His chuckle was warm. “I knew you wouldn’t say no. You find me irresistable.”
“
I’d barely finished dressing when I heard a knock at the door. Sure enough, Josh was ready and waiting, all grins. He didn’t look the least bit tired, even though I knew he’d been up all night, just like me. He held out a cup of coffee as I opened the door. “Ready to go?”
I nodded and locked the door, pocketing my phone. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Thanks for being my company,” he said cheerfully. “It’s the least I could do.”
“So where are we headed?” I asked as we trotted down the stairs and back out to the parking lot.
“We’re going by Carol’s place first. She promised to make me breakfast.”
I gave him a cross look as we got into the car. “We’re doing all this so you can get a free breakfast?”
“Not exactly. Free breakfast is just a perk.”
We were quiet as Josh pulled onto the highway and began heading south. I sipped my coffee, content with watching Josh and the road. The neighborhoods got progressively worse and worse the longer we were in the car, and by the time we pulled into an apartment complex, I was ready to lock my doors and not get out of the car. “Carol lives here?”
“Rent’s cheap, and she doesn’t make a lot of money,” Josh said. “Come on. She’ll be thrilled to see you.”
I followed him through the parking lot, trying my best not to be judgmental. The building could have used a good coat of paint, and the long carport stretched out in front of the building looked as if it was on its last legs. Graffiti covered a nearby Dumpster, and as we walked to Carol’s first-floor apartment, I noticed dirty window-unit air conditioners hanging out of nearby windows. Classy. One of her neighbors had foil in the window. Double classy.
There was an enormous box on Carol’s doorstep, and Josh immediately moved to it. “Can you hit the doorbell? I’m going to start moving this for her.”
I did as I was told, and a moment later, Carol opened the door, giving Josh and me a beaming, wrinkled smile. “Josh, my love. You brought a friend today. Come on in!”
“This the entertainment center you ordered, Carol?” Josh hefted it, his voice strained as he carried the massive box into the house. “Or did you order a box of bricks?”
“Silly boy,” Carol said, tittering. “Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“Of course not,” Josh said, moving into the living room of the tiny apartment and setting the entertainment center box against the door. “I knew you’d fix me up something delicious. That’s how I talked Marie here into coming over.”
She beamed a smile over at me. “Why don’t I make some coffee?”
“Coffee sounds great,” I told her, reaching down at the cat rubbing on my jeans leg. When she left the room, I looked over at Josh, who’d pulled out a pocketknife and was slitting open the sides of the box. “Is that what you came over for? To put together an entertainment center for her?”
Josh nodded, peeling tape back from the box. “Her last one broke a few days ago. I told her to buy one and I’d put it together.”
Carol returned to the room, a fresh cup of coffee in hand. There were layers to Josh that I was just beginning to discover, and every time I thought I had him pegged, he surprised me.
Carol was a much better cook than the one at the diner. Her coffee was great, and her pancakes amazing. As she loaded me with breakfast food, Josh took bites between working on the furniture. It was clear that she was pleased that she had company, and I began to warm up to our visit. After a while, she pulled out some photo albums and showed me pictures of her family, all deceased.
I was starting to realize why Josh visited Carol so much, and my estimation of him grew. He worked hard on the entertainment center, screwing and bolting together the wood as if it had been no big deal, and looking pleased to do so.
Hours later, when it was all put together and we’d gone through all of Carol’s pancakes, Josh set up her TV and programmed it for her.
“That’s wonderful, Josh. You’re such a good boy.” She reached up and ruffled his hair, as if he’d been a child. “Do you think you could stop by Lula’s place after you go? Her toilet won’t stop running and she said her water bill was ten dollars more last month. She’s quite concerned.”
“You know I will,” he said easily.
We said our good-byes to Carol, petted her cats one more time, and left. Josh immediately went next door and knocked.
“Lula?” I asked.
“Yep,” he said. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” I said honestly. At this point, I was more curious about how many people Josh stopped to help than anything else. I eyed the foil in the window and felt bad for internally mocking it when we’d first arrived. Was she trying to lower her power bill? A few dollars wasn’t much here and there, but maybe she didn’t have the money.
Lula was a wizened old woman with thick, outdated glasses and a floral muumuu. Her hands were twisted from arthritis, and she gave Josh a toothless smile. “There you are. Are you here to fix my toilet?”
“That I am, Miss Lula,” Josh said cheerfully. “Why don’t you show it to me?”
As she shuffled inside, I followed Josh, noting the dark interior of the apartment and the spotless floors and counters. Miss Lula was old, but she wasn’t feeble. It was clear she was pleased to see Josh, talking a mile a minute and gesturing at her toilet as if it had been the biggest problem in the world. He listened politely, then set to working on it.
My estimation of Josh grew more. He was patient and kind—kinder than I was—and unfailingly nice. This didn’t mesh with my mental vision of the careless, wild playboy that I’d always thought he was.
After a few minutes, Josh replaced the tank lid. “I need to get my toolbox, Lula. Can we come back in an hour?”
“Of course, of course,” she said with a wave of her small hands. “I’ll make you sandwiches for lunch. Does that sound nice?”
“You know it does,” he told her. “We’ll be back very shortly.”
We piled back into Josh’s car, and I gave him a curious look. “Where now?”
“To my place—the Russell place. I need to borrow some tools. That okay, or are you too tired to go on?”
“I’m fine,” I told him truthfully. “And I want to come back.”
• • •
The drive out to the Russell house was long but pleasant. Josh and I bickered over radio stations, and it turned into a game—find an obnoxious song on the radio and see if you could annoy the other person. It was childish, but it made me laugh, and the time with Josh passed so pleasantly that I couldn’t remember why I’d ever been irritated with him.
When we finally parked in the driveway, I was surprised to see that a few cars were already there. “Someone home?”
He laughed. “I live with my brothers and cousins. Someone is always home.”
Good point.
The Russell house was a two-story monster of a house out in the country. It was spare on furnishings, which wasn’t surprising, considering the fact that only men lived there. The place was clean and neat.
“I need to go find the toolbox,” Josh told me. “It’s in the garage. Just wait here a minute.”
“Can I see your room?” I was suddenly wildly curious to see what kind of digs Josh had.
“Why, Marie,” he said with amusement. “You want to see my bed?”
“Just curious is all,” I said lightly, ignoring his innuendo.
“Go right ahead. Last room at the back of the hall upstairs. I’ll just be a minute.”
I waited for him to disappear, then headed up the stairs to his room. The door was shut, and I pushed it open slowly, feeling very much like an invader.
