My apartment was only ten minutes from the Surrey arena, and I could do the drive on autopilot. I only snapped back to full attention when, as I rounded the corner, my street turned out to be blocked by a fire engine, two cop cars, and a utilities truck. A woman cop in uniform was diverting people around the obstacles. My sour mood ticked upwards as I wondered if I might spot Zeke somewhere here in his uniform.
I wouldn’t hate that.
Except when I got closer, I realized that the epicentre of the excitement was my building, which wore yellow caution tape across the front door.What the fuck?I paused beside the copwhen she tried to wave me around. “Excuse me. I live in that building. Can you tell me what’s going on?”
She peered into my window. “Sorry, sir, you can’t stop here.” She gestured at a heavyset man standing on the sidewalk holding a tablet, a small crowd around him. “When you find a safe place to park, you can ask that guy. Move on, now.”
I had to drive three blocks to find an open parking space, then jogged back. In the group around the man with the tablet, I recognized a couple of my neighbours from the second floor. They walked off as I approached, so I said, “Hey, can you tell me when I can get into my apartment?”
He turned to me. “Are you a resident? Which apartment?”
“Two-oh-eight. Fitzpatrick.”
He swiped on his tablet. “Oh. Yes. Sorry, there was a roof leak, causing damage on the third floor. Power had to be shut off as well. The entire building is off limits until the city gets a structural engineer in to look at it to confirm safety.”
“But my laptop’s in there. My clothes.”
“Sorry. We’re not allowed to permit anyone inside. Management will pay for an initial two nights in a local hotel, up to a hundred and fifty dollars a night. We have your email and we’ll be sending you information. As soon as access to the building is allowed, we’ll let you know. If there is any delay in completing repairs, rent will of course be suspended during the period when the residence is unavailable.”
“Confirm safety?” I looked up, but there was nothing visible behind the ramparts of the flat roof. “Does that mean something got damaged? Was anyone hurt?”
“There were no injuries. The third-floor residents who are affected by the leak were out of the building. Your second-floor apartment is unlikely to have been involved.”
Unlikelywasn’t a promise, and the slow mist in the air, threatening to turn to rain at any minute, meant roof leaks couldget worse. I didn’t have a lot that I cared about in the apartment. Electronics could be replaced. I hated clothes shopping, but as long as my renter’s insurance covered the suits, I’d be okay. Books, a few odds and ends. Most mementos from my childhood were at Grandpa’s. Water wouldn’t damage my “first PHL shutout” puck. But the inconvenience grated, especially when I was already tired.
I grumbled, “What the fuck kind of maintenance have they been doing? How did they miss the roof rotting apart?”
The guy’s face went blanker. “The cause of the leak is unknown at this time. You’d have to take that up directly with management.”
“So now we just, what? Go sleep in a hotel in our street clothes? Pray it doesn’t rain and turn our belongings to mush?” A drop down the back of my neck made that prayer clearly futile. I was working up a head of steam, but a woman with her small son whom I recognized from the first floor approached us. I bit off my complaints to smile at the kid. He didn’t deserve to see adults flipping their lids. “Hey, kiddo, some adventure, huh?”
He gave me a wan smile, and the mom had a question for tablet-guy, so I stepped back to give her access.
I found a sheltered spot under the front roof of the neighbouring building to look at my email. Sure enough, I had four from the building management, the first a warning about “dangerous situation on the third floor— building is being evacuated.” Then three follow-ups that didn’t say much more than the guy out front, other than a link to submit hotel expenses, a suggestion to call our rental insurance, and a promise of more details once the structural integrity had been professionally assessed.
I pocketed my phone and tried to think. I could call up a teammate and ask to bunk in with them. Hell, Sully owed me, and Hannah had a decent couch. I could call around to a localhotel for a room, probably the smart answer. If it’d been a one-night problem, I’d have done that.
But this sounded like more than a leak. “Structural integrity” meant something important had broken. Who knew when we’d be back in our apartments? And… I wanted to go home. I still had a room at Grandpa’s where I stayed in the summers, and clothes I could wear, and Grandpa would be there. Somehow, the worst disasters in the world were better around him.
I headed to my car, cursing under my breath as the rain slowly gathered strength, and drove home across the river.
Seeing the lights on in Grandpa’s house in the gathering gloom took a bit of the tightness out of my chest. I’d been afraid he might still be at the store, but it must’ve been Koda’s or Lily’s evening to close. Across the side yard with those handy bushes, lights glowed in the Evanses’ house too.
I wondered how Josiah was doing. I remembered the first weeks after my parents died, that feeling of being entirely untethered in the world, disconnected from my life. I’d had Grandpa, but at that point, he’d been someone I saw a couple of times a month, not a fixture in my life. Zeke would be the same for Josiah. He probably felt as lost as I had, although at least he wouldn’t have to move. Grandpa had stayed with me in my parents’ apartment for a few days, but with the store, he’d had to bring me back to his place quickly with just a few treasured belongings, while the only home I knew was passed on to someone else.
The first time I looked up at the tall, pointed roof and gabled windows and scuffed-paint siding, and realized this was now home, not somewhere I’d be visiting, I’d thrown a fit. Grandpa’d been so patient. I wasn’t proud of all the ways I’d tested him in those first months. I wondered if Josiah was doing the same to Zeke, and if Zeke knew what the kid wanted most of all was forhim to not ever give up on him or go away, no matter what he did. Maybe I’d mention that at the tattoo parlor.
For tonight, I parked in the drive and took the front porch steps in two strides, fumbling out my key. I shut the door behind me, kicked off my wet shoes, and headed for the living room. Grandpa was sitting in his recliner, a book in his lap while the TV droned in the background, but he was waiting for me as I appeared.
“Hey, Callum, I thought that sounded like your car. What’s up?”
“Roof leak in my apartment,” I said, downplaying it till I knew more. “Can I sleep here tonight?”
“Of course.” He set the book aside and pushed to his feet. “You’re always welcome here. I’m happy to see you. Was just thinking how quiet the old place is, even with the TV on for company.” He held out his arms.
I moved into his hug, a frailer clasp now than the one he’d given me fourteen years ago, but just as warm. Closing my eyes, I hugged Grandpa back, and some of the stress of the past week fell away in the familiar welcome of his arms.
CHAPTER 6
