Page 75 of Worth the Wait

It was crazy how easy it was to slip back into my routine. The one where I drowned myself in work. The one where I did everything I could to stop myself from obsessing over her.

I wondered if that was how it was for her. If being away grew easier as the days passed? Maybe after two weeks, it felt like she’d never even been in Sugar Mountain at all?

I pulled off the baseball hat I was wearing and wiped at the sweat on my brow. It wasn’t warm in the slightest, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at me.

“Uncle Patrick! Where are you?” Clara’s voice echoed, and my mood was instantly lifted.

When I turned to look for my sweet niece, my heart nearly lodged in my throat at the hand she was holding.

“I brought you something,” she said with a giggle, and my jaw dropped at the sight of Addi standing there, holding the hand of the only other girl I’d ever adored.

“Addi?” I whispered like it might be the ghost of her and I was in some sort of fever dream.

“Yeah, Patrick, it’s me,” she said with a smile.

“She was looking for you, Uncle. But I found her first and told her I knew just where you were,” Clara announced as Jasper ran up to his favorite girl and planted his body right on her feet.

I heard a commotion in the distance, and when I stepped outside of the barn, I saw Thomas running in my direction.

“Clara?!” he shouted, and I yelled for him to calm down.

“She’s okay. She’s here,” I said, but after what happened, there would be no calming him down until he saw her with his own two eyes.

Thomas sprinted toward me. “You think that girl would learn,” he said, his breath shaking.

“She’s with Addi.” I gave a wave toward the open barn doors, and he stopped in his tracks.

“Addison’s here? Again?” He looked confused.

“Apparently. Got here right before you did,” I said, and he stepped through the doors.

“Clarabel.” Thomas put on his best dad voice. “You cannot run off!”

Clara winced slightly, her grip on Addison’s hand tightening as my eyes crashed into hers. I had so many questions.

“I wasn’t alone, Daddy. I saw Miss Addi and wanted to bring her to Uncle Patrick.”

He stepped toward his daughter and fell to his knees so he could look her in the eyes. “But you have to tell me or Mama, okay? You can’t just disappear. You know better.”

Clara’s eyes started to water. “I’m sorry, Daddy.” She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Are you mad at me?”

“A little,” he admitted, and our sweetest girl started crying.

“I just got real excited to see Miss Addi,” she said at the same time as Addi apologized.

Thomas pulled his daughter away and wiped at her tears. “I know, baby. But you can’t run off. Especially after what happened. You can’t disappear like that. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

Clara looked so sad as she glanced at each one of us before apologizing, even including Jasper.

“Let’s go inside and make sure your mama knows you’re okay. She’s looking for you too.”

“Think she’ll be mad? I am real sorry,” Clara said.

I jumped in. “I’ll let Brooklyn know that you’re okay.” I reached for my phone and typed out a quick text. I imagined that she must have been going out of her mind with worry.

Then, everything else faded into background noise because all I saw washer. Addison was here. In the wedding barn.

“Hi,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

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