Noelle
I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be to me talking about having kids, but his face was serious as he nodded.
“Ditto. About the kind of father I don’t want to be.”
“Do you want kids?”
“I do.” He nodded slowly. “With the right woman, and definitely not in the next year while I get this new team off the ground, but yeah. I can’t wait to do all the things my—” He was cut off by the loud ringing of my phone. Connie’s name flashed on the screen, and I frowned. It was late, especially for her.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “My friend Connie never calls this late—hang on. Con?”
“Oh thank god.” Connie sounded frantic.
“What’s wrong?”
“A pipe burst and I can’t reach the landlord. A plumber won’t even come out without giving them a credit card number and we don’t have one anymore.”
“I don’t either,” I said miserably. “Where’s Craig? Can’t he do something?”
“He’s not here and I can’t reach him either.” Connie sounded panicked. “There’s water everywhere and the baby’s crying…I don’t know what to do!” She burst into tears.
“Con, I don’t know what to do either. Without a credit card—”
“I have a credit card,” Remy interrupted me. “What do you need?”
His gaze was calm and steady, and he put one of his big, warm hands over one of mine, but I couldn’t let him get involved.
“I…” I cleared my throat. “Con, it’ll take me about forty-five minutes to get there, but I’ll leave now, okay? We’ll figure it out.” I disconnected and reached for my purse, giving Remy an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go. Connie’s having an issue and she doesn’t know where her fiancé is.”
“Why do you need a credit card? Let me help.”
“I don’t know how long it would be before they could pay you back,” I said slowly. “It’s wonderful of you to offer but—”
“I’m not worried about being paid back. It’s the holidays and if someone is struggling, I have the means to help. So let me. Please. It makes me feel good.”
“You don’t even know Connie,” I protested, though the fight had all but left me.
“But I know you and she’s obviously important to you.”
Here we were with another one of those situations where you had to compromise your principles for common sense. It was freezing cold and if there was water leaking into Connie’s apartment, she had those babies to think about. My pride, her pride, no one’s pride was going to keep those kids safe and warm.
“There’s a leak and water everywhere but she can’t reach the landlord and the plumbers she’s called need a credit card on file or they won’t even make the trip. Neither of us have one.”
“Give me her address,” he said, pulling out his phone. He started typing something on the keyboard and then motioned to Horace. “Horace—you got a pen and a piece of paper?”
“Sure thing, Remy!” Horace called back, picking up a pen and a small pad from behind the register and bringing it over to us.
“Thanks.” Remy looked up at me, the pen in his left hand as he wrote down the address I recited for him.
“You’re a leftie,” I said absently. “I am too.”
“I wonder if two lefties would have kids who were left-handed too?”
“Is it genetic?” I asked.
“I dunno.” He grinned. “But I’ll look it up after I call this plumber I found.”
It took him about fifteen minutes, but he found a plumber willing to go right to Connie’s place and I texted her to expect him soon.
“I still think I need to go,” I told him. “She’ll probably need help with the kids and cleaning up and stuff.”
“Okay, let’s both go.” He grabbed his keys.
“You don’t have to come.”
“It’s freezing out and looks like it’s starting to snow. The roads might be slippery.”
“I’ve been driving on slippery roads my entire life,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but it makes me feel macho to pretend I’m taking care of an obviously independent, self-sufficient woman like you.” His eyes twinkled with mirth and we both laughed.
We drove to Connie’s and despite our banter, it was nice to have someone else in charge. Connie and I were strong, independent women for the most part, but it was hard to be strong or independent when you were broke. Being strong wasn’t going to get a plumber out to the apartment. As much as it made me uncomfortable for Remy to be helping Connie, at least it wasn’t for me. I wanted to keep my current living situation a secret from him because it was embarrassing enough for a few friends to know, but Remy was a whole other ball game. He would be leaving Garland Grove by Christmas anyway, and if we could have fun together until then, it would be amazing. I didn’t want pity, though. And I definitely didn’t need a guy to swoop in and save me.
