All Of It

Damion

I was going about my usual, boring routine in the silence of the barn when I heard a truck rumbling down the long driveway. My mind immediately went to Alex. I knew it wouldn’t be her. Why would it? It had been over two weeks and I had not heard one word from her. I hadn’t seen her around town either. I was confident I would have bumped into her if she was back. The void her absence left was huge.

I took off my gloves, telling myself it wasn’t her. I didn’t want to have my hopes up. It wasn’t her. She was gone. I walked out of the barn, and no matter how many times I had told myself it wouldn’t be her, the disappointment when I found it wasn’t her was difficult to deal with.

“Hey,” I greeted Justin as he hopped out of his old truck.

“Hey, yourself,” he said with his usual lopsided grin.

“What brings you out this way?”

He shrugged. “I’m off today and thought I’d come by and sharpen those blades. That old machine could use a little tune-up as well.”

I nodded, not sure how much I