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drip and had already emptied it twice. In the morning, she
planned to call Benson, but she doubted whether he’d get around
to repairing the leak right away. If, of course, he ever got around
to fixing it at all.
In the kitchen, she sliced small cubes from a block of cheddar
cheese, nibbling as she moved about. On a yellow plastic plate
were crackers and slices of tomatoes and cucumbers, although she
couldn’t arrange them to look the way she wanted. Nothing
looked quite the way she wanted. In her previous home, she’d had
a pretty wooden serving board and a silver cheese knife with an
engraving of a cardinal, and a full set of wineglasses. She’d had a
dining room table made of cherry, and sheer curtains in the
windows, but here the table wobbled and the chairs didn’t match,
the windows were bare, and she and Jo would have to drink wine
from coffee mugs. As horrible as her life had been, she’d loved
assembling the pieces of her household, but as with everything
she’d left behind, she now viewed them as enemies that had gone
over to the other side.
Through the window, she saw one of Jo’s lights blink out. Katie
made her way to the front door. Opening it, she watched as Jo
splashed through puddles on the way to her house, umbrella in
one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. Another couple of
stomps and she was on the porch, her yellow slicker dripping wet.
“Now I understand how Noah must have felt. Can you believe
this storm? I’ve got puddles all over my kitchen.”
Katie motioned over her shoulder. “My leak is in the living room.”
“Home sweet home, right? Here,” she said, handing over the
wine. “Just like I promised. And believe me, I’m going to need it.”
“Rough day?”
“Like you couldn’t imagine.”
“Come on in.”