Chapter 8 : Logan and Juliet get soaked

*Logan*

We are soaked in a matter of seconds. Water from above pours over us, conveniently targeting the area where we are standing. Juliet looks frantically around her room at all of her possessions getting flooded. Her eyes are wide and I can tell she is starting to panic.

“Juliet!” I shout over the rushing water. She looks up at me and she looks so freaked out but still beautiful. “I’m going to shut off the water! Start moving things out of the way and up off the floor.”

Juliet nods and begins moving items away from the pouring water, setting them on any available surfaces. I run out of the room. I know exactly where the water shut-off valve is since I’ve worked on this house before. I shut off the water with a quick twist of the valve. I take a few seconds to make sure the plumbing looks good. No leaks and everything looks functioning. It must have just been the one rusted pipe in Juliet’s room.

I return to Juliet’s room to see the water has subsided but it’s still dripping a little.

“Are you okay?” I ask Juliet since she is now just standing in the room. It looks like she’s gotten everything off the floor and away from where the majority of the water was spilling.

“Yeah,” Juliet responds weakly. She looks up at me and she has tears in her eyes.

I want to reach out and comfort her but I keep my arms by my sides. I need to remain professional, even though I want to kiss her bottom lip that’s stuck out further than the top, almost like she’s pouting.

“I hate to admit it, but that is not the first pipe that has burst on me.” I try to lighten the mood and Juliet gives me a smile out of pity.

“Why was the pipe in the ceiling anyway?” Juliet asks, trying to rationalize and think through what just happened. Juliet looks so defeated and worried. “Aren’t they usually in the walls?”

“Actually, it can be either, depending on the house and the layout. Sometimes, it depends on whoever built this house. Some companies prefer it that way. Although I am not sure why this house has them in the ceiling. We might have to fix that,” I say but then I notice the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I just… is this in the budget? I don’t know…” Juliet trails off and stares at the wall, zoning out. I assume she is overwhelmed with everything else and now this. Something about the way she is reacting makes me want to protect her.

Juliet’s blonde curls lay flattened by the downpour of water and she looks so vulnerable. The first time I met her, she was confident and defended herself when she showed up to a strange man on her front porch. I admired that about her and now that she is stressed out, it makes me want to get the confident, strong side of her back.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out,” I say before I can stop myself. She looks up at me with hope in her eyes and I want to promise her that everything will be okay. I kind of just did.

“Really? Are you sure?” Juliet asks, her voice brimming with hope and excitement but treading lightly.

“Yeah, I’ll figure something out,” I promise immediately and internally groan. “Why don’t you go into town to grab some things from Daniel at the store so I can fix this for the time being then when we get around to plumbing, we will figure out a more permanent fix.”

“Okay, yeah.” Juliet nods her head and looks around the room at the soaked furniture and carpet.

“I guess we can get started in here today,” I say to try to lighten the mood. Juliet graces me with a smile. “Okay, let me make you a list of things to get. Daniel has his idea of a quick fix but I have my own method.”

“Okay, that would be great, thanks. I would have no idea what to get,” Juliet admits and I chuckle. “Not that I am completely hopeless when it comes to quick fixes,” Juliet defends herself and I feel bad that I might have offended her.

“Don’t worry about it,” I try to dismiss her concerns.

“Okay, I’ll be right back. I’ll try to be quick,” Juliet says and she makes a move to leave the room and starts to head out.

“Ah, Juliet,” I say to stop her before she leaves. Her soaked hair, which was dripping down her back, slaps her in the face when she turns to look at me. “You might want to put on dry clothes.”

“Oh,” Juliet blushes, looking down at herself. She pulls her hair off her face and then looks up and around her room.

Juliet spots her suitcase in the corner of the room and looks relieved when she notices it isn’t wet. Juliet starts to pull out clothes from her suitcase and then moves to take her jeans off but she stops and looks over at me, the blush returning to her cheeks.

“I’m going to go change in the bathroom,” Juliet says and takes her clothes with her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

I’m a little embarrassed that I was watching her while she grabbed her clothes, but I would have looked away immediately if she had begun changing in front of me. I look around the room, taking stock of any damages that the water might have caused.

I pull her desk chair under the burst pipe and stand on it to get a better look at what we’ll need to fix it. I inspect the pipe and it looks like it won’t take too much to fix. I get down off the chair and push it back under the desk, then grab a few things and bring them out to the patio to dry out in the sun.

