by Marie Force
He couldn’t stand the panic that seized him at the thought of her slipping away before he ever had a chance to really know her. Lying awake for hours that night, he ran the numbers in his head but couldn’t seem to arrive at a place where he could afford to solve all her problems by keeping the diner “in the family.”
What if he found a way and she wasn’t interested in continuing to work there with her sister out of the picture? And what in the hell did he know about managing a restaurant anyway? Not much, but he could learn. He could figure it out if it meant keeping her around.
He was already working sixteen hours a day to keep up with the demands of the family’s vast business interests. What were a couple more hours if it meant the woman he cared for might stay in Butler rather than going God knows where to find this so-called real life she’d been missing out on?
By the time the sun began to streak between the slats in the blinds, Hunter was no closer to a solution, but he was more determined than ever to do something, anything to keep her from leaving town.
CHAPTER 4
Hunter waited until he was fairly certain Nolan would’ve left for the garage before he headed to Hannah’s in the morning. He’d given up on sleep at about five a.m. and had a full pot of coffee in him by the time he pulled up to the stately Victorian where Hannah lived with her new husband.
Today he needed his sister and closest friend to tell him what the hell to do.
Hunter groaned when he saw Nolan’s truck still parked in the driveway. He should’ve been long gone by now. Since it was a workday and Nolan would be heading out soon, it was probably safe to knock on the door. At least he hoped so …
He missed Hannah. She hadn’t gone anywhere, but he’d tried to give her some space since she and Nolan had gotten together, which had left him on the outside looking in. The situation was reminiscent of when she and Caleb had first been together in high school and then in college at the University of Vermont when he’d had the miserable misfortune of being their unwanted third roommate. And hadn’t those been good times? Thankfully Will had joined them the next year to save him from having to be alone with the lovebirds.
As Hunter used the big brass knocker on the door and heard it echo inside the house, he yearned for the “old days” when he could walk right into his sister’s house without having to worry about seeing something that couldn’t be unseen. Although, he was thrilled to see his sister happy again after suffering through the agonizing loss of Caleb, a man they’d all loved and respected. She’d chosen a great guy in Nolan, another close friend of Hunter’s, and he couldn’t be happier for both of them.
That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t miss the ability to talk to his sister any time he wanted or needed to.
The door swung open, and Nolan greeted him in the uniform shirt he wore to work along with a pair of black jeans and work boots. His brother-in-law looked frazzled.
“Everything okay?” Hunter asked.
“Hannah’s not feeling great today.”
“Oh.” Hunter was about to ask him to tell Hannah he’d call her later.
“Come in.” Nolan walked away as he said the words, so Hunter followed him inside, closing the door behind him.
Nolan led him into the kitchen, where Hannah was seated at the table, wearing a robe and sipping a cup of tea. She was pale and had dark circles under her eyes that had Hunter immediately concerned for her health and that of her unborn child.
“Hey.” She forced a weak smile for her brother. “What brings you out so early?”
Nolan stood next to Hunter, hands on his hips, the picture of agitation as he studied his wife.
“I was hoping to talk to you, but we can do it another time if you’re not feeling well.”
“I’m fine,” she said with a pointed look for her husband. “Go to work.”
“Stop trying to get rid of me.”
“I’m not trying to get rid of you, but you’ve got a busy day at the garage, and I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You can’t stop puking.”
“Am I puking right now?”
“Hannah …”
“Nolan. Go to work.”
“Fine. Call me if it gets worse.”
“I will.”
“Will you really?”
“Nolan!”
He leaned in to kiss her, lingering long enough for Hunter to find a picture on the wall that needed his full attention. “I’ll be home to check on you at lunchtime.”
“It’s practically lunchtime now.”
“I’ll be back.”
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure my boyfriend is gone by then.”
“You’re hilarious when you’re not puking.”
“And you’re leaving so I can talk about what a pain you are to my brother.”
“He was my best man. He wouldn’t dare let you get away with that, would you, Hunter?”
“Um, well, she was my twin long before I was your best man.”
The comment earned Hunter a bright, beaming smile from his sister.
“Should’ve known,” Nolan muttered before he kissed Hannah again and headed for the mudroom.
They heard the garage door go up and come down and his truck start in the driveway.
“Go make sure he’s really gone,” Hannah said. “Yesterday he faked me out, came back in five minutes later and caught me puking again.” She waved her hand. “Go check.”
“Yes, ma’am. Is there anything else I can do for you, ma’am?”
“Just that.”
Hunter did as she asked and went to look out the window of the sitting room, which overlooked the empty driveway. Returning to the kitchen, he said, “He’s gone.”
“Finally! He’s driving me crazy.”
“He’s worried about you. So am I. You look like hell.”
