Brandee nodded. “Contact her right away. Make sure she is in and I’ll set up a group chat. If Chad shows up and comes near Hannah, we’ll put it in the group chat and run him out of town.”
Kate went to her contacts and sent a text to Sadie. Then Brandee handed Kate her phone. “Put your contact info in. I’ll set up the chat.”
The rain had lightened up. “We’d better get going,” Zaina said.
Brandee’s brows were still lowered, but at least she’d stopped shooting daggers at Kate with her eyes. “Thanks for your help. You improved the plan. But remember, the reason we are here is because you are working here. That’s the only reason we need you. Period.”
The hostility radiated off Brandee and sapped Kate of all the energy she had. “Got it,” she said quietly. “Once I talk to Sadie, I’ll add her to the group chat.”
“I’m still hopeful that Chad won’t come here, but if he does, thanks for helping Hannah,” Zaina said.
“Always,” Kate said. Her chest ached as the word reverberated throughout her. She missed Hannah so damn much. Brandee, Zaina, and Cathy were right. She was a fool.
The two women walked away. Kate slumped back down behind the counter. Now that she was finally ready to admit it, life without Hannah was worse than a potential future breakup. How could she win her back? Her phone rang, and it was Sadie. First things first, Kate needed to make sure Hannah was safe.
Chapter Thirty-two
Hannah let out a squeak when she opened day fourteen on her Advent calendar. A gorgeous rose quartz the size of a quarter popped out and onto her palm. It was exactly what she needed. Emotional healing. It had been just over two weeks since Chad had contacted her, saying he was going to show up. He hadn’t. She’d just started letting herself believe he was just fucking with her, and he had no intention of showing up in Marley Creek. He was probably back home and not even in the state of Illinois.
However, anytime she started to get comfortable with the idea that Chad wasn’t going to pop up in her life, she remembered all the times he’d messed up the friendships she’d tried to make or any decent job that she’d had. He’d burned down all her bridges. Would he come to Marley Creek and do the same? Or was he just stringing her along?
Sometimes when they were together, she’d wish he’d just stick with physically hurting her. Instead, he’d thrived on also controlling her. She knew he’d taken special glee in causingher to lose jobs. He had even messaged the few friends she’d managed to hang on to, causing them to break off contact with her. Hannah had even tried to buy a burner phone so she could get around his control. But he’d found it, and when he did, it was the only time she’d ever felt truly afraid for her life. That’s when she’d decided she’d rather leave with just her car and only the money she’d gotten from her grandmother for her birthday.
When she’d driven into Marley Creek and seen Main Street lined with cute shops with punny names and the historic train station in the center of town, she’d felt like she’d driven onto the set of a Hallmark movie. She recalled the feeling of rightness she’d felt, and when she’d gotten a job at Diamond’s Grocery Store the next day, she knew this was going to be her home.
“This is my town,” she told Smoky as she popped open a can of cat food and plopped it into his bowl. If only cat food smelled better. That was one of the nice things about Kate’s cat treats; she used people-grade food, and the treats smelled better. Would Kate think Hannah was just desperate to see her if she stopped and bought some cat treats? Hannah sat down on her couch with a cup of coffee. She decided she didn’t really care if Kate assumed Hannah had another motive besides getting Smoky tasty treats. There was only one way to find out if they might be able to be friends after Kate had ended things, and that was if they saw each other.
With that decision made, Hannah got ready to go to work at the Mistletoe Market. As had become her daily practice, she checked to make sure the smart doorbell was working and that she could also see the street view from the camera’s app on her phone. Nothing was happening. “It’s time to stop living in fear. He just sent the texts to mess with me. I need to move on with my life.” Smoky licked his paw in response.
Sundays at the market were the busiest day of the week. Every Sunday, kids from one of the local schools performedthere. Today, the local community college was doing a shortened versionof A Christmas Carol. One of Zaina’s part-timers had called off today with a cold, so she’d be at the market by herself. A week ago, she’d have been nervous, turning around to glance over her shoulder constantly in case Chad showed up. But he hadn’t messaged her for a few days now. Hannah assumed he’d gotten bored with trying to torture her from afar–or he’d met someone new. Whatever the case was, she was just happy not to hear from him.
