by Burton, Jaci
And who wouldn’t, having lived in those circumstances? She couldn’t imagine going to sleep night after night hungry, homeless, not knowing where your next meal would come from, or if you would ever be able to eat again. And being tossed away by your parents as if you never mattered. It made her love her mom even more fiercely, and determined to love her son the best she could.
She sighed.
“Okay, where to first?” Kal asked, oblivious to the deep emotions rolling through her. Obviously, the boys’ heavy questions hadn’t bothered him. But she still had to ask.
She put her hand on his arm. “Are you all right?”
He cocked his head to the side. “I’m fine. Why?”
“The boys. Their questions.”
“It’s all good. Thanks for asking, though.” He brushed his lips across hers, then immediately drew back, no doubt realizing what he’d done. They both looked at Oliver, who was staring at them.
“I’m thirsty,” Oliver said. “Can we get something to drink?”
“Sure,” Hannah said. “Drinks first, then we’ll go on a hayride.”
And later, when she had Oliver alone, she’d ask him how he felt about seeing her and Kal together.
He might just be seven years old, but he had feelings, and they were important to her.
The hayride was fun, and they were seated with eight other people, several of them kids, so Oliver and Jeff had a great time laughing and talking with the other kids. After that they had lunch, though the boys could hardly sit still since they knew the costume contest would be next and they could barely contain themselves, so it was like trying to eat a sandwich around a couple of bouncing balls.
“Oliver, Jeff, sit and eat your food or we won’t be able to make it in time,” Hannah said.
“But we want to go now,” Oliver said.
“It doesn’t start until two, and it’s only one thirty.”
“So how much more time is that?” Jeff asked.
“Thirty minutes. And it’s only a five-minute walk to the arena, so there’s plenty of time to make it there. Now sit and eat.”
They finally settled and found something to talk about while they ate their food.
“You’re good at that,” Kal said.
“At what?”
“Parenting.”
She laughed. “It doesn’t always work.”
“I don’t know. You’ve got that magic voice that makes people want to do what you ask them to do.”
She leaned into him. “Really? Does it work on you?”
“You bet your—” He looked over at the boys. “Anyway, you should try it on me sometime. Anytime.”
“So if I wanted the house painted, for instance . . .”
He cocked a brow. “Not exactly the direction I was headed.”
She gave him a small smile. “I know. Come on. Let’s get these boys into their costumes.”
On the way to the costume contest, Kal got a text from Jackson.
“Jackson and Becks are here. I let them know where we were headed so they could meet us there.”
“Oh, good.”
Kal went into the men’s restroom with Oliver and Jeff while they changed into their costumes. When they came out, Iron Man and Black Panther were outfitted in full glory.
“My two favorite superheroes, ready to head into action,” Kal said, toting both their backpacks.
The boys struck fighting poses.
“I feel protected already,” Hannah said.
“We’re ready to kick some butt,” Oliver said.
“I’m so glad we have superheroes here to protect us.” Jackson leveled a grin at the boys as he approached.
“Me, too,” Becks said. “Nice costumes.”
Hannah stood. “Oliver, Jeff, this is Kal’s brother, Jackson, and Becks, his fiancée.”
“What’s a fiancée?” Jeff asked.
“That means we’re getting married,” Becks said.
“Oh. I knew that.”
Hannah smiled.
“How come you’re brothers but you aren’t the same color?” Jeff asked.
“Because we were adopted together,” Kal said. “We didn’t have the same parents when we were born. But we grew up together. We lived together. That made us brothers.”
“That’s so cool,” Oliver said. “Does that mean Jeff and I can be brothers now?”
Hannah smiled. “Not exactly. You have me and Jeff has his parents. And the two of you don’t live together. But you can be best friends.”
Oliver scrunched his nose as he thought. “I guess that’s okay. Mom, can we go now? I don’t want to miss the contest.”
“Sure.”
They all made their way to the entry point near the stage. There were quite a few kids entering the contest, so Hannah, with Kal’s help, registered both Oliver and Jeff. They were led to a gate where they’d go up on stage to show off their costumes.
Everyone took a seat, and the parade of costumes began.
“There are some really cute kids up there,” Becks said. “Yours included, Hannah.”
“Thanks.” Becks was right about that. She enjoyed watching kids of all ages walk across the viewing area. She clapped for all of them.
In the end, no one was singled out as the best. All the kids received a bag of treats and an award badge, which Hannah appreciated. Best of all, both boys were thrilled and already digging into their bags, which meant the adults could wander over to the wine and beer area without the boys complaining about it.
Kal got a beer and Hannah a cup of wine, and then they walked around the vendor booths to see what was being offered. Nothing she really wanted, actually, but it was still fun to browse to see what crafty items people made. She sniffed some soaps, ogled quilts, ran her fingers over some amazing woodcrafts and pondered buying a pink flamingo for her mother’s front yard.
“Does she like flamingos?” Becks asked.
“She’s crazy about them. But shockingly, she doesn’t have one in her front yard. And this one is adorable.” It was made out of brass and wasn’t pink, which was what made it so unusual and unique. She knew her mother would love it.