“Aww, shucks. Thanks! I’m pregnant, not dying. Vomit happens, especially in the first trimester.” When she’d postponed the planned Labor Day opening of the new inn for war widows, named in Caleb’s honor, she’d told her family it was because she was feeling so crappy. They’d also put off their planned move to Nolan’s house, which would free up the Victorian to serve as the new inn.
“Seems to be happening a lot. What does the doctor say?”
“She said the same thing I did—it happens. She’s keeping an eye on me with weekly appointments to make sure I don’t get dehydrated.” This was said as if it were no big deal to be so sick.
“You’re all …” He waved his hand as he searched for the word he needed. “Zen or something. What the hell is wrong with you that you don’t care that you’re puking the day away?”
Laughing, she said, “I don’t care about the puking. As long as the baby is fine—and he or she is doing great—that’s all I care about. At the end of all of this, I get a baby. I really want this baby, and I’m willing to do whatever I have to.”
Despite her pallor, despite the dark circles, she positively glowed with joy. “I’m happy for you, Hannah banana. It’s nice to see you excited again and looking forward to something.”
“I’m so excited it’s not even funny.” She rested her hand over her still-flat abdomen. “How will I survive for seven more months until I can meet this little person?”
“You never were known for your patience. I still remember being your lookout while you opened all your Christmas presents and rewrapped them. I used to be terrified we were going to get caught, but you always said the risk was worth it.”
“I still say that.”
The risk is worth it. Was it, he wondered?
“What’s on your mind, Hunter?”
“Last night was kind of crazy.”
She got up, poured him a cup of coffee, grimacing at the smell, and brought it to him before rejoining him at the table.
“Thanks. Why do you brew this stuff if you can’t stand the smell of it?”
“My husband needs it to function, and I need him to function so I don’t have to.”
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“Gotcha.”
“Crazy how?” she asked, getting back to his initial statement.
“I worked late, and when I came out, Megan was there and she was crying.”
“Wait. Megan was where? At the store?”
“Sitting on the back steps.”
“In the dark? By herself?”
“Yeah. Nina and Brett are selling the diner and moving overseas so he can take a job teaching at a school in France. They’d just told Megan.”
“Oh damn. Wow. She took it hard, huh?”
Nodding, he said, “I talked her into letting me give her a ride and feed her dinner, which we did at my house.”
“You had her at your house?”
“Just long enough to eat some pizza and talk a little.” And to hug her, he thought, but didn’t say. That seemed too personal to share with anyone, even Hannah.
“Still. You had her at your house. That’s a big development.”
“She talked about moving away, finding a ‘real’ job and maybe going to college. She never got to do that because her parents died and everything got derailed.”
“I remember that. Such a sad time for them.”
“I can’t let her leave town, Hannah. What’ll I do if she leaves before … Well, before I get a chance with her?”
“Ah, so that’s why you look like you haven’t slept.”
He stood because he couldn’t remain seated any longer and contain the energy that zipped through him at lightning speed. The pot of coffee he’d consumed earlier only added to his edginess.
“How was I supposed to sleep when all I could think about was how I can convince her to stay?”
“Does she know how you feel about her?”
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“I told her I liked her. A lot. And that I have for some time.”
“You came right out and said that?”
“Yeah, I did. Was that the wrong thing to say?”
The last thing he expected Hannah to do was laugh, but she dissolved into uncontrollable giggles.
Infuriated and panic-stricken over the possibility that he might’ve done the wrong thing with Megan, Hunter propped his hands on his hips. “What the hell is so funny?”
“You are,” she said between deep breaths and more laughter. “I’ve never seen you so flustered over a woman before. It’s hilarious. You’re always so perfect and put together, and today you’re a hot mess. I love it.”
“Stop your laughing and tell me what to do, will you, please?”
Hannah took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Fight for her, Hunter. If she’s what you want, and I think she is, then make sure there’s no way she doesn’t know that.”
“How do I do that?”
“First of all, tell her in no uncertain terms that you will be seriously bummed if she moves away. Then ask her out. Take her somewhere amazing. Treat her like a queen. You know what you need to do.”
“She’s really upset about Nina leaving and her job and everything.”
“Then give her something else to think about. She’ll appreciate that.”
“You really think so?”
Hannah nodded. “It’s the right thing to do if you’re interested in her. I’ve never understood why you haven’t asked her out before now. It’s not like you’re an ugly troll or anything. Thankfully, you grew out of your troll phase, and you’re rather nice to look at these days.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Gee, thanks.”
“I think you’re gorgeous and wonderful and classy and charming and successful and smart and no woman will ever be worthy of you, in my humble opinion. You do know all that, don’t you?”
“Well, shit, no, I didn’t.” And she’d given him a lump in his throat the size of an orange by saying it.
