He shook his head. “We’re not making a whole lot of progress.”
“Maybe another training session tomorrow, since we don’t have work?” Hannah really liked the sweet pit bull and wanted to see her training succeed.
“That would be great. She needs it.” He smiled at her. “Guess we should get started on our plans for the facility.”
“Yes.” Hannah turned the screen so he could see it. “I’m going to set up a shared file so we can both add to it. Links, or receipts, or whatever.”
“Great.”
They made a list of steps and agreed they needed to visit at least one other training facility to get ideas. But just as they hit their stride, brainstorming ideas, the twins started pulling at them, babbling in a whiny way.
After her third attempt to suggest a plan of action, Hannah sighed and picked up Emmy. “This may have been a bad idea,” she said. “Maybe we should work at your place from here on out.”
Luke shook his head. “That might be worse,” he said. “Granted, we should do most of our work during the days, at Rescue Haven. But I can’t be mad at these little ones.” He grabbed a dishtowel and put it over his hand, like a puppet. “Right?” he said in a puppet voice to Addie. “It’s not your fault you’re babies!” He used the towel to tickle her hand.
She howled with laughter. “More!”
“I’ll take over in ten minutes,” Mom promised. “If I could just run upstairs and get their bath ready...”
“Go. That’s fine.” Luke waved her away. “Isn’t it?” he asked Hannah.
“If it’s okay with you,” she said. The truth was, it was kind of fun to have Luke here helping to entertain the twins. Most evenings, they got fretful at this time, and she and Mom scrambled to manage baths and evening routines.
If there was a man around to help raise them...yeah. She could definitely see the appeal.
But she was never going to have that. She was terminally awkward and had never had a successful date in her life. And she wasn’t going to pity herself for that. “How come you’re so good with babies?” she asked Luke, to change the subject.
He looked down at the table and rubbed the heel of his palm against his chest. “Oh, I’ve dated a few women with kids. Before...well, before I got a better idea about how things should be.”
“None of your own?” As soon as she said it, she clapped a hand over her mouth, causing Emmy to try to do the same. “Sorry. That was way too personal of a question.”
“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “I knew I wasn’t in a place to make a baby, in all kinds of ways. Babies need both parents.” He looked at the twins. “In an ideal world, that is.”
Addie got fussy then, and Luke carried her over to the sliding glass doors to look out, bouncing her a little. Emmy pointed. She wanted to go, too.
So Hannah carried her over as she struggled with her own conflicted feelings.
She’d made a promise to Marnie, and she took that seriously. Marnie wasn’t here to release her from it.
At the same time, she could see how great Luke would be as an uncle to these little girls. They needed all the adult support they could get.
It was an impossible situation.
“Hey,” he said, close to her ear. They were standing shoulder-to-shoulder, each with a twin. “I’m sorry I said that about both parents. The world isn’t ideal. You’re doing the best you can.”
“Thanks.” Their eyes met, held. She could smell his aftershave, something woodsy, mixing with the good scents from Mom’s cooking. She could see the deep mahogany-brown of his eyes. They were thoughtful eyes, more than she would have expected. Just like she wouldn’t have expected him to be so good with babies. Luke had a lot of layers.
His eyes flickered down to her lips, and she felt a happy shiver. Quickly, though, it was replaced by a tight, sick feeling.
She couldn’t go there. Not with Luke, not with anyone.
“Look, Addie’s flushed. She’s so tired.” Hannah sucked in a breath and stepped away. Her heart was racing. “Uh, I better take them upstairs. Do you mind if we put off the rest of our planning until tomorrow?”
“No problem.” His eyes narrowed a little.
If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he looked hurt. Was it because she’d backed away?
Unfortunately, he had looked like he knew she was attracted, too, which made sense. Luke was experienced.
Working closely together was going to be very, very dangerous.
* * *
The next day, Luke watched Hannah as she discussed the dog-training site they were visiting with one of the trainers who worked there. She was animated, waving her arms and smiling, a woman in love with her work.
Different from how she’d looked last night. Then, there’d been a flash of interest, maybe even attraction.
Or maybe he’d imagined it.
He was actually surprised she’d wanted to get together with him today, after the way she’d skittered off last night. It had bothered him as he’d let himself out and walked through the trees to his father’s place.
When he’d gone inside, seen the piles of dirty dishes and empty beer cans that meant Dad had gone on another bender, he’d felt like his own identity was a weight on his shoulders. When he contrasted their kitchen to Hannah’s, when he contrasted his family to hers...well, no wonder she’d backed away from him like he carried a deadly disease.
But she’d sent a friendly text, apologizing for bailing out of their work session and not seeing him out, and suggested that they meet today to look at a dog-training facility. They planned to swing by a big-box store on the way home to price supplies, and if they had the energy, to squeeze in a lesson for Goldie afterward.
A dog jumped over bars and through tunnels on the other side of the ring, a woman running along beside, shouting encouragement. The space was huge, clean and airy, and not at all what they’d be able to build in the old barn. Still, Hannah had been right to insist that they come here and look around, just to get an idea of what they were going for.
