Page 24 of Finding Her Strength

I nod my head, then leave the kitchen, needing a moment alone in my room.

I thought I’d have found an opportunity to get out of this long before now, but I haven’t.

I’m not sure I ever will.

14

HOPE

The smell of rubber and tools greets me as I step into the hardware store. Aisles of every home improvement item you could possibly need span the large space. It’s overwhelming, to say the least.

There are entirely too many options here. Where do I even start?

I step down an aisle with wood glue, paintbrushes, and paint. Nope. Not what I need. Down the next one I go, one after the other, still having no clue what I’m even looking for, at this point.

Finally, one aisle seems promising as I start browsing the nails collected in clear plastic bins. Now, which one do I need? Where are the employees when you need them?

“Hope?”

The sound of my name startles me, and the nails I had in my hand go flying into the air.

“Jesus.” My hand flies to my chest as my heart attempts to thump out of my body. Turning, I find Levi smirking at me from the end of the aisle. I shoot him a glare. “I’m going to buy you bells to wear so you won’t do that anymore.”

He laughs, and I can’t help the smile growing on my face.I don’t think I’ve ever smiled so much around another person. How can he have such infectious joy surrounding him? I lean over to pick up the nails I dropped, placing them back into their respective bins.

“Are you doing some remodeling?” Levi asks, a teasing lilt to his question.

“No, just trying to get the stuff to hang the paintings I bought at Paint and Paper.” Quinn helped me pick out some great stuff to match the decorations already at the house.

“I thought you were going to call me when you picked out some decorations.”

I cringe. I did say I was going to do that, but I wasn’t sure if he genuinely meant he’d be happy to help or if he was only being nice. “I didn’t want to bother you. I figured it couldn’t be too hard to hang a few pictures myself.”

“Well, those are drywall nails.”

“Hmm…” My brows furrow as I look at the selection. “I guess those won’t work, then?”

“Definitely not.” Levi laughs. “Here,” he reaches up, grabbing a clear box hanging on a peg, “these are what you need.”

The box sayspicture hanging kit. These make way more sense than loose nails. I turn to walk back out of the aisle, then start toward the cash register. Levi walks next to me with a few supplies in his hands.

“Um, not to question you or anything, but do you have a hammer?” His words are hesitant as if he doesn’t want to straight-up ask if I know what I’m doing since it would be rude.

“Yes, of course, I do!” I say indignantly.

I don’t actually have one; I just don’t want him to think I'm a total idiot. Which, I am. How could I have forgotten that I would need a hammer? I casually look up at the lists of items at the end of each aisle, trying to find where the hammers would be located.

“Okay… I’m sure you’d do fine on your own, but I can still come help you. I’ve got some time right now,” he offers a little sheepishly. He knows I’d probably put a million holes in the wall if I did this on my own.

“It’s driving you crazy thinking about me doing it myself, isn’t it?”

“No! I’m just trying to be helpful.”

I raise my brow at him, and he crumbles like a dried flower.

“Okay, yes! I keep picturing the hammer going straight into the wall, and it’s killing me!”

“All right, fine. You can help.” I walk up to the cash register, setting my kit on the counter. “Um, you have a hammer, right?”

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