Page 29 of Fighting For You

"This is it."

The landlady met us at the front door. She was older, maybe mid-sixties, with silver hair and reading glasses hanging on a chain on her chest. She shook my hand with both of hers.

"You must be Nora. I'm Barb. Lori's told me about you. Come in, come in."

The house smelled like fresh laundry and something baking. The common areas were clean and lived-in, mismatched furniture that somehow worked together, a bookshelf in the hallway, a kitchen with a long table and enough chairs for everyone. It felt like a house where people actually sat down together.

Barb led me down the hall to the empty room and opened the door.

It was bigger than my bedroom at home. That thought landed harder than I expected, because the truth was, my bedroom at home was a twin bed in the room I'd slept in since I was a child. When my parents died, I could have moved into the master bedroom. It was the bigger room, the better room, the one that made sense. I never did. Moving into that room meant they were really gone, and leaving it untouched gave me just a little more comfort than I could afford to let go of. So I stayed in my twin bed with my crystals on the shelf and pretended that was a choice and not a thing I couldn't face.

This room had a full bed, a dresser, a window that looked out onto the backyard. I could see the garden Lori had mentioned. Tomatoes on a stake, herbs along the fence line.

"The window frame is stuck, but I can have someone come and fix it for you," Barb said.

"It's perfect, Barb. Thank you."

"Will you be moving in soon?"

"I just need to gather my things. Well, the little that I have." I tried to smile. "Then I'll move right in."

Barb's face softened. "Lori mentioned that your house burned down. I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, Barb."

"I'm going to waive the first month's rent. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, please, you don't have to do that."

"It's my way of helping." She said it simply, like it was already settled. "I live with a firefighter and a cop. I hear about how hard it gets."

CHAPTER 8

The Favor

KNOX

Wyatt asked me to come by Saturday to help with some repairs. I owed him a favor, so I said yes.

Nora was moving into her new place today. Her coworker had found her somewhere, and when I offered to help with the move, she told me it was covered. I left it alone.

When I pulled up to Wyatt and Andy's, the three of them were in the driveway loading into Wyatt's truck. Andy was strapping Birdie into her booster seat. She looked up when I pulled in. "Hey, Knox!"

Birdie had a juice box in one hand and a stuffed rabbit in the other. Wyatt came out the front door with a toolbox.

I killed the engine and got out. "I thought you needed help with repairs?"

"I do." He set the toolbox in the bed of the truck. "Not here. Barb's place. She's got a stuck window frame and a faucet that's been leaking. Two-man job."

"So I drove here to drive somewhere else."

"You said you owed me. I'm collecting."

Birdie waved at me from the back seat. I waved back.

"Fine. I'll follow you."

Barb's rental was at the end of a quiet street off the main road. Yellow siding, flower beds along the porch. The place looked like Barb.