Page 19 of Hero Next Door
“I’m sorry,” I said finally, wiping at the tears and calming myself down. “I don’t usually giggle like a school girl. I’m just really, really tired.”
It was the exhaustion. That had to be it.
It was the only possible excuse for behavior like that.
CHAPTER10
Dev
Once Parker managed to stop laughing—about what, I still didn’t know—we finally got down to work.
Which meant we stood in the door of her kitchen with our mugs of hot beverages—chocolate for her, milk with cream and coffee for me—and stared at the room, taking stock.
“What are we doing?” she finally asked, her voice sounding sort of... doubtful.
And here I’d thought the answer was obvious. “Taking stock.”
“Oh, right. Of...”
I sighed, reminded myself that this girl had probably never done anything like this, and started walking around the room, pointing things out. “If we’re going to do reno, the first thing we want to figure out is what we can do ourselves, to save the expense of having someone else do it. We’ll need plumbers out to work on the plumbing but if you haven’t seen any leaks in here or anywhere else in the house, the chances are good that the plumbing will be a localized sort of process.”
“Localized?” she asked, frowning. “Isn’t the whole house... local?”
Patience, Dev,I told myself firmly.There is zero reason for her to know about plumbing. Just because you do, doesn’t mean everyone else in the world does.
Still.
“Localized to a specific place,” I said. “The house is old enough that I’m guessing they used pretty solid piping. Nothing that might wear down too much over the course of time. That said, there will be spots where the seams are splitting. Things that need to be replaced. Specifically where different pipes join. But in here...”
“In here everything is pretty simple,” she said, her eyes going from the faucet at the sink to the hose coming out of the wall and leading to the refrigerator. “Easier.”
Well, the girl could be taught, at least. “Easier,” I agreed. “And as long as it’s easier—”
“Then it’s something we can do ourselves rather than hiring someone else to do it,” she finished, her whole attitude changing from confused to something a whole lot more confident. “Got it.”
Then she tipped her head and frowned. “But I don’t have any of the stuff we’ll need. I’ve been in touch with the bank and I have the loan, but I don’t have any materials or anything.”
I grinned. “Then I guess it’s a good idea I came prepared.”
I turned and walked out of the kitchen, heading down the hall toward the front door and knowing she was following me. I was surprised, in fact, that she wasn’t asking a load of questions as we walked.
Questions seemed to be her MO.
She hustled after me silently, though, and when I threw open the front door and gestured to my truck—and the bed full of supplies I’d already bought—she was leaning around me shoulder, her eyes wide and her mouth open in surprise.
“You bought all that for my house?” she asked breathlessly.
I felt a sudden expansion in my chest, like I was about to have a heart attack, and nearly gasped in shock. God, was I dying? Was this how it ended, right here on the stoop of Parker Pelton’s house?
That would be stupid.
My body kept right on ticking, though, and aside from the tightness in my chest, I didn’t feel any other symptoms. So instead of waiting to see whether anything else happened, I stepped out onto the dirt of the driveway.
“Sure did. Figured we’d need to get started right away if we were going to get everything done in time. Come help me unload.”
That was what I needed to keep my mind on: the fact that she’d be leaving soon. Because she wanted to sell the house and get the hell out of this town instead of staying.
That was what was important, here.
