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Bennett
I PROPPED MYfeet up on the coffee table, placed my plate of bacon and eggs in my lap, then queued up last night’s NHL game. I’d had the game on at Banks Brew Co. the previous night, but I hadn’t seen much of it because we were busier than usual. I wasn’t complaining. Our off-season—winter—was my favorite time of year, but it wasn’t the most profitable. If not for the lucrative summers, the business would have shuttered its doors years ago.
Larry pressed his face on my thigh and looked up at me with his best puppy-dog eyes. Larry was one of the ugliest dogs I’d ever seen. If you crossed a pig with a crocodile and threw in a touch of hyena, that creature would be more attractive than Larry. Two years earlier, he’d wandered up to the back door of the bar with a limp and all his ribs showing. I’d taken him in because I figured at a shelter most potential adopters would take one look and want nothing to do with him.
Eyeing my bacon, he whined. I grimaced. The previous week, his vet had warned me to cut down on the kibble or Larry was going to end up obese. I hadn’t admitted that it wasn’t dog chow that had him tipping the scale.
I scratched Larry’s ears, a sad substitute for what he really wanted. “You know what the doc said. It’s not me—it’s her.”
I took a bite of bacon, feeling guilty as hell for enjoying it and trying hard to avoid Larry’s pathetic gaze. My phone rang. Though tempted to ignore it, I checked the screen.
“What’s up, Lyra?” I asked around a mouthful of toast.
“Are you busy?” She sounded harried, never a good sign.
I looked down at my breakfast longingly. “In a manner of speaking.”
She sighed. “I got a call from one of the rentals. Something is wrong with the toilet.”
“So call Hudson. He’s the repair guy.” While he didn’t like to be referred to as a handyman, a lot of his business revolved around maintaining various rental properties.
“I’ve been trying all morning, but he’s not answering. And before you ask, my backup guy is on a mountain in Colorado, skiing with his family.”
“I’m not licensed.” I picked up a piece of bacon and offered it to Larry. He slurped it down before I remembered he was supposed to be laying off the bacon.Damn it.
“You don’t need to be for minor repairs, and I’m pretty sure it’s something small. I would go myself, but I can’t leave the office unattended.”
I sighed. That was two days in a row that I’d gotten morning phone calls from people asking me to do someone else’s job. At least this time, the sun was already up.
“I’m finishing my breakfast first,” I warned her. “Your tenant will have to pop a squat in a bush until then.”
On the other end of the line, my sister snorted. “There’s more than one bathroom. It’s definitely not an emergency, but to hear the lady talk, the commode is spewing sewage.”
I sat up straighter. No way in hell was I shoveling shit on my morning off. “Is it? Because if it is—”
“No, she’s being a drama queen. But I can’t tell her that, and I don’t want to lose the business. You probably only need to jiggle the handle or something stupid like that. If it’s more than you can manage, let me know what it is so I can contact a plumber.”
“I can handle a toilet repair.” For all that I was bitching about being asked to go, I was insulted she thought I might not be able to manage it. I wasn’t a contractor like my stepfather and brother, but I knew my way around a tool belt.
“You’re the best, big brother.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled then hung up.More like, I’m a sucker. “Sorry, Larry. No walk on the beach this morning.”
He burped, sending the scent of partially digested bacon over me. His tongue darted out, and he licked egg yolk off the side of my plate. I held it up out of his reach. “Dude. You’re the worst. Someone needs to teach you some manners.”Oh, wait.That someone would be me. “Well, shit. Looks like you’re going to stay an asshole.” He was in good company.
Twenty minutes later, I was on my way to pick up the key for the rental property. Most of them had switched over to keypads, which made things so much easier, but it was just my luck that this one was one of the few holdouts, adding an extra twenty minutes to an errand I didn’t want to do in the first place.
I parked in the empty driveway, knocked on the door, and then let myself in when no one answered. The downstairs bathroom was the one causing problems, but when I looked at it, nothing was wrong. I flushed it, waited, then flushed it again. It was working perfectly.
I sighed. Perhaps the drama queen had miscommunicated to my sister. It would take longer for Lyra to sort out the mess than it would for me to simply check the remaining bathrooms, so I climbed the stairs. The bathroom in the first master bedroom was fine—messy, with bras hanging from the shower and makeup spilled all over the sink, but otherwise operational.
My irritation grew as I exited the room. Then I heard something that stopped me in my tracks.
“You can do this,” said a female voice that sounded oddly familiar. “You’ve still got it. You are a badass. Repeat after me. You… are… a… badass.” And then a sigh.
Well, shit.I thought I’d gotten lucky and no one was home. How the hell had this person missed me banging on the front door and then clomping around both downstairs and upstairs? I didn’t know what the etiquette was, other than that I definitely needed to announce myself.
I stepped toward the door, which was open a crack, and raised my hand to knock, but I paused as I caught a glimpse of the woman inside. Her hair was wet, and she was wrapped in a towel, which explained why she didn’t hear me. But while any red-blooded male would appreciate this view, that wasn’t what stopped me. I knew her. Or at least, I had known her once upon a time.
