“I’m an engineer. We’re all about logical conclusions. If [this], then [that]. But then you distracted me and I never grabbed my stuff out of the truck.”
“Now I guess all of Alpine Grove knows that you didn’t die a fiery death, after all.”
He chuckled, kissed her quickly, then rolled over and leaped out of the bed. “Nope. I’m very much alive,” he said as he yanked on his jeans. “Be right back.”
Kat wrapped herself in the tangle of sheets and looked around the room. Where had Murphee gone? It probably wasn’t good that the cat was MIA. That thought disappeared as soon as Joel returned. He collected her back into his arms and kissed her slowly. She was consumed with heat and warmth and any lingering thoughts she had left, evaporated in the fire.
Much later, Kat was dozing, cradled in the crook below Joel’s collarbone, her head on his chest. She was listening to his heart beat and idly stroking his arm when Murphee jumped up on the bed. The cat walked over Kat’s body, stomping on her hip and settling in by her side. “Hi, Murph.”
Joel caressed the leg Kat had thrown over him. With the other hand he reached up and rubbed his eyes. Noticing the movement, Kat mumbled, “Are you okay?”
“I’m way better than okay. But I was wondering. Where does Murphee sleep?”
“Usually next to my head. On the pillow.”
“I was afraid of that.”
Kat propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at Joel face. His eyes were watering and they looked angry and pink. “You look like a diseased albino rabbit.”
“Thanks. It’s the cat. It might be good to change the pillowcases before we return here.”
“So I guess that means you like sleeping upstairs?”
He grinned. “Yes. Although I don’t know how much sleeping we’ll do.”
Chapter 9
Distractions
Later in the day, after multiple distractions in the shower and miscellaneous diversions in other rooms throughout the house, Kat went out to walk the dogs while Joel went up on the roof to determine the extent of the repairs. After spending most of the day exploring his body, Kat wasn’t sure she could stand to witness it crashing down off the roof. It was a long way down.
He had assured her that he had spent a lot of time up on top of houses, but she still couldn’t watch. If something horrible happened, she’d be close enough to hear, anyway. As she strolled through the forest with Chelsey trotting alongside her, she opted to think positive and assume Joel would escape bodily harm since she’d seen for herself that he was in extremely good shape. Instead, she considered the various other problems that needed to be addressed. The biggest one was money.
Until she got her inheritance (if she got it), the whole boarding kennel idea was out. She needed money for a computer so she could start sending article query letters to magazines for freelance writing work. And she needed money for the roof. Given what Larry had told her about how oddly the roof was constructed, that was looking like an expensive proposition. She sighed and wished her credit card had a higher limit.
When she returned from the walk, she was relieved to find Joel standing in the driveway still in one piece. He had his hands in his pockets and was glaring at the house.
“I’m guessing by the look on your face that there was no happy news up on the roof.”
“No.”
“Care to elaborate?”
He took a deep breath and sighed. “The roof was not constructed well. Like you said, there’s no plywood sheeting and not enough stringers, but there’s another problem. The metal needs to be replaced.”
“Really? It looks okay from here.”
“You probably noticed that the metal roofing has ridges. So there are hills and valleys. Normally you attach the metal using screws in the valleys. For some reason, on this roof, the screws have been put on the hills. Over the years, snow and weather has pulled out a lot of the screws because they are sitting up on the ribs. That’s part of the reason the roof leaks. The other reason it’s leaking is because of condensation. The plastic under the metal is virtually gone.”
“So that means new metal?”
“Yes.”
Kat dropped her head and covered her face with her hands. “That’s going to be expensive. The roof is huge.”
Joel looked up at the house thoughtfully and put his arm around her. “Yes, it is.”
Kat opened her eyes and peeked through her fingers down at the ground. “Look, it’s a piece of plastic.”
“If you look around, you’ll see little pieces of black plastic are everywhere. The little screws with red grommets on them are from the roof, too.”
“Perfect. Half of my roof is strewn around the yard.”
“Pretty much. I took some basic measurements while I was up there. I’m going to start doing some calculations.”
“Yuck. That gives me a headache. I hope you’re good at math.”
Joel smiled. “Engineer. Remember?”
Kat turned around, wrapped her arms around his waist, and smiled up at him. “Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that since I’ve discovered some of your other skills.”
“If you distract me again, you’re never going to get a new roof. I’m going to go to the library now and look through some construction magazines. And computer magazines. I need to get a computer and research roof-metal suppliers. I’m not sure how much I’ll find, but I know that for electronics, there are a lot of listings of the big catalogs in the back of trade magazines. Maybe the library has a list in the reference section, too.”
Kat looked dubious. “I’ve seen the library. I wouldn’t bet on that.”
“True. But the lumberyard here has a monopoly. It would be good to know if there are less-expensive options for the metal.”
“Thank you for doing all this. I was just thinking that at some point, I’m going to need to go home and pick up my bills, so I can find out how broke I actually am. In my excitement about quitting my job, I forgot to have my mail forwarded here. And I guess I need to get a post office box here, too.” She sighed heavily at the prospect.
Joel furrowed his brow. “Are you having second thoughts about moving here?”
