Chapter Nine Waterworks
Meri
“That’s not what happened," I quickly told her.
“It sounded like that’s what happened," Lydia replied, entirely unbothered by accuracy. “Invitation, suggestion, emotional tension—”
“There was no emotional tension," I firmly said.
Aryn shifted slightly beside me. “I asked if she wanted to go to the convention. It’s a fun event with book authors, art, and a panel of people talking about the fantasy book and movie industry."
“That’s worse." Lydia frowned.
“How is that worse?” he asked.
“Because now it’s intellectual," she replied. “Which means your asking is serious."
“It is not serious," I said. “I have a group of people going and I thought Meri might be interested. You're both welcome to come as well."
“It’s very serious," Lydia insisted. “Mom is going to love this."
“That is not helpful," I said, putting a hand to my temple. I could just imagine what Mom might say.
“Nothing I do is helpful," Lydia agreed cheerfully.
I turned away before the conversation could continue, focusing instead on the hallway, the closed doors, the faint hum of activity from downstairs. It was quieter here, contained, which made it easier to think.
“That wasn’t a date," I said again, more for clarity than for them.
“I didn’t say it was," Aryn replied.
“You implied it," Lydia insisted.
“I asked if Meri wanted to go to a convention," he clarified. “I thought it would be fun and a good way to get to know her better."
“That’s still an invitation," Lydia cut in.
“It’s a shared interest," he corrected.
“It’s a gateway," she said.
I closed my eyes briefly.
“You should go with him," Kitty gave her uninvited opinion as she approached us holding a small stack of freshly laundered towels.
“I’m not going with him," I automatically said.
“You should still go. Aren’t you going to the city this weekend? Maybe you could drop in, since it seems like something you would enjoy," Lydia advised.
“If Meri doesn’t want to, she doesn't have to go. It was just a suggestion," Aryn reTophered with a shrug.
Somehow the withdrawal of the invitation stung a little.
“What was a suggestion?” My mother stepped into the hallway, catching the tail end of the conversation.
“Please don’t," I muttered.
“Aryn asked Meri to go to a nerd convention this weekend," Lydia said brightly.
“And she did." I sighed.
“A convention? Aryn?” Mom blinked with a confused expression as she joined our group. “Who is Aryn?”
“I am. We met earlier today," Aryn prompted.
Mom looked up at him, recognition lighting her face. “Ah yes. I do remember you. You asked Meri to a convention? Would she be helping you do something there? Meri, you should probably take the job, you do need the money."
I sighed again.
“Mom! Aryn asked Meri to go with him," Kitty loudly whispered. “It was a date until Meri turned him down."
I winced. “He invited me to a convention because he likes books. That is not the same thing as a date. He was just being kind."
“I was being more than kind. I thought you would enjoy it and I thought my friends would like you. It’s not a big deal," Aryn explained yet again.
“Oh!” Mom looked at Aryn like a cat in cream.
“Mom," there was warning in my voice as I grabbed her by the arm, leading her down the hallway away from the group. “This is not a thing. You don’t understand."
“I know enough," she replied. “He is handsome, he’s clearly interested, and he invited you somewhere."
“I know you mean well, but please just stop trying to matchmake for me ," I pleaded softly.
“If things don’t work out with this fellow, then you should consider Daniel," Mom tried again. “He likes to read and he’s right here at the inn. You could both stay here forever."
That was it. My mom was likening Daniel and I to her and Dad’s romance.
They had met here at the inn, him as a maintenance worker and her as a general worker.
Mom’s rose colored glasses were trying to recreate her youth through me.
I closed my eyes for one second before reopening them. “Daniel reads maintenance manuals."
“That’s practical," she replied.
“It’s exhausting," I said.
Lydia laughed, and Kitty covered her mouth with her hand in a failed attempt to look sympathetic. Apparently, I hadn’t taken us far away enough down the hall to not be heard.
I rubbed my temple again, feeling a headache coming on.
“You should go back and accept the invitation. Men don’t normally pay attention to you. You need to take advantage of the opportunity," Mom advised.
Kitty giggled.
I turned back in humiliation and stepped forward, the carpet squishing under my foot. Frowning, I looked down to see water pooling by my feet.
“What is it?” Aryn asked, coming forward.
“There’s water in the carpet," I answered, staring at my wet shoes, my brain trying to compute this new information. A thin, unmistakable stream of water had begun creeping under the door next to me and across the carpet runner.
“That shouldn’t be happening," Kitty said in alarm.
“No," I replied, already moving, “it shouldn’t."
I reached into my pocket for my master key, unlocked the door, and pushed it open.
Water pooled across the bedroom floor from the bathroom.
Heading straight to the bathroom, I saw Daniel crouched beside the toilet with a rag pressed to a pipe which was spewing water.
His hair was damp, his expression strained, and his entire posture suggested the confidence of a man who had created a disaster while believing he was being useful.
“Shut off the valve!” I exclaimed.
“Do you mean this one?” Daniel held up the valve in his hand which had apparently snapped off. He had the grace to look a little sheepish. “I thought tightening it would help."
Lydia came up behind me and stopped short. “Oh, that’s a lot of water."
“Get towels," I told her. “All the towels and blankets from the linen closet to sop up this mess."
She vanished at once, which was one of the things I appreciated most about Lydia. She might talk too much, make jokes at impossible times, and treat every piece of gossip like a public service announcement, but she moved quickly when it mattered.
