Her Big Neighbor

I sprint up the stairs and run to the linen closet and grab every towel that we have and take it with me. I spread them on the floor and there’s so much water that they’re saturated as soon as they go down. There’s no way that just a little rain caused this, right? Shit, there’s a giant hole in the entryway. Mom is going to freak out if there’s a hole in the ceiling for the gala.

But I have to stop the water first.

Dish pan. I grab the pan from by the sink and quickly dump out the one we use to keep cleaning supplies in before putting them underneath the leak. Those are going to fill up soon. It’s almost eight o’clock, and I don’t have time to call a service. Before I can question myself, I’m pulling on my shoes and running out into the rain, ignoring the fact that it’s pouring and dashing across the lawn to Edward’s house. The lights are on, so I know he’s home even though it’s a Saturday night. I can only hope that he’s alone and that I’m not interrupting anything.

I’m almost soaked through by the time I cross the distance to his porch and ring the bell. “Come on,” I say under my breath. “Please.” After a minute I ring the bell again. Maybe he didn’t hear me the first time. If not, I can try another neighbor.

I hear footsteps a second before the door swings open, and Edward is there. Once again he’s shirtless, chest heaving like he’s been running, and glistening with sweat. I get distracted by the shine of his abs and the closeness before I remember why I’m here in the first place. “I’m sorry to bother you,” I say quickly. “There’s water pouring through my roof and I don’t have enough buckets. My mother’s out at dinner dining with potential donors.”

Edward nods. “Let me grab a shirt.”

He ducks inside, and leaves the door ajar. While I’m waiting, I peek inside. From the small area I can see, his house is nice and well decorated. Comfortable. It occurs to me that in all the years we’ve lived next to each other that I don’t think I’ve ever been inside his house. He’s been in mine—a long time ago when my mother had the neighborhood over for dinner—but I mostly saw him outside. The occasional neighborhood block parties and when my friends and I would spend time outside.

Edward appears again with a large bucket and a toolbox, this time with a shirt on. It’s really a pity. “Let’s go.”

We’re out in the rain again, and he’s soaked through too. He doesn’t hesitate to step through the door when I open it, and his eyes go straight to the leak. “Shit.”

“I have no idea where it’s coming from,” I tell him. “I fell asleep on the couch and the sound woke me up.”

He shakes his head slowly. “That can’t be just the rain. Or at least not this rain. That has to have been built up. Or a pipe.”

“God, she’s going to freak out,” I say as he puts his bucket under the leak and grabs one of mine and throws the water outside.

“Do you have a ladder?”

“Yeah, I’ll grab it.” Thankfully it’s in our little maintenance closet downstairs. The water looks like it’s slowing a bit now. Thank heavens. Edward takes the ladder from me and sets it up. The water from the ceiling is pouring onto him, but he doesn’t seem to care that his shirt and jeans are soaked through.

I take more towels and swap them out, and dump some of the wet towels in the sink of the downstairs bathroom to ring them out. I swap them out again and finally seem to get a hold on most of the water. Edward has a flashlight and he’s peering up into the shattered plaster, trying to find the problem. “Anything?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Combo problem. Looks like there was a leak from a pipe that’s been building for a while, and it finally burst through because water from the rain got through the roof and added to it. It shouldn’t be too hard of a fix. Slow leak for the most part.”

“Okay,” I say, feeling a measure of relief. “So it’ll hold until we can call someone tomorrow.”

“I’ve got it,” he says. “Don’t worry.”

“Really?”

“Sure. I’m going to seal the leak in the pipe, but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow so that it’s dry, but I did some construction in the summers during college. This is nothing but a plaster job. The roof leak where the water got through might be a different story, but I’ll take a look and see if there’s anything I can do.”

I’m stunned into silence, just…staring at him. “Wow.”

“What?”

“That’s just…really nice of you. You don’t have to do that.”