Page 2 of Here With Me

Nate, close behind, grabbed his own keys off the table by the door as he followed David outside. “If you’re eager to get back to work, you could do that here. You could be out in the community. There are people here that need encouragement. For example, would it be hard to run to Hoover’s Hardware? It would certainly take less time. How hard could it be to say hi to Gary?”

Gary wasn’t the problem. It was Sadie. But if she was in town, Caroline or Leah would have mentioned it. They’d certainly told him when Sadie had moved away. He hadn’t believed them, because for as long as they’d dated, her dream had been to take over the family business. It had become their dream. Proof that dreams changed.

Still, David had managed to go all summer without going to Hoover’s. Why change that today? Heading there might dig up memories best forgotten. Memories he worked hard to keep buried.

Once they were on the porch, Nate’s phone pinged.

His cousin pulled it out then shook his head as he typed out a quick message. “I’ve gotta go. Church duty calls.”

Nate hurried to his motorcycle and buckled his helmet in place before heading back toward town.

The sun beat down on David, the temperatures hinting of the changing leaves and the cooler weather sure to come. He checked his watch. Three fifty-one. Gary Hoover had always closed the hardware store at five back in the day. If that was still the case, David could be there and back in under thirty minutes. Maybe Nate had a point. He could easily pop in and say hi, get what he needed, and be home. Bonus, it wouldn’t take as much time as traveling to Ludington.

Almost ten years had passed since David had spoken to Gary in person.When David and Sadie had broken up, he assumed Gary would disappear from his life. But Gary hadn’t. Just like a true father, he’d stayed in contact, even sending monthly support.

David drove into the city center of Heritage. Otis, the bronze hippo that moved around the town square, sat in front of the new ballet studio, almost like he enjoyed the fresh entertainment. Never able to figure out how Otis moved, David accepted the lovable town oddity.

David stopped at the intersection of Second and Teft. No matter how many times he pulled into town, the updated square surprised him. Long gone was the Manor and the row of condemned houses. An old schoolhouse had been renovated and turned into the library. It sat on one corner with a gazebo in the middle. A playground filled the southern part of the square. Maybe his sisters weren’t too far off base with the Airbnb idea. The town did hold a certain small-town charm.

Up on his right, the diner’s front window sparkled in the afternoon sun, and directly in front of him a huge banner hung over the street advertising their 150th town anniversary in October.

David continued through the intersection down Second Street until he found a parking spot along the square and cut the engine. The shop sat on the corner of Richard and Second just across the street from the southeast corner of the square. It was right next to the bank, but the entrance had been moved around the corner to Richard Street on the southern side of the building. That would have been Sadie’s and his first change to the store. He shook away the memory as he got out of the truck and hurried across the street.

As soon as he turned the corner, the rusted Hoover’s Hardware sign greeted him. The letters had faded even more, so that one of the o’s was completely gone.

The friendly jingle of an overhead bell announced his entrance into the shop. Gary had always kept the store in immaculate condition, but today, dust laced the air and the endcaps of the aisles held anything from paint brushes to hammers—seemingly with no rhyme or reason. Charlotte’s web had nothing on the huge cobweb spun along the wood paneled wall behind the register. Gary had never allowed spiders free rein of his store.

“Be right with ya!” The distant voice came from somewhere among the shelves, but there was no mistaking Gary’s deep timbre.

The man’s gait faltered for a second as he stepped out of the aisle, his eyes widening. He set down a five-gallon paint bucket. And there was just enough of a pause that David’s heart sank. Maybe this hadn’t been a great idea. But before he could think of what to do next, Gary rushed forward and grabbed David’s shoulder and looked him over. “Ten years looks good on you, son. The final bits of boy have disappeared.”

Son. David’s throat tightened. Gary probably used the term with every male under the age of forty, but it still triggered a sense of what had been. What could have been. The guy almost looked proud of him.

Before David could consider what to say, his gaze landed on Gary’s arm that was wrapped in a blue sling and seemed to be strapped down to his chest. “What happened to your arm?”

The older man offered a slight shrug, lifting his uninjured shoulder. “I fell working on the upstairs guest bath a month ago. Landed on my shoulder wrong. Emergency surgery on my rotator cuff, and my arm is useless until it heals. Just a few more weeks in the sling.”

One month ago? How had he missed this tidbit of gossip? David had been working away in his grandparents’ home a month ago. Maybe this was what Nate meant when he said that David should get out more and see the needs of people around him. Guilt clung to him like day-old sawdust.

Gary walked back to the bucket and bent to pick it up.

“Let me.” David didn’t know much about rotator cuff surgery, but lifting heavy objects probably wasn’t part of the recovery.

Gary slapped David’s back. “I appreciate that. I’m getting too old for this. Definitely time for the next generation to take over. But kids are busy these days. One of my daughters only pops in and out maybe once a month now.”

Gary had three daughters, but he must mean Sadie, otherwise he’d just name his daughter. With their complicated past, he couldn’t blame Gary for being vague. He couldn’t ask. Wouldn’t ask about Sadie. So, he nodded, and Gary kept talking.

“The high schoolers looking for volunteer hours just don’t work for us, with all the heavy machinery and specialized merchandise.”

David followed Gary to the register at the front of the store, and set the bucket where Gary directed.

Gary patted him on the back, squeezing his shoulder. “Now tell me, what brings you in today?”

Business. Good. David could handle that. “Need a box of two-and-a-half-inch wood screws.”

“Ah. Screws. Those are on the back wall, just like always. It’s a bit disorganized—things have just gotten away from me—but I’m pretty sure they’re back there somewhere.”

David’s phone chimed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. Finally. He held up his phone. “I need to respond to this. I’ll be right back.”

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