“You hear that, Marie? She’s beginning to reach the conclusion that a man can be helpful at times.”
“I didn’t say that,” Amaryllis hastened to deny.
When she smiled, those blue eyes of hers lit up her entire face. She had smooth, beautiful skin and it looked radiant when she smiled. Her voice was extremely pleasing. Soft and melodic. He noticed it in particular because it seemed to get inside him somehow and replayed almost every word she said to him.
Marie put the tub of dirty dishes down and went back for the warmers, shaking her head and laughing softly at their antics.
“She’s pretty terrific,” Malichai observed. “She’s going to be another Nonny. Growing up, I wasn’t around too many women. My brother Ezekiel raised us. He was a kid himself, but I didn’t view him that way. He was tough as nails and when someone tried to take our food or our territory where we slept, he beat the holy shit out of them. When Mordichai or I didn’t follow every dictate, which was almost never, he beat the holy shit out of us.”
“Why does it not surprise me that you didn’t obey every dictate?”
He grinned at her. “I can’t imagine. It’s not the thermal fuse. What’s next on the list?”
“This says to check the timer or the electronic control.”
He scowled up at her. “Woman, seriously. Don’t try my patience. Cough up a little more information than that.”
She flashed a genuine smile and his heart went into overtime. The more he looked at her, the more beautiful she was. That smile of hers was enough to trigger a serious reaction in his body, one that wasn’t welcome when he was sitting on a kitchen floor trying to repair a dishwasher.
“I’m so sorry, I thought maybe you were born with dishwasher files in your head or something. Let me read this.”
“Dishwasher files in my head?” he echoed. “The only thing I know about dishwashers is Nonny doesn’t always like to use them. It doesn’t even make sense. One minute it’s okay and the next, not so much and she needs volunteers for dish duty.”
“She sounds fun.”
“She is fun. She’s more than that. Nonny sits in her rocking chair looking out over the swamp, a pipe between her teeth, with a shotgun inches from her hand, and she is the swamp. The people. She knows every plant and what their properties can be used for. She puts out food and clothes for those less fortunate, and she always has a pot of gumbo or fish stew on the stove for any of us who come in hungry.”
“She sounds amazing.”
Malichai nodded. “She is amazing. What is most amazing about her is she claimed us right away. I remember going home with her grandson Wyatt that first time. I was shot up all to hell. We all were. We arrived very late, came up the river and tied up at this pier. I can’t explain to you, but I never had a home. I lived mostly in the streets of Chicago and there I was, in the swamp, this sultry, beautiful weird world all its own. We walked up the stairs to the porch where she was just sitting in that rocking chair, her pipe smelling like spices. She looked at me and I swear to you, it was like coming home.”
He hadn’t ever told anyone that story, not even Wyatt. He didn’t understand why he’d told Amaryllis. He looked up at her. She was staring down at him as if she thought he’d grown two heads. Malichai sighed. That was just like him. Impressing her with a child’s tale hadn’t been his best idea, although to him, that had been a defining moment. No matter what, he clearly would never be considered the cool ladies’ man.
“You continually surprise me, Malichai, in a good way.” There was genuine surprise in her voice.
“I think that’s easy enough to do, honey. You don’t have high expectations of me.”
Color climbed up her neck to her face, turning that pale complexion a soft rose. “I’m sorry. Am I coming across as a hag?”
“You’re coming across as someone protecting her friend from a stranger. I know I don’t look like a nice guy. I expect a little bit of resistance when I’m helping out a woman who works far too hard.”
Amaryllis studied his face for a long time. He could feel that look, drifting over his face like the brush of fingers, barely there, but taking his entire focus.
“I don’t know why you think you don’t look like a nice guy. You look tough, like you can handle yourself, but you don’t look mean.”
He sat back and looked up her. “Then why are you afraid of me?”
At once the wary look crept back into her eyes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
That was very decisive, and he wanted to smile, but held back. Yeah. She was afraid of him, but not in the way he’d been talking about. He was dangerous to her in more ways than was good for either of them.
“Good. Then we can get this done before we have to do the mountain of dishes Marie is piling up for us.” He turned back to the machine, making certain that he could keep her in his sight at all times without appearing to do so. He was still uneasy. There was something a little bit off about Amaryllis. “What do you have for me?”
“I’m looking. Apparently, dishwashers drain any standing water out as a first step.”
“Wait. There can’t be leftover water if we didn’t start it.”
“There’s standing water in the bottom that didn’t drain. If you didn’t hear the pump, then it’s possible the timer is the cause. Is the timer on that one electronic or manual?”
“First, the damn thing won’t start so I’m not hearing a thing, but”—he held up his hand to stop her before he could finish—“I’m looking.”
She laughed, the sound settling somewhere in his gut, creating a strange rolling sensation that should have been small, but wasn’t. God, she got to him. The longer he was in her company, the stronger the attraction to her became. And she smelled so damn good, he was afraid he might throw down the tools any minute and spread her out like a feast on the counter so he could devour her.
He forced his attention back to the dishwasher. “It looks like it’s a manual timer.”
“According to this, the timer supplies power to all sorts of things. The pump motor, inlet valve . . .” Her head went up and she frowned at him. “Do you even know what an inlet valve is? Maybe we should call someone.”
“I know what an inlet valve is.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You are lying to me. You don’t have a clue.”
“Baby, have some faith.”
She rolled her eyes. “Beside the pump motor and inlet valve, the timer thingy provides power to the heat circuit and to the drain pump motor in the right progression. The timer uses a series of electrical contacts that are driven by a small motor. All of that is encased in the timer housing. I’m reading this and hope it makes sense to you.”