Even though they’ve only been here two days, it’s going to feel weird when they leave. Aside from me and Miles yelling at video games, this is the most lived in my house has felt.
“Home, sweet home.” Lexi sighs as we pull into their driveway. “Not that there’s anything wrong with your house. But my uncle has killed the mattress in your guest room, and I long for my bed.”
“Is it normal for her to talk about her bed like the heroes in those books she reads?” I point my thumb at her.
“She talks to food like that, too.” Callie rolls her eyes. “At least she’s passionate about those three things.”
“Because they are priorities.” Lexi pulls Alice into her lap. “And please stop talking about me as if I’m not here. I can hear you.”
Okay then. We’ve gone from happy teen to upset teen in the span of a minute. I’ll definitely have to pay attention to my actions in front of her. The last thing I want to make her feel is like a kid.
“I’m sorry, Lexi.” I nod at her in my rearview mirror and a small smile lifts the corner of her mouth.
“You’re forgiven.” As soon as the truck is in park, she throws open the door. “Me and Alice are going to run inside.”
“You need to help—.” But Lexi and Alice are already almost to the door.
“It’s fine Callie, I can unload.” I place a hand on hers, and am relieved when she doesn’t immediately pull it away.
“I know you can, but it’s also about teaching her responsibility. She won’t always have someone around willing to help.”
Except she will. That’s what our community does, we help regardless of what’s happening. Callie needs to remember that.
She pulls her hand away from mine and opens the door. Her strong, I can do everything on my own persona, coming in strong.
“Why don’t you take this and make sure everything is okay inside? I’ll get the bags.” I slide the chili toward her. “Check for water leaks and busted pipes. I’ll be there in a few.”
“Okay.”
There’s no argument or rebuttal. Thank God for miracles. I was half expecting her to gripe at me.
I wait until she’s out of the truck and inside before I get out. I hope like hell they don’t have any more issues. Not because I don’t want to help them, but it’s going to be a nightmare getting the supplies I’ll need. There are bound to be quite a few people in town making a run on the same things.
I slide Callie’s duffel bag over my shoulder and pullout Lexi’s suitcases. I never asked her how many of the books she got through. She didn’t come out of the room much except to eat and make snow angels. Or like last night when she sat curled up by her mom.
Honestly, it’s sweet they have such a close bond. It reminds of my sisters with our mom. They knew no matter what Mom would be there for anything, no judgement. I have a feeling Callie is the same with her daughter. At least, from what I can tell.
I make my way to the front door. My feet slipping on the small patches of ice and trying not to bust my ass again. We don’t need a play of that incident. Lexi would have time to get out her camera and record.
Before I’m even close to the door, it opens. Callie’s face is filled with frustration.
“What’s wrong?” I stop in my tracks. My foot slides to the right and I try to correct myself.
“The good news is we have power.”
“And the bad?”
She throws her hands in the air. “There’s water all over the kitchen floor.”
This is what I was worried about. I should have turned off the water before we left for my house. I drop the suitcases and bag on the sidewalk and rush inside. There’s a thin layer of water on the floor.
“Can you get some towels to soak up the water? I’m going to look for the water shut off.”
I don’t give her a chance to argue, or question, and rush back outside. The first thing is to make sure the water gets shut off. I wish I knew when it happened. She knows to leave the water running, but they could have missed a faucet.
We probably could have caught it as it happened, but she wanted to wait to come home until I had power. She figured if I did, she did, too.
Finally, I find the shut off valve and get it turned off. There’s no telling if I’ll be able to get someone out here to fix it soon. I imagine they are busy right now. Fixing the problem myself is out of the question. I can do minor repairs on houses, but I’m not the one who will crawl under a house. Or knows anything about plumbing for that matter.
