Chapter 15
SLADE
“Aw, come on!”
I down the last of my beer as the college quarterback peels himself off the ground.
“This is embarrassing.” Trig stands from the couch and marches into the kitchen. “Who needs another beer? I’ll put a pizza in the oven.”
“Can you make pepperoni this time?” Krissy hollers from her spot on the floor where she’s painting her nails.
“I thought you had a date or something?” Trig hollers back.
She tips the bottle of remover upside down on a cotton ball. “I do, later, but I’m hungry now.”
“How about you put that shit away? The fumes are damaging my lungs.” Wind waves his hand through the air from one end of the sectional. “I think we could light the air on fire.”
“Oh, quiet. I’ll be done in a minute.” She tosses a cotton ball to the side. “Where’s Millie? You wouldn’t talk like that if she were here.” Krissy eyes him.
“She’s at a bridal shower but wants to know when you’re moving into the townhouse.”
“You signed a lease?” Carson asks from his spot on the couch behind her .
She twists to glance at him. “Yeah. I can move in on the first of December.” She returns to her nails, and Carson takes a pull of his beer.
“Why didn’t you have Carson walk through with you?” I mentioned it to her at least twice.
She shrugs one shoulder. “You guys have been super busy.” She screws the cap on her polish and climbs to her feet. “Besides, I’m certain Carson has better things to do than inspect rentals.” She glances at him before heading into the kitchen.
A commercial blares, and I push out of the recliner, following her to toss my bottle in the trash and grab another.
There’s a knock on the door.
“Who’s that?” Krissy asks as I step out of the kitchen to find out.
I open the door, and Sarah stands there, holding Frankie as Oliver hops up and down the cement steps.
“Hey.” I pull the door open wider.
“Thank God you’re here.” She blows a long strand of hair out of her face, her cropped sweatshirt bunching at the waist of her leggings. “I don’t know what to do.”
I frown. “You ok?”
She huffs out a laugh. “I have about six inches of water in my basement.”
“What?”
Her shoulders drop. “My basement is flooded, and I don’t know what to do.”
Oliver’s hopping halts, and he stares up at me.
“Oh, that’s not good,” Wind says over my shoulder.
“Let me grab my boots.” I leave her with Wind for the moment.
“Well, aren’t you a little cutie,” I hear him say, and assume he’s talking to the baby.
“Want some help?” Carson stands in the doorway of the kitchen.
“Yeah.”
We both slip on our boots, and Wind and Trig follow suit.
“I can come over and watch the kids for a bit,” Krissy tells Sarah .
I meet her in the front yard, pacing. “Do you know where it might be coming from?”
Those eyes tell me if she knew, she’d be doing something about it. “I don’t think it’s a pipe. Could be a problem with the mainline or a backup.”
We start toward her house. “What’d you do? Google it?”
Her head whips in my direction, and she stops, her hand moving to her hip. “Are you teasing me right now?” There’s that twinkle in her blue eye. “ This is the time you choose to actually have a sense of humor?”
I’m not sure if she really expects me to answer that, so I stay quiet as Carson and Trig talk to Oliver about cars.
Her chin lifts a little. “For your information, I did. Then, I called a plumber who was only moderately helpful and told me to ‘sit tight’ while he dug himself out of a literal pile of crap.”
“Who did you call?”
Krissy sweeps by and holds out her hands to take Frankie. The little girl leans toward her, and she lifts her in the air.
Sarah’s arms cross over her chest, her head falling to the side. “Samsons.”
Carson and Wind groan behind me, and her eyes skirt to them.
“Did you give him your address?” It comes out rougher than I intend, and her shoulders roll back. “Call him back and tell him you’ve found someone else. He’s not coming here.”
Her brow scrunches, not caring for my direct order.
“Everything ok over there?”
Our gazes shift to my neighbor, standing on the other side of the fence, stroking his rat.
“Take your wiener inside, Brandon!” Trig hollers. “This doesn’t involve you!”
Ollie giggles. “He has a wiener.”
Sarah runs a hand over her face, giving it her all not to smile, and something in my chest flutters like a damn butterfly .
I watch her shoulders slump with the weight of every shitty thing, even if I don’t know what they are.
“I have to have a dry house and running water,” she says quietly.
My eyes trace over her face, hearing the exhaustion in her tone. “That might be a while.”
She huffs out a laugh. “I know. That’s why I need a plumber—”
“He’s not coming here.”
Her shoulders rise to the occasion as her spine lengthens.
“He’s a prick and a—”
“Great.” She throws her hands in the air. “I’m used to that. If he can get the water out of my basement and fix whatever the hell is leaking so I can feed and bathe my kids, then I can deal with one more asshole.”
Something about Sarah coming a little unraveled sends waves of warmth to my cold-blooded insides. I try my damnedest not to smile, but I can’t.
“Oh, for real.” Her head falls back as if begging the sky for patience, and the hair falling out of her ponytail catches in the light breeze.
“Carson, you and Trig run and get a pump and hoses from the shop,” I order, still watching Sarah. “Wind, see how many fans you can scrounge up.”
The three men head to their trucks.
Sarah’s attention falls back on me.
“Call Samson and tell him not to bother.”
“Listen, I can’t—”
“We’ll turn off the main supply and get the water out to see what’s going on, but you’ll have to find somewhere else to stay until the problem is fixed.”
