Read Online A Small-Town Reunion by Terry McLaughlin - Free Book Online

stretch his tape measure across a board. “Is that the lead?”
    “Yes.”
    “Sounds like taking a corner of a puzzle apart to try to reach a piece near the middle.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Do you work on repairs at night?”
    “No.” She shook her head and waited through another of Mick’s noisy cuts. “I have plenty of time during regular shop hours to do repair work. Not that I don’t have lots of other business to keep me busy,” she added quickly. The last thing she wanted Dev to know was how precarious things were at times.
    Most of the time.
    “I’ll have to get started on the windows for Tess’s project soon,” she said. “Those will keep me tied up for months. And I’ll need still more space for those, too.”
    “How long does it take you to make a window—a window of the size Tess has in mind?” he asked.
    She stared at Dev, trying to decipher that strange new element in his expression—that odd, banked heat. If she didn’t know him better, she’d think he was interested in her. Or in what she was saying. But he couldn’t possibly be.
    So why was he sticking around for so long and asking so many questions? “Why do you want to know? Did Geneva send you to spy on me?”
    “No.” His eyes creased at the corners, reminding her how she used to hate feeling as though she was the butt of his private jokes. “I’m just curious,” he said.
    A customer walked into her shop, and she excused herself to greet him. Dev stayed where she’d left him, watching her pull a couple of lengths of caming from a shelf and stretch a few pieces before ringing up the sale.
    “Now I’m really curious,” Dev said after she’d returned to the rear of her shop. “What did you do with those strips of metal?”
    “I stretched them.”
    “Why?”
    “It has to do with the molecules in the lead.” She crossed her arms and leaned against her worktable. “If you’re really interested, I could explain it all in detail. Some other time, maybe.”
    She tightened her fingers on her arms, holding herself steady beneath the scrutiny of that stomach-knotting, crinkly-cornered stare.
    “Okay,” he said at last. “Some other time, then.”
    She walked him to the door. “Please tell Geneva I’ll get to work on her windows as soon as the replacement glass arrives. I want to make sure I’ve got everything I need before I start.”
    Dev pulled the door open and then paused, shifting slightly, his face a few inches from hers. “Anything else you’d like to say?” he asked in a low, intimate tone.
    She bit her lower lip and shook her head.
    He cast one last, dark glance in Mick’s direction before pulling the door closed behind him.
    Addie was tempted to sag against the jamb. Instead, she placed a palm on the door and curled her fingers against the cool glass as she watched Dev moving quickly down the street with his long, confident stride. She was relieved to see him go. And wishing she’d taken the chance to say…something.
    “You don’t like that guy much, do you?” Mick asked.
    “I’m sorry it was so obvious. That must have been uncomfortable for you.” She pushed her hair back from her face with a sigh. “Dev Chandler seems to bring out the worst in me. He always has.”
    “How long have you known each other?”
    “Since we were kids.” She crossed the shop toadmire the new bins Mick had installed. “His dad brought him to live at Chandler House when I was eight. He’s been tormenting me ever since. Like a nasty big brother.”
    Mick narrowed his eyes. “He doesn’t think of you as a sister.”
    “Well, I’m not his sister, thank goodness. This is wonderful, Mick,” she said, running her hand along the smooth edge of a new bin divider. A slight downward tilt to the base would prevent the glass squares from shifting forward and falling during another quake. “Perfect. Thank you.”
    “Easy as pie.” He unstrapped his utility belt and dropped it in his toolbox. “A couple coats of paint, and