“What happened?”
“Hannah, that’s not really for a kid to worry?—”
“Ryder, please.” God, she even sounded like Erin. “I’verecently learned that everyone I know has been lying to me my entire life. I didn’t come here to take anything from you; I don’t want money, I don’t want to stay with you. I just need someone to be honest with me. Please.”
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Once I was centered, I drained the rest of my scotch and set the glass down on the table. “Fine,” I relented, “but the second I’m done talking, we call your parents.”
Hannah paled. “‘We?’”
“Yes, ‘we.’ I’m in this with you now.”
I waited for her to nod before I stood and started pacing again. I hadn’t thought of Erin in years, and I wasn’t sure where I should start.
“I was head over heels for your mom.” My heart warmed at the memory of my first love. “We dated for most of our senior year, went to homecoming and prom together, got into the same college. We had this whole plan, but the night before we left, I chickened out. I suddenly had this urge to… I don’t even know. But what Ididknow was that I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want college.”
“So you ended things?” Hannah drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.
“Not exactly. I wanted to stay together. I was willing to try long-distance.” I grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch, shaking it out and offering it to her. She gratefully accepted it as I continued pacing. “Erin broke up with me. She wanted the college experience, and she decided that she would do it with or without me. She left for New York the next morning, and I never heard from her again.” I stopped, but Hannah remained silent, picking at a loose thread on the blanket. “Please say something,” I begged.
“We moved back to Salem when I was thirteen. Grandpa died, and Mom wanted to move back to take care of Grandma—she’s the one who told me your name. There’s always been this… tension. Conversations stopping when I walk into a room, people looking at me funny.” She laughed nervously. “I think we’re the only two people who didn’t know.”
“Your dad knows?”
“I’m pretty sure he does. He was too calm about the birth certificate thing.”
“How did you find me?”
“A little digging and a lot of social media.”
I grunted. “Damn you, Angel.”
She gestured around the office. “This place is really popular, and you’re really good at what you do. I saw you in the background of a few TikTok posts throwing those bottles around like they’re nothing—will you show me how to do that?”
A strange, warm feeling came over me. No one had ever looked at me like that, or been soexcitedabout mixology. I smiled at her. “Sure. Assuming we survive this conversation with your mom.”
Hannah groaned and dropped her head back to the couch. “Do we have to call her?”
I echoed her sentiment, but stuck to my guns. “Let’s get it over with.”
I sat down next to her again as she took her phone out with shaking hands and dialed Erin’s number.
Chapter 5
Both Hannahand I needed a break after that phone call. Once I’d sobered up, I drove her back to where she and Kian were staying and took myself home. I stuck my key in the door, only to furrow my brow when it didn’t turn. I tried the knob, and the door swung open. I started when I spotted Raleigh chilling on my couch like he belonged there.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pretending like my heart hadn’t tried to jump out of my chest.
“Waiting for you.” He stood and went to the kitchen. “You gave me a key, remember?”
“For emergencies. Not so you can lie in wait to scare the shit out of me. Why aren’t you at the bar?”
“Jack and Angel have it covered.” He emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and two glasses in the other. “Are we drinking or what?”
I let out a sigh of relief. Raleigh knew me better than I knew myself sometimes, and in that moment I couldn’t be more grateful. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the idea of having adaughter. I’d talked to Erin long enough to assure her Hannah was safe, but I could still hear the icy tone in her voice.
I was fire to her ice, burning to unleash every question I had on her: When did she find out she was pregnant? Why didn’t she tell me? In seventeen years, she didn’t think to mention that I had a kid running around?
“Yeah, we’re drinking.”
