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“Yeah?” She didn’t look up from where she was plating the empanadas.

“What’s with the extension cord?”

“Oh, a lot of the electric plugs are broken, so I figured out a workaround.”

Hmmmm.

She finished putting the last empanada on the serving plate, and he was almost drooling. Still, the extension cord. That was just too weird to let go.

“Why not call maintenance?”

“I called maintenance three times. Every time they fixed it, it would last for two or three days, but then it would break again. When I called the fourth time for them to replace them, they said they were working fine. He sounded really exasperated, so I didn’t ask him to come the fourth time. Then I figured out my solution.”

Lainey’s grin was like a beam of sunshine. Mateo couldn’t look away.

“I got an extension cord with multiple outlets, like we use at work, and plugged it into one of the outlets way over here. That one never broke.”

She pointed to the outlet on the other side of the kitchen, with very little counter space.

“I was kind of scared of getting water on the cord, so I used waterproof duct tape and taped it with two layers. It’s really safe,” she assured him.

Mateo glanced at the ‘broken’ outlets and saw the two white test and reset buttons between the outlets.

This couldn’t be real. He went over and tugged at the duct tape. Yep. It was stuck like glue.

He bit his lip.

Well, at least now he knew what she couldn’t do.

“Honey, can you come here a moment?”

“I’m prepping the pumpkin gourds for the stew. Can you hold on?”

“I’ll try.”

He bit his lip harder.

Don’t laugh. Do. Not. Laugh.

He watched as she washed her hands and brought one plate with the pumpkin bowl over to the counter where he was leaning. “Okay, I’m here. Did you want to show me something.?”

“Maintenance never showed you how they fixed the outlets, did they?”

She shook her head as she nudged him out of the way so she could start ladling the stew out of the crock pot and into the pumpkin bowl.

“Honey, can you hold on for a minute? I think I can show you how they fixed it.”

She stopped ladling and turned to him, her eyes bright and excited. “Really? I YouTube'd and everything, but they just showed me pictures of the electrical backing of the surface of the outlet, you know? I figured that’s how they fixed it, but it was too much for me. If you could show me how to fix it, that’d be wonderful.”

God, he hated to do this. She was going to feel so dumb.

“Okay. See this bottom button that’s popped out?” Lainey nodded. “It’s the reset button. Just press it until you hear a click. Now the outlet is operational again.”

“It’s that easy?” Lainey’s eyes were enormous. “Oh my God, that’s wonderful! I mean, the extension cord was working, but getting to use all the outlets instead is great. Do you think this will work for the one in my bathroom too?”

Mateo chuckled. He couldn’t help himself. How in the hell could such a competent woman be so damned inept? “Is there duct tape involved in the bathroom, too?”

“Yep.” She grinned. “You do not know how excited I am. You’re getting two more homemade meals for this.”