Over the course of the next hour or so, Charlotte and Justin managed to pump out all of the water from the basement. Charlotte insisted on operating the suction end of the pump and made sure to get into every corner of the three-room area. While doing this, she managed to get even dirtier and sweatier but did not care. This was her house and she wanted to do everything possible to save it. From his position near the storm drain, Justin noticed that the outlet of the pump was stuttering and very little water was coming out. He waited a moment to make sure the flow had almost stopped and then shut it off. He met Charlotte as she was exiting the front door. She smiled at him broadly. "I think we got the worst of it. Still a bit of moisture in the basement, but I don't think that it will be too much of a problem. I've seen worse than it is now down there one time when the rain gutters overflowed in a big storm."

Justin unhooked the hoses from the gas-powered pump. He smiled at Charlotte who somehow managed to look sexy even half-covered in muck and said to her in a nonchalant manner. "Okay then. Good. Um, it's good that we took care of all that, but if we want to save those floors we are going to have to get some air into the building."

Charlotte shrugged. "I opened all of the windows last night slash this morning, what else should we do?"

Justin gestured to his truck. "Well, as it turns out, I have four big electric whole house fans and a generator at the shop. Hop in and we'll go pick them up."

Charlotte pointed in the general direction of the project house that Justin had been working on early that morning. "But, what about your job? Won't the boss be mad?"

Justin smiled and pretended to take his phone out of his pocket and put it up to his face. "Hi Justin, this is Justin. I am helping out a friend and won't be back at the job site until later."

He then nodded his head several times while holding the imaginary phone. "Yes, yes, oh and she is very pretty. Okay, I'll get back to the job when I can. You know the deal."

He pretended to put the phone back in his pocket and smiled at her. "I'm the boss remember, and besides that my foreman has things well in hand, shall we go?"

"Sure, but at least let me buy lunch okay?"

"Deal, the best burger place in town is on the way."

Charlotte tried not to blush as she thought of the very pretty comment and got into the truck. Over the course of the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, they managed to get four large fans powered up and drying out Charlotte's house. At 2 PM Justin topped off the generator with fuel, wiped his sweaty brow and said. "Okay, those should run for at least 12 more hours. I'll come over and power down the generator at 8 PM and be back to start them up at 8 AM. Even with that, some of the neighbors might be a little ticked, but what can ya' do?"

Charlotte looked around the neighborhood and then down at her hands which were totally covered in dirt, grime, and crud. "Okay, I'll take care of it. I'll go door to door and explain the situation. They all mostly know me so I think that it will be okay."

Justin gestured to the house with its open doors and windows. "Um, where are you going to stay?"

Charlotte pointed to the above garage apartment behind the house on the alleyway. "Well, as it turns out, my tenant recently graduated from Boise State, go Broncos! Anyway, the studio apartment is vacant and I know that it has separate water and power so I should be good to go. I'll just move my stuff over there today."

Justin looked at the house. "Ah, do you need help moving furniture or heavy stuff?"

Charlotte moved a sweaty lock of black hair from her brows and chuckled a bit. "No, Justin as is it turns out, everything I own is either in that old house or in four A-3 bags."

Justin had never been in the military, but immediately got what she was saying.

"Okay then, I'll leave you to it, but I will be here at 0800, that's how you military people say it right?"

Charlotte chuckled and nodded as Justin continued. "So in the morning, I will top off the fuel and use a moisture meter to check the floors. Hopefully should only take the rest of tomorrow to dry out."

Charlotte smiled at him and looked directly into his eyes. "Thank you, Justin, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. It is so good to be back home."

She leaned over to kiss him gently on the cheek and then wrinkled her nose. "Yes, I think that we both need to shower in the worst way. I'll see you tomorrow and thanks again for everything, Justin."

Charlotte spent the next hour or so moving her pathetically small amount of personal possessions from her small house into her even smaller above garage apartment. The unit was only a one-room studio with a small attached bathroom. Her grandfather had been renting it to Boise State students for many years. It was by no means luxurious, but the lights were on and the water was hot. Charlotte stripped off all of her wet, muddy and otherwise grimy clothes dropped them onto the floor in the bathroom and showered until the hot water began to cool off. She exited the shower, dried off and laid down on the small single bed. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep. 

At around 7 AM, she woke with a start and a bit of disorientation. It took her a moment to regain her bearings and figure out where she was. Charlotte opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of the garage apartment. "Right, the house flooded, now living in the garage apartment. All is well, I'm not living in a tent city at someplace that starts with al- or ends in -stan anymore!"

She got out of bed, made her way back to the small but efficient bathroom, took care of her morning business and reveled in another much shorter hot shower. After dressing in a clean pair of jeans and yet another squadron T-shirt from her collection, she made her way the 8 feet to the small kitchenette unit. It appeared that the previous tenants had only used the refrigerator and microwave. There was a small old-school coffeepot with filters and the like. Charlotte found some old organic ground coffee in an open bag. She smelled the stale grounds and said. "Could not be worse than the coffee at Khandahar base ops! Must remember to retrieve the Keurig from the main house."

As the coffee was brewing, she munched on a granola bar, As she was pouring her 1st cup of coffee, she heard the sound of the generator firing up. To her amusement, Justin was diligently powering up the unit and the four high-powered fans to continue drying out the house. She found another mug in the cupboard, quickly rinsed it out and poured another cup. Charlotte padded from the steps at the bottom of the landing from her above garage apartment to the very attractive young man at the generator. He looked up from his task as she handed him the mug. "You're up early Justin."

He nodded, took the cup from her and smiled. "Thanks, Char, just like I promised."

He stood up, sipped the hot coffee, paused a moment and wrinkled his nose. "Well, it is coffee anyway!"

Charlotte smiled wryly. "Best I could do under the circumstances, I'll have better tomorrow!"

"Okay then, shall we take a look at your house and see what needs to be fixed?"

"That would be awesome Justin."

As Charlotte turned around and walked away from him Justin could not help but admire the view as she walked down the old brick walkway and up the steps and into the front door.