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“You keep telling us how poor you are. A professional’s gonna cost you.”
I had to find someone with whom I could barter. If only I possessed the kind of skills that could be written on a business card. Pops taught me a multitude of skills, but I couldn’t exactly hire myself out as sellsword in Fairhaven. I pictured people ripping off those little tabs off a flyer stuck to a telephone pole when they were angry with their neighbor for getting too aggressive with the leaf blower.
I pulled myself to my feet. “I’ll handle it.” I bet Kane knew someone who could deal with the pipes on short notice. Too bad I sent him away.
I tapped my phone screen and prayed the line was working. I nearly burst into tears when I saw that it was. I made a few calls, starting with Otto. The vampire gave me the number of his plumber and a water restoration specialist. Then I grabbed a bucket and headed downstairs in a pair of rain boots to start scooping out the water.
Ray trailed behind me. “Let Ingrid and I handle this part, Lorelei. Why don’t you go upstairs and rest until the plumber arrives?”
I whirled around to face him. “How can I possibly rest? The pipes are broken. The radiators are broken. I’m broke-n. This house is one big, never-ending project, and I rue the day I ever clicked on that stupid website.” Pops would drop dead all over again if he knew I’d bought this pile of stones sight unseen. It wasn’t the kind of practical decision he’d instilled in me.
Ray leveled me with a look. “Did you ever stop to consider that maybe you’re focusing on the wrong project? Maybe the project you ought to be focused on isyou. Thisdrafty house is nothing more than a distraction that gives you a reason to avoid yourself.”
My mouth opened, nothing came out, and my jaw clicked shut. I didn’t have a response to that. I marched upstairs, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind me.
Ray intercepted me. “I’m sorry, Lorelei. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I don’t want to talk to you right now. I’m invoking the rules.”
“You want me to go outside? But the water…”
“You’re dead, remember? The state of this house doesn’t concern you.” I slammed the door to the basement behind me.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Ray pressed.
I pivoted to face him. “The more you push your apology, the more I dig in my heels. Go outside before I force you out.”
Nana Pratt glanced up from her book. “Me, too?”
“You can stay.” I strode into the kitchen without a backward glance. Nothing would bug Ray more than being singled out.
I opened the cabinet and pulled out a mug. When I closed the door, Nana Pratt’s face was inches from mine.
I yelped. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“I wasn’t. What happened between you and Ray?”
“None of your business.”
“It is if I want to make sure I don’t repeat his mistake.”
Fair point. “Ray wanted to play armchair psychologist when he should’ve been playing armchair plumber.”
“Did you clog the toilet again? You really ought to consider fiber supplements.”
I narrowed my eyes. “The pipes burst in the basement. It’s flooded.”
She puckered her lips. “Ooh, I can see why you’d want Ray’s help with that.”
“He was too busy psychoanalyzing me to make himself useful.” I went to add more water to the kettle and remembered that I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything. I was ready to hurl myself from the second-floor balcony into my frozen moat.
“Now, now, dear. I think Ray makes himself plenty useful in this house. You may not have liked whatever he had to say, but that doesn’t negate the good he’s done.”
“No, of course not. I wasn’t suggesting that.” I watched the kettle, wishing I had the kind of magic that would make it boil.
“Would you like me to help get rid of the water in the basement?” Nana Pratt asked. “I think I can manage that.”
“I don’t want to ask you to do that.”
