“Did you love him?”
Hanna didn’t hesitate. “No, and despite what everyone is going to say when they find out, I wasn’t looking to be the next Mrs. Tanner.”
“But you still slept with a rich, old guy because he gave you stuff.” Jeremy sounded repulsed.
I could understand why. Xavier had to be, what, sixty back then? Almost sixty? Hanna, with her expressive face and big doe eyes, had been toned and pretty. Still was. The idea of her having sex with Xavier, even understanding themissing fatherangle, made my stomach heave.
“That’s it, right?” Jeremy asked.
“Hey.” He likely was too angry to see Hanna’s broken expression. I rushed to cool things down a bit. “Don’t do that to her.”
Jeremy’s frown demanded I back down. “Are you two friends now?”
No, but that didn’t mean I wanted to watch Hanna get emotionally pummeled by the person she loved and sacrificed so much for. “You don’t want to say something you can’t take back.”
He pulled away from Hanna. “I’m leaving.”
“No!” She ran in front of him, blocking the door before he could storm out. “I know you’re furious with me for not telling you the truth, and you don’t understand my choices. I barely do, so I get it. But we need to talk this out.”
He refused to look at her. “I begged you for years and you wouldn’t tell me the truth. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say now.”
“Okay, but driving in this state, when you’re pissed off, is dangerous.” Hanna didn’t relinquish her position at the door. “Stay. I’ll leave you alone. We won’t talk until you’re ready.”
“I’m not sleeping here.”
The kid lashed out, not caring if his strikes drew blood. Totally understandable. His world had been tipped upside down. Still, his anger was difficult to watch and to hear and he wasn’t my child. I couldn’t imagine the turmoil inside Hanna right now.
She inhaled as she engaged in an obvious internal battle to ratchet down the emotional furor. To not flinch. “I’ll sleep in my office downstairs. You can have the run of the house.”
“His house.”
“No.” The strength slipped back into Hanna’s tone. “This is our house.”
I hadn’t even thought about the potential financial arrangements. She owned the café and the building. This house. One day, not that long before the Tanners disappeared, Victoria raged on about Patrick usingtheirmoney on other women. Isabel thought she meant Hanna but that never made any sense to me. Hanna worked her butt off and lived frugally. If she was getting money from either of the Tanner men back then it couldn’t have been much.
“Did you keep me from seeing him? Did he want to know me?”
Oh, Jeremy.This poor kid. Another example of Xavier Tanner roadkill.
Hanna’s mouth opened. Whatever answer she might have had died before she could say the words.
Jeremy shook his head. “Forget it. I wouldn’t believe whatever you have to say right now.”
This was brutal. Necessary for them to move forward, probably, but neither of them could see that right now. “Maybe we should—”
“I’m going downstairs.” He slipped his keys out of his pocket. “Here. This is to my car. I’m not running away. That’s your thing.”
Hanna took the key fob. “I had my reasons. Reasons you’re old enough to know now.”
“Not because you want to tell me. It’s because you have to tell me. Because something happened today with the attorney that changed everything.” He shook his head. “And that sucks.”
He reached around her for the doorknob. After a second ofhesitation, she moved to the side and let him go. He had the door opened and slammed behind him within seconds. I could hear his stomping footsteps on the stairs outside. That was the only sound in the building.
Hanna rubbed her hand over her chest, as if she could hold back the pain threatening to swamp her. “Feel free to gloat.”
Not going to happen. “I’m sorry.”
Her cell dinged. She grabbed it and stared at the screen. “It’s the security app for the café. Half the time he deactivates the alarm so he can go in and out without trouble. Looks like he didn’t this time. Not yet.”