She knew it was time for theA Christmas Carolperformance when foot traffic dwindled to nothing. Hannah pulled out her tarot cards and started shuffling. There were only ten days left of the market and ten days left to find a gift for Brandee and Luc. Brandee had said not to get her anything and just focus on Chris. She was not going to listen to that. The Mistletoe Market had a ton of gift options; Hannah just needed to narrow down her list. While she was happy for the invitation to celebrate Christmas Day with Brandee, Chris, and Luc’s family, she still wished she was spending it with Kate, even if was just her, Kate, and Smoky eating carryout from Fuji-Yummy. She continued to shuffle the cards; usually she stopped herself from imagining life with Kate, but today she wanted to daydream, even if it made her sad.
Snick, snick, snick, she shuffled the cards and thought about Christmas with ate. They’d have matching stockings, of course. And Hannah would fill Kate’s with the little Belgian chocolates in the shape of nutcrackers. Hannah couldn’t even say why exactly, but she knew Kate would love them. She’d also get Kate the stunning gold hoops she’d passed every day during the market. The earrings would stand out with Kate’s short hair. And she might even get herself a matching pair in silver. With these thoughts, she lost herself to continue spinning the dream of Christmas with Kate. Shuffling the cards and zoning out, shewas so relaxed she wished she could go to the back of the hut and take a nap.
A throat cleared behind her. Hannah froze, and the blood in her veins turned to ice. The tarot deck fell to the ground. The scent of cologne wafted to her, and her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. She knew the sound of that throat clear. She used to live in a house where that cologne permeated the bathroom daily. Her daydream turned to dust as she slowly turned. There he was. His cheeks were ruddy above his new beard. She was very pleased to see that his hairline had receded further in the two-plus years since she’d seen him. Sweat broke out under her arms. Hannah considered making a run for it. But where would she go?
“You never returned my messages, so I had to come here,” Chad said with a smirk. Hannah wanted to punch the smirk off his face. Too bad she was too scared to do that. She was in a state of flight or freeze. Today she would have given anything to fight. Hannah’s face paled further. What the fuck could she even say? Should she be nice and hope that she could talk him into leaving her alone, or should she tell him how she really felt? Her stomach churned. She needed to keep it together, but she was getting tunnel vision. The last thing she needed right now was to have a panic attack. Chad was leaning on the counter right now.
“Come on, babe. I came all this way to see you. Get over here so I can give you a hug.”
Hannah cowered.
“Do you want me to hop over the counter? Why aren’t you happy to see me? I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for weeks. Your mom told me how much you missed me.”
Chad didn’t realize it, but mentioning her traitorous mother snapped her out of her stupor. She walked around the counter toward Chad. Before she could punch him in the gut like she’d dreamed of doing on many an occasion, he pulled her into a hug.His breath was hot on her already-red ear. “God, I missed you. You’ve been a naughty, naughty girl.” She could feel his erection through his blue jeans, and she shivered with disgust. “Yeah, babe. I know you like it.”
Hannah squirmed, and thankfully, he released her.
“You look fucking awesome, babe!”
Hannah looked around, everyone was still atA Christmas Carol. She began breathing shallowly. “Chad, don’t you need to go back home? I’m sure they are missing you. You don’t want to stay here. Besides, I’m too old for you, right? Remember, you said women over twenty-five are past their peak?”
“Babe, now you’re just being silly. I don’t want to stay here–I want you to come home with me.”
“T-this is my home,” Hannah said. She wished she had her keychain with the mace in her pocket. Instead, the mace was in her purse, which was under the counter. It might as well have been in her car.
“No, your home is with me.” His face twisted, and the handsome smile he wore to the world was gone, replaced with flat brown eyes and a face that had seen too much drinking.
