the water off and not mess with anything until he gets there.
Can I come stay with you?” she asks, hesitantly. I stifle groan.
“Mom, I can’t have distractions right now. I just outlined a new book and with helping at Ty’s…” Oh shit. I immediately stop talking but Mom’s eyes are bugged out and I know she heard what I said.
“What do you mean you’re helping at Ty’s? Did you just fly in from California all of a sudden?” She crosses her arms over her chest in a you-better-tell-your-mom-the-truth stance.
“Crap. Hold on.” I quickly pull up Ty’s number on my phone and put it on speakerphone while we wait for him to answer.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?” Ty answers.
“I’m at Mom’s. A pipe burst in her basement, and she needs a place to stay? Do you have any ideas?
“I take it she knows?”
“I may have mentioned helping you out by accident.” I wince.
“Are one of you going to explain to me exactly what is going on?” Mom interjects.
“Mom, I wanted to surprise you when I got there, but I’m moving to the city,” Ty explains.
“Oh, my goodness. Ty. You’re coming home? I can’t believe it. I’m so happy!” Mom cries, hopping on her toes.
“Yeah, Oliver found me an apartment just a few minutes’ walk from him. He’s been helping me get set up. Why don’t you stay there while they are fixing your house so the bigshot can have his precious quiet time to work on his latest masterpiece,” Ty adds. I glare at the phone. He’s not wrong. I do need quiet to work, which is why I moved out in the first place.
“You didn’t have to phrase it like that,” I huff.
“I know but I have too much fun teasing you.”
“Did you still want me to help set up?” I ask, sarcastically.
“Nah, I got Ma now.” Ty laughs.
“I’ll remember you said that,” I jest.
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ll get it all ready for you,” Mom adds with a huge grin on her face.
“Thanks Mom. I’m just finishing up some loose ends here and I’ll be on my way.”
“I can’t wait to have both my boys back together in one place again.”
“I think we just made her day. She can’t stop smiling,” I inform Ty.
“Good. I’m glad. I’ll see you guys soon.”
“Bye honey,” Mom says before I disconnect.
The basement is cleaned up as best it can be for the time being, so I grab the shop vac and turn to Mom, “Let’s put this stuff away and get you packed. I need to be back in the city for dinner.”
“Oh?” Mom lifts an eyebrow at me.
“It’s just a dinner.”
“Uh, huh.” She starts cleaning up, and I know that she knows I’m not telling her the whole truth. I want to enjoy this time with Ally without putting an expectation on the relationship.
Once Mom is ready, she leaves some lights on for Tom. He already has a key, since they’re each other’s designated emergency buddy, and can let himself in so we can get back to the city.
Mom prattles on about Ty coming and how she can’t wait to see his apartment and how excited she is about us being close again as I drive us back to the city. I let her keep talking so I don’t have to talk about my vague dinner plans.
Just as I’m parking my car outside Ty’s building, Tom calls my mom. I can tell by the look on her face and the tone of his voice that somethings not good. I sit impatiently, waiting for Mom to fill me in.
“He’s going to have to take the whole shower stall out and might have to go behind the wall, but he won’t know until he removes the stall. I know you said you had plans, but he doesn’t have anyone to help him move it. Can you go help him?”
“Mom.” She frowns and turns her whole body toward me.
“I’m so sorry but he says there’s still water on the floor and if we turned it off then something is seriously wrong.” I hang my head.
“Okay. Text him that I’m on my way back. Here’s Ty’s key. Apartment 202. One flight up on the right.” I hand her the key. She gives me a kiss on the cheek before letting herself out.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll call you when I know what’s going on.”
I make sure Mom is safely inside the building, turn on my signal light, and prepare to make a U-turn back to the house. I’m so thankful I didn’t promise anything to Ally because I wouldn’t want to let her down after the weekend we had. However, I want to check in with her and let her know what’s happening. I press on her number in my contacts then set the phone down. As I execute the U-turn, my phone slides off the console and lands on the floor, somehow causing the Bluetooth to disconnect because the screen on my dash goes blank. Now I’m out of luck until I get back to the house. I need this day to be over.
