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“Interesting.”
The coffee machine beeped and Ember stood and returned to the kitchen. She poured a cup of coffee and brought it to J.T.
“Thank you. Are you going to have a cup?”
“No. I need to get back. Your granddad has his physical therapy session this morning. It’s his last one.”
“Do you think he’s recovered as much as he’s going to?”
She thought about the question. “I think so. I think he’ll always favor the leg. But it’s not going to slow him down. He’s got ninety percent use of his hands again. So, I think he’s pretty happy.”
“He can ride a horse. That’s all he wanted to do was get back up on a horse. You did that for him.”
“He would’ve gotten there.”
“I don’t think so. It seems you’re not just Dad’s guardian angel.”
She walked to the door. “Are we going to see you at dinner tonight?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Okay. Just take it easy today and you’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She opened the door, and he added. “Thanks, Ember.”
“You’re welcome.”
After Ember left, J.T. fell asleep on the couch and woke up an hour later feeling better. He wasn’t all the way back, but he was on his way to getting there. He went to the kitchen and poured out the cold coffee in his cup and refilled it from the pot, which was left to keep warm on the burner of the coffeemaker. He sat at the counter to drink it and contemplated the bear claws, then he opened the box and took one out.
“New bakery guy, you make a hell of a bear claw.”
After a second cup of coffee and another half of a bear claw, J.T. took a long, hot shower. When he emerged from the steamy bathroom, he determined he was at about ninety-five percent. Ember’s magic potion had worked pretty well.
He decided to run into town and pick up a few things from the hardware store, then go have dinner with the family. He got dressed, had another half-cup of coffee, then left the house.
As he was approaching Joey’s place, he spotted something he couldn’t quite identify. When he got closer, he realized it was a geyser of water shooting up about twenty feet in the air between the wellhouse and the house. He stopped on the road to assess the situation. Joey’s car wasn’t there. Obviously, he had to try todo something about the situation. He pulled into her drive and drove to the house.
The water had formed a pool in her yard. It was currently about thirty feet across and getting larger by the minute. J.T. left his truck and jogged to the wellhouse. He was half-afraid the door would be locked, but it wasn’t and he opened it up, took a moment to find the power switch on the well pump, and turned it off. He went back outside and watched the geyser get smaller as the pressure dropped. It fizzled out with a final gurgle.
He didn’t want to just leave without giving Joey a heads up that she had a problem and an explanation for the small lake in her yard. He went to his truck to find something to write on. After finding an old receipt and a carpenter pencil, he went to the porch and started writing the note. Before he finished, Joey’s car turned off the highway and pulled in next to J.T.’s truck.
She looked at the water, then at him as he came off the porch.
“What are you doing here? And why is there a lake in my yard?”
“You have a bit of a plumbing issue.”
“A bit? What happened?”
“I was on my way into town and Old Faithful was shooting up twenty feet. I turned off your well, which stopped the flow of water.”
“Something’s wrong with my well?”
“No. The well is working great. Impressive water pressure. You have a broken pipe. From the amount of water, I’d say it’s the main pipe running to the house.”
She looked like she was about to cry, and she turned away from him for a moment. When she looked at him again, she seemed to have gotten back some control. “Thank you for turning off my well.”
J.T. nodded. “I couldn’t just drive on by.”
