“Everything,” she says excitedly, and I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “You mentioned your parents earlier. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I have an older sister, Suzie. She’s a lawyer in Boston.”
“Wow. A lawyer. I bet your parents are so proud of both of you.”
I shrug. “Yeah, I guess. They miss Suzie, though. She comes home as often as she can, but she’s always so busy.” I take a pull of my beer and she gives me a small smile. “What about you? Any siblings?”
“No. There’s just me. My mom’s struggling with being so far away. I know she feels guilty not being around, especially since the divorce. She calls us nearly every day. I don’t think I’ll tell her about the state of the rental. Not until I can get things sorted anyway. She’ll only worry.”
“I take it you haven’t heard from your landlord?”
“No. Nothing.”
“What an asshole.”
Suddenly, the room is plunged into darkness, and Melody gasps from beside me.
“What’s happened?” she asks, her voice betraying how scared she is.
“Maybe it’s a power outage.” I glance out of the living room window and see that other houses in the street still have power, so it can’t be that. I reach to the left of me and feel for the side table, putting my almost empty bottle of beer down. “I’ll use the flashlight on my phone.” I use one hand to slide my phone from my pocket and the other reaches across for her hand. Lacing my fingers with hers, I squeeze reassuringly. “Do you know where your fuse box is?”
“No.”
“We’ll find it.” I turn the flashlight on on my phone, lighting up the space. “Is there a door from the house into the garage?”
“Yes. In the laundry room off the kitchen.”
“Okay. Let’s start in there.” I keep hold of her hand as I stand and pull her up with me. I lead her through the living room and into the kitchen. “Through here?” I ask, gesturing to a door on the right.
“Yes. That’s the laundry room.”
I push open the door and walk inside, Melody behind me. I move the phone around, lighting up the room. “I don’t see anything in here. It must be in the garage.”
I move through the small space and try to open the door but come up against some resistance. I push harder but still can’t open it.
“Can you hold this?” I ask Melody as I pass her the phone and drop her hand. There’s no lock on the door, so it can’t be locked. It must be stuck. “Have you used this door yet?”
“No. I haven’t needed to. There’s nothing in there other than Roman’s bike.”
“I don’t know if it’s just stuck or if something’s stopping it from opening.”
“If it’s anything like my bedroom door, then it’s probably just stuck. This house really is a shithole.”
I turn to face her. “Your bedroom door sticks?” She nods. “I’ll take a look at it.”
“You don’t need to. I haven’t closed it after the first night. I’m fine leaving it open.”
“I’ll look at it, Melody.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
My eyes lock with hers, and I want to kiss her more than I want my next breath. I look down at her mouth, and she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, making me want to kiss her even more. Closing my eyes, I shake my head and try to focus on what we’re doing.
I put my whole weight behind the door, finally getting it open. Melody was right. There’s nothing behind it. I guess the wood has swelled in the summer heat. I imagine the same is true of her bedroom door. With Melody holding up my phone, I look around the room, spotting what we’re looking for on the opposite wall.
“There it is,” I say, pointing across the garage.
We make our way over, and I frown as I see just how old the fuse box is. Wiping away the dust and cobwebs, I take the phone from Melody and point the light at the fuses. A couple of the switches are down and I flick them up. Nothing happens, but then the light was already off in the garage.