The loss of my bedroom was upsetting, though.
“What are we going to do?” I asked Wrecker as he leaned into the side of my leg with a whine. “I know it’s not going to stop it from getting damaged, but I better put a pot under the leak.” Then, remembering the other ones around the house, I amended it to, “Leaks, plural.”
So, that’s what I did, putting them down after I’d mopped up the water that’d already landed on the old wooden floors. Fortunately, my mattress had stopped the water from hitting the flooring under the bed, but I’d have to check it through the night to ensure it didn’t leak all the way through.
Once I was done, I pulled out the spare pillows and comforter from the hallway cupboard and curled up on the couch with my laptop. I kept my phone and the bag with my computer in it held against my chest to protect them, and Wrecker made himself comfortable, lying on my feet.
Regardless of the rude awakening and colossal amount of shit I had to fix in the morning, I fell back to sleep quickly and only woke up when the alarm went off on my phone. It was only Sunday, but this weekend had consisted of way more trauma and stress than I was used to, so I hit snooze for an hour.
If you couldn’t sleep in on a Sunday, when could you sleep in?
The first thing I’d done once I’d tipped myself off the couch was to text Remy and tell him I wasn’t going to make it over this morning. I didn’t explain why because there was nothing he could do about it, and he had enough going on. Instead, I just told him I was exhausted, which wasn’t exactly a lie.
I’d just finished my first cup of coffee and was staring blindly at one of the pots that needed to be emptied when there was a knock at the door. Uncaring what I looked like, even though I must have looked a hot mess, I stumbled to the door, tripping over an excited Wrecker as he danced around in front of me.
“Haven’t I suffered enough?” I mumbled to him after losing my footing again. “A broken neck would really make my shittastic weekend even better.”
The knocking got louder, and then a voice yelled, “Tana, you either open this door, or I’ll kick it down.”
I’d been reaching out to undo the lock when it happened, and I paused with my hand in the air. “Remy?”
“I mean it! On the count of three, I’m kicking it in. One, tw—”
Squealing, I unlocked it and opened it to find him standing there with Toby on one hip, and his leg lifted like he really was going to kick it down.
“What the hell?” I snapped, then immediately grew concerned when I saw his eyes and remembered what’d happened on Friday. “What’s wrong? Is he okay? Is it your nose?”
“What’s wrong?” he clipped, walking past me and into the house. “You’ve never called in sick or said you couldn’t do something, so we knew something was up.”
I felt my lips twitch when he said ‘we’ because he looked at Toby like he’d voiced his concern, too.
“I’m not sick,” I said slowly, holding my hands out for Bub, who was bouncing up and down now. “I had a problem last night, and I need to get it fixed today.”
Remy’s eyes scanned me up and down. “What problem? What happened? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fairly sure hurt comes under the same category as sick. But just to put your mind at ease, no, I’m not hurt.”
Looking around us, his frown dropped when he saw the pots I hadn’t emptied yet. “Fuck, it rained. I didn’t even think about it when I heard it happening through the night. Do you need a hand?”
Pure frustration made me grip a handful of hair as I turned to survey my living room and what he was looking at. “I can do it. It’s going to be a bitch to get it cleaned up, but I’ve got it. Thanks for offering, though.”
Shaking his head, he moved farther into the room and over to where Toby’s Pack ‘n Play was. It was fortunate that Croix and Pawpaw had moved it out of my room yesterday, or it could have been ruined.
“How did I not know you’d bought him something like this?”
I blinked at the change in topic and the almost awed tone in his voice. “What?”
Carefully laying Toby out in it, Remy straightened and turned back to face me. “I always assumed that you let him lie out on the couch or on the floor when you had him here. It wasn’t until I came in yesterday that I realized exactly how much of a home you’ve given him here.” He pointed at the diaper organizer. “Hell, you even have that next to your couch and a sterilizer in the kitchen.”