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I couldn’t believe what he was saying. At least, I assumed what he was saying. “Noah…”
He moved over to the couch and sat near me, his eyes swimming in tears for once. “No one suspected except me, they said, but I didn’t doubt it for a second. He thought he had become a burden to me. Eli, I can’t live through that again. I want to help you, but after, you have to be sure that you’re gonna be here, stay here, and that…”
“I get it, Noah. I haven’t shown you anything to make you think I wouldn’t do the same. Just know… I never want to hurt you like that. Now… I’ll try harder.”
“Good. Tomorrow, after we feed and take care of things, we’ll go to that pawn shop and get the watch back. Then I’m bringing you home to help me break that horse.”
I thought many things would come after him sayingafter, but that was unexpected. Then I knew it wouldn’t be a simple thing, being with the man. It came with only one string, though. Don’t get so lost in what the past had given me, that I hurt myself.
“That’s a date.”
Chapter Eight
Everythingwentbetterthatmorning. I couldn’t believe it; how easy things went as far as the work on the ranch. It was as if the thing blocking me was lifted and I didn’t have to be told once what to do. I just did what needed done.
Then we left the ranch, and my stomach was in knots, but I never faltered in my resolve. I knew I had to get back the watch and give it to the authorities if I ever wanted another night of proper rest.
It took most of the day to drive there, but we talked about a lot on the ride, nothing of importance, just… talk. It was nice and kept my mind off the task we were handling.
When we got to the pawnshop and walked into the place, I fully had the best intentions. The guy seemed to remember me, and greeted me with, “Got more watches?”
“That’s why I’m here,” I confessed. Noah was by my side, my silent sentinel, and if he wasn’t, things would have gone much worse. “I need it back.”
“It’s right over here in the display,” he said cheerily, but it gave me a sinking feeling, that smile. He walked behind and Noah and I walked in front of the display, and there were lines of watches. It didn’t take me but a few seconds to find Harvey’s.
The price tag next to it read ten thousand dollars. “I… have the money you gave me for it.”
“The price went up quite a bit.”
I felt myself tense up like I’d had concrete poured over me, the instant drying kind, if there were such a thing. Noah saw it, and stepped in, calmly stating, “Well, that’s okay, Eli. We’ll go get the sheriff and tell him where it is. I’m sure he’ll be interested to learn this nice gentleman gave you four hundred for a watch that was obviously stolen.”
My head whipped to Noah, and I felt myself grin before turning back to the pawnbroker in time to watch his face turn scarlet. “I… I never, he said it was his! I never thought for a minute it was stolen property!”
“I took four hundred dollars for a fifty thousand dollar watch and you didn’t suspect it was stolen?”
He grabbed the thing from the display and pulled the tag from it. “I can’t just take a goddamned loss here!”
Noah got out his wallet and started counting out hundred-dollar bills. “One, two, three, four, and there’s five. A hundred bucks for keeping it safe for what? Five, six weeks? I don’t think we’ll need to tell the sheriff where it’s been.”
He snatched the money from the glass and spit, “Get out and never come back here, neither of you!”
With the watch in hand, we left that store and got back into the truck, and I smiled the entire way to the sheriff's station.
The town near the ranch was small and beautiful, set in a valley that was surrounded by tall mountains. The pass into it wove down from the highway above, setting the scene before we ever arrived.
There was a tall church steeple, bright white, in the center of town, and near it was a park that took up half the downtown area. In that was a pond with a gazebo where Noah said he and his husband visited many times.
The buildings were older, nothing newer than the seventies, by the looks of it. Everything felt small town, but nicer than most. I saw people with genuine smiles on their faces, waving as we passed, and I waved back, unsure at first, until I saw Noah doing it.
“Is everyone here on lithium or something?”
He laughed loudly when I asked that. “You’d think, right? Nah, it’s just… we like it here, ‘s all.”
“I do too.”
Even the sheriff's station was nice, sitting right off the main road, which was called, unsurprisingly, Main Street. Noah parked in front and we both got out together, and walked into the place.
A woman sat in a uniform at one desk, and she was the only one there.
