Page 31 of Finding Forever

Dave stopped scraping old mortar from between two stones. Hank had given them a hand to unload the furniture. “We unloaded furniture. With you. So you know exactly what we were doing.”

Hank nodded. “I also saw you standing beside her truck talking for ten minutes after everything was unloaded.”

Dave returned to the fireplace. “We had things to talk about.”

“Apparently.”

Dave sighed. “Just say whatever you’re trying to say.”

Hank’s grin appeared briefly before he went back to work. “I’ve seen you two around town.”

“We live in the same town,” Dave muttered.

“You’ve been to the Fairy Forest together.” Hank said matter-of-factly. “You’ve had dinner. You went to Cedar Ridge. Rosa saw the two of you having coffee last week.”

“Half of those things were work.”

“And the other half?”

Dave didn’t answer.

Hank chuckled and reached for the vacuum.

For several minutes they worked without talking. Hank cleared decades of dust from the hearth while Dave carefully removed a piece of loose mortar. There was something satisfying about uncovering the fireplace one section at a time. The soot marks above the opening suggested it had been used often.

Dave wondered how many people had stood in front of it warming their hands through a Montana winter.

“You’ve gone quiet,” Hank said.

“I’m working.”

Hank shook his head. “No. You’re thinking.”

Dave set the chisel down. There was no point pretending because Hank knew him too well. “I like her.”

Hank switched off the vacuum. “Beth?”

“No, Beverly from the Historical Society.”

“I wondered.”

Dave laughed despite himself. “Yes. Beth.”

Hank waited a few seconds before answering. “I think everyone knows.”

Dave shook his head. Small towns were useful when you needed three volunteers and a ladder within twenty minutes. They were less useful when you were trying to figure out your personal life.

He picked up the brush and worked dust out of another mortar joint. “Saturday was different.”

Hank waited.

Dave appreciated that. For all his teasing, Hank knew when to stop talking. “We stopped for lunch on the way back from Cedar Ridge. Nothing fancy. Just a diner beside the highway.”

Hank emptied the vacuum cleaner. “That doesn’t explain the face you’re making.”

Dave frowned. “What face?”

“The one that says the food isn’t what you’re remembering.”