Too Hard(2)
“Liar,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “You stay away from that sink unless you’re emptying the pan under it.”
My eyes go back to the dripping pipe. How did she know I was thinking about trying to tighten it myself? I read online it could be a simple fix. All you have to do is tighten it a little and I’m sure I have the tool I saw online. There has to be one in my office, which is more like a construction site right now. I saw tools all over in there when I peeked inside.
“Whatever,” I mumble, not confirming or denying that I might try and fix it myself. I should be able to fix it. I’m a smart capable woman and I can do this.
“You’re computer smart,” Nellie chirps into my ear, reading my mind. “You have no idea how to fix a pipe or pump gas.” Okay, maybe she’s right, but I don’t have to admit it.
“I can pump gas.” My face warms as she bursts into laughter. “It looks easy.” I don’t own a car, but I think I can put the pump thing in the car-hole-thing easy enough.
“I’m sure you could, but I’m also sure you’d end up doing something to make things go terribly wrong. Like the time you tried to fix my flat iron.”
“Why do you always bring that up?” I was thirteen and was sure I could figure out why it wasn’t working. I was wrong, and not only was I wrong but I got the shock of my life after I took it apart and put it back together. It shocked the hell out of me and took out the power to the whole building we lived in. To this day no one else knows I was the one to cause that outage. Nellie and I are taking that one to the grave, but it doesn’t stop her from bringing it up when it’s just us.
“I’m keeping it fresh in that mind of yours. That way you remember you can’t do everything just because you read how to on the internet.”
She’s wrong, because why else would everyone post how to do things on the internet?
“Fine. Tomorrow.” I pretend to give in.
“Harlow,” she warns.
“See you then.” I end the call quickly before she can try and stop me; I’m not that hopeless.
I can fix a stupid pipe and I decide that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I go to my office and grab the wrench. It’s only a little turn, I think I can manage it. My phone rings and Nellie’s number lights up on the screen. I’ll call her back after I fix the leak. I’ll be extra smug about it, too.
Leaning down, I lock the wrench around the pipe but nothing happens. I turn it just a bit but I can’t get it to move. It feels stuck and I’m sure if I just twist it a little it will be totally fine.
Wrapping both hands around the handle this time, I pull with all my might.
I scream as water explodes out from the pipe and drenches me. My phone keeps ringing as water pours out of the pipe, but it’s not Nellie's ringtone anymore. There’s no way I’m telling her about this because I’ll never live it down.
I do the only other thing I can think of and I call the building manager. There’s no way this new leak can wait until tomorrow. Well, it’s not really a leak anymore. I need it fixed before Nellie finds out or the contractor shows up tomorrow to see what I’ve done.
How do I always do this to myself?
Chapter Two
Butch
Nighttime calls are never my favorite, but it’s part of the job. It’s not like I was doing anything anyway, but still, I was planning on being in for the night. I’d gotten home and was unpacking my to-go order when the apartment complex directed a call to me. I told my nephews to come with me and we took the food with us and ate it in the car on the way over.
I don’t normally take these kinds of calls, but I’m the backup emergency for a friend who manages the property. He’s on vacation this week and asked me if I’d take care of the things that couldn’t wait until he got back. I agreed, thinking it would be easy, but it’s been one call after another trying to keep up with my business and his.
When I was younger I worked construction during the summer and I found out that I was really good at it. I liked being good at something and decided it’s the thing I was supposed to do. I opened my own business when I was in my late twenties and started building it from there. I’m still good at what I do and word of mouth has made a name for my company and people trust me. I’m busy all the time and I’ve had to hire on extra crew, but it’s not like I have much else going on in my personal life.
I’ve been raising my twin nephews on my own since they were two years old and my sister died. She got pregnant by some deadbeat who signed his rights away, so I was helping her and there for them from the beginning. She was still pretty young when she had them, and having babies didn’t slow her down. She would drop them at my place and take off for the weekend without so much as a backward glance. I loved her, but she wasn’t the best mom and she lived a reckless life. She was driving home drunk and on god knows what when she drove her car off the road. The doctors said she died instantly, and I guess I have that to be thankful for. But as awful as it sounds, I’m just glad she didn’t hurt anyone else. She’d already done enough damage to the people around her, but I hate she never took the chance to turn her life around.
It’s been years and I’ve learned to let go of what ifs and appreciate the life I’ve had. I got the best of her in those boys and hearing them call me “Dad” never gets old.