I step around her to pull my toolbox from the bed of my truck.
“Uh. . . what now?”
There’s a level of panicked sarcasm in her tone that tugs at my gut, so I keep on marching to my truck and focusing on a problem I can solve.
I start toward her house but stumble, almost falling flat on my face, when I hear Krissy’s voice.
“It’s ok. You can stay with us.”
______
“No,” Sarah and I say in unison.
I have avoided this conversation for the last two hours, hoping the idea would disappear as if it had never been mentioned. But I should know better with Krissy.
She grabs my arm with some kind of superhuman strength and hauls me to the living room. The dog follows, sitting at our feet.
“They cannot stay with us,” I growl-whisper.
“Why not?” Krissy hisses back.
“Because.”
“Because why?” There’s an amused dare in her tone that makes my head want to explode.
The little instigator knows why, and she’s intent on making me say it.
She backs off, a smartass smirk appearing.
I cannot have this woman in my space. My actual sacred personal space where I’m still trying to figure shit out. Shit, that might actually have to do with her!
“You need this,” Krissy says calmly and quietly as if she’s suddenly a therapist.
The guys and I have spent the last two hours pumping water out of the basement to find that the water main running in from the street is either clogged or damaged by a tree root.
After a phone call to the city, it could be Monday before someone is available to inspect it. Until then, the water is off, and the basement will be drying out to prevent mold from growing .
What I need is a cold shower and to forget the sound of Sarah’s panicked tone, as well as the tight-ass leggings she’s wearing and the sliver of skin that keeps peeking out from under her short shirt.
I run a hand over my face to gather my defenses.
“They cannot stay with us. We are neighbors, not BFFs.”
She cocks her hip, her hand landing on top as if she’s loading a weapon. I do not need whatever is coming.
She leans into me. “Look around,” she whispers forcefully as if she’s hit her limit.
I glance around the sparse space with a couch and a rocking recliner. A small collection of toys is scattered about the floor, and a stack of books sits on the corner of the fireplace.
“She was riding the bus. She clearly doesn’t have any family locally. You’re really gonna make those two kids live out of a hotel for however long it takes for the city to get someone out here?”
She stares at me, reaching down to pet Grover with one hand while she waits for an answer. I remain silent, not giving her the satisfaction of her guilt trip.
“That’s what I thought.” She points at me.
“Now, put your Polly Pissy attitude away and get ready to have some fun. It’s been way too long, Stone Cold.
Whether you will ever admit it or not, you need this.
You have to see that there’s life outside the black hole you’ve been living in.
It’s time to step into the sun and see that good things can happen, even to a crusty old crab like you. ”
She spins as if this is the end of the conversation, but stops and turns back. “And don’t think for one second you’re going to just live at the garage these next few days. You will be a present and a hospitable host.” She grins. “Looks like we’ll finally have a dog.”
She turns for the kitchen while I inhale deeply and let it out. Grover stares up at me, his ears perked.
“If you shit in my house . . .”
His butt pops off the floor, nudging his nose at my hand, his tail wagging.
“Who wants to have a sleepover?” Krissy asks in the kitchen .
“Me!” Oliver yells.
I join the crowd in the kitchen. All three guys are huddled near the back door, avoiding direct eye contact, but the fatass smirks on their faces tells me they think this is fucking hilarious.
Carson risks it and points at himself, makes a heart shape with his hands over his chest, and then points at me.
I glare at him, making it very clear that the next time we are out of the presence of women and children, I will knock that grin right off his pretty boy face.
They snicker, and Krissy sits to make grand plans with Oliver and Frankie.
Sarah leans against the counter, her face down, scrolling on her phone.
I take a deep breath, feeling a little dizzy and like I’ve lost my damn mind. “You should gather whatever you’ll need for the next few days.” It comes out low and weak. “We’ll help you carry it over.”
Sarah’s head pops up, her eyes wide. “Uh . . . Um . . . I . . .”
I’m glad I’m not the only one having trouble with this.
“M-m-mama, can we s-stay with Swade and Kissy?” Oliver stands on his chair.
Sarah’s eyes flick to mine again as if she’s asking if I’m for real.
My gut squeezes tight, and I clear my throat. “What do you think about heading over and watching some football?”
Krissy grins, and I’d really like to flip her off.
“I d-d-don’t know how to p-play football?” Oliver’s chin dips.
“That’s all right, little man,” Carson says. “Get your shoes on. We’ll eat pizza and teach you.”
Oliver looks at Sarah, and she offers him a small smile. He jumps off the chair, and Krissy unhooks Frankie from her seat.
“We can take the kids over while you pack,” Krissy says as if this is one big slumber party.
Sarah inhales and lets it out as if she, too, is surrendering. Her eyes meet mine again .
Krissy said I need this. What I need is baby steps. Not this woman moving into my house, where our lives fully intertwine.
The door clicks closed, and Sarah and I are left in silence.
Her gaze drifts up to mine. “You sure about this?” The hesitation in her question rubs against every one of my nerves, standing on edge.
I nod once, and she laughs as if she knows it’s a complete lie. It is because the only thing I’m one hundred percent sure of is that I’m very afraid. I’m scared of a lot of things, but the fear that hits the hardest is what if, once they are in my house, I don’t want them to leave?