Three Alarm Tenant. Christa Maurice
leaned toward her, smiling. “I work for trade.”
“I have nothing left to trade. You already have my TV, and I don’t think you’re interested in my hardback mystery novels, are you? Just stop over as soon as you can and fix the tarp.”
Randy stood up sighing. “All right. I can’t come over tonight, but maybe Wednesday. Will that work?”
“As long as it gets done before the garage roof collapses.”
“I told you. Your joists are fine. You’ve got a long way to go before the roof caves in.” He shoved the chair under the table. “You worry too much, Kath.” He swaggered out of the teacher’s lounge.
“So, do you think he’s ever going to get the message?” Pam asked.
“I don’t think his receiver is working.” Katherine glanced over her shoulder. He might be thick as a plank, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings if she didn't have to. “He wouldn’t be so bad if it weren't for that raging ego. He’s not bad looking, and he is kind of handy to have around.”
“You forgot dumb as a post.”
“Oh yeah, raging ego and dumb as a post.”
Pam slid her lunch bag into her book bag. “So what is wrong with Jack the fireman? He doesn’t sound stupid, rude or egotistical. What’s the catch?”
“I don’t want to get mixed up in another Gary thing.”
“So don’t.” Pam shrugged as if it wasn’t so difficult to resist Jack. “It’s probably a bad idea to date your tenant anyway. Doesn’t it say something in that book of yours about not dating tenants? What if you get into a fight, and he stopped paying the rent? What if you split up, and he wrecked the place for revenge?”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.” Katherine shuddered. She couldn’t afford to get the place fixed up again. She had maxed herself out on all sides just getting by for the last few years and she owed Randy money, yet.
“Hey, snap out of it. This is all going to work out great. You’re going to have this nice guy living downstairs with a great dog. You’re going to catch up on your bills and who knows, maybe you’ll be able to get a TV in time for summer reruns.” Pam pulled out her lesson plan book and fished out a couple of worksheets to copy before class. “This is going to be great.”
Katherine swallowed hard. Great. How could it be great when the only man on Earth she shouldn’t date was the same man who gave her butterflies every time he looked at her?
* * * *
Katherine ran through the door, dropped her bag at the top of the stairs and checked the answering machine. The light blinked with one message. She’d been playing phone tag with Jack since Monday. Now she was it. She looked at her watch. She had exactly thirty minutes to eat dinner and get back to school for parent-teacher conferences. If she wasn’t so broke, she’d have gone to dinner with Pam and a couple of others. Monday evening, she’d called Jack to let him know the place was his, and he could pick up the keys and drop off a check for the first month’s rent and the deposit after five. Tuesday morning he’d left a message saying he couldn’t make it, but he’d come by Wednesday around five and did she want to go to dinner again? Nothing fancy, he knew a Lebanese deli by the mall that he liked but wasn’t too expensive. Tuesday afternoon Pam had reminded Katherine about parent-teacher conferences Wednesday evening, so she left Jack a message saying she wouldn’t be home Wednesday night, but someone would be there with the keys and the lease. She pressed the play button.
“Kate, it’s Jack. I’ll come by for the keys tonight. I’m on duty tomorrow, but if it’s okay with you I’d like to start moving stuff in over the weekend if the weather’s good. Sorry you can’t do Lebanese tonight. Maybe some other time. See ya.”
See ya. Katherine stood with her finger on the play button staring out the window, debating whether or not to play the message again just to hear his voice. And he called her Kate. She shivered. My God, she thought, I’m starting to sound like one of my students mooning over a cute boy. Spinning around, she hurried into the kitchen to open a can of soup for dinner.
The kitchen faucet was dripping again. Randy said he’d fixed it last time. Scowling, she fiddled with the knob until it stopped before getting her dinner ready. While she ate, she heard a vehicle in the driveway and absurdly hoped it was Jack picking up the keys earlier than expected. She peered out the window, smoothing her hair off her face.
Randy jumped out of his truck and grinned at the second floor. There was no way he could see her through the glare on the window. He did it because he was confident she would be waiting for him. She didn’t like to encourage that confidence.
Groaning, she went down the stairs to open the door.
“Hey Kath. I told you I’d be here to fix that tarp.”
“I need something else, too. The faucet in my kitchen is leaking again, and my tenant is coming by to pick up the keys.”
Randy shrugged. “I’ll hang around and wait for your tenant. Don’t know why that faucet's leaking.”
“Well, can you please look at it again?”
He shrugged again. “Yeah, I’ll take care of it. Don’t you worry about a thing. You just go to the parent-teacher conferences, and I’ll take care of everything,” he promised.
Katherine walked back up the stairs grumbling under her breath. By the time she headed out the door to go back to school, Randy was strolling around on the roof of the garage straightening the tarp as if it were the level and solid gym floor at school. “Randy!” she yelled. He continued to wander around as if she hadn’t spoken, let alone yelled. She walked closer to the garage and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Randy!”
He spun around and started flailing his arms to catch his balance. Katherine held her breath as he struggled to keep his feet on the sloping, half rotten garage roof. He dropped to his knees with his hands outstretched for balance. “Jesus. Don’t sneak up on a guy like that.”
Katherine frowned. What was she supposed to do? Throw rocks at him? Men so rarely knew what they needed, though the idea of throwing rocks at Randy did have a certain appeal.
“You need to get your hearing tested,” she snapped. “Listen, I left the keys and the lease in an envelope on the stairs right inside the door. He just needs to sign the lease and leave a check for first month’s rent and the deposit. Okay? Everything’s written on the envelope. And can you pull up the sign in the yard?”
“Whatever. I’ll get it.”
“And don’t forget about the faucet. I’ve got it jerry rigged right now, but it’s going to get worse.”
“I’ll get it!” Randy yelled down.
Katherine turned to get into her car. She really didn’t want to get into another long argument with Randy right now. He treated her like a beleaguered husband one minute and tried to charm her the next. As she put the key into the door lock, she looked around. Randy had parked right behind her in the middle of the driveway, blocking her in. She stalked back to the garage. “Randy!”
“What!”
“You have to move your truck. I’m blocked in.”
Randy sighed as if she’d asked him to pick up his truck and carry it to the street. He climbed down the ladder, muttering, and backed his truck out of the driveway.
Katherine drove to the school taking deep, even breaths.
* * * *
Jack parked in the driveway behind a rusted out yellow Ford pickup. The truck was almost centered in the driveway. It looked a little possessive. He’d left Archer at his apartment because Katherine said she wasn’t going to be home and a friend would be waiting, but who did she know who drove a junker like that? He had a suspicion in the pit of his stomach that the driver was male. He knocked at the door and