“Grandma would like that one,” Oliver said. “We should buy it.”
“Oh, we should, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re right. We totally should.” She pointed to the flamingo and dug the money out of her purse. The vendor wrapped it up nicely for her and put it in a bag.
“Cute flamingo,” Kal said as they continued to walk along.
“I hadn’t intended to buy anything. But my mom will love it.”
She stopped at another vendor that sold spices. She sniffed a few of them and loved the way they smelled. She could already imagine the different dishes she could make with those spices.
But she’d already bought the flamingo, and since she was on a tight budget, she walked away without buying them, catching up to Jackson and Becks, who were with the boys. They’d found a pet adoption corral, which made her heart squeeze.
“Look at the dogs, Mom,” Oliver said, already heading toward a small brown-and-white mixed-breed dog. It was cute and furiously wagged its tail when Oliver went into the corral to play with it.
Jackson and Kal were in there as well, both of them squatting down to pet the dog.
This was not going to end well.
“Which one of them do you think will end up with the dog?” Becks asked.
“My mother would kill me if I came home with a dog,” Hannah said.
“She doesn’t like dogs?” Becks asked.
“I actually don’t know. I never had pets as a kid. My dad never wanted them around, for sure, and after he died, my mom just didn’t have the time to take care of them.”
“We would make friends with the dogs on the streets,” Becks said. “Feed them scraps of food if we had some. I always wanted one.”
Jackson looked up at her. “You did? Why didn’t you say so?”
Becks shrugged. “It’s nev
er come up.”
Jackson stood and came through the gate to walk over to Becks. “We should get a dog, babe.”
“Oh, it’s all right. I don’t need one.”
“Need isn’t what I’m talking about. What do you want?”
Hannah watched with interest as Jackson and Becks talked together about something as simple, and yet so complex, as adding a dog to their lives. It was something she and Landon had often argued about. He thought getting a puppy would be easy, when she’d been struggling with dealing with Landon’s job issues while working and raising Oliver, mostly by herself. After months of arguing, she’d told him if he brought a dog home, she was going to take Oliver and leave him and the dog and he’d never see them again. He’d finally let the topic drop, but she’d felt like the worst mother ever. But someone had to be the adult, and that responsibility had often fallen on her shoulders.
“Look how cute he is, Momma.”
She looked over and smiled at Oliver, who was playing with the same dog. “He’s very cute, Oliver. But we’re living with Grandma, and she doesn’t want a dog in her house. Maybe someday when we get our own house, okay?”
Her stomach twinged when she caught sight of Oliver’s crestfallen face.
“How about we do this another time?” Becks said to Jackson.
Hannah laid her hand on Becks’s arm. “It’s okay. You make your own decisions and don’t worry about Oliver. He’ll understand.”
Oliver got up and went over to the part of the corral where Becks and Jackson were looking at an adorable German shepherd mix who seemed to be a bundle of energy.
“He’s cute,” Oliver said, reaching out to pet the dog. “Do you like this one?”
“I do,” Becks said.
“You gonna take him home? I think he likes you.”
Becks looked at Jackson, who nodded. “I think we’ll apply to adopt him. If Kal’s okay to share the house with a dog.”
“Hey, I’m good,” Kal said.
“Did you hear that, Momma? They’re gonna adopt him.”
She was happy that Oliver wasn’t too upset about not being able to get his own dog today. But Jeff had a Labrador at his house that Oliver loved to play with, and maybe a surrogate dog was enough for him for now.
But someday? Someday she’d have her own place again. And then Oliver would have a dog of his own.
After Jackson and Becks filled out the application to adopt the dog, they wandered around and found a designated play area. The boys ran loose, and the rest of them sat at tables to watch them while drinking their wine and beer.
“I remember having that much energy,” Kal said as they watched the boys chase after each other, along with a few other kids they’d made friends with.
Jackson grinned. “You still have that much energy.”
“I don’t know about that.” He took a long swallow of his beer. “I’m pretty sure those two could wear me down in a hurry.”
“Trust me, they could,” Hannah said. “Oliver will go the entire day until he hits his bed at night.”
“Bet he sleeps well, though,” Becks said.
Hannah nodded. “Once he’s asleep, he’s out cold.”
Jackson turned to Becks. “Like you.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “At least I don’t fall asleep standing up leaning against a wall.”
“Really?” Hannah asked.
“In my defense, it was a long shift the day before and I hadn’t gotten any sleep. I was really tired.”
“He has been known to be talking one minute, asleep the next,” Kal said.
“I’ve never known anyone who could fall asleep mid-sentence,” Hannah said.
Becks held her hands out toward Jackson. “And now you do.”
“Whereas my brother here will just disappear in the middle of a party and go to bed.” Jackson shot a wry grin at Kal.
“Not true. I threw up first. Then I went to bed. That was one wild party.”
“You were the first to leave.”
“You kept feeding me shots of Fireball followed by tequila shooters.”
Hannah looked over at Becks, who shrugged. “Clearly before my time. And mixing those two sounds awful.”