Kat looked up into his eyes with a steady gaze. “No. I’m not leaving. After talking to Louise yesterday, I realized how much I want to stay. It feels right. But at this point, everything is kind of complicated.”
With a wry smile, Joel bent down to kiss her. “Big life changes usually are,” he murmured before their lips met.
Leaving Joel contentedly tapping numbers into his ultra nerdy-looking engineering calculator, Kat went off to the Alpine Grove Post Office. Larry had told her that the postmistress was getting on in years and everyone in town knew to allow a lot of time to take care of postal procedures like shipping or picking up packages. Kat was afraid getting a P.O. Box might take most of the day.
When she arrived, the line was out the door and snaking into the area where the mail boxes were located. People were passing the time chatting amongst themselves as the line slowly inched forward. Periodically, someone would burst out laughing. It was quite a social scene, and everyone seemed to know each other. Maybe she should bring Maria to the Post Office to find a date.
Kat dutifully positioned herself at the end of the line and spent some quality time studying the postal rate posters on the wall, since she didn’t know anyone. Cindy Ross walked through the door and scuttled over to Kat, securing her place at the end of the line.
“Oooh, I’ve been hoping I’d run into you!”
Kat smiled politely at her. “Really?”
“I was talking to Joel the other day and he drives me nuts. He’s the most tight-lipped guy in the world. Is he living at your house or what? I couldn’t get anything out of him. What’s going on?”
“His house smells like smoke and I have room, so yes, he’s staying at my place. It’s a three-bedroom house and I had just cleared out the downstairs bedrooms, so it’s much better than the last time you saw it. After
the repairs he’s done for me, it was the least I could do.”
Cindy smirked. “I’ll bet. You expect me to believe that he’s sleeping in one of those downstairs bedrooms and you’re not?” Narrowing her gaze, she eyed Kat circumspectly. “Well, that is, unless he makes you crazy too with his annoying habit of clamming up. I don’t know how anyone stands him.”
“Actually, he’s been nice. He even went up and looked at the roof this morning.”
“He did work construction for a while. As I understand it, he was good at it, too. He’s good at everything, once he sets his mind to it. The trick is getting him to want to do something. He’s incredibly stubborn. I can’t get him to do anything.”
“Didn’t he help you with your car the other day?”
“Well, yeah, but he just drove me around. He didn’t fix it. He said he’s tired of fixing my car. Then said a lot of other nasty things about Myrtle.”
“Myrtle?”
“My car. She’s wonderful. But a little temperamental sometimes.”
“Can’t you take it…or her…to a mechanic?”
“I can’t afford that. Joel knows that. He was going to lend me money, but then Allison burned up his house. That seemed to put him in a bad mood.”
Kat nodded. “I can see why.”
“Did he tell you about the fire?”
“A little.”
Cindy leaned in closer as the line inched forward. “Well, the way I hear it, she threw a pan at him that was on fire.”
“Good thing she missed. Do you know why she threw it?”
Cindy raised her eyebrows. “Did you ever meet Allison?”
“No.”
“She is a model. She goes by Alli professionally.”
Kat raised her eyebrows. “Alli? You mean she’s that Alli?”
“The one and only. She’s used to getting her own way. And having people fawn all over her because, of course, she’s gorgeous.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Apparently Joel wasn’t particularly happy to see her. That didn’t go over well with Allison.”
“I see.”
“Joel is a loner. He goes off and reads and spends a lot of time by himself doing who-knows-what weirdo geeky things. He’s such a nerd. Allison likes attention. Which she usually gets.”
“I can imagine.”
“So anyway, I guess he wasn’t paying attention to her. He was doing something on his computer. So she threw it out the window. Then things went downhill from there. He wouldn’t tell me and I haven’t seen the place, but it sounds like it was trashed. Then after torching his house, she left in a huff.”
“Wow.”
“I know! But Joel is so stupid. He had the perfect relationship for a guy. He had one of the most beautiful women in the world who only wants him for sex every once in a while. That, and she wanted him to take her to parties with models. What a hardship. Talk about no strings. She didn’t even care that he was unemployed. I mean jeez, he’s cute, but he’s not that cute.”
Kat started to feel sick to her stomach. Joel had dated Alli? How on earth could she ever compare to that? She smiled weakly at Cindy. “I think the line has moved about ten inches since I got here. Is there a better time of day when this place isn’t so busy? I need to get a post office box and it looks like it could take forever. Maybe I should try again another time.”
“Earlier in the day can be better. Ethel is a little more alert then. I think she might be slowing down by now.”
“I think so. I have to do some other errands, so you can have my place in line.”
Cindy stepped forward as Kat moved away. “Thanks! Wait, come back! You never told me if you’re sleeping with my brother or not!”
Kat just waved and ducked her head, trying to ignore all the people in line staring at her as she scuttled out of the building. Walking back to her Toyota, she refused to cry. After all, nothing had really changed. She crawled into her car, squeezed her eyes shut and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel, trying to block out the vision of Alli’s face, which she’d seen on thousands of magazine covers.
