8. The Favor
The Favor
KNOX
Wyatt asked me to come by Saturday to help with some repairs. I owed him a favor, so I said yes.
Nora was moving into her new place today. Her coworker had found her somewhere, and when I offered to help with the move, she told me it was covered. I left it alone.
When I pulled up to Wyatt and Andy's, the three of them were in the driveway loading into Wyatt's truck. Andy was strapping Birdie into her booster seat. She looked up when I pulled in. "Hey, Knox!"
Birdie had a juice box in one hand and a stuffed rabbit in the other. Wyatt came out the front door with a toolbox.
I killed the engine and got out. "I thought you needed help with repairs?"
"I do." He set the toolbox in the bed of the truck. "Not here. Barb's place. She's got a stuck window frame and a faucet that's been leaking. Two-man job."
"So I drove here to drive somewhere else."
"You said you owed me. I'm collecting."
Birdie waved at me from the back seat. I waved back.
"Fine. I'll follow you."
Barb's rental was at the end of a quiet street off the main road. Yellow siding, flower beds along the porch. The place looked like Barb.
"There they are." Barb was on the porch when we pulled up. "My handymen."
Andy got Birdie out of the back seat. The second her feet hit the ground, she ran straight for the porch.
"Barb!"
Barb caught her and lifted her onto one hip like she'd done it a thousand times.
Andy followed with Birdie's bag. "She said she wanted to come see 'Barb's other house.' I couldn't say no."
Inside, the house smelled like coffee and something floral. Three of Barb's tenants were spread across the living room. One with a laptop at the dining table, one reading on the couch, one on her phone in the armchair.
"Ladies, I've got some friends here to fix the leaky faucet and the window upstairs. I hope you don't mind the noise."
The girl on the couch looked up from her book. "No, please. Go ahead."
"Who can take the sink and who can take the window?" Barb looked between us.
"I'll take the sink." Wyatt was already walking toward the kitchen with his toolbox.
"So Knox, you've got the window. The new tenant just moved in today. She's upstairs unpacking right now. Come with me, I'll let her know you're here."
I followed Barb up the stairs. The house had clearly been furnished for women. The walls were lined with floral wallpaper, the hallway hung with small paintings in mismatched frames. The carpet was a soft beige that ran the length of the floor, clean and deliberate.
Barb stopped at the door at the end of the hall. Inside, I could hear women laughing.
"Girls? Someone's here to fix the window."
"Come in!"
Barb opened the door. Two women were in the room. One was fixing the bed sheets. The other was crouched on the floor unpacking a duffel bag, and she looked very much like—
"Knox?"
"Nora?"
Barb looked at the two of us. "Oh. You know each other?"
Nora stood up. "Um. Yes. We're... friends."
Lori was standing by the bed with a pillowcase in her hands, looking amused. I recognized her from the hospital.
"Well, isn't that nice?" Barb smiled. "Small world. How do you two know each other?"
"He's the firefighter who pulled me out of the fire," Nora said.
Barb put a hand on her chest and looked at me like I'd just grown six inches. "Well then. I'd say you're in very good hands with this one." She patted the doorframe. "I'm going to go check on Wyatt and that faucet. Make sure he doesn't flood my kitchen."
"I think I'm pretty much done here anyway." Lori set the pillowcase down and looked at Nora. "You good?"
"I'm good. Thank you, Lori."
Lori followed Barb out, but not before winking at Nora from the doorway. Nora gave her a look that could only mean one thing. Lori grinned and closed the door behind her.
"So is it this window?" I pointed at the window overlooking the backyard.
"Yes, it's this one." Nora walked over and pressed both hands against the frame to show me.
It didn't budge. I tried not to watch her hair fall across her shoulder, or let my eyes drop to her bare legs in shorts that were definitely too short to be worn around someone who was supposed to be just a handyman.
I moved past her and checked the frame. Painted shut. Layers of it built up along the seam. I pulled a utility knife from the toolbox and started scoring along the edge.
"I thought you were looking for a place for you and your brother?"
She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I was. But my brother's staying at his friend's for the summer while he works at their shop. When Lori told me about this vacancy, I took it."
I could tell she didn't want to explain any further. So I left it there.
"It's a good place. Barb's great."
She relaxed a little. "How long have you known her?"
"A while. She lives with one of the guys on my crew and his family. Helps take care of his seven-year-old daughter. She's been part of their family for as long as I can remember."
We talked while I worked the paint out of the seam. I told her about the neighborhood, the blocks to walk and the ones to skip, where to get groceries, where to get gas. She finished unpacking the duffel and started on a second bag, folding things into the dresser while she listened.
"Do you live around here?"
"Not far. About ten minutes."
She paused with a shirt in her hands. Looked at me, then looked away.
"You should come out for drinks with us sometime." It came out before I thought about it. "The crew goes to a bar not far from here most Fridays. Wyatt brings his fiancée, so you wouldn't be the only woman there."
Nora's cheeks turned pink. "That would be nice."
I went back to the window. The paint cracked along the score line and I worked a putty knife into the gap, tapping it with my palm to break the seal. The frame gave. I shifted my grip and pushed. It slid open.
"Should be fine now." I closed it, opened it again to make sure it moved cleanly. "Just open it once a week so the humidity doesn't seal it back up."
"Thank you, Knox."
I tried not to let my eyes wander, but she was standing there in a T-shirt and those shorts, her hair loose.
"Let me walk you out," she said.
We came downstairs together. Andy was in the living room with Barb and Lori, and the second she saw us, she broke into a smile so wide it practically split her face.