Hannah was driven, businesslike and efficient. Combine all of those qualities with pretty and smart, and she was a great package. He couldn’t really fathom why she wasn’t married or at least dating someone.
Then again, she’d talked about an issue she had with dating, something from her past. If some guy had hurt Hannah—sweet, innocent Hannah—Luke would like to have a word with him. A strong word.
“Luke? What do you think?” Hannah was looking at him, her head tilted to one side, a pair of lines between her eyebrows. It might not be the first time she’d asked the question.
“Sorry, daydreaming,” he said, and refocused on the floor covering and the subfloor, the way the place was ventilated so it didn’t hold doggy odors. They walked across the artificial grass to where the woman and dog had been running around, and the trainer explained that the equipment was for a dog sport called agility.
That there were even dog sports was news to Luke, but he studied the structures, a double-sided ramp and a bar that could be moved to different heights, a sort of teeter-totter, and the rubbery tunnels for dogs to run through.
“It’s all pretty expensive if you order it online,” the trainer said, “but I can hook you up with a local distributor who has some used stuff.”
“I could build it.” Luke studied the underside of the ramp, scooted out and walked over to the teeter-totter. “None of this is complicated, and we probably have half the materials already in the barn. There’s a lot of lumber there.”
“That would be perfect, especially since we’re on such a tight budget!” Hannah smiled and clapped her hands a little. “Thank you!”
“I’m jealous,” the trainer said. “I wish I had a good handyman.” She studied Luke with frank admiration, but it was a different type of admiration than what Hannah was exhibiting. The tr
ainer, Celia, was closer to Luke’s age, curvy and cute. She was his type, or at least, his old type.
“Let me give you my number in case you have any questions,” she said, scribbling on a business card and handing it, not to Hannah, but to Luke.
Hannah raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“In fact,” Celia said, pushing it, “do you ever go to Rodney’s Grille? It’s a country-western place just off 80. If you’d want to meet me there sometime...” She trailed off and gave him a look of frank, womanly challenge.
There had been a time, not that long ago, when Luke would have taken her up on her offer. She looked like she liked to have fun, and he’d never minded a woman being a little forward.
Now, though... He glanced at Hannah and stepped a little closer to her. “That’s a nice offer,” he said, “but we’re going to be pretty busy working on the new site.”
Celia’s eyes flickered from Luke to Hannah and back again. “Oooh, well, okay,” she said. Her voice sounded skeptical. “If you change your mind, you have my number.”
“Thanks.”
“Thanks for your help,” Hannah added.
Out in the car, she smacked him on the arm. “She was hitting on you and you put her down!”
“Maybe,” he said. “Best not to get started if you don’t intend to go forward.” And as he drove them back toward Bethlehem Springs, he tried to keep that sage bit of advice in his mind.
He’d do well to apply that to his current situation, not only with the other dog trainer, but also with Hannah. The temptation to ask her out, maybe even to Rodney’s Grille for some country dancing, was strong in him. But it would never work long-term, because he was a Hutchenson. Best, then, not to start at all.
Chapter Six
On Thanksgiving morning, Hannah kept herself as busy as she could, which wasn’t hard. She bundled up the twins and took them outside to run off some energy in the icy air. Emmy got fascinated with the frost on the grass, crawling around to examine it. Addie climbed the little plastic play structure’s ladder and slid down the slide, over and over again.
Once they seemed sufficiently tired, Hannah took them inside and sat them in a corner of the kitchen, where Emmy stacked plastic blocks and Addie played with a baby doll. That gave Hannah the opportunity to peel potatoes and chop celery, helping Mom prepare for the midafternoon Thanksgiving dinner.
Staying busy helped her forget things she didn’t want to think about, like Luke Hutchenson. They’d had such a good time yesterday, laughing together and planning and driving all over after the training-facility visit, hunting down the supplies they’d need to get started. Luke was fun—take-charge when he needed to be, easygoing the rest of the time. She’d forgotten her usual nerves around attractive men and relaxed into the companionship, and it had thawed something inside her she hadn’t known was frozen.
She hadn’t thawed quite enough to invite Luke and his dad to dinner, though, and it was bothering her.
Even more than Luke, she was thinking about her sister. Although Marnie hadn’t come home for Thanksgiving since she’d moved to Indianapolis, before that, she’d almost always showed up for Thanksgiving dinner with a store-bought relish tray or a bag of ingredients for green-bean casserole, apologizing for the fact that she hadn’t come earlier to help, and joking around until everyone forgave her.
Thanksgiving wasn’t the same without her. More organized, maybe, but less fun, less colorful, less spontaneous.
Hannah checked on the twins, giving them extra kisses on the tops of their curly blond heads. It didn’t do much good to grieve over their mother when the current goal was to take good care of these little ones. Marnie should have prioritized that herself, but she hadn’t. So Hannah pressed her lips together and tried to focus on the smell of onions and celery sautéed in butter, and the turkey just starting to send its fabulous aroma through the house.
Half an hour later, car doors slammed outside, and then the back door opened. “We’re here!” Samantha called out, unnecessarily. You couldn’t have missed their arrival, given she’d brought not only Corbin, but also Mikey and their dog, Boomer.
