He wiped his face, then ran the towel over his hair. His jacket was soaked. Couldn’t do anything about that for now. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think you’re going to need a plumber. You have quite a swing. We could’ve used you on the baseball team.” He stood next to her, a pool of water at their feet. He shucked off his jacket and laid it on the center island.
“Those pipes are ancient. They must’ve had a weak spot.” Her shoes squished as she moved to put the dirty towels in a basket. “I need to get this water cleaned up.”
He checked the time. His mom wouldn’t be expecting him for a while yet. “I’ll help.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I’d like to.”
She squished into the dining area, and he watched as she flipped the Open/Closed sign over, locked the door, and turned out the main lights. She showed him where the janitor’s closet was, and they worked in silence for a few minutes, him running the mop and her sopping up the mess under the cabinet.
A memory struck him and he began chuckling.
“What?” Robin stared at him. He probably deserved it—he was cackling now.
He caught his breath. “Remember that time in junior year when the whole class had the water balloon fight in the hallway at school?”
She propped her hands on her hips. “I thought Principal Chase was going to have a stroke.”
“I can’t believe we thought we could get away with it.” He shook his head.
She turned back to the mess under the cabinet. “Well, we kinda did get away with it. None of us even had to serve detention.”
“I suppose they thought that mopping the entire school and publishing an article in the school paper about the dangers of high-school pranks was punishment enough.” He still had nightmares about writing that article. His teammates had made him do the essay, and he’d never lived it down.
She speared him with a look. “It didn’t hurt that the whole incident was spurred on by the football team.”
“Yeah, that too.” He shot her a wry grin. “So, you’re back in town.”
“I’m filling in for my grandparents while they take a sabbatical of sorts in Florida.” She tugged a rubber band off her wrist and looped her hair up in a complicated maneuver. Suddenly she looked more like the high-school Robin he’d known. A grown-up version of her, anyway, complete with some new curves.
“I heard about your grandpa’s heart attack. That must have been scary.” His mom had made him deliver a meal to the Foxes after Jim came home from the hospital.
“It was hard being halfway around the world, but Grandma said it wasn’t serious enough for me to come home. I wish my brothers would have at least made an effort, but I guess they had good reasons not to come home, just like I did.”
He pushed on the mop, then wrung it out in the bucket. “He looked pretty good last week at church.”
She stood up, bunching the towels she held into a ball. “I think he’s feeling much better, but the doctor said that he needed to take some time off from the bakery. Getting up at four a.m. and working in a hot kitchen wasn’t doing him any favors.”
“Maybe they’ll like it so much down there they’ll stay.”
“I can’t see that happening. They love it up here too much. The last thing my grandma said was not to change anything. After Grandpa’s heart attack, she can’t stand the idea of more change.”
He moved over next to her at the sink. “That makes sense. But as much as I’d dislike going against your grandma’s wishes, I think this entire cabinet will need to be replaced.” He opened the door under the sink, and they both stared at the sagging floor for a moment. “The leak was probably slow for the last few days, then just got worse. When you tried your Louisville Slugger act, it gave out altogether.”
Beside him, she gave an audible sigh. “I guess I can use the sink by the prep station for a few days, but I can’t leave this here like this. Like it or not, I’ll have to get that fixed.”
He ran the mop over the last of the water. “How are Grayson and Oliver?” Robin’s brothers had been gone from Deep Haven for longer than Robin.
A shadow passed over her face. “I don’t know.” She half turned away from him. “Other than a quick call at Christmas, I haven’t talked to them in a while.” Her abrupt tone told him more than her words.
Message received.
“Where do you want me to put this wet mop?” he asked. She showed him where they kept the mop and the dirty laundry for the laundry service to pick up.
She lifted a container of flour from a shelf and began to measure it out into a huge stainless steel bowl. “So, what are you up to these days?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? “I do odd jobs around town. Mostly deliveries, but I’m also handy with a hammer.” He was grateful that she didn’t slow her work in response to his lame answer for a job.
