Page 74 of Take My Heart
‘This fuse was loose,’ Nick says, showing it to me. ‘I just tightened it.’
‘I swear I checked that last night.’
‘There’s more than one fuse. Is this the one you checked?’
I lean down to look at what he’s pointing it. ‘Yeah, that was it.’
‘It’s the other one that was loose. If that’s all it was, we may have fixed it. Let’s test it out.’
I get out of the truck and walk over to the blade. ‘It’s moving!’
‘Guess that was it,’ Nick yells from the truck.
I’m so relieved. Now I can get out there and make somemoney, money I desperately need.
Nick shuts off the truck and gets out. ‘I got dirt on my hands. I’m going inside to wash up.’
‘Thanks for your help,’ I tell him as we go into the house. ‘You totally saved me. If I’d had to wait until Friday I might’ve lost half my customers.’
‘I’m happy I could fix it.’ Nick heads to the kitchen, stopping when he sees Kate coming down the hall. She stops too, looking like she doesn’t know what to do.
‘Kate, this is Nick,’ I say. ‘My older brother.’
‘Hi.’ She walks up to him. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’
‘Good to meet you, too’ he says, smiling when he sees her clothes. ‘It’s nice of you to advertise for us.’
She laughs. ‘My clothes are in my car, which is in a ditch, buried under a foot of snow. It was either this or wear something of Brody’s.’
Nick looks at me. ‘You got that stuff at Finkle’s place?’
‘Yeah, the only thing he had in her size had our name on it.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Kate says. ‘I’ve never been to the orchard, but I’ve heard of it. I have friends who have been there.’
‘Nick runs the place now,’ I tell her. ‘He took it over from our dad last summer.’
‘Do you like it?’ she asks Nick. ‘Running an orchard?’
‘I love it. I don’t know if Brody told you, but I used to be an attorney in New York. I tried to convince myself I liked it, but I actually hated it. I’m much happier spending my days outside instead of in front of a computer.’
‘My parents are lawyers,’ Kate says. ‘They wanted me to be one too, but I have no interest in law.’
‘So what do you do?’
‘Financial planning for small businesses.’ She shrugs. ‘It’s not very exciting, but it pays well.’
‘You should probably get going,’ I say to Nick.
‘Yeah, and you need to get to work.’ He goes to the sink to wash his hands.
‘Nick fixed the plow,’ I say to Kate.
‘That’s great!’ She hugs me, then quickly lets me go, remembering Nick’s here.
It’s too late. He saw her hugging me. But he knows about us now so it really doesn’t matter.
‘Be safe out there,’ he says, coming up to me. ‘And if you have any more issues with the controller, just give me a call. I’ll be at the house all day.’
