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Nate unfolded the stove on the counter to show her the burners. He screwed in one of the butane containers. “Do you have matches?”
Colby handed him a box and Nate showed her how to light the stove. “It works just like a gas burner, running on the butane. See? You can use pots or pans, which I assume you have, or this teapot just to heat water for things like the ramen. I didn’t know if they had gas burners. You can use those even without power.” He gestured to the electric cooktop. “But not those.”
“Nate, you don’t need to leave this here with me. Aren’t you going to need it if the power goes out in your place?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve got gas burners. I wanted you to have some options. Can’t have you starving and alone here. Do you know if the house flooded during Harvey?”
Colby shook her head. “No. The water got pretty high in the streets and came over the curbs, but it didn’t go into the house or anything, even when they released water from the reservoir.”
That had caused the secondary wave of flooding in Houston with Hurricane Harvey the year before. The city released water to keep the dams from losing their structural integrity. It may have saved the parts of the city down from the reservoirs from a sudden, catastrophic flood, but it caused a more controlled, but still catastrophic flow of water that flooded many areas that had never flooded before.
“That’s good,” Nate said. “You should be high and dry. I’ll just see about those windows.”
Colby looked down. “Nate?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t need to do this. I mean, we haven’t talked in four years and I mean…”
The moment was perfect. Nate swallowed. Just tell her you’re sorry. You have a disorder. It’s a real thing. It doesn’t need to be a secret. Tons of people struggle with anxiety.
She looked up at him as the moment stretched out and he felt like his heart had moved up into his throat, beating wildly.
“I, um…”
She was waiting, giving him space to speak up, but words left Nate when he looked at her face. There was an electricity in the air between them. Not just from the question that seemed to hang in the air. Her eyes looked darker, her pupils dilated. She leaned a little bit toward him, her lips slightly parted. A lock of hair fell over her cheek.
Nate resisted the urge to brush her hair back from her face. Everything in him longed to touch her. But that wouldn’t be right. He had to drum up the courage to talk with her. He put his hands in his pockets and took a half-step back. The corners of her mouth turned down and she looked away.
He sighed. “Colby… I know this might sound weird, but I want to talk with you about what happened. I do. I know I owe you a giant apology and I want to do it right. I don’t know if you can, but will you be patient with me?”
She looked at him again, her brown eyes softening, yet sparkling with curiosity. Nate thought it sounded lame, but this was all he could offer her right now. He didn’t want to halfway apologize. But he was still finding the words.
Slowly, she nodded. “Okay,” she said.
A giant crushing weight seemed to move from his chest. He found his smile again. “Now why don’t you come give me a hand with these windows.”
* * *
A few hours later, Colby stood back, admiring the front of Liz’s house. They had boarded up the main picture window at the front and there was enough plywood to do the second, smaller window for the dining room. The biggest window in the back was also covered. They had started there so Nate could get a feel for the work before doing the front. “Just in case—if it’s going to look ugly, I’d rather mess up the back first,” he had said.
She couldn’t argue with him. And she wouldn’t have been prepared to do any of it without him. She didn’t even have the right tools. A hammer would have done nothing to the brick front of the house, since none of the windows had outer, wooden sills. Nate seemed to know much more about this stuff than she would have ever thought, considering that she thought of him as a tech geek.
He found all the things needed in John’s work bench: screws, a drill, and even a saw to cut the plywood. Colby knew nothing about this kind of thing, but Nate found ways to include her, whether because he wanted to work with her or because he could sense she needed to feel helpful.
Now the major windows were covered. There wasn’t enough plywood to do any other windows, but this would at least prevent a good deal of damage. She had also helped carry all the patio furniture into the garage next to her car so things wouldn’t blow away. Nate took down the swing in the front yard so it wouldn’t be blowing around loose.
He came and stood next to her, bumping her hip slightly and smiling playfully at her. “Gorgeous, right? Tons of curb appeal.”
“Definitely. The only thing that might make it look better…” Colby stepped forward. She had a Sharpie in the pocket of her shorts and pulled it out to draw a big smiley face on the plywood.
Nate laughed. “Nice. Though I don’t think people can see it from the street. Hang on.”
He jogged away to the garage. A moment later he came back with two cans of spray paint and a wicked grin.
“Oh, I don’t know—” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. Just don’t get close to the edges where it might get on the brick.” He shook both cans and handed her a red one.
