“You can just drop me off here,” Katie said to Addison as he slowed the Jeep to a stop. He looked from side-to-side on the dark country road.
“I don't see a house,” he said.
“It's back through there.” Katie pointed to a barely visible dirt driveway that was poking out through the trees.
Addison turned the Jeep towards the driveway.
“You don't have to drive me all the way to the house,” Katie said quickly. She put her hand on the door handle. “Really, I don't mind the walk.”
“I'm not David. I'm not going to leave a girl standing in the middle of a dark road so I can save two minutes out of my day,” Addison said with a shake of his head. He didn't even want to think about girls walking alone down trails right now. He didn't want to consider the possibility that the girl who was now laying dead in some godforsaken hole in the bayou had just been taking a quick shortcut home to save a friend some gas. He turned the Jeep into the driveway amid Katie's protests.
The road going up to the top of the hill was pitted and bouncy with washouts running down both sides of the narrow drive. “Y'all drive up this every day?” Addison asked as he dropped his transmission down into first gear.
“I told you that you didn't have to drive up here,” Katie replied with a shake of her ponytail. She was holding her back pack in her lap and looking distinctly unhappy. It took a moment for Addison to realize that she was embarrassed.
“I have manners,” Addy said. “I was raised to take girls to their front doors when I take 'em home.”
“I'm not dating you.”
“I said 'girls' not 'girlfriends only'. Females in general. I always wait to make sure my Granny gets inside safe when I take her home from Bingo down at the Baptist Church.”
“She's your Granny,” Katie said, as if she expected all boys to make sure their Grannies got inside safely at the end of a wild night in the church basement.
“She's still a girl,” Addison countered. “Besides, the longer I take driving you home, the less time I have to spend listening to Maggie chew Ian's ass.”
“I'm kind of glad we got out of there before she showed up,” Katie admitted.
“You ain't the only one.” Addy spun the wheel hard to the left in order to avoid a pot hole on the right. “Why do you think I offered to drive you home?”
“I kind of wondered,” Katie admitted. “Not that I'm complaining. I didn't want to ride with David.”
“Y'all don't exactly get along, do you?”
“He's a bully,” Katie said. “I don't have time for bullies.”
“Fair enough.” Addison's Jeep made a final lurch over the top of the hill. He found himself pulling up to a decrepit little house with a sagging roof and visibly rotting porch. He would have thought the place was abandoned, but lights were streaming through the windows and the front door flew open the minute Addison's headlights brushed across the window.
“Katie! Katie! The toilet fell over!” A little girl with pink ribbons in her pigtails came running outside. “Its made a huge mess! Kristy said to ask Ian to come-.”
“Ian isn't here,” Katie said with a sigh. She opened the door of Addison's Jeep and slid out even as he cut the truck's motor off.
“Thanks for the ride,” Katie said with a tired, fake smile on her pretty lips. “It was nice to meet you.”
“The toilet fell over?” Addison asked. He opened his own door and got out of the Jeep.
“Probably. Its been wobbling for weeks.” Katie shrugged delicately. “I'll fix it. You don't have stay.”
“You're not Ian,” the little girl with the pigtails informed him.
“Nope,” Addison agreed as he walked around to the back of his Jeep. He pulled David's toolbox out, deciding it wasn't worth it to dig through the mess in his truck until he unburied his own.“Which is a good thing for you. I'm a lot better at repairing plumbing than Ian is.”
“You don't have to come in and fix the toilet.” Katie stepped in front of him, which did very little to block his path considering that he was 6 foot 2 and she didn't clear 5 feet. “Really. I've got this.”
“What you've got,” Addison said smoothly as he looked over her shoulder at the front door of the house, “is water coming out your front door.”
“Oh crap. Really?” Katie spun around and saw the same thing Addison had already noticed. A thin stream of water was pouring over the threshold and running down onto the porch. “Great. My older sister is too stupid to figure out where the shut off valve is. Bet the whole house is flooded.”
“Bet it is.” Addison stared down at her for a minute. She looked very small and very tired. “Still don't want my help?” he asked.
“Katie!” Someone yelled from inside the house. “Hurry up! There's water everywhere!”
“No duh,” Katie muttered under her breath in response to the mystery voice. She met Addison's eyes, took a deep breath and bit her lip. “I would appreciate the help, if you really don't mind giving it. Obviously, the situation in our bathroom is just a little bit out of hand.”
Addison nearly laughed. “Its not the worst mess I've had to clean up today.”
He followed her up the slick, wet porch stairs and into the tiny living room. The house was old and had water stains on the ceilings but the living room appeared to be neatly kept. Other than the water that was sloshing on the floor beneath his boots, Addison didn't see much out of place in the tiny home.
“Are you going to stop the fountain?” The little with the pigtails asked as he followed Katie into the back of the house.
“What fountain?” Katie asked. She stopped in front of a gray box in the wall of the hallway. She opened the metal door of the breaker box and flipped a couple of switches. “Water's off now,” she announced to no one in particular.
“Smart move,” Addison told her. “Where's the bathroom?”
Katie gestured to the third door on the left. “Through there.”
Addison walked past her and into the tiny room. He did a double take as he took in the sight of a morbidly obese pregnant girl sitting in the middle of a sea of soggy bedding and sopping wet towels. The toilet was leaning against the side of the sink, exposing all its inner plumbing to the world.
A chunk of broken off PVC piping was burbling out the last of the water that had been in the pipes when Katie had cut the breaker to the pump.
The fat girl looked up at the doorway. She had the same light brown eyes and honey hair as Katie. “Thank God. I've been trying to stop the water and- who are you?”
“Your hero and savior,” Addison replied cockily. After everything he'd been through today, he was glad to see a situation in front of him that he could actually fix. He held out his hand to her. “Come on. Up and out of the bathroom. I need room to work.”
The girl gripped his hand and let him heft her to her feet. “Good luck on the room thing. This is the tiniest bathroom ever.”
“Nah. I've seen smaller.” Addison stepped to the side so that she could exit the bathroom. In truth, the bathroom was tiny but he'd dealt with worse. At least he could sit on the rim of the bathtub to work on the toilet. He set the toolbox down and eyed the broken white pipe.
“Hey Katie,” he called out. “I don't suppose y'all have any spare PVC pipe laying around?”
“Actually yes,” Katie said, sticking her head back into the bathroom. Her arms were full of towels and she was attempting to dry the carpeting in the hallway.“The plumbing here sucks. Look in that closet behind you. We should still have some stuff from last time.”
“Awesome. At least I don't have to drive back to town.” Addison had to stand and turn around completely to be able to open the closet. It was roughly the size of a high school gym locker. The PVC pipe, PVC glue and a hot pink hacksaw were sitting on the top shelf. Addison took down the hacksaw and flipped it over speculatively. “This is scary.”
Katie smirked at him. “It came in a pink tool kit. I have a hammer that matches.”
“That's kinda hot,” Addison decided.
“Only if you're the one using it, Studmuffin.”
Addy couldn't help grinning at her. He intentionally thumbed one hand across the still-gaping front of his coveralls. “I'm sexy and I know it.”
Katie burst into giggles and a moment later Addison was laughing with her.