5. Justin

5Justin

I sighedand pushed my hand through my hair for what felt like the thousandth time. Honestly, I’d followed every step in the plumbing repair video, but apparently, the sink was refusing to cooperate. Having to wash all the dishes in the tub was getting old. This needed to work and calling someone in wasn’t an option.

“Any luck?” my best friend Chris asked. I immediately glanced his way, but thankfully there were no kidlings with him.

“Are they asleep?” I asked.

He shook his head, “Nope. But I’ve got them watching Peppa Pig.” He held up the monitor, “Don’t worry, I got my eyes on them.”

Since the episode with Hazel, my stomach has twisted every time I had the kids out of my sight. I’d barely been able to eat a thing. But they were here, and no one was taking them away from me.

It wasn’t the first time I’d had to figure things out on my own. I would do it again, this time for them.

“So, any luck?” Chris asked.

I wanted to scream, but I did my best not to because it wasn’t his fault. Still, I couldn’t help reacting sarcastically. “What do you think?”

Chris wasn’t even bothered by my tone. He shrugged, “Told you a video wouldn’t help.”

Now I wanted to punch him. I sighed and rubbed my forehead with the back of my arm, “It looks so easy on the video.”

“That’s how they get you,” my best friend said, glancing at the sink like it’d committed a crime against him.

“I can do it. I have to.” Even I heard the choked-up sound of my voice that time. “If Hazel thinks I can’t take care of the kids….” I let my voice trail off because I’d gone over this so many times he was probably tired of hearing it. “You know Teagan was the handy one.”

“I have a feeling everything is going to work out,” Chris soothed, pulling me into his arms for a hug.

I really wanted to ask him to promise because right now, all the faith I had left seemed to have vanished. “I should have sold the house like you suggested all those months ago.” I leaned back from the hug and sniffed. “I was stubborn. Teagan would want her kids growing up safely in a nice little place, not in a house falling down around them.”

Chris shook his head, “No, you were right. This is their home, and I get why you’d want them to know it’s where their parents wanted to raise them.”

“But who does that help if we end up in a house falling on top of us?” I shuddered, thinking about the roof that was leaking in the spare bedroom that had been Teagan’s office. If there was one leak, there was bound to be another. And the old boiler was on the fritz. If that backed up… I tried not to think about it. It was bound to give me an ulcer.

“Everything will work out. I have a feeling,” Chris said.

I laughed, but there was no humor in the sound, “Can I take that guarantee to the bank?”

“I would if I were you. Because I have a feeling things are about to turn around for you.” Chris’s voice was firm.

I snorted, “Do you have a crystal ball because you may need to look into it again.”

Chris chuckled, “Chris is wise. Chris loves Justin. Chris may have—” and before he could finish the sentence, the doorbell rang.

“I’m not expecting anyone?” I frowned, glancing in the direction of the front door, wondering who it could be. I rounded back at my friend, “Oh my god, do you think it’s Hazel? She could be dropping by to see if the kids are okay.”

I hurried out of the kitchen to the front room and breathed a sigh of relief to see both kids still in the large playpen. He glanced back at me when I walked in, and Theo stood a little shaky still and toddled over to the edge of the playpen where I was standing and put his arms up.

The doorbell went off again, and I glanced back at Chris, who’d followed me, “Are you going to get that?” he asked.

I don’t know why every inch of my body seemed to have locked up. But no one good ever showed up unannounced everyone knew that. And honestly, I’d reached my quota of bad news for the decade.

Chris gently shoved me towards the door and looked back at him. “Go on, I told you I had a feeling things were about to change.”

When had I become the person that hid when the doorbell went rang? My brain flashed to the last time I’d babysat for Teagan and Willow and the doorbell that had rung that night.

I walked over to the door, ready to tease my sister and her mate about misplacing their keys. Willow had been given the all-clear to get back at it, as my sister had explained her eyes firmly on her mate, the pheromones they’d been throwing off enough to power a small city. Then they kissed each other, and I’d teased them.

