Page 52 of A Moment In Time

“My brain works just fine.”

“I’d say the signal from your empty stomach tells a different story. And the fact you couldn’t come up with another word for reflected, echoes that theory.”

“Funny.”

“Go eat. I’ve got this.”

Gage knew he wasn’t going to win the argument. He stood and stretched, then left his office, stopping to look at what she’d been doing on the computer.

“It’s lopsided.”

She looked up at him. “How do you mean?”

“Move the house fire story under the ‘benefit to make repairs to the docks’ story.”

“But nothing else fits there. The interview with Bobby Edward’s about the new water tender is too short.”

“Excuse me?”

“I wasn’t commenting on your article. It’s just shorter than the benefit article.”

Gage sighed, then pointed at the screen. “Switch these two. That should fix it.”

“Okay.”

He put his coat on. “Do you want anything from the café?”

“No, thank you.”

“So, your brain works just fine on an empty stomach?”

“I had more than a bowl of cereal for breakfast.” She looked at him. “What grown man eats cereal for breakfast?”

“Most of the grown men in the Calaway family, if you must know.”

He went to the door. “I’m bringing you back some soup.”

“I’m not hungry.”

He opened the door and went outside. The snow was really coming down, and the wind was blowing it sideways right into his face. This didn’t help his mood, and by the time he went the two blocks to the café, he was covered with snow and royally pissed off. He went through the door and let it close hard behind him.

Cassie looked up from behind the counter. The café was empty. “Did the wind catch the door?”

“Yeah. Let’s go with that.” He crossed the room to the counter. “Where are all of your customers?”

“Safe at home where they should be.”

“And why aren’t you safe at home?”

“I thought I’d stay just in case the wind blew in a grumpy newspaperman.”

“Grumpy, huh?”

“Little bit, yeah.”

He smiled. “Just having a bad day. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’d be grumpy too if I was covered in snow.”

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