“Wouldn’t that be nice?” her mom asked.
Hannah laid down on the couch and curled into a ball. “Mom, I don’t know why you would think that. You know he treated me like crap. You know it was so bad I left him to live in my car. Why would you think it would be nice if he showed up where I work?”
“You should see how his face lights up when he talks about you. He said he really misses you. Why would he lie? I don’t understand why you won’t give him another try.”
Hannah scoffed. The only benefit of the enraging things her mother was saying was that it was pissing her off. Being mad was so much better than the dread making her want to throw up. Where was Chad right now? She didn’t want to think about it, so she pushed that thought out of her mind and concentrated on her mother, who was taking a walk down memory lane.
“Hun, I will never forget the night you said to me you had met the man you were going to marry. You were just like me—we both met the perfect man when we were twenty-two.”
With that remark, Hannah had enough. Her mother lived in a completely different reality. Hannah couldn’t remember ever saying Chad was the man she was going to marry, but she had been deliriously naïve back then. “I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Any chance you’re coming home for Christmas this year?”
Hannah wanted to scream into the phone, “It’s not my home anymore!” but that would have only prolonged the conversation.
“I don’t know,” she fibbed, because she knew damn well she would not spend Christmas with her parents. She’d rather make another inedible pot roast and hang out with her cat.
“Well, don’t be a stranger, and if you see Chad, give him our love!”
Hannah gagged as she clicked off the call. What did she do to deserve such traitorous parents? She wished she could believe that it was just the booze talking, but it wasn’t. Her parents, for whatever reason, were blinded by Chad and took his word over their own daughter’s. “Freaking misogyny,” Hannah said to the room. Now how was she going to deal with it if Chad showed up at New Age Stones and Witch Crafts? And why was he lookingfor her now? She had been free of him for two years. “Ha!” she shouted. What a fool she had been to think she was free of him.
She went to the kitchen and banged stuff around. She could use a drink right now. Then she sighed. That was the road that led to ruin. But the anxiety was there, making her mouth dry and causing her heart to race. Hannah longed to have Kate’s strong arms around her. Today would have been much better if they’d been together, at least for Hannah. Apparently, Kate didn’t share this opinion, or she would have invited Hannah to her parents’ house. Her heart fell into her queasy stomach.
Hannah walked behind the kitchen counter and looked for everything she needed to make a cup of tea. She opened her tea tin; it still had enough cinnamon chai rooibos to make a cup. As it steeped, she couldn’t stop thinking about Chad. What was she going to do if he showed up in Marley Creek?
When the timer went off after three minutes, letting her know the tea was ready to drink, she removed the leaves and added a splash of milk to the cup. She turned on the twinkling lights she’d hung all around her living space. Inhaling the rich cinnamon brew helped some of her anxiety dissipate. It had been a few days since she’d posted on her Maxim account, so she arranged the tea next to her tarot cards, fanned out across the red and white table runner. A candle burned, filling the air with the scent of balsam fir. She clicked the red button to record a few seconds of video, and then she added the jazz song “Christmas is Coming.” Once that was done and posted, she picked up her cards. As she gathered them together, one card fell out and landed face up on the table. It was the Knight of Swords.
Her stomach wobbled again. Of all the cards to reveal itself tonight, why did it have to be the one that portended that something dangerous and violent was imminent? Well, that was just great. She tried to reason with herself. She hadn’t been doing a reading, so the card popping up probably didn’t meananything. Nope, she couldn’t fool herself. It was a sign, and the only conclusion she could reach was that Chad was about to crash into her life. The clock on her stove said it was after seven p.m. It was late enough that she felt okay calling Brandee on the holiday. She really needed to talk to her best friend now.
When she unlocked her phone, she saw a notification for a new text.
Unknown Number
Hey, Babe, I can’t believe your parents don’t know your address. No worries! I know where to find you.
Hannah forced herself to reread the text, hoping she’d hallucinated it. But it was there, and she hadn’t misread anything. Acid washed out of her stomach, and she rushed over to the sink. She just made it. Once the contents of her stomach were rinsed down the drain, Hannah deleted the text and blocked the number. Her hands were shaking as she pulled up Brandee’s contact information and called her. She paced around her place, just trying to stay in her own skin as the phone rang. Even though it was completely illogical, she suddenly thought,What if he’s outside right now watching me?Her mom would say she was being hysterical and acting like Chad was the boogeyman. But for Hannah, that’s exactly who he was! She peeked out the window, and her shoulders dropped in relief. There were no cars parked on the street in front of her apartment.
“Hey, there!”
Brandee spoke into Hannah’s ear, and Hannah startled. She’d forgotten she was on the phone. “Sorry to call you, I’m sure you are busy,” Hannah said.
“It’s fine. We’re just sitting around here watching a movie Chris picked out. What’s going on? Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”
A sob escaped Hannah.
“Oh my God, Hannah, are you okay? Where are you?”
“I’m at home. It’s just been a terrible day. First my pot roast was so chewy I could hardly cut it, and then I made the mistake of talking to my mom.”
“I’m coming over,” Brandee pronounced.
“I didn’t even tell you the worst part yet.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Hannah opened her door to a bundled-up Brandee bearing food. Brandee gave Hannah a hug. She smelled of the promise of snow. “It’s cold out there, huh?” Hannah said.
“Chris saw a few snowflakes as I was leaving, and he wanted to go build a snowman.”
