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Reyna couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled forward as she heard him say the lame little expression that seemed almost childlike as they sat there. What guy ever referred to dating a girl as ‘cool’?
Kyle had a friendly, open face, brown hair, freshly cut, and kind eyes that crinkled at the edges when he smiled. He was wearing a simple, comfortable shirt and jeans, and he had a few of napkins tucked under his arm. Unassuming and approachable... both of which she really was taking a shine to.
He was just the nicest, sweetest, most unassuming guy she’d ever met.
She smiled back.
“Cool,” she repeated.
6
Less than an hour later – disaster struck.
Again.
The two of them had been swapping stories, and before they knew it, an hour had passed. As they were packing up the tools and supplies, they both noticed something strange - the toilet they'd been replacing wasn't white like the other one - it was a pale gold color.
“A golden porcelain throne,” Kyle laughed, but Reyna wasn’t amused.
“Why would I order a golden toilet?” she sputtered in shock.
“We can’t return it. It’s been installed.”
“I can’t believe this…” she muttered, as he turned the water back on to the toilet, and it began to fill.
On closer inspection, they realized the valve was leaking water all over the floors. Suddenly, their moment of peace was interrupted by chaos as water dripped everywhere, and their hands slipped on the slick tile.
They quickly shut off the valve, but much of the damage had already been done. They looked around helplessly at all the wet surfaces, realizing that this would take a lot longer to clean up than expected.
They were both covered in water. Not only were her sneakers wet, but her jeans also from where she was sitting on the floor helping bolt down the toilet were soaked, making her look like she’d wet herself… and Kyle was in the same predicament.
The front of his jeans was wet from where the valve had sprayed suddenly as he was turning it back off, and the backside was soaked where he had once been sitting opposite of her. She could see the outline of his wet wallet in his jeans.
In that moment, she felt extremely grateful for his presence and calm demeanor, which helped her stay focused on finding a solution, rather than getting too flustered by the situation.
He didn't rush her or make her feel bad about what happened; he simply asked if there was anything he could do to help her fix it and didn’t comment on their wet clothing.
Together, using some spare parts from his truck, they managed to get everything back in order and clean up all the mess. This time when she smiled at him, it wasn't just out of politeness - it was out of genuine gratitude.
She was really glad she placed that bid in the auction, bringing him into her life.
“How about you text me your address and I’ll pick you up in two hours?” he began, smiling at her from where he sat on the floor amidst the chaos. “Then we can both head home, change, and then head out to dinner…”
“Yeah, I’m going to need to change,” she chuckled nervously.
“Ya’ think?” he laughed, pointing at himself. “I look like I had an accident in my pants, and the guys at the firehouse are going to have a field day with this if they see me.”
“Won’t you head home?” she questioned.
“It’s more like ‘I’m looking for one’,” he admitted. “I’m staying on the couch at my coworker’s – and my things are either in a suitcase I’m living out of or in a small storage locker in Tyler. Chase is never going to let me live this down when he sees this…”
“You’re not from around here?”
“Nahh… My family lives in Aledo, near Fort Worth, but this was the first open position I could find and it’s nice here. I like being a little ways out, because I have some space without hurting my parents’ feelings. It was kinda smothering sometimes, but I know they mean well.”
“I understand.”
“Only child?”
