Page 11 of Here With Me

That was fast. Hopefully, they would pay and leave quickly. While Sadie rang up the drill, the sisters asked her questions, never dipping below the surface. How had she been? When did she get back in town? How long was she staying? Fine. Last week. Forever.

In a small town, it was guaranteed she’d see them. Now she had. The initial awkward conversation over, she could move past it.

Except as the bell jingled and they were leaving, Leah looked back at Sadie. “David’s in town. I’ll be sure to tell him we saw you.”

Sadie froze. Of course she would. Because why not? Sadie’s ears burned again. Go ahead. After all, she’d already seen him. It was no big deal.

Sadie couldn’t think about David and his sisters. She had bigger problems. She pulled her phone out and dialed the bank’s number. They answered but put her right back on hold. She leaned on the counter. Leah still stood on the front steps. Why was she still there? Sadie rose up on her toes.

Lottie was on the sidewalk chatting with Caroline outside the shop.

In her nine-year old excitement, she gestured at Caroline’s hair again.

Caroline knelt down and Lottie touched her hair. Leah copied her sister’s action and pretty soon the three of them were all laughing.

A pit formed in Sadie’s stomach, and she rubbed at it, but it only made things worse. Okay, so maybe Sadie should have addressed the twins’ assumptions, because it suddenly felt like a big deal.

A much bigger deal.

The bell jingled again, and Lottie skipped into the store, humming a happy tune with a ziplock bag filled with a few cookies. Dealing with the twins’ assumptions would have to be a problem for later, because someone finally answered at the bank.

three

Checking off his to-do list might be harder than David thought because the last twenty-four hours he’d made zero successful phone calls. There were no volunteer options or jobs in sight.

Seth Warner, known as The Storm after his appearance as a Ninja Warrior, had recently opened a gym, and David had been a regular since. “Hey, man. Looks like you need some water.”

“Thanks.” David caught the bottle Seth tossed his way, opened it, and drank half. Then he tucked it in his bag and added another twenty-five pounds to the machine, hoping it might help clear his mind.

His muscles tightened as he gripped the handles of the chest fly machine and pressed his hands closed. Sweat dripped down his face as he finished another set of ten.

“Woah, man. Couldn’t wait for me today?” Nate’s voice echoed through the gym as David relaxed, letting go of the machine.

David grabbed his water bottle and drank some more as he wiped sweat from his face. Nate fell into step beside him as they crossed the room to the free weights. David gripped a weight in each hand and sat down on the bench. “I’ve hit every dead end I can hit today, so I came early.”

“Nothing eases frustration like a good workout, and from the looks of it you’ve been here a while. Are you going to feel up to some basketball?” Nate selected his weights and sat down on a bench across from David.

“I’ll be fine.” Sweat dripped into David’s eye, burning. He had to be involved, and even if he didn’t feel like basketball, he couldn’t turn down Nate’s offer to play. Not again.

“I take it you discovered the lack of volunteer positions available right now?”

“I mean…how is that possible?” Whose bright idea was it to require high school students to volunteer?

“High school service hours. I even have more hands at the church than I know what to do with. Every surface has been scrubbed clean, and the yard looks great. This week they’re deep cleaning the nursery and repainting the Sunday school classrooms.” Nate curled his weights up and down in sync with David.

Once they were done, they placed their weights back on the rack. “The guys will be here waiting,” Nate said. “Let’s go play some ball.”

David pulled out a cloth from his bag and wiped his face.

“I’m waiting for a call from the nursing home, but if they don’t need help, I have no idea where to go.” Cool water ran down his throat as David finished his bottle. He stopped at the refill station.

“Hey, guys.” Austin walked up to them as David pulled the bottle away and drank it down. He refilled it again as Austin and Nate talked.

“I wish I could help you out.” Austin picked up a basketball and they walked into the gym. Jon, Luke, and Thomas were already on the court. “We’ve got our hands full, though.”

“You still looking for work?” Jon caught the basketball Austin passed to him. He dribbled it a few times then spun it on his finger.

“What’s going on?” Luke grabbed the ball from Jon and passed it to Thomas, who dribbled it between his legs before he passed it.

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