Addie and Emmy got very excited, although also a little scared, when the big black dog came over and sniffed at them.
Mikey, full of his important role as the older cousin, explained that Boomer wasn’t dangerous, but that they should touch him gently under the chin and shouldn’t pull on his abundant black coat.
Boomer flopped down beside the girls, to their shrieking delight.
“Girls,” Mom said, “you’re going to scare the dog! Quiet down.”
“It’s not a problem,” Samantha said. “He’s deaf, remember? Now, where can I put the green-bean casserole?”
“You brought Marnie’s dish!” Hannah teared up as she took the casserole and set it in the refrigerator.
“Yeah.” Samantha folded Mom into a hug, both of them shiny-eyed.
Hannah took everyone’s coats, and then she and Samantha discussed Rescue Haven as they set the table.
“Getting the training center will be a good opportunity for you, right?” Samantha asked.
“Huge.” Hannah carefully lined up Mom’s harvest-themed napkins, the same ones they’d used every Thanksgiving for as long as she could remember. “Right now, I’m my own business, which means I have to pay for my own insurance, do my own billing, everything. Having a full-time job with benefits would let me focus on what I love—training dogs. And I could be more available for the twins.”
“We just have to make it happen, then.” Samantha gave a decisive nod. “Anything I can do to help, let me know.”
“Believe me, being able to put Addie and Emmy into the Learn-and-Play, knowing you’re there looking after them... I’m incredibly grateful.”
“Don’t forget to fill the salt-and-pepper shakers,” Mom called. So Hannah looked through Mom’s collection until she found the turkey ones. They went into the kitchen to fill them.
All of a sudden, Samantha clapped her hand to her forehead. “Oh, I wonder what Luke and his father are doing for Thanksgiving?”
“I didn’t even think of that,” Mom said. “My hospitality has gone right out of my head with...everything. It’s probably too late to invite them, isn’t it?”
Looking from Mom’s worried face to Samantha’s, Hannah felt a stab of guilt. She’d thought of inviting Luke, had had the opportunity both yesterday and the day before, but she hadn’t done it.
For good reason. They can’t know the truth about the twins.
But having them here for the holiday wouldn’t make them any more likely to find out, would it?
Mom opened the oven to slide in a dish of sweet potatoes, and the wonderful aroma of roasted turkey wafted out. Someone turned on a country music station, and it played low beneath the buzz of conversation and laughter.
Meanwhile, Luke was next door, alone, with his ill, difficult father.
It wasn’t right. She had to fix it. “I’ll invite them,” Hannah said, grabbing her coat from the hook by the door.
Five minutes later, she knocked timidly on the door of Luke’s place.
Goldie started barking, and then Luke’s father answered. He was wearing an undershirt and ragged pants, and he was barefoot. And he didn’t look friendly. “What?” he asked through the screen door.
“Hi, um, happy Thanksgiving!” A blast of cold wind swept her hair across her face, and she pushed it back behind her ear, shivering.
He just looked at her. Goldie let out another bark and then settled into tail-wagging.
“Um, Mom and I were wondering if you and Luke might want to come over for dinner. We’ve got a huge turkey, and we’d love to have some help eating it.”
Luke’s father blew out a puff of air and looked off to the side.
“If you don’t want to or you have other plans, it’s fine. Y
ou probably do have other plans.” She was babbling.
Luke came around the side of the house. He was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, and even in the cold air, it looked like he was sweating. Hannah’s throat went dry. He’d been attractive playing with the babies the other day, but now...
“Hey, Hannah,” he said. “Sorry, I was chopping wood and didn’t hear you. What’s up?”
Hannah felt too breathless to speak. Luke as lumberjack claimed all of her mental energy.
“We got us an invite to a turkey dinner,” Luke’s father said.
Hannah pulled her eyes away from him and nodded. “We’d love to have you come. Dinner’s at three, but you could come anytime. Only thing is, Goldie would have to stay home, because we’ve got another big dog over there today.”
Luke looked at his father. “Want to go?”
The older man shrugged. “Beats the leftover pizza we’ve got in the refrigerator.”
“Sure does.” Luke looked at Hannah, tilting his head a little. “If you’re sure, we’ll get cleaned up and see you soon.”
“Great!” Was it, though? She gave an awkward little wave and scurried away.
* * *
Dinner was like something out of a feel-good movie, and Luke loved it.
Hannah and her mom had put together a couple of tables to make one long one, and November sunshine came in through tall, old-fashioned windows. Hannah and Samantha put the twins into side-by-side high chairs with helpful suggestions from Samantha’s son, Mikey. Once she got Emmy settled, Hannah ruffled Mikey’s hair, laughing, and Luke’s heart warmed.
“Come carry this turkey, Luke, Corbin, would you?” Hannah’s mom called. “And then you can carve.” The two of them hurried into the steamy kitchen and brought the giant, fragrant, golden-brown turkey to the table. Luke had carved a few birds in his day, but Corbin’s scientific approach was decidedly superior. So Luke dropped back and made faces at Addie and Emmy, trying to keep them entertained until everyone could get to the table.
Finding a Christmas Home Page 6
