Page 20 of Here With Me

David stepped back and took off his sunglasses and tucked them inside his coat pocket.

Sadie picked up her phone and unlocked it to read Romee’s message.

Romee: Stay strong! Be kind.

Sadie tucked her phone in her back pocket.

Be kind. She could do that.

She took a sip of coffee and savored the sweet and creamy flavor. Perfection. Except…“I drink it black now.” Be kind. “But thank you.”

David lifted one eyebrow, and his dimple appeared. “I guess things have changed.”

Only like…everything.

Be professional. “I guess.”

When Jeremy had been so sick at the end, she’d stopped taking the time to add cream and sugar. It had been more of a survival mode, and now, she hadn’t added it back in. Just…because.

But she couldn’t say all of that, much less to David. Leave the past in the past.

David set his cup down and shrugged out of his jacket.

“You can leave your things in the office.” Sadie slid off the stool she’d been sitting on and led the way to the back of the store. Which was dumb. David knew the way to the office.

Ah, well. Be professional.

Sadie took another sip of the coffee. Absolute perfection. She’d not realized how much she missed the cream and sugar, but it made this cup of coffee the best she’d had in…well, ages.

Coffee preferences of the past, and he’d remembered. That had to mean…No.

Past in the past. It didn’t mean he’d thought about her, and she couldn’t assume he’d pined for her.

David took a large drink of his coffee. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. That was not supposed to be attractive. Not supposed to make her hands damp and her breath shallow.

Be professional.

She could do that.

“For starters, I’d like to move the counter, so it sits parallel with the front window. Then the register is next to the door. It’s not like the line backs up, but it makes it nice to be able to pay right by the door.” And now she babbled. She pointed to the coat rack inside the office. “After I clean out the back room, I’ll set up a space for you, so you’ll have your own personal spot to store stuff, but…”

Ugh. Put a sock in it, girl.

Sadie quickly turned on her heel and hurried back to the front of the store. A large box for an air compressor stood out in the middle of the regular tool section. It belonged with the power tools. Setting her coffee cup down, Sadie stretched her arms around the box. It was bigger than she expected, but she hoisted it up.

She took one step back, trying to regain her balance. The box weighed more than she thought.

“Let me help with that.” David’s hands grazed hers as he wrapped his arms around the box. Warmth shot through her, and her skin burned as his hand stayed close to hers and he lifted the box. Why did his touch still have to cause a reaction from her? “Where do you want it to go?”

Sadie directed David to the section she’d created for power tools as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She picked up her coffee and headed to the front of the store, her phone buzzing again and again. Setting her coffee down, she pulled it out. Four messages nope—five.

Romee: How’s it going?

Romee: Are you still alive?

Romee: *gif of Bugs Bunny chewing a carrot saying, “What’s up, Doc?”

Romee: Sees-ter! I need updates. He’s been there like ten minutes.

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