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“Really?” he asked, laughing. “I think I can swing a few dollars.”
“Fine,” she said, letting out a huge sigh. “I appreciate it.”
He knew she wasn’t happy, but this was just a little thing he could do for her. It wasn’t a big deal and it would have driven him nuts to listen to it drip.
He ran out, and when he returned, he replaced the washer, put her faucet back together, then turned it on and closed it. “There you go. All done.”
“And it didn’t cost me a plumber to fix it.”
“And it won’t increase your water bill either,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now that you’ve killed an hour, my mother called when you were out and asked us to come down when we want. She has snacks.”
“Oh,” he said. “I thought we had time before we went down.”
“We did,” she said, “but now it’s closer to dinner and she wants to visit. I think she worried you were leaving for some reason.”
“Did you tell her where I went?” he asked as he washed his hands.
“I did,” she said. “She thought that was nice of you.”
“I’m a nice guy.”
She kissed his cheek. “You are. The least we can do is get you a beer for the work you did. I bought some and it’s downstairs.”
They went down the stairs together and into Karen’s apartment. “Smells good in here,” he said. “How is your hand doing?”
“It’s fine,” Karen said. “Doesn’t even hurt, but my daughter will throw a fit if I do so much as lift a laundry basket.”
“Which my mother has been doing anyway.”
“How do you know?” Karen asked.
“Because your bathroom towels are different,” she said. “I noticed it earlier when I was here. And you haven’t asked me to help you do the laundry.”
Karen laughed. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’ve been telling you that for weeks. Ivan, please, can I get you a drink? Kendra bought beer for you.”
“I’d love a beer.”
He took a seat in the living room. He could see the two of them in the kitchen, Kendra getting a beer and Karen arguing that she could carry the tray out.
He held back the laugh. He knew exactly where Kendra got it from, and though he might be annoyed, he liked how independent she was too.
Karen set down the tray with pepperoni, cheese, and crackers. Kendra had one with veggies and dip. He could tell everything was pre-sliced and laid out fine. About the same as if he did it. Karen was more than capable of doing things.
He moved forward and grabbed a slice of cheese and pepperoni. “See, Kendra. Ivan doesn’t care if the food isn’t lined up perfectly like you’d do it.”
“It’s only food. It looks fine. Kendra doesn’t have perfect knife cuts or line things up like a chef at my place.”
“I like you,” Karen said. “Will you please take my daughter back to your place next week and give me some peace? I’m not an invalid. I don’t need someone to take care of me. I’m cooking dinner just fine and managed to put food on a tray and serve you.”
“You did,” he said. “And I appreciate it. I’ll gladly take Kendra back to my place whenever you want, but I don’t mind coming here either. I just fixed her leaky faucet and she complained she didn’t need me to do it for her.”
He watched the two women look at each other. He wondered what Karen saw when she looked at her daughter. “I don’t like how sneaky he is,” Karen said.
“You just said you liked him. Now all of a sudden he is throwing things in our face and making us see it’s like looking in the mirror and you don’t like he’s sneaky?”
He started to cough as he watched the two of them. He hadn’t expected this to happen and wondered what possessed him to say what he had.