She stood and came over to him, reaching up to put her hands on his shoulders. “Every bit of it is true. Any woman would be lucky to have you, and if she’s the one you want, then go get her.”
“It’s not that simple, Han.”
“Maybe it is.”
“Until very recently, she had her heart set on Will. Don’t forget that.”
“She knows as well as anyone that her interest in him is—and always was—futile.”
“She said as much last night. Even used the past tense to describe her crush on him.”
“So what’s stopping you from making a move?”
“I don’t know, but something is.”
“What’re you afraid of?”
Leave it to Hannah to ask the tough questions. “Trying and failing. It feels more significant with her for whatever reason.” He forced himself to look at her. “Lauren called me last night wanting to get together this weekend, and I told her I couldn’t see her anymore.”
“What did she say?”
“She cried.”
“Oh, yikes. So she was attached?”
“I guess, although I don’t see how she could be. I haven’t even seen her in a month or more.”
“She was probably holding out hope that your occasional thing would turn into more.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I never led her on, Han. I swear I didn’t.”
“I believe you.”
“She knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Okay, so you’ve ended it with her, and Megan said she no longer has feelings for Will. That leaves me to wonder—again—what’s standing in the way of you asking her out?”
“Nothing, I guess, except for this gigantic fear that she’ll say no again.”
“Wait, whoa! Again? You’ve asked her out before?”
“Once. Sort of.”
“Explain. Immediately.”
“Are you always this way or is it pregnancy hormones?”
“Always, as you well know.” She waved her hand, urging him to come clean.
“It was a while ago. Couple of months, I guess, when Will was in New York helping Cameron move. She asked me if it was true they were moving in together and I said it was, and she got really upset. I told her it might help if she went out with someone else to get her mind off him. And yes, I know how pathetic that was, so you don’t need to tell me. I suggested she might go out with me.”
“What did she say?” Hannah asked, riveted. “And why have you not told me this before?”
“I don’t tell you everything.”
“Since when do you not tell me everything?”
“Since you have stuff I don’t want to hear.”
“Fair enough,” she said with a laugh. “But you still haven’t told me what she said.”
“Something to the effect of how does going out with his brother help her to forget about Will.”
“Ouch.”
“Right? That hurt, and afterward, I started to feel like maybe it wasn’t going to happen with her no matter how badly I wanted it to.”
“Am I allowed to play devil’s advocate?”
“Why do you think I came here? I need you to tell me what to do.”
“Which I find funny since you’ve never needed me to tell you what to do with women before.”
“Because they never mattered as much as this one does.”
“Are you in love with her, Hunter?”
The question made him feel like he’d been electrocuted or something equally unpleasant. “I don’t know. How the hell am I supposed to know that when I’ve only ever hugged her once and—”
Hannah’s eyes got very large. “When did you hug her?”
“It might’ve happened last night. When she was at my house.”
“How am I supposed to work under these conditions when I’m only getting half the information?”
“Hannah … Please. Stop torturing me and tell me what to do.”
“You need to stop torturing yourself and go for it. Tell her you want her and make it happen. Be relentless the way you are in business. Give her no choice but to fall for you the way you’ve fallen for her.”
“What if she wants nothing to do with me? What if she’s making plans, right now, to move away from here?”
“She’s here today, and time’s a-wasting. The diner closes between two and four every day. Where are you going to be at two o’clock today?”
The thought of showing up at her work and making a stand paralyzed him, which wasn’t something he could recall ever happening before. He was known for being decisive and direct in his dealings with the people in his life—both personally and professionally. How was it possible that one woman could turn him into an impotent mute?
“Hunter. Answer me. Where are you going to be at two today?”
“At the diner.”
“And what are you going to say to her?”
“I’m going to tell her I’d like to take her out the next time she has a free night, preferably tonight.”
“That’s right.”
“And what will you say if she tells you she’s busy?”
“I’ll ask her when she will not be busy.”
“Good. See, you can do this.”
“What if I can’t? What if I look at her and nothing comes out, and she thinks I’m an idiot?”
She gave him a peculiar look and for a second he thought she might be about to puke again.
“What? Why’re you looking at me like that?”
“I’ve known you for thirty-five years, and I’ve never seen you like this. Ever. You’re always the picture of calm, cool competence. To see you all unglued over a woman, well … It’s different and probably long overdue.”
“Don’t get too excited yet. There’s still time for me to screw this up in any number of ways.”
“You’re not going to screw it up. It’s too important to you. Think of it like a business arrangement and treat it the way you would something for work.”
“Because there’s nothing more romantic than an accountant with debits and credits on his mind.”
Smiling, she hugged him. “Do me a favor and don’t mess this up. I’d hate to see you unhappy, and if you mess it up, you’ll be unhappy.”
Returning her embrace, he said, “I’ll try not to.”
