Page 102 of Wrench

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He sunk into his seat. ¡°Then¡­ why¡¯d you agree to come in the first place?¡±

¡°I don¡¯t think I realized it until just now,¡± I said, the words coming out as I thought

them for the first time. ¡°I think I wanted comfort and you¡¯re comfortable. It just

happened.¡±

¡°I¡¯m comfortable?¡± He flinched back in offense.

¡°Yeah¡­ but comfort isn¡¯t enough to change what happened, and I needed to come to

realize that.¡± I stood up from the booth, fiddling in my pockets. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we¡¯re

done.¡±

¡°But¡­ but¡­ I¡¯m eighteen hours from home.¡±

¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to come.¡± I dropped some cash on the table and took one last look at

him gawking at me with dismay. ¡°Goodbye, Travis.¡±

With that, I ran out of the diner to get ready to meet Isaac, not looking back for a

second.

Chapter Thirteen

Wrench

By the time I returned to the Tavern, all of the Rebels had left, leaving Evelyn with the

remaining drunks. Not thinking, I entered through the main entrance instead of through

the kitchen. Evelyn looked at me peculiarly. ¡°That was fast.¡± Looking at my watch, there

was still another thirty minutes before she¡¯d go home, so I took a seat on a barstool.

¡°Just call me the minute-man, Evelyn,¡± I said, and she burst out laughing while

grabbing me a beer.

¡°Self-deprecating humor,¡± she said. ¡°Very unlike you.¡±

I ran a hand over my head, chuckling, and lied, ¡°Nah. She had an early morning.

Kicked me out.¡±

¡°Just the way you like them,¡± she said, and I held up my beer and nodded, like a salute.

When Evelyn resumed her closing duties, I stared out the window, watching the rain

pattering to the ground.

The clock inched by and I was growing restless with excitement and regret. What had I

done? I broke my promise to my brothers, and they were going to lose it once they found

out. Not to mention, Samantha knew something. Fear was on her face. At first, I thought

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