Chapter 13
I gave the plumber a worried look. "So it's not just a clogged pipe or something?"
He shook his head. "Sorry. More like a clogged house."
"But how?" I asked.
"My guess? You've got a crushed sewer line. And just to be clear, I’m talking the main one." At my confused look, he added, "It's a big, underground pipe that runs from here to the road."
I didn't know a thing about sewers, but Ididknow that my front yard was huge, which meant that my sewer line was probably a lot longer than most. I winced. "That sounds expensive."
"Well, it's not cheap. You'll need to call in a specialist."
My stomach sank. And here, I thought a plumberwasa specialist. "Like who?"
"A sewer contractor." He glanced toward the front of the house. "They'll need to dig up the front yard, see if they can find the damage. And then, they've gotta fix it."
The more he talked, the more expensive this sounded. I wanted to cry. I asked, "I don't suppose it's something I can do myself?"
He gave me a look. "I dunno. You got a backhoe?"
I wasn't exactly sure what a backhoe was, but Ididknow that I didn't have one. "No." I tried to laugh. "Not that I know of."
"Yeah, me neither."
Inside my pocket, my cell phone buzzed. With a quick apology, I pulled it out and looked at the display, only to feel my heart-rate quicken. There was no way I'd let this go to voicemail.
Excusing myself, I stepped away and answered with a quiet, "Hello?"
On the other end, Mike skipped the hello-thing and said only two words. "Tomorrow night."
I froze. For two harmless words, they struck fear straight into my heart. "You don't mean Joel's fighting tomorrow night?"
"Sure, I do. That's what you wanted to know, right?"
Ididwant to know, but I wasn't happy to hear it. Sooner or later, he'd be caught, and if Derek hadhisway, Joel would be in serious trouble.
As my thoughts churned with the awful possibilities, Mike promised to text me the location of the fight. And then, just as I was ready to say goodbye, he said, "So, you got that autograph?"
I cringed. This was another problem. When I'd promised Mike that autograph, I never imagined it would be difficult to get. Even if Joel and I weren't officially together, I figured he'd at least be willing to scribble his name on something – if not for me, then definitely for a fan.
Turns out, I'd figured wrong, but I hated the thought of not living up to my end of the bargain.
"Sorry," I said, "not yet." Hoping to sound more optimistic than I felt, I added, "But I’m still working on it."
I tried to think. I still had Joel's money. He had to pick it up eventually, right? Maybe, when he did, I could have him sign a receipt or something. And maybe, if I used fancy paper, I could frame the thing so it didn't look so pathetic.
On the phone, Mike gave a cheerful laugh. "You know what? Forget that. I don't know what the hell I was thinking."
My shoulders sagged in relief. "Really?"
"Sure," he said. "I'll just ask him myself when I meet him."
I swallowed. "What?"
"Yeah." He hesitated. "You said I could meet him, right?"
HadI said that? I couldn’t remember, but I couldn't rule it out either. At the time, I'd been incredibly distracted.
