“What is it? Is everything okay?”
“Yes. I mean, no. I mean, it’s not an emergency. Well, not like a 911 emergency, but…” Jesus, what is wrong with me? “My kitchen faucet is leaking and water is everywhere on the floor. I can’t figure it out myself, and Jaylen is out with some girl or in with some girl or possibly just too lazy to help his sister and I–”
“I’ll be right over,” he cuts me off.
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah. I’m not doing anything important. I can take care of it.”
“Oh. Great. Okay.”
“Just wait for me, and don’t try to do it yourself,” he says, and I go from appreciative to slightly offended.
“You think I can’t handle it?” I ask.
“You wouldn’t be calling me if you could,” he says smugly.
“I don’t need you to do everything for me. I just want to make sure I don’t–”
“Just don’t touch anything until I get there, okay?” he laughs.
The call ends, and a surge of stubbornness boils through my veins. Darlene would say, step aside and let the man do the job while you admire his muscles while he does it. But Aunt Blanche would say, figure it out. You don’t need a man.
Considering the color of my hair, I bet you can guess which voice wins. I never said I wasn’t stubborn.
I follow the YouTube videos as closely as possible, all while trying to fix it before he gets here. The only thing better than watching Asher’s muscles while he fixes the sink would be watching his face when he sees that I did it myself. I smile at the thought of that. That smile fades when the faucet cracks and a geyser of water shoots clear to the ceiling.
“Fuck!” I say, mentally kicking myself for not shutting the water valve off before trying to remove the old faucet. I open thecabinets underneath, searching in vain for the lever. Meanwhile, my kitchen is turning into a swimming pool.
“Shit,” I scream, looking for the water main.
“What the hell?” I hear Asher’s voice as he rushes in.
“Wait, it’s–” I hold out a hand to warn him, but Asher slips, sliding straight into me. We crash together, and he wraps his arms around me, taking us both to the floor.
“Oh my God,” I groan under the weight of him.
“We really have to stop meeting like this,” he says.
Chapter 25
Harper
“At least this time we have on clothes,” I say.
“For now,” he jokes, lifting himself off me. Then, he reaches under the sink and somehow finds the line I was searching for in seconds. A moment later, the water sputters before stopping. We both sit up, drenched.
“What did I tell you on the phone?” he asks.
“To leave it alone and not try to fix it myself,” I answer.
“And what did you do?” he asks.
“I tried to fix it myself,” I grumble.
Ash unloads a box of tools and gets to work replacing the faucet. “Where did you find this?” he asks, examining the new one.
“In the closet. Why?” I ask, grabbing a mop and a bucket.