Forty minutes later I’m pulling into the driveway and Tom is running out the door, flagging me down.
“Hey Tom, what can I help you with?” I ask as I get out of the car and follow him into the house.
“We’re going to need to pull this shower stall out and see what’s going on. I have the caulking all pulled up, so we should be able to just pull it out together,” he explains as he leads to me to the bathroom.
Once we’re in position, Tom and I each grab a side and then…whoosh. A wave of water comes crashing down on me.
“Crap!” It’s as if I’m in a torrential rainstorm and can’t see anything in front of me.
“Pull harder kid so I can get back to the pipe.”
I blindly grasp for the shower stall and do as he says. Then everything happens in slow motion. I pull back. My feet slip out from under me, and I land on my back. My phone slides out of my pocket and floats out of the bathroom on the river flowing into the living area. Tom’s muscling the stall to get around it and thankfully keeps it from crushing me as it toddles in place from his movements. I’m so stunned at the situation that I just stare at the water raining down and Tom stepping over me.
“I’ve got to get to the main water supply. I thought your mom said she turned it off,” he yells over the rushing water while running to the storage area.
Lord only knows what she thought she turned off. I’m trying to get up and out of the waterfall, mimicking a baby fawn finding its legs, when it finally stops. I slip and slide my way out of the bathroom and onto the ruined carpet. To say we have a slight mess on our hands is a gross understatement.
“You okay, kiddo?” Tom asks when he returns, assessing the damage.
“I think so,” I say, looking at my soaking wet clothes and hoping Mom still has a pair of my sweats for me to change into.
“You better call your mom. It’s going to be a long night.”
I plod through the ankle-deep water to where I think my phone might be but find it under the coffee table instead. As I pick it up, the screen flashes and turns off. Terrific. This day is just getting better and better.
“Tom, I’ve got to run upstairs and use the house phone. I think we wiped out my cell.”
“I’m coming with you. I’ve got to get a bunch of stuff from my truck.” We slosh to the stairs and leave a trail of water on the steps.
When I get to the kitchen phone there is no dial tone. What. The. Hell. I run back down to find that the cable box was lucky enough to be on the same wall as the broken pipe and has now had its own shower and no longer feels like working. I tug on my hair in frustration and go back upstairs to find Tom.
As he walks into the house with his hands full, I ask him for his phone. He puts down his toolbox to hand it to me then proceeds downstairs.
“Hi Tom, what did you find out?” Mom greets.
“It’s me. I don’t have good news for you.”
“Oh no, what happened?”
“The pipe behind the shower broke. The basement is now flooded, and the cable and phone are out because the box shared the same wall as the shower and apparently doesn’t like water as much as my cell phone because that is also dead.”
“Oh, honey. I don’t know what to say.” Do I hear a hint of a laugh?
“Apparently, the water main wasn’t turned off. I thought you said you did that.”
Mom clears her throat. “I turned the one off behind the toilet so it would turn off the water to that bathroom.” I hang my head and now realize what happened.
“That’s just the water to the toilet.”
“Oh. Sweetie, I’m so sorry.” She sounds remorseful this time.
“It’s okay. Tom will get it fixed. I’m going to stay here and work on getting the water out of the carpeted area. Do you still have the big fan Dad had in his workshop? And possibly an old pair of my sweats?”
“Fan is in the shed. Sweats are in your dresser.”
“Thanks. Call me on Tom’s phone if you need me. I won’t have a phone until I can get this cleaned up.”
“Thank you, sweetie. I’m sorry I caused such a mess and can’t help you.”
“You can help me by setting up Ty’s apartment.”
“That I can do!”
“Thanks.”
“Thank you. I’ll call the insurance company in the morning.”
“All right. Talk to you later.”
“Bye.”
I grumble and stomp up the stairs to my old bedroom to get changed.