"Hi! I'm Andy." She crossed the room with her hand out before Nora made it off the last step.
"Andy, this is Nora," I said. "Nora, this is Detective Andy Walsh. Maybe you've come across her at the ER?"
Something flickered across Nora's face. Quick, like a name landing somewhere it already had a place.
"No, not yet actually. It's nice to meet you, Detective Walsh."
"Please, call me Andy."
Birdie came running in from the kitchen. "It's finished!"
Everyone cheered. She was beaming, her hands still damp, standing there like she'd rebuilt the whole house.
Wyatt came in behind her, drying his hands on a rag. "She handed me every tool I asked for. Didn't drop a single one."
Birdie looked up at Barb. "I fixed the sink."
Barb kissed the top of her head. "You sure did."
Andy looked at Nora. "We're heading to The Lantern tonight. You and Lori should come! We have to celebrate the new place."
Nora glanced up at me.
"Yeah," I said. "It'll be fun."
"Okay." She smiled. "We'll come."
"We'll just take Birdie and Barb home first." Andy scooped Birdie off the floor. "Then we'll catch up to you."
I waited in the truck while Nora and Lori went back inside to change.
I caught myself checking the rearview mirror, running a hand through my hair, looking down at my shirt.
I couldn't remember the last time I'd thought about whether I looked presentable enough for a bar I went to almost every Friday.
Nora and Lori came out the front door. Nora had changed into a fitted top and a skirt that cut just above her knees.
Her hair was down, brushed out, catching the last of the evening light.
She looked nothing like the woman I'd carried out of a burning building, and nothing like the woman in the hospital bed.
She looked like someone I hadn't been ready for.
Nora climbed into the passenger seat. "Thanks for waiting."
Lori climbed into the back.
The drive to The Lantern was ten minutes.
Nora and Lori talked most of the way. Something about a shift they'd worked together, a patient who had asked for Lori's number.
Nora turned to me once to ask if The Lantern had food.
I told her it did. She smiled and went back to her conversation with Lori.
The passenger seat was close enough that I could smell her perfume every time she moved, something warm and sweet that I was going to be thinking about for the rest of the night.
"Sullivan!" Travis was on his feet before we got through the door. "And he brought friends."
The crew had their usual table. Travis, Greene, and Carl, all with drinks in front of them. Greene looked up and nodded. Carl gave a wave.
"Where's Wyatt and Andy?" Travis looked past me at the door.
"Dropping Barb and Birdie off at home. They'll be here in a while."
I pulled out a chair. "This is Nora and Lori. They're nurses at CCMC. They live at Barb's rental. Nora just moved into the neighborhood."
Greene nodded. "Welcome to the neighborhood."
Carl raised his glass. "It's nice to meet you both."
Travis looked at Nora, then at me, then back at Nora. Whatever he was doing the math on took him about half a second. He grinned and dropped into the chair next to Lori.
"Why haven't I seen you two at CCMC?" Travis leaned back in his chair.
"I've only been there a month," Lori said. "Nora's been there a little longer. Two months?"
"Three months," Nora said.
Selena came by with drinks and set them down without asking who ordered what because nobody had.
Wyatt and Andy arrived twenty minutes later. Wyatt grabbed a beer and settled in next to Andy. She picked up a menu and leaned across the table toward Nora and Lori. "Are you two okay with nachos and sliders? I'm starving."
The night settled in. The table filled up with drinks and plates and conversations that crossed over each other. Nora and Lori fit in easier than I expected. Lori matched Travis's energy, and Nora held her own with Greene and Carl without trying too hard.
When the table broke into its own conversations, I turned to Nora. She had her drink in both hands, watching the room with a small smile.
"Are you doing okay?"
She took a sip. "I don't usually go out. So this is new." She set the glass down. "But it's really nice."
"You don't usually go out?"
"My little brother's been my responsibility since I was twenty. He's been the priority for most of my adult life, so I haven't really gone out much." She smiled. "But it looks like I can start catching up on all those missed years now."
Most people her age spent those years doing exactly what she'd missed. She spent them making sure her brother didn't have to miss anything.
"Your brother's lucky to have you."
She smiled, but it was smaller than the one before. "He's making his own way now. He's got his job, his friends, his own life. Even though I'm not his mom, it feels like I'm empty nesting."
I couldn't help it. I chuckled.
"I know. It sounds ridiculous."
"It doesn't sound ridiculous at all."
She looked at me, then took another sip.
"This area's a little far from CCMC," I said. "How are you going to commute?"
"On the days when Lori and I are both on shift, I'll ride with her. It's the days when we're not on together that I have to figure out." She turned her glass on the table. "I'm looking for a car too. Sadly, mine didn't survive the fire."
I leaned back in my chair and thought about it.
"There are a lot of places in Vegas, but you need to know where to go for the good deals. And where you're sure the car isn't stolen."
"How would I know that?"
I shrugged. "I'll go with you. If you want."
She looked at me. For a second I thought she was going to say no.
Then she smiled. "Okay."
I drove them back to Barb's after last call. Lori thanked me at the curb, said goodnight, and walked on ahead.
Nora stayed.
"Thank you. For the window and for tonight. The crew is really cool."
"I'll make some calls to some dealers I know. See what's out there. Then I'll get back to you."
"Thank you, Knox." She smiled. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Nora."
She turned and walked up the path to the front door. I watched her the whole way. Before she went inside, she turned back and waved. I waved back. She smiled and shut the door behind her.
I sat in my truck for a minute before pulling away. I had calls to make. Dealers to check. A whole list of things to do before I could see her again. I was already looking forward to it.