“It was,” Kal said. “Group of firefighters went out one night, and we all decided to do shots.”
“Only the rest of us were smart enough not to mix our alcohol.”
Kal glared at Jackson. “Hey. I was the youngest in the group.”
“And the dumbest,” Jackson added. “When we came back to our house, we kept drinking. Only the rest of us switched to beer. Not my brother, though.”
Kal shrugged. “I was wasted by then. What did I know?”
Hannah grasped his arm. “Fireball and tequila, Kal?”
“Let’s just say it was a painful lesson learned, and one I never repeated.”
Hannah’s stomach rolled just thinking about it.
“I only overindulged once,” Becks said. “Up all night sick was enough for me. I’ve never done it again.”
“Same,” Hannah said. “There’s nothing like waking up in the morning, sick and still drunk, to cure you of ever wanting to do it again.”
Becks’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Right? It’s such an awful feeling.”
Suddenly, Hannah wasn’t in the mood to drink wine any longer. Maybe it was the memory of overindulging, or maybe the way the weather had warmed up today. Either way, she finished her glass, then went to get herself some water, along with some for Oliver and Jeff.
When the boys finished playing, they headed over to the pumpkin patch, wandered around in there, then each boy chose a pumpkin to take home.
“Do you want to come over for dinner?” Becks asked. “I think we’re going to toss some skewers of chicken on the grill, along with some veggies.”
That did sound good. “I have to take Oliver and Jeff home, and I’m not sure if my mom is back yet. Let me check with her.”
“Sure.”
She texted her mother, who was home and fixing dinner. Hannah asked if it would be all right if she dropped Oliver with her and went out for dinner. Her mother said it was fine with her.
“What would you like us to pick up?” Hannah asked as they made their way to the parking lot.
“I think we have everything we need at the house already, Hannah, but thanks.”
Hannah thought this would just be a one-off at the festival with the kids, but now her day with Kal was going to go longer.
She had to admit, she was excited about that, because now she’d get some more time with him.
Alone. Without kids. And that sounded fun.
CHAPTER 18
THEY SAID THEIR GOODBYES, AND KAL DROVE HANNAH and the boys home. She thought maybe Oliver would be upset about not being able to go with her to Kal’s house, but he said goodbye to Jeff outside, then dashed into the house with his pumpkin and started talking all about his day to Hannah’s mom.
“When can we decorate the pumpkin, Momma?” Oliver asked.
“We’ll do that tomorrow after school. Right now you need to go wash your hands because they’re filthy.”
“I got dirty today, Grandma,” he said with a wide grin.
“You definitely did.”
“We’ll be leaving, but I’ll be back later,” Hannah said.
Oliver waved as he headed down the hall. “Bye, Momma. Bye, Kal. Today was so much fun! Thanks!”
“See ya, buddy,” Kal said.
Her mother looked at her and Kal. “Seems like he had a good time.”
“He did. Are you sure you don’t mind watching him?”
“He lives here, Hannah, so get over it and quit worrying about asking me to watch him. He’s my grandson. I love every minute I spend with him.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mom.” She started to turn away, then stopped. “Oh. How was brunch today?”
Her mother gave her a half smile. “Brunch was very good.”
Hannah waited for more details, but it was obvious
her mom wasn’t going to divulge information about the mystery man.
So disappointing. “You’re not going to tell me anything?”
“Nothing to tell . . . yet. It was nice. Now go have dinner with your boyfriend.”
She cringed at the word boyfriend, but Kal laughed and slipped his arm around her waist, so it obviously didn’t bother him.
“Thanks, Paige,” Kal said. “See you later.”
“Bye, Mom.”
Once in the truck on the way to Kal’s house, he asked, “So she won’t divulge the goods on the mystery date, huh?”
Hannah shook her head. “Nope. Not a word.”
“Huh.” He turned onto the highway and sped up to merge with traffic. “Maybe it’s new so she doesn’t want to say any more about him in case it doesn’t work out.”
“That could be. She hasn’t dated much since my dad died. She’s never had a serious relationship since my dad, as far as I know.”
“She loved your dad. I imagine it’s been hard for her to meet people.”
“For her it has been.”
“But she is getting out there now, so it’s a good thing, right?”
She looked over at him. “It’s a very good thing. I’ve been encouraging her to have a relationship for years. She just hasn’t seemed interested.”
“Or maybe the right man hadn’t come along yet.”
“Maybe.” She wanted her mom to be happy. If that meant she was alone, that was fine. But alone was lonely. Hannah knew that since her divorce.
Of course, Hannah didn’t need a man in her life. She had her friends, her family, her work and Oliver. She was plenty busy. Fulfilled. More or less.
But now, being with Kal made her realize how much she’d missed dating. Just hanging out and having fun and sharing her life with someone.
And sex. The sex part was definitely a good time. She wanted a lot more of that, especially with Kal.
“Hey, can we stop at the grocery store before we go to your place?” Hannah asked.
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I know Becks said not to bring anything, but I want to make a watermelon salsa.”
“Okay, now I’m hungry.”
