Page 60 of Here With Me

Romee: Ouch, Bro. Way to speak your mind there.

Romee: I’m sorry, Anna. Even if Brock is a loser. Toby’s right, you can do better.

Anna: This time I’m not taking him back. Leopards don’t change their spots, neither do guys.

Toby: Hey now, we’re not all bad.

Anna: *Gif of a little girl sticking out her tongue.

Anna: Sadie, let this be a lesson to you. Don’t follow in my footsteps.

Sadie tucked her phone away. What could she say? She didn’t want to share her happiness when Anna was hurting. But what if Anna was right and heartbreak was the only future they had? But they’d talked things through. The heartbreak in their past was both of their faults, and they weren’t the same people anymore. They’d changed, hadn’t they?

Sadie touched her lips, the heat of David’s touch still warming her skin. Anna had to be wrong. There was no way he would kiss her like that if heartbreak was their future.

David’s truck bumped down the dirt driveway of Chet Anderson’s house Monday morning before work, the old clock carefully packed in a box secured in his truck bed. Hopefully, Jon hadn’t given David bad information, or this trip out to see if Chet could fix the clock would be a complete waste of time.

Thoughts of yesterday’s kiss with Sadie still stole his breath and left him wanting to find reasons to do that again. Hopefully, coming through with a repaired clock would earn him some brownie points, and maybe a few more of those kisses.

David’s truck bounced to a stop in front of a farmhouse that had seen better days. The fresh paint and fairly new shutters couldn’t hide the age of the place. A shack of a barn with a large barn door sat next to the house. Jon had told David that if he wanted something from Chet to bring biscuits and gravy. Thomas had accommodated the request and placed the order in a to-go container.

David held the to-go breakfast and knocked on Chet’s door. A bunch of grunting, banging, and grumbling came from within the house before the older man opened it. Chet’s wild gray hair stood up on end, and the man looked over David’s shoulder at his truck. He held out his hand and gestured for the food. “Why’d you bring me this? What do you want?”

David handed over the container. “Jon said you might know how to fix an old clock.”

Chet opened the takeout box and nodded. Then closed it tight, raising an eyebrow at David. “Why would Jon think I know anything about clocks?”

That was the question of the day. “I have no idea. But I don’t know anything about clocks, and Jon didn’t have any other suggestions, so I figured I’d hunt you down.”

Chet narrowed his gaze at David then looked down at the biscuits and gravy. “Since you brought me my favorite meal, I guess I’ll take a look. Take it to the barn over there. I’ll set this down and meet you in there.”

That was Chet. Gruff and to the point.

David backtracked to his truck to retrieve the clock and returned, letting himself into Chet’s barn, which was surprisingly neat. A large workbench sat on one side, filled with an assortment of tools that would make any hardware store owner proud. Sadie would love this space.

David set the box on the bench next to a collection of little tools he’d never seen before. The area was practically dust free.

Chet ambled into the barn and used the workbench for support. “Tell me about this clock of yours.”

“I found this in my grandpa’s barn a few weeks ago.”

Chet tapped the side of the box. “Take this thing out of the box for me, will ya?”

David pulled the clock out and set it down.

Chet scratched his chin. “It rattles.”

David nodded. “Yeah, about that. Lottie was looking at the gears, but she dropped her tweezers inside. We can’t get them out. And Lottie’s pretty convinced one of the gears is jammed.”

Chet grabbed some magnifying glasses and some tools wrapped in leather that he spread out next to the clock.

“You don’t have to stand there and watch me. You’ll make me nervous.”

David backed up, and Chet expertly opened the clock as he whistled like it was any other day.

“Do you see the watchmaker’s logo there?” David stepped up to the workbench. “Lottie says she found a similar marking on Otis, near his back side. I couldn’t see it when she showed me, but she’s convinced they’re connected somehow.”

Chet didn’t even spare David a glance, simply continued using sharp-looking tools David had never seen before to twist and test each gear. “You wouldn’t happen to know if they were connected—the clock and Otis?”

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