Teagan grinned back at me and said she couldn’t wait to see the goo-goo eyes I made over my mate one day. They’d both kissed the kids and left the house in a flood of giggles and happiness, out for their first date night after Theo was born.

The next thing I knew, the Valleywood Police had shown up unannounced, of course. Just like almost fifteen years ago when they came about my dad. No one good ever showed up unannounced.

“Seriously, Justin, get the door. I promise it’s something good.” Chris had moved, and I hadn’t noticed because now my friend was holding Theo. He gave me a gentle shove, and that managed to get me moving.

I looked back at Chris, and he nodded, smiling encouragingly. “Go on.”

By the time I got to the door, my palms were sweating. I stood in front of the front door and blew out a breath. “Please let it be nothing bad,” I murmured under my breath before pulling the door open.

“Are you looking for someone to clean your windows?” The smiling man at the door asked, “We’re cleaning a couple of the houses on your street and just wanted to let you know if you sign up today, it’s 15% off.”

The breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding whooshed out. I shook my head and but smiled, “No, but thank you anyway.”

He nodded and left, and when I shut the door, I leaned back against it trying to get my breathing under control.

Chris appeared, but his brow crinkled, “Where are they?”

“They who? It was just a window cleaner. Guess they’re going around all the houses,” I said. “Well, I feel silly.” I chuckled. Righting myself, I sighed, “Back to the sink.”

Chris glanced at the door, then back at me, “Are you sure there was no one else?”

“Pretty sure,” I replied as I headed back in the direction of the kitchen, peeking in on the kids in the living room briefly.

“That’s so weird,” Chris said. “I could swear…” his voice trailed off.

I glanced up at him, “Were you expecting someone?”

Chris started to shake his head, but then he changed it to a nod.

I laughed, “Well, which is it?”

Chris bit his lip before blowing out a breath. I tried not to smile because I knew I was about to get a long story from my best friend. Those were his tells when he had a secret he was trying his best to keep.

I waited patiently while scrolling through YouTube on my phone for better plumbing for beginners, or in my case, a plumbing for dummies video.

“I entered you into a contest, and you won,” Chris finally blurted.

I lifted my head so I was looking at him, brow raised. I asked, “What kind of contest?”

He bit on his lip again, “Well… it’s one of those where you submit an application, and if you’re picked, they come over and give your whole house a makeover. I entered the contest months ago. I didn’t think you’d get picked. I hoped you would, but yeah, and I got an email. They’re going to come over and fix everything. They give you all new stuff for the whole house. It’s free, and they do all the work. You don’t even have to help. They film it and put it on their YouTube channel.”

I studied my friend, “You’re joking, right?”

He shook his head, “I thought they were coming today.” He slid his phone out from the back pocket of his skinny jeans. “Maybe I read the email wrong.”

“You know there’s a lot of scams online. I hope they didn’t have you send in like a hundred bucks for the registration cause all those are usually fake.”

Chris huffed, “I’m not that stupid, Justin. It’s that guy you know. He has the YouTube channel.”

I rolled my eyes, “That could be literally anyone. If you knew someone was coming, why would you have me struggle with the sink?”

Chris snorted and met my gaze, “Because it was funny.” His eyes went back to his phone, and he kept scrolling. “Yes. Here it is… ooo, it’s not today. My bad.”

I didn’t want to tell my friend he’d definitely been taken in by some sort of scam.

“It’s tomorrow. Hmm are you working tomorrow?” he asked.

Instead of answering, I asked him, “If you knew they were coming, why would you let me try to fix the sink?” There. Let him answer that.

Chris snorted and then burst out laughing, “Because you curse like a sailor, and it’s funny.”

I rolled my eyes. Even though there was a part of me that wished it was true. Like one of those makeover shows on TV that whisks you away from your life for a couple of weeks, and your house is unrecognizable when you come back. But really, what were the odds of that happening to me?

Life just didn’t work that way.

“Well, until this fairy godmother shows up, I’ll keep trying to fix the sink myself,” I told Chris.

“You don’t believe me?” he asked. “You’ll see, and then you’ll have to bake me a whole ass cake.”