I walk into the kitchen to grab my clipboard off the table; thankfully, it was safe from the water. I write down a list of items for Juliet to get from Daniel and shoot him a quick text telling him that she would be there shortly. I grab a trash bag before going back to Juliet’s room. Juliet is just stepping out of the bathroom when I come back into the room.

“Do you want something dry to change into?” Juliet asks when she comes out. “I still have a bag of my grandparents’ clothes. My granddad probably has something that would fit you, like a shirt and sweatpants. I can go dig through the bag, it’s out in my car,” Juliet rambles during her offer. I can tell she feels bad about our situation and is trying to remedy it.

“I’ve got a change of clothes in my truck,” I let her know and she nods. “Okay, here. I made the list of items you’ll need for the repairs.” I hand Juliet the list and when our fingers touch, I feel sparks.

I haven’t felt a spark in a very long time and it makes me want to grab hold of her hand and see what else she can make me feel. The thought of doing something so drastic makes me feel guilty. I shouldn’t be having these thoughts about a woman I barely know.

I pull my hand away from Juliet’s quickly, missing the feeling almost immediately. Juliet looks a little confused at my sudden movement but I clear my throat and step out of her way.

“Okay, well, I’ll be back shortly,” Juliet says as she takes one last look around the room before she leaves. A few seconds later I hear the front door open and shut and then hear her car starting and peeling out of the driveway.

I make another trip out to the patio to lay stuff out in the sun then continue pulling the now-soaked posters off Juliet’s bedroom walls. When I’m done, I realize how uncomfortable I am in my soaked clothes and jog out to my truck to grab my bag. I always keep a spare set of clothes in all of my vehicles because I often get messy on the job.

I bring the bag into the house and change in the half bath off the kitchen. When I set the bag on the bathroom counter, I open it to find that there isn’t a shirt. Oh, crap. I must have forgotten to put in a new shirt when I had to take the last one out a couple of days ago.

I groan but strip down anyway. I still need to take off my wet clothes and let them dry out. I drop my wet clothes on the floor and change into the pair of jeans that are in my bag. Thankfully, I wasn’t soaked down to my boxers so I don’t have to worry about those but I guess I will just have to go shirtless until my soaked shirt dries off.

I debated throwing my things in the dryer that’s in the house but Juliet isn’t around for me to ask her permission and I don’t feel comfortable using it without her knowing. I could probably text her but the sun is out and shining strong. If it’s good enough for the soaked items from her room, then it’s good enough for my clothing. So, instead of throwing them in the dryer, I bring my wet clothes outside and spread my shirt and jeans over the chair.

Once everything is laid out, I go back inside and try to do some more damage control in Juliet’s room. I move everything out into the hallway and then strip the mattress, tossing the sheets into the hallway as well.

I move the mattress into the other room, then disassemble and reassemble the frame in the other room as well. I grab some fresh sheets from the linen closet in the Jack and Jill bathroom and remake the bed. It feels oddly intimate but it’s easy enough to do.

When the bed is made, I pull all the drawers out of her dresser and then move it all into the other room as well. The dresser is pretty heavy but I’m able to get it moved pretty quickly. I put all the drawers back and then head back to her old room and finish clearing it out. When the room is cleared out, I grab some tools and then head back inside. I get on my hands and knees in a corner of the room and start to remove the carpet.

Pulling back a corner of the carpet, I see the different layers and peel those back as well. Underneath everything is decent looking wooden floors. I’ll have to remove all of the carpet and padding to make sure all of the wood is intact but so far it doesn’t look like we’d need to replace it. We’d just need to sand it and finish it. Unless, of course, Juliet wants to put some new carpet in but for the resale value I will advise against it.

I roll the carpet up and put it on my shoulder. The carpet is wet and heavy and scratches my back a little but I get it out to the dumpster and toss it inside. A couple of my guys arrive while I’m outside. I tell them about what I’m doing in the house and ask them to get started in the master bedroom since I moved Juliet’s things into the room on the other side of the Jack and Jill bathroom.

I grab my gloves out of my truck and head back inside to pull up the carpet padding, knowing it was going to be a messy project. I hear my guys getting to work in the other rooms and I kneel on the floor to get back to work.