Finding Susan by Dakota Kahn

problem of the tub. She’d turned on the shower earlier, and there was a trickle of water, but no real pressure. If she’d enjoyed showers that were the equivalent of being drooled on by a dog on a high shelf, she’d be in seventh heaven. As it was, Kate needed to fix it.  
    “Sure the water’s off?” she yelled down to Blake. He yelled something back which sounded a lot like “yes”. Kate went at the faucet with her screwdriver, loosing it from its moorings. There was a sound like radio static, and then a great torrent of water shot past and around the faucet, tearing it from the tub. The water then shot in a steady stream, soaking all of Kate in a matter of seconds.  
    Had it happened to someone else, she was sure she would have laughed her head off. Right now, she wasn’t in the mood.  
    “BLAKE!” she shouted.  
    The water started to slow down to a steady stream, and then the steady stream became a trickle. She could hear Blake’s footsteps as he strolled up the stairs.  
    “I got the water off for you. What did you do to yourself?”
    “I think I found where the water pressure problem was,” Kate said in a very dry tone.  
    “You probably should have waited for me to shut the water off before you did that. Hey, the faucet came all the way off.”
    “Really? I didn’t notice,” Kate said. Unfortunately, the screwdriver had been knocked out of her hands so she couldn’t kill Blake off right then and there for being obvious. Instead, she just kicked some water at him.
    “What was that for?”  
    “For getting me wet. I’m never going to get this thing fixed.”
    “Are you going to try and blame me for this?” Blake said.  
    “Yes,” Kate said, not missing a beat.  
    Blake swore under his breath. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “I’ll take a look at this. If you’re in such desperate need of a shower, you can go to my apartment and take one. Just don’t go through my stuff,” Blake said with a little half-smile.  
    Kate rolled her eyes. He was coming in, being a he-man and saving her day. Probably didn’t think that she was capable of fixing everything in the house that she intended to. Well, she had no intention of being saved here. He could just forget it.  
    “Look, Blake, this is my problem. I’ll take care of it.”
    “So I didn’t break it?” Blake said.
    “Well, you kinda did,” Kate said. He did tell her the water was off when it wasn’t. Or at least she thought he did...
    “If I broke it, I’m fixing it. It isn’t a tough proposition. I already took all the wood out of your car. Go ahead to my place.”  
    He gave her the address. Kate wanted to protest and send him packing. This was presumptuous - she was fixing the shower because it needed doing, not for some pressing need. After all, she could go a day without a shower. A whole day after a long and sticky car ride...
    “I’ll go in the back way so nobody gets any wrong ideas,” Kate said, and she was out of there like a shot.

    *********

    It was nearly four in the afternoon before Blake had made his way back to his apartment, and his back ached like it had not for many a moon. The porch was not up, not by a long shot. He’d built a decent frame to secure the thing to the house, but he wasn’t sure if he could rely on the foundations of the old porch to make this one stable.  
    He pulled his car right next to the P.T. Cruiser. They were equally filthy, since driving up around Kate’s house gave cars ample opportunity to squirm around in the mud. She hadn’t come back to her house in hours, and he was curious to know what she’d been getting up to at his place. It was Spartan, but it must have been a welcome change from the near ramshackle of the old house.  
    Tonight Blake had to be on Emergency call and tomorrow he was out on patrol. Crime wasn’t a huge problem in Whispering Pines, but to have no cops on duty would be a sure guarantee that something was going to happen. His