Kat returned to the house with no post office box, but lots of dog and cat food, since she’d stopped by the store. That would make her popular at home. Joel was apparently still at the library, and she was relieved to have the place to herself for a while.
She took the dogs for an extra-long walk to try to clear her head. Maybe the forest would work its magic to calm her racing thoughts. Now that the glow of last night’s incredible love-making had worn off and Joel wasn’t nearby melting her brain, she had time to think about what Louise had said. What did she really know about him? The answer was not much. And why was he interested in her? He was dating a super model for God’s sake. The guy could certainly do better. He already had done better.
It reminded her of growing up with her sister Kim. On one particularly memorable first date, the guy had come to pick her up, then ended up talking to Kim. Her date and her sister decided to stay at the house to hang out. Kat had gone upstairs and hid in her room until he left the house. Kim had dated the guy a few times and then dumped him. The whole experience had been humiliating and demoralizing.
Cindy was right. Joel had the perfect set up. A gorgeous woman who didn’t want to tie him down. What could be better?
Where did he even meet a model, anyway? Super models don’t hang out at aerospace companies. Maybe he wasn’t really even an engineer. Maybe he’d lied about everything. But why would he lie?
Maybe sleeping with her was just convenient. Or maybe he was getting back at Allison. But if that were the case, why would he be willing to work on Chez Stinky? Kat’s brain whirled with more questions, stories, and possibilities, leaving her feeling even more confused and sad. So much for clearing her head.
She went in the back door and unhooked Tessa and Linus. Seeming to sense that Kat was upset, Chelsey leaned on her and accepted some affection before returning to her spot under the table. If anyone knew about brooding, it was Chelsey.
Kat slowly went up the stairs. Because of Joel-related distractions, she had never put Murphee back in the bedroom to keep her away from the other cats. Where were Dolly Mae and Louie?
Louie never seemed to have much of a problem with anybody, but as far as she knew Dolly and Murph had not resolved their issues. She looked into the bedroom and found two cats sleeping on her bed. Dolly Mae and Murphee had each claimed a pillow for her own. Murph had even tucked her nose under a front paw and was curled up in a tight ball snoring quietly. It appeared some form of feline detente had developed while Kat was gone.
Kat made herself some tea and was sitting at the kitchen table clutching her mug, when the clattering rumble of Joel’s truck came from the driveway. She looked up as he came in through the front door with Linus, Lori and Lady.
“How was the library?”
“I’m guessing better than the post office. You don’t look happy.”
“I learned that the post office is the social mecca of Alpine Grove. And that I need to go earlier. Ethel was moving extra slowly. I gave up.”
“Sorry. Some people drive to Gleasonville to ship packages. It can be faster, even with the extra drive.”
Kat looked up at him. “Good to know.”
Joel sat down in the chair next to her and gazed into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Kat shook her head. “While I was in line, Cindy found me and wanted to talk. I probably shouldn’t talk to your sister too much.”
“You won’t get any argument from me.”
“She told me who your girlfriend was. Is. I don’t know.”
“I told you about Allison.”
“You didn’t tell me she was Alli. You were dating a super model? How does an engineer even meet a super model, much less sleep with her?”
Joel frowned. “I’m not sure what difference that makes. We broke up. I think if you almost incinerate someone’s home, it’s over. But why do you care? I’m not with her anymore.”
&n
bsp; “But why not? Cindy said you had the perfect arrangement. Get hot super-model sex whenever you like and go to parties with other super models. It’s like every warm-blooded male’s wet dream!”
“We didn’t get along. You may recall, she has a temper. She throws things.”
“Okay, fine. But she’s beautiful. She’s on magazine covers! Last night must have been a major step down for you.”
Joel looked surprised for a moment, then angry. He pressed his lips together and said quietly, “Is that what this is about? Are you regretting last night?”
“Well I have to figure you are. I’ve looked in a mirror. No one is putting me on magazines, are they?”
“Isn’t that for me to decide?”
Kat slumped in her chair, put her elbows on the table, and put her face in her hands. “I just can’t imagine what you could possibly see in me when you’ve had…her.”
Joel got up and kneeled next to her chair. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “Kat, what happened to you that makes you so down on yourself? Did you ever think that maybe I want to be with you? Sure, Allison is pretty, but she’s not a person I could ever spend any real time with.”
“Why not?”
Joel smirked. “Well as you probably guessed, we have different…and extremely incompatible…personalities. You haven’t thrown anything at me yet, after all.”
“I guess I get extra credit points for that.” Kat looked down and picked a tuft of dog hair off her pants. “But I’m not beautiful. My sister is. But me? No.”
Joel touched a tendril of Kat’s brown hair that was hanging in front of her face and smoothed it behind her ear. “I think you’re beautiful. But it’s more than what you look like. I feel good when I’m around you. Not just last night, which don’t get me wrong, was amazing. And I’d very much like to do that again. But just being with you, too. I can be myself around you.”
Kat looked up into his eyes. She was slowly starting to believe him. “But I hardly know you. I started to wonder if everything that’s happened over the last few days wasn’t real. Maybe it’s all a lie. Maybe you’re not even an engineer.”
Chez Stinky Page 19