Dad’s Rоlех was the only thing he left me. Mom and her new husband sold it for my stepbrother’s «startup.» The pawn shop owner called: «Ma’am, you need to see what was hidden inside this watch…»

The phone call came on a Tuesday afternoon while I was reviewing quarterly reports in my cubicle, an unknown local number. Usually I let it go to voicemail, but something made me answer. Is this Amelia Chin? A gruff voice, carefully professional.

Yes, who’s calling? My name’s Frank DeMarco. I own DeMarco’s Pond and Gold on Riverside. I believe I have something that belongs to you.

A Rolex Submariner? My heart stopped. That’s impossible. I have my father’s watch right.

I opened my desk drawer where I kept it during work hours. Empty. Ma’am? You still there? The watch? I whispered.

It’s gone. I was afraid of that. Look, can you come down to the shop? There’s something you need to see, and I’d rather not discuss it over the phone.

I left work immediately, my hands shaking as I drove. Dad’s watch, the only thing he’d left specifically to me, had been in that drawer yesterday morning. I checked it like I did every day, running my fingers over the inscription on the back.

To my daughter Amelia, may time always be on your side. Love, Dad. He’d worn it every day of my childhood.

Through his construction jobs, Sunday dinners, my school plays. Even during chemo, when his wrist got too thin and we had to adjust the band. On his deathbed, he pulled me close and into my palm.

This is yours, Mia, only yours. That was three years ago, two years before Mom married Richard. Eighteen months before Richard’s son Tyler moved in with his big dreams and bigger appetite for other people’s money.

DeMarco’s pawn shop was wedged between a nail salon and a check cashing place, the kind of strip mall where desperation had a permanent address. Frank DeMarco looked exactly like a pawn shop owner should. Thick neck, suspicious eyes, gold pinky ring.

But his expression when he saw me was unexpectedly kind. You look like him, he said simply. Your dad.

He used to come in here sometimes, back in the day. He did. Construction guys always need tools.

He was one of the good ones, always paid back his loans, never tried to pull anything. Frank disappeared into the back, returning with a familiar leather box. This came in yesterday…