Page 69 of Never Alone
I turned. She was in her mid-twenties—dark hair pulled back, a heavy coat she had not unbuttoned coming in from the cold. She had a phone in one hand, screen up, like she'd been reading something off it.
"No. The owner's just getting something out of the back. He'll be a minute."
She laughed. "Of course he is."
She didn't move. She tilted her head and smiled.
"Maybe you can help me anyway? You look like you'd know."
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm trying to seal a leak under my kitchen sink. I bought what I thought I needed, but the guy at the place I went to last time said this stuff is for tile, not pipes, and I'm—honestly, I'm in over my head."
She held up the phone. A picture of a tube of caulk on top of a shopping receipt.
I knew the aisle. The seal she wanted was two rows over, and I'd bought it myself for the Ashford house in the last month.
"Yeah. I can show you."
I started for the aisle. She came with me, closer than she needed to be—a step behind on the way down the aisle, half a step beside me by the time we reached the row. When I stopped at the shelf and reached up for the right tube, she was at my elbow, looking up.
"You really do know what you're doing."
"Plumber's putty for the threads. This is for the seal." I handed her the tube. "Read the back. Cure time's on it. Don't run water until the time it says."
"You're so good at this."
The coat she hadn't unbuttoned was a foot from my arm.
I took a step back. "That'll do you."
I turned to head back to the counter.
"Wait—there's one more thing?—"
"Cole."
Noah's voice. He came around the corner of the aisle holding a small cardboard box of tile spacers. Sean was a step behind him with the rest of the order in a stack.
"Sean," I said. "Lady's got a question."
Sean took the cue. "What can I help you with, ma'am?"
I put a hand on Noah's shoulder and walked him back to the counter.
Sean had set the heavier items on the floor next to the register. Noah climbed onto the stool by the counter and started naming everything he saw.
"Trowel. Spacers. Spackle. The tape stuff."
"Backer board tape," I said.
"Backer board tape."
"Who was that lady?" he said.
"Just another customer asking for help."
He nodded and went back to the tools.
