“Good.” He handed her a list of names and numbers. “These are my recommendations of people to contact for work on the house.”
“Oh, thanks,” she said, and took the paper. She looked at it, and the roofers were ones she’d already tried. Her heart sank.
“What’s wrong?”
“Any chance you know of a roofer who isn’t booked solid with work right now?”
“Oh, you’ve already tried them, huh?”
Lorelei nodded.
“Well, that’s perfect. So you don’t have any choice but to let me help you repair the roof-and remove your pajama bottoms from their rooftop imprisonment.”
“No, really, I can’t ask you such a big favor. We don’t even know each other.”
“I’d really like to help. I feel like I owe you,” he said, his gaze steady on her as if he was hoping she’d understand another level of his meaning.
“You don’t owe me anything,” she said too quickly. Was he thinking of what had happened in high school? Did he remember?
The flowers, the offer of help, the early arrival on her doorstep…it was all adding up to…what? Was she really going to get laid that easily?
Following Kinsei’s advice usually involved much work and sacrifice. Success didn’t crawl into her lap like a lovesick puppy.
“The other reason I’m here is a bit more awkward. I…” He hesitated. “I owe you an apology for what happened when we were teenagers.”
Lorelei blinked again, her brain refusing to catch up to his words. “What?”
“I behaved like a total jerk when we were in high school together. I know that now, and I’m very sorry. I wish I could go back and change my actions, but I can’t, so the best I can do is offer amends now. I was hoping you’d let me make it up to you by helping you with the house repairs.”
An unexpected surge of anger rose up in her, and she blurted, “So it’s like a trade? You take my virginity and fifteen years later you fix my house as repayment?”
He went pale, and she could tell by his pained expression that she’d hit him where it hurt.
Good.
She wasn’t finished.
Screw Kinsei’s advice. She was pretty sure telling Ryan Quinn to go to hell was exactly what her soul needed to heal from the past.
“That’s right, asshole! I was a virgin. Did you even know that? Would you even have cared? I gave you my virginity, and you repaid me by treating me like I didn’t exist for the rest of the school year.”
“Lorelei, I’m really, really sorry. I deserve whatever you’d like to say to me.”
She knew she was supposed to be gracious in the face of his heartfelt apology, but did he really think he could show up here fifteen years later with a sad little bouquet of flowers and a chagrined look and make all her pain go away?
She’d never felt so angry in her life. It was as if all her teenage angst was welling up again, only this time, she was strong enough to do something about it.
She thought of Kinsei again. He’d never steered her wrong. She was suddenly sure of what she wanted to do. She’d let him make amends, if that’s what he wanted to call it-he could amend his way right into her bed and relieve all the sexual tension that had been building up in the months since she’d last gotten laid, and then she’d drop him like a hot potato, and this time let him sit around wondering what the hell had gone wrong.
Some little adolescent voice that dwelled deep in her heart let out a victorious battle cry at that thought.
“Wow,” she said. “This is certainly an unexpected turn of events. I never thought getting stuck on the roof would lead to this…”
“I know an apology and a bouquet of daisies can’t begin to make up for what I did to you, but-”
“I appreciate the gesture,” she forced herself to say without sarcasm. “And…what the hell. I’d be happy for you to help me with the house repairs, if it would make you feel like we’re, um, even.”
“Thank you,” he said, nodding solemnly. “I’d love to help.”
“Why don’t you stay and have some coffee with me, tell me what you’ve been up to all these years, and I can tell you what needs to be done to the house.”
He smiled. “I’d like that a lot.”
Lorelei led him into the kitchen, where a pot of coffee had just finished brewing. At least the gas stove was still working, even if the electricity wasn’t. With its own fireplace that she’d gotten going as soon as she’d woken up, the kitchen was the warmest room in the house.
On the far side of the room, her pet rabbits, Thor and Lucia, were huddled together, taking in the warmth of the stove from a safe distance. They had free rein of the house, since they were litter-box trained, but they tended to like staying in the kitchen near their food.
“Have a seat,” she said, nodding to the table. “Have you had any breakfast yet?”
“Actually, no. I came straight from the end of my night shift, to the flower shop, to here. I wasn’t planning to, but…” He paused awkwardly, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should. “But I really don’t want to trouble you.”
Lorelei ignored him as she put the daisies in water then started pulling out ingredients to make a breakfast frittata with mushrooms, peppers and cheese. She’d never been good at this small-talk stuff. She much preferred getting to the heart of matters. It made her bedside manner alternately loved and hated, depending on the patient.
“Hey, you have rabbits.”
“Meet the new king and queen of the household. Thor is the brown one with the ever-disdainful expression, and Lucia is the white one.”
“You just got them after you moved in?”
“Yep, from the local bunny rescue place.”
He crossed the room, knelt down and attempted to pet the rabbits, who studiously ignored him until he came too close, and then they fled into the imaginary safety of their litter box.
“They don’t like strangers. Ignore them and they’ll come check you out in their own sweet time.”
He smiled and sat down at the table again. “I always thought you’d become a veterinarian.”
“I thought about it, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a doctor. I still love animals as much as I did as a kid, though.”
“I always liked that about you. Didn’t you have a python or something in high school?”
“Yep, and a couple of lizards, and the rats, of course, and a scorpion and…”
“You must have driven your parents crazy.”
“They made me find new homes for most of the animals when I left for college. It was devastating.”
“Yeah, I know how you feel. I had a dog until last year when she died of old age. It’s like losing your best friend.”
Lorelei went silent as she found all the ingredients she needed, thinking of the animals she still missed. The rabbits were a good fresh start though. She loved their bratty little personalities, and they kept her company in this drafty old house, their presence a constant fuzzy reminder to be Zen about all things.
“Want to hear something totally crazy?” Ryan said as she began shredding parmesan cheese with a grater.
“How could I not?”
“When I picked up those flowers for you at the flower shop in Santa Rey? There was this Christmas tree with little cards all over it, and a sign that said if you buy a card, the proceeds would go to charity.”
“Oh, yeah, I think I heard about that on the radio the other day.”
“So I bought one of the cards, and…this is going to sound really weird, but…I think you’ll understand why I felt like I had to come here right now and apologize when you hear this. And I swear, I didn’t know what was on the card before I bought it.”
“What was it?”
“It’s a gift certificate to Linden Rock Hot Springs.”
Kinsei’s face appeared in her mind. That sneaky little man…She might be a doctor with a scientifically trained mind, but the medicine man had taught her to believe in the inexplicable.
In a soap opera, this would be the part where Lorelei would halt the cheese grating and turn slowly to stare at Ryan. A weighty, emotional moment would pass between them as they contemplated the significance of his words, of the way fate-and one wily old Kenyan medicine man-had twisted and turned to make their lives intertwine again.