Free Out Bad by Janice M. Whiteaker

break.
    “Oh.”  The disappointment was evident in her
voice.  “I was really hoping to get this taken care of sooner.”
    “I could come by and check it out really quick
tonight.  If it’s an easy fix, I could have you up and running this
evening.”  The words kept coming out of his mouth even as he smacked his
forehead into his hand.  Gwen was way out of his league and he only wanted
to be at the top of his game around her.  The guy staring back at him in
the mirror was dirt covered, sweaty and probably stank.  He dared a sniff
in the direction of his underarm.
    There was no probably about it.
    “Okay.”  Oddly, his offer didn't make her sound any
happier than it was making him.
    He hung up and headed her way, regretting the decision more
and more with each mile.  He really just wanted to go home and sand down
what would hopefully be the last coat of mud he threw on his bathroom walls
while he worked out a plan of attack for the first time he would be alone with
Gwen.
    Instead he would be flying by the seat of his very dirty
pants with a woman he was already unsure how to handle.  A woman he very
much wanted to learn how to handle.  Hopefully a few years of watching
Heath navigate her sister's spit-fire ways would serve him well.
    The homes in Gwen's neighborhood were huge with meticulously
kept lawns and expensive cars in the driveways.  Each one he passed made
him even more sure he was making a mistake by coming here tonight.  He
should have at least gone home showered and gotten a good night's sleep. 
By tomorrow morning he would have been more prepared.  More Ready.
    He came to a stop in front of the brick and stone two story,
parking against the curb before heading to the back of the van and grabbing his
basic kit with everything he would need to clear an easy blockage.  He
rang the bell, hearing the gentle chiming through the cut glass and mahogany
door. 
    The door slowly opened and he quickly decided he might never
be ready.
    “Hi.”  Gwen stood before him wrapped in a silky brown
robe, her bare feet and slim calves peeking out from the hem.  More of her
body was covered than any other time he'd seen her before, but something about
not knowing what she was wearing under that robe had him swallowing hard.
    Joe was dumbstruck.  What in the hell was he supposed
to do now?  He was at a complete loss for words, eventually managing a
very lame sounding, “Hey.”
    “Thank you for coming tonight.  I think it might have
something to do with the little girls who spent an evening splashing around
with every bath toy they could pack.”
    She stepped to the side, letting him come in.
    “It’s upstairs.”  She closed the door behind him and
headed up the pristine almost white carpet of the stairs.
    He snagged a couple boot covers out of his pack and slipped
them over his dusty work boots before following her up the open staircase to
the second floor.  He continued to follow her through the huge master
bedroom.  Even with a giant bed in the middle of the room and two dressers
and nightstands it looked big. 
    She walked through a set of double doors into a bathroom
large enough to hold three of his bathrooms and then some.  A soaking tub
sat in the middle of the room, a large shuttered window behind it.
    “This is it.”
    He knelt down beside the tub and started fishing through his
kit doing his best not to wonder about anything hiding under that robe.
    He leaned against the tub.  "Um.  What is all
that?"
    "That is how I figured out the tub was clogged.  I
was trying to scrub it off."
    Gwen's pristine tub was covered with rudimentary drawings of
all kinds in bright, bold colors. 
    "They packed their bath crayons.  I didn't realize
you were supposed to scrub them off right away." 
    He rubbed at what appeared to be a castle with his
finger.  The lines didn't even budge.  "Bleach might help. 
Otherwise you'll have to re-glaze the whole thing."
    "Good thing I know a