I grabbed the towels from the handrail and passed them to Daniel. “Try to stem the flow."
“That’s what I’ve been doing," he told me.
“With that tiny rag? Why didn’t you call for help?” I chided, throwing a bath towel at him.
Aryn appeared in the doorway a second later, having followed the noise instead of the conversation, and his gaze took in the flooded bathroom, Daniel with the rag, and me kneeling by the line of water already pushing into the room.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“The doorway blocked," I said, pointing. “Anything absorbent. We need to contain this."
He nodded and moved immediately, which put him a full category above Daniel before I had even finished the sentence.
Kitty arrived with an armful of towels and dropped them onto the floor beside me. “Lydia’s getting more," she said.
I grabbed the first towel and pressed it against the edge of the doorframe, trying to create a wall of towels to dam the water from spreading any further.
Aryn took another without being asked and knelt opposite me, pushing fabric into the widening line of water while Daniel continued holding the useless rag against the ruined valve.
“This is not enough," Aryn said after a moment, glancing at the darkening spread on the carpet. “We need to shut off that pipe."
Lydia came skidding back around the corner with more towels piled in her arms. “That was all I could find up here. The linen closet is half empty because Lucy is changing over the downstairs rooms."
Kitty disappeared into the bedroom and came back with an armful of shirts and trousers from the guest’s open drawers.
Lydia stopped dead. “Those are guest clothes."
“We can dry them later," Kitty said, dropping them onto the floor. “The hallway carpet can’t go into the dryer and these can."
Lydia stared at her. “That is not the point. We can’t just grab some random guest’s clothes!”
“That is completely the point right now," Kitty replied.
I would have argued if I had time, but she wasn’t wrong, and the water was still spreading. I shoved a guest’s sweater into the line at the threshold and looked over at the bathroom again.
“We need the main shutoff," I said, standing at once.
“Is it in the basement?” Aryn asked.
“Yes."
“I know where the utility room is," Daniel offered, rising too, letting the pipe geyser into the room.
Lydia immediately jumped forward, grabbing a sodden bath towel and wrapping it around the pipel
“You stay here and keep people out of the room," I said, already moving.
Aryn followed me down the hall at once, his longer stride matching mine. We took the back stairs instead of the front, faster and less likely to involve guests with questions, and I pushed open the utility room door as soon as we reached the bottom.
The basement smelled faintly of damp cement and old wood. I moved straight to the main line, stepped over a low pipe, and reached for the shutoff valve. I tried moving it but it was rusted open.
“Let me try," Aryn said, one hand already braced against the wall beside me.
I quickly pulled back and he tried to force it shut. The valve resisted, then gave with a protesting groan.
“That should do it," Aryn commented.
“We should grab the shop vac while we’re here," I decided, looking around the room.
“I’ve got it," Aryn said, grabbing the heavy piece of equipment.
We headed back upstairs, and I could hear a commotion from the dining room before we even reached the hall.
I detoured to the dining room, only to see that the water had found its way through the floor enough to start dripping from a patch in the ceiling, which meant this disaster had expanded from inconvenient to memorable.
Lucy and a guest were dragging the antique tables out from under the drip while Jane carried chairs to the side of the room.
Mother fluttered near the doorway, talking far too brightly to an elderly couple who looked like they were enjoying the spectacle a little too much, no doubt ready to spread the tale far and wide. “Everything is under control."
“No, it isn’t," Lucy muttered under her breath.
“It will be," Jane said, though she was clearly saying it for Mother’s benefit rather than because she believed it.
“I’ll bring this upstairs. The faster we get the water cleaned up, the less it will rain downstairs," Aryn told me before heading upstairs.
“We need all the towels, blankets, and anything else to soak up some water," I told Mom. “Bring it all."
I ran upstairs, unlocked the door to the apartment I shared with Kitty and Lydia.
I grabbed anything that would soak up some of the wet, bringing armfuls out into the hall and towards the flooded room.
I could hear Aryn vacuuming. I pushed the pile of linens at Kitty. “I’m going to strip your bed next."
“Don’t grab Lydia’s clothes. She’ll kill us," Kitty warned.
“I’ll use yours first," I promised, half joking.
Running back to the apartment, I stripped Kitty’s bed, grabbing the blankets and sheets before running back.
Lydia was wringing out towels into the bathtub. “Those clothes are going to be ruined. They’ll shrink in our dryer and be permanently wrinkled."
“Then the guests will have capris," Kitty called back.
“This is not funny," Lydia warned.
“It’s a little funny."
“What about the room?” she asked. “He can’t stay there."
“We’re full," Kitty said.
I already knew that, which meant I already knew the answer before anyone said it. “The guest gets the apartment."
“The apartment?” Lydia repeated. “Our apartment?”
“Yes."
“Where do we stay?” Kitty asked.
“The poolhouse with Lucy and Jane," I told them.
“It’s freezing in there!” Kitty protested.
“There isn’t any room for all of us," Lydia pointed out.
“We can use a mattress on the floor. It’s just until this room is usable again," I replied. I grabbed a sodden sheet and helped wring it out into the bathtub. “I think this guest is owed the apartment considering what we did to their clothes."
“I guess," Lydia sighed.
If the inn survived the night, it would be a miracle. For the first time since I had agreed to be at The Enchanted Quill convention, I was grateful to go. At least I would have a hotel room to myself.