David nodded and forced a smile, but Callie could tell he was a bit disappointed.
“Regardless,” the man added. “I should be able to get most of the files off. The hard drive is still intact, and I don’t think there’s any coffee inside it. I’ll upload everything onto another device first thing, that way it’s safe and you don’t have to worry about losing anything while I’m tinkering around.”
David visibly relaxed. “Okay, great. That’s really all I care about. The laptop itself is pretty old and nothing special, I just care about all my vacation stuff. Plus, I have a lot of photos on there.”
The man smiled. “I’ll do my absolute best not to lose anything.”
“Thanks again,” Mallory said before waving the man onwards and starting down the hall passed her mother. “Let me, just uh, show you to the door.”
As the man walked by Callie, however, she was overwhelmed by the distinct impression that she’d seen him before. She touched his arm so he would stop. “Wait a second.” She cocked her head to the side. “I feel like I know you. Do you live in town?”
“One town over,” he said. “But the store is in town, so I’m in the area a lot.”
“You’ve probably seen him around,” Mallory said. “There’s not that many people in Ferndale...”
“Can I ask your name?” Callie asked. “Maybe I know your parents.” The man seemed to be about Mallory’s age, but Callie didn’t frequent electronic repair shops, so she figured she knew the man through a family member or something.
“James,” he answered with a knowing gleam in his eye. He shot Mallory a little smirk as well. “James Harris.”
“Harris?” Callie furrowed her brow, then looked to David. “Wait a minute. There was a Harris in Ariel’s class, wasn’t there?”
David shook his head. “No, I don’t think it was Ariel’s class. I thought it was…” Then David laughed and looked accusingly at his daughter. “There was a Harris inyourclass. If I’m not mistaken, James Harris was valedictorian the year you graduated.”
“That’s right!” Callie gasped. “You two were in the same grade! Why didn’t you say something before?”
Mallory avoided eye contact with both her parents. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, I guess. But yeah. We did go to high school together, not that it’s a big deal. Anyway, James is super busy, and he has to get going now.” She grabbed James’ arm and tugged him down the hall. “We can’t keep him here when he’s got a lot of work to do on dad’s laptop. If we want it fixed, then we have to let the man get cracking.”
“Oh, it’s really nothing you need to worry about immediately," David said. He and Sasha stepped out of the way for Mallory to rush past them. “You can take a few days if need be. I can use a computer at the office for anything work related and I won’t need any of my vacation stuff until after Thanksgiving.”
“Yeah, what’s the hurry?” Callie added, catching up with Mallory and James by the door. “Why don’t you stay for a cup of coffee or something, James? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to since graduating, and I’m sure you and Mallory have a ton of catching up to do as well.”
“We caught up already,” Mallory said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But he’s on the clock, so we shouldn’t be keeping him. He’s probably got a long list of other home visits he needs to be rushing off to.”
Callie tried to continue arguing, but Mallory opened the door before she could say anything and shuffled James outside. A second later, the door slammed shut, leaving Callie stunned on the other side.
“Man,” Sasha said under her breath. “I should’ve taken you up on that bet. I totally would’ve won.”
Callie laughed. “I don’t think James is Mallory’s secret boyfriend.”
“Maybe notyet,” Sasha said with a mischievous grin. “But she’s definitely crushing on him. If you’re still up for a little gambling, I’d put money down on them any day.”
Although Callie would never admit this out loud, it was what Sasha said that made her linger in front of the door and wait until Mallory came back inside. She never wanted to grow into that over-zealous mother who always stuck her nose where it didn’t belong, but there was just something so exciting about the prospect of Mallory having met someone she liked.
It didn’t happen often. And for there to be a possible love match right there in Ferndale—with a nice young man she’d gone to school with?
It was almost too perfect.
Callie lingered in the entryway for a while, but clearly, Mallory was onto her. About five minutes after going outside, Callie’s youngest tried to sneak back in through the side door. It was a valiant attempt at escaping notice, but Callie heard the door hinges squeak over by the kitchen, and she ended up cutting Mallory off as she tried to dart into the living room.
“Hey, wait a second,” she said, sounding a bit more aggressive than she meant to. Mallory gave her a look. She cleared her throat and smiled as casually as she could. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want to talk to you for a second.”
Mallory groaned. “Please, mom, I really don’t feel like chatting about the computer. I feel terrible for spilling the coffeeon it, and I swear, if dad ends up needing a replacement, I’ll pay for it myself.”
“It’s not about the computer. I don’t care about the computer.”
“Dad does.”
“Not really,” she said. “Besides, it sounds like James is confident he’ll be able to fix it. Or that he can at least get all the important files off it.”
