"I'm sorry Leila but I can't afford to have the shower fixed this month," Kylie said.
Leila responded with anger, "Why not? I can help pay for it."
"I appreciate your offer but you need to save up your own money for college. I need you to be patient, this is also inconvenient to me as well."
Leila looked away from her mother while getting up from the kitchen table, "Ugh, fine. It's bad enough the air conditioner and dishwasher are broken, now the fucking shower." Leila stomped back to her room.
Kylie let out a big sigh and continued eating her dinner, "I need to start looking for repairs later this week," she thought.
It's been almost a few days since the air conditioner and dishwasher broke down, but this morning their shower stopped working. Kylie worried that the kitchen sink was going to go next, their only source of water besides the refrigerator. She was done eating and put the plastic container in the sink with the other dirty reusable containers.
She grabbed a sponge and some dish soap and started to clean them, still thinking about how everything was going to go. She knew that her daughter can help her but wanted to see her leave the house for her enrollment next year.
"This next month is going to be a tough one," she thought.
After she finished scrubbing down and drying the containers, she put them back in the kitchen cupboard. She was tired and it was 9pm. She headed back to her room past Leila's bedroom. Leila had the door open as she took a quick glance in her room. Leila was playing some game she didn't know with headphones on. She then walked into her own room and closed the door. She grabbed the tv remote and turned it on to Netflix. She undressed herself from her work clothes, tossing them aside on the dresser and got in her black nightgown. She then laid back in her bed exhausted wondering how to fix everything within the coming weeks. She could only hear sounds of chatter from the tv as she drifted off to sleep.
2 weeks later Kylie was sitting in the local café, doing her office job from her laptop. She had a half-eaten sandwich and a newspaper next to her as she was periodically looking though it for reasonably priced ads for shower repairs. Kylie then got a text from her boss.
"Kylie I need you to come back to the office again till midnight, need help with organizing county files, thanks."
She rolled her eyes, "It's a fucking Tuesday, why can't it be done tomorrow," she thought.
She finished up her work and closed the laptop after throwing out the sandwich, empty tea can and newspaper. She headed out to her car when she noticed what was parked next to her; a white van that had a big sticker on the side that said 'Octopi Water Systems Inc.' that had a cartoon Octopus tipping off a black hat.
She walked around the white van, "No phone number," she thought.
Kylie looked around to see if she could spot the person that owned the van. She then headed back to the café as the sun was setting over it. There were a few people inside but she saw someone with a blue uniform and a grey hoodie on a laptop tucked away in a corner of the café.
"Um, excuse me sir?" she said to the man.
She then noticed the man was asleep on his laptop, head in his folded arms. He woke up to the person interrupting his nap as he shot up in his seat, startling Kylie.
"Oh my," Kylie said with surprise, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
The man pulled back his gray hoodie revealing his black hair and green eyes while rubbing his left eye groggily, "Are you the manager... is it closing time already?" He tucked his arms in his hoodie pockets.
She chuckled, "No I'm not the manager, my name is Kylie," she pointed to the van, "Is that your van outside?"
He turned his head to the right, "Yeah that's my van," he said in monotone.
"So are you a repairman?" Kylie asked.
The man nodded and Kylie sat down in the chair in front of him, "Do you do water repairs?"
He closed his laptop, "Yes, I do faucets, dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines and showers. Not the actual machines but the pipes themselves."
Kylie was interested, "Are you new around here, I was checking out your car and noticed you didn't have a phone number."
"It's because I'm moving my business up here in Virginia from Florida, I arrived a few months ago for the season. I haven't gotten a new number yet though because I discontinued it."
Kylie thought it was odd that he discontinued his number just for the season, "Is your business self-owned?"
"Yes."
Kylie was ecstatic, "Can you help me and my daughter with our shower problem?"
"I'm technically not open for business yet but we can work something out."
Kylie started to squee. She was excited that she finally found someone to help her. "Oh thank you! Can we go through negotiations right now?"
"Right now?" He looked at the clock hanging from the ceiling across the café, "Sure we can do it now. My name is Daniel by the way."
Daniel grinned, "What's your daughters?"
"Leila."
"Leila?" Daniel scratched his chin, "Reminds me of my sister a bit. So what problems have you ran in with your shower?"
She replied, "A few weeks ago the water stopped working. It may be broken pipes but I'm not sure, I also don't have home insurance."
"That's fine, home insurance doesn't matter to me, when do you want me to come by?"
"I'll pay you right now if you come Friday early in the morning."
"Wow you must really want it fixed."