SWNOVELS HUGE STEPS: Chapter 11
“Ugh, does the bastard ever put shit away?” I mumble to myself, sifting through the junk and remaining parts Jared’s left in the mud room. He has a bad tendency of emptying out his work van here instead of tidying it up. I’ve been looking for his spare rotary tool for the last five minutes and still haven’t come across the damn thing yet.
Underneath some more junk, I lean back when I unearth a brand-spanking new garbage disposal kit still sealed in the box. Damn, is this the one that we lost a couple of months ago? It had driven us both crazy looking for it, and we had to eventually turn around and order a replacement kit, prolonging our customer’s wait, which royally pissed me off, and didn’t exactly make them happy.
“Well, what the hell am I going to do with you now?” I wonder aloud as if the thing is going to talk back to me or something. I groan. “I’m losing my mind now, I guess.”
It hits me that while I was at Abi’s apartment last time, I grabbed some water and noticed that she didn’t seem to have a working garbage disposal. When I asked her about it, she mentioned that while there was supposed to be one connected to her sink’s plumbing, the apartment manager never got around to putting a new one in. “It would probably be a really cheap one anyway, so I never saw the point in bringing it back up. It’s not like I really need it.”
Maybe it’s time to put this box to use, after all. No harm in keeping relations friendly, I think. What I mean is that I’m craving a fix of Abi. Even if all I get is a look at her and a little easy chatter it’ll be enough to keep me happy.
And no one’s going to miss this part now!
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It takes some doing, but I manage to finish up at my last client’s home and immediately hop into my truck and throw it into drive, heading home, or to Abi’s, I should say.
When I’m there I turn off the ignition and sit for a minute. I think about how fucking happy I was when she pressed her lips against mine. She has no idea how much I’ve wanted her all these years. Seeing her with Cody about killed me, but I wasn’t in any position to fight for her. I just had to sit back and watch her put all her hopes and dreams into someone who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her, let alone put a ring on her finger.
I know I shouldn’t be here right now. I did the ‘breaking the ice’ visit already. Things are as cool between us as it’s possible for them to be under the circumstances. I’m not going to make anything better but popping over again so soon, but I can’t help myself. I just want to see her. I feel better when I’m in her presence; calmer…less angry. I can’t bear to see her unhappy. As soppy as it sounds, I just want to put my arms around her and shelter her from all the shit that life has to throw in her direction.
I know that dropping by to fit this waste disposal is stupid, but I don’t care. As I get out of the truck, I look up at her window, hoping that she’s home. I shoulder the box and carry it across the street to her apartment complex, careful watch where I’m going, before ringing her doorbell.
The door opens and Abi’s there wearing a pleased expression on her face, along with a rather low-cut tank-top and gray yoga pants. Bless whoever brought those into style.
“Hey! I was actually just about to text you to thank you for fixing my sink…I wasn’t sure if I told you that or not.” Abi pauses, finally taking in the box. “What’s that?” she asks, eyeing it warily.
“Oh, uh, I wanted to stop by and see if you would like me to hook this up for you.” I point to the side of the box. “It’s a garbage disposal for your kitchen sink.”
Abi moves aside to let me in. “Well, I mean, okay. It’s really not a big deal. I don’t ever put anything down the drain…okay, you’re really doing this.” She hurries to follow me into her small kitchen.
Dropping down to one knee, I pull the cabinets open. “Yeah, it won’t be too hard to replace this piece of shit you got in here already. Promise,” I reply, ripping the top of the box off. “Besides, that asshole landlord of yours should’ve already had this done, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it was supposed to be done months ago,” she says, holding her herself together for some reason. “And this isn’t really in my wheelhouse.”
“Exactly. Would you mind handing me that green bag over there?”
Not paying attention, I nearly jump out of my damn skin when Abi’s fingers graze across mine when she hands me my tool bag. I clear my throat quickly and pull the cleaning supplies out from underneath the cabinet. That’s when another genius idea hits me. Obviously, Abi isn’t comfortable trying to do this herself…so what if I taught her?