Well, okay, who was I kidding? I did need that, but only it if was someone who loved me and wanted to be with me. Someone like Remy, who was here today and essentially gone tomorrow, would only make me feel bad about myself, and I already felt pretty miserable about the direction my life had taken. The truth was, until I liked myself, how could anyone else? That was something I was working on, but Remy was the first guy I’d clicked with like this in a long time, so the last thing I was going to do was let him know just how down on my luck I was.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this,” Connie said for what had to be the tenth time. Remy had found the pipe that burst and turned off the water coming into the apartment, and the emergency plumber would be here any minute.
“It’s my pleasure,” Remy said, smiling at her.
Damn, he looked good enough to eat with the sleeves of his button-down shirt rolled up to his elbows. His forearms were muscular and veiny, with the edge of a tattoo snaking down and around his left one. His normally slicked-back dark hair was a little unkempt at the moment, a piece falling forward over one eye and making him look younger.
Connie caught me ogling his behind and elbowed me in the ribs as we swallowed down giggles. Not that Remy’s ass was a reason to laugh—it was downright delectable—but the fact that we were acting like schoolgirls with crushes was the most fun we’d had together in years.
The plumber got there as we were trying to sop up the water with towels, and Connie took both kids into her bedroom to try to get them to sleep. Remy talked to and worked with the plumber quietly and efficiently, as if he dealt with leaks all the time, and I finally collapsed on the couch. It had been a long day, and by the time the plumber left, it was three in the morning.
“You look tired,” Remy said, sinking down next to me.
“I am. You?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but we should get going since it’s about a forty-minute drive.”
“That’s far at three in the morning. Let’s just get a little rest here until morning and then drive back. I can’t even keep my eyes open.”
He seemed conflicted but then nodded. “I could use a few hours of shut-eye.”
“Thank you for coming tonight,” I whispered, settling against his side.
“You’re welcome.” He pressed a soft kiss on the top of my head and then I was asleep.
I woke to a crick in my neck and my bladder screaming for mercy, so I went into the bathroom to relieve myself. Remy was still asleep on the couch where we’d given up trying to be comfortable and just relaxed as best we could. We probably should have driven home but I was worried about Connie and it had been so late. Besides, sleeping curled up on a couch next to Remy was way better than sleeping on the cold, rubber floor mats in the women’s locker room at the arena.
“Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?!” Craig’s voice boomed through the apartment, and I jumped, yanking up my jeans and running out to the living room.
Remy and Craig were nose to nose, Craig’s hands balled into fists at his side.
“Connie!” He yelled out her name even louder.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Craig.” I hurried next to Remy. “Would you settle down? This is…my boyfriend. We came to help Connie with the leak in the kitchen.”
Craig was still shooting daggers at Remy with his eyes and Remy didn’t even flinch, but Connie came running into the living room, eyes wide.
“Craig, I swear to god, if you wake the kids…”
“You can’t bring a man into my house when I’m not here,” he growled. “How did you expect me to respond?”
“I expect you to show a little gratitude since your children and I were standing in four inches of water before Remy and Noelle got here.”
“You should’ve called me.”
“I did! At least ten times.”
Craig looked startled and then yanked his phone out of his pocket. “It’s dead,” he muttered. “Damn battery doesn’t last for shit.”
“We should go,” I murmured to Remy, who nodded.
“Thanks for your help,” Connie said to us.
“Anytime.” I gave her a quick hug and pulled on my boots.
Craig didn’t say a word, merely disappeared into the bedroom and Connie stared after him with a sigh. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Thanks again. You too, Remy.” She swallowed, looking from me to Remy and back. “Could we, uh, not say anything about who paid the plumber? I’ll find a way to pay you back but—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Remy said quickly. “Really. It was my pleasure. Any friend of Noelle’s is a friend of mine.”