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“No, no, no. You’ll get back out there some day. You’re not trapped. I’m trapped.” She looked down at her hands.
“What do you mean you’re trapped?” It was as if a dark cloud had floated over her pretty face.
“Look at this place.” She gestured around the room. “I had a boyfriend who was going to help me renovate. And he just bailed.”
Shit. Her bottom lip shook and her face turned pink. I hated it when women cried.
“I’m sorry.”
She pressed her lips together for a moment. “Yeah. The really shitty thing is that the note for the house is in my name. He split and left me with the bills.”
“Goddamn, what a dick.”
“No kidding.” She smiled sadly.
“What are you going to do?”
“Not sure.” She looked down at her hands.
Man, that sucked. What an asshole.
I stood and wiped my hands on my pants. Shit, the place was nothing to look at, but it wouldn’t take much to fix it up, either. Just a few bucks and some sweat equity. But I had to stay out of other people’s problems. I’d learned that the hard way.
Still…
“Okay,” I started, “here’s the situation.” Hard life lessons be damned. I was going to help this woman if I could.
“The work I did was a bandaid fix. It won’t last for long. You will need a new hot water heater and pretty soon. What I can do is look around for a used one that’s in decent shape. It could buy you a few years ‘til you need to spring for a brand-new one.”
“Oh, that would be awesome.” She clapped her hands together and jumped up and down. Good grief, she was cute.
“What do I owe you?” she asked.
I waved my hands. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she shook her head violently. “No, no, no. Please tell me what I owe you for today.” She walked over to her wallet and pulled out some bills.
“I’m serious,” I said. “You fed me coffee and baked goods. We’re even.”
““Oh, yeah, those were real high-dollar items.” She laughed. “I’m paying you. Please let me. I’ll feel uncomfortable, otherwise,” she insisted.
I had to laugh. “Okay. Twenty bucks. But no more.”
She handed me some bills, and we stood there looking at each other. I was pretty sure that was my opening.
“Would you like to go out with me some time?”
Her eyes widened and she studied me. “Do you ask all the ladies with broken hot water heaters out?”
I nodded. “I do. I have a thing for women with bad hot water heaters. They’re hot as hell.” I guffawed at my punch line. I couldn’t help it.
She rolled her eyes, which I totally deserved. “Okay, funny guy. That sounds good. But please keep the plumber jokes to a minimum.”
“No promises,” I said. “I’ll call you tomorrow, then?”
She flipped that crazy red hair back over one of her shoulders. “Okay, sure. And if the hot water heater fails between now and then, I’ll be wanting my money back.”
“Good one,” I said and left. As I walked away, I looked back at the house. It really had potential. And that wasn’t the only thing.
