She stares down atThe Hobbit, gliding her fingers along the edge. “Me too.”
We fall back into quiet work, punctuated by the sounds of ripping paper towels and her tiny grunts as she presses all her weight onto the book. She tugs her white sleeves up to her elbows, revealing the thimbleberry flowers tattooed on her left arm. They curl from her wrist, trail up under her sleeve, and all the way to her shoulder.
The first time I saw the tattoo was a few years ago. Iwas in town for the weekend, helping Mom install paving stones through her garden. I’d taken a break to get some things from the market for dinner, when in walked Fable in a black tank top and cut-off jeans shorts.
I froze, holding a jar of spaghetti sauce, while I tried to take in every detail from across the store. The setting sun was dancing through her wavy hair and illuminating every dark line imprinted on her arm, andI couldn’t breathe.
My sneakers are still stained from the marinara that splattered across them when the jar plunged to the ground.
“I think that’s as good as I can get this one,” she says after she has gone throughThe Hobbitthree times.
I hand her my book and motion toward an empty corner of the living room. “Can you set them upright over there, and I’ll get the fan?”
She balances our books with the pages spread out while I plug in the fan and point it in the right direction, the gentle hum filling the cabin. The pages are still too damp to move much in the air, but hopefully in the next couple of hours they’ll dry.
Nodding, I step back and scan the room. “So, I was thinking.”
She grabsJurassic Parkand kneels on the floor again. “Did it hurt?” she deadpans.
A surprised laugh tumbles out. “Jeez, Fabes, stop flirting with me.”
“I’m not flirting with you. I’minsultingyou.”
I hum wistfully, hoping I can get her to crack a smile. “My heart can’t tell the difference.”
A grin creeps into the edges of her lips before she stifles it. “You’re incredibly annoying.”
That tiny grin feels like I’ve just won the lottery. Ituck the memory of it away for safekeeping.
“I was thinking,” I start over. “That I could take a look at the pipe?” Her movements pause. Eyes shoot up to meet mine. Her lips flatten, and before she can make up some reason why she doesn’t want me to, I add, “I’ll only look. Iwon’t touch anything you don’t want me to.”
I can practically see the thoughts running through her head as she debates letting me into her life a little more. “Justlook. Don’t try to fix it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I salute, turning toward the bathroom.
What I discover there is... a mess. Wet towels, channel locks, a handful of smaller wrenches, some quick-dry PVC glue, and a few sawed-off pieces of PVC litter the floor. Ikneel beside the supplies and assess what might be going on.
There’s an old shutoff valve lying under the cabinet, along with several quick-connect fittings, and some smaller chunks of pipes. She obviously tried a few different ways to fix this, and I guess none of them have worked.
“What exactly happened?” I call, picking up the pieces in the cabinet to move them out of the way.
“The shutoff valve was leaking,” she replies, her voice coming closer. “The first time, I took the valve off and tried to replace it.” I glance up to find her leaning on the doorframe. “When that still leaked, I cut the pipe to cap it off. But then that leaked, too, so I bought those shark teeth-looking things because the internet claimed they were ‘easy,’” she says with air quotes. “But then the house flooded overnight.”
“Well, I have good and bad news. Thegoodnews is, I think we can fix it with what you have here.”
She crosses her arms. “And the bad news?”
“I mean, it’s only bad news for you.”
There’s that unimpressed glare again. “What is it?”
“You’d have to spend a few more minutes with me while we get it done.”
Her teeth tug at her bottom lip. She glares back and forth between me and the cabinet. “How annoying are you going tobe?”
I smirk at her. “My baseline is incredibly annoying, I hear.”
She sighs, casting a long look over her shoulder to the bedroom. When she turns back to me, she asks, “Why are you helping me? I said no to your pretend relationship thing.”
