“It’s late,” Julien interrupts. “You’ve been here for a while. We’ll take care of it.”
“I’m not going to get fired, am I?”
I’m leaning over the sink examining the hose, but I glance over my shoulder to watch Julien glare at him as he gives his answer.
“I thought you didn’t have any idea what happened. Why would I fire you for that?”
The cook gives a nervous laugh. “Right.Ouais. Okay. I’m going home now.”
He grabs a backpack off the floor and heads out as fast as he can.
“Machiavelli,” I tease.
Julien puts a hand on his chest to make it clear he’s offended. “I was joking around!”
“I don’t think he knew that.”
“Well he did definitely do something to fuck up the sink.”
I turn back to the projectile water stream.
“I think I can fix it,” I announce, “or at least stop it until you get an actual plumber in. Do you have a wrench?”
Julien just laughs.
“I’m serious!” I urge. “Get me a wrench.”
He hunts around the kitchen for a few minutes before he comes back with a tool kit.
“Will this work?”
“That’s like a wrench for babies.” I give the puny thing he offers me a contemptuous look.
“I’m afraid the baby wrench is all we’ve got,chérie.”
“Well then stand back and watch what thischériecan do with a pipe.”
Julien actually snorts. I put my hands on my hips and glare at him.
“Or I could justnothelp you.”
“It’s not that. It’s just funny; in French ‘une pipe’ is—”
“Oh, right.” I start to laugh along with him; it’s a slang word for ‘blowjob.’ “Well, you already know what I can do with those.”
“That I do.” He sighs wistfully. “That I do.”
He’s still reminiscing about nights gone by as I turn back to the sink and start twisting a few pieces with the wrench. I actually have no idea if this is going to work, but I learned long ago that plumbers will often charge you a couple hundred dollars for a two minute job you could have accomplished by knocking a few things around yourself.
You just have to know which things to knock.
The water stream slows down but continues pouring out as I try a few different combinations.
“Um, okay, I think maybe if I just...” I squat down so I can reach under the sink and twist a few more things with the wrench before smacking it against one of the pipes. The water shuts off.
“Aha!” I cry triumphantly, shaking the wrench in the air as I pull myself to my feet.
Julien’s watching me with way more heat in his gaze than I expected.
