He shrugged. “I gave my word. If a man can’t keep a promise, then he’s not a man.”
I rolled my eyes. “This is not the time to get all high-and-mighty.”
“I’m only being honest.” His dark eyes watched me softly. “Well, now that the contest is over, what would you like to do?”
The sun was quickly setting, and the horizon was smeared fuchsia and gold. I glanced around and saw Crystal in the distance and remembered.
“Oh, I left the doorknob at Hadley Hutto’s farmhouse. Can we swing by and get it?”
“A doorknob?”
“It’s magical,” I told him.
“Whatever you want.”
“Thank you. Let me just round up Lady.”
Though Lady was busy biting at ants that were climbing a tree, she came when I called.
“We’re leaving, Clem?”
“Yep. We’re heading on out.”
“Dang, and I was having too much fun eating insects.”
I picked her up and hoisted her under my arm. “Don’t do that. They’ll make you sick.”
“Says you.”
“That’s right.”
We loaded up into Rufus’s SUV, and I gave directions to Hadley’s. The barn didn’t yet have a lock on the doors, so it shouldn’t have been a problem to get inside.
And it wasn’t.
Rufus, with his hands on his hips, surveyed the space. “What are you going to do with this?”
“So many things.” I grinned mischievously. “We’re going to demolish these stables and create one huge, sliding door where they used to be.”
Rufus pointed to the knob. “I take it that’s the doorknob you were talking about?”
“That’s the one.”
I spied an old sledgehammer lying against the wall. “How convenient. Want to bring down one of the walls?”
Rufus quirked a brow. “Do you trust me to do that?”
“Sure.” I handed him the hammer. “Go for it.”
The muscles in his arm tightened as he took the sledgehammer from me. Rufus brought it to his shoulder before heaving the steel head into the side of the stables.
The wood splintered out, leaving a gaping hole. “Well, that was fun. Nothing like a little demolition after a day of apple picking.”
I winked playfully at him. “So, want to see how cool the doorknob is?”
“I do.”
I turned the knob. “Doorknob, show me Dooley Hutto’s apple orchard.”
