The realization hits me harder than I expected.
Thomas sits down on an empty couch, pulling me down next to him. I sit on the couch beside him, wanting so badly to curl up into his body, but I don’t. I sit straight, only holding his hand as I take in all of these people. Marley and Beau are in the corner playing with their twins, Fallon and Jason sit side by side on the floor against the other couch, and everyone relaxes into easy conversation. The focus isn’t all on me, and for that, I appreciate them. Perhaps Thomas warned them about my social anxiety, or maybe they don’t feel the need to interrogate me, but it’s nice. I feel like I can slip into the conversations as they happen, and not feel pressured to be involved or come up with answers on the spot.
Everyone chats for a bit, every so often asking Thomas questions about our time away. He deflects to me a few times for answers, including me in the conversation, but otherwise, I stay quiet.
Fifteen minutes later, a timer goes off, and Nikki and Richard head into the kitchen, the two young girls who I’ve figured out are Fallon and Jason’s daughters, Presley and Lennie, following. They call out to us and everyone starts to shuffle into the dining room. Thomas holds me behind, only speaking when everyone is out of hearing range.
“How are you doing, baby?” he asks, pushing a strand of hair away from my face.
I nod. “I’m okay, I think. It’s a lot, but everyone is so nice.”
“They are. They love you already.”
I withhold the scoff that wants to escape.How could they love me already? I’ve been here thirty minutes, and in that time, I have barely said ten words.
“Don’t give me that look, Hannah,” Thomas scolds.
“What look?” I retort, furrowing my brows.
“The look that says you don’t believe me. It took me weeks to get you to stop making that face every time I called you beautiful, but don’t worry. I’ll break you of the habit here, too. They love you. How could they not?”
“They hardly know me.”
“You’re easy to love, Hannah.” Thomas cups my cheek, swiftly kissing my lips, not giving me time to process his words before leading me into the large dining room.
A huge wooden table takes over the room, with more than enough room for everyone at the table, including high chairs. I have no idea how it’s possible to make a table this big, but then I suppose Andrew made it, so it makes sense that he could do a custom size like this.
Thomas pulls out a handmade chair for me, and sits down beside me. A bowl of fruit is passed around, and Thomas scoops some onto my plate and his, passing it along to Jason on his other side. Gramps is on my right, pouring a very large amount of sugar into his coffee.
The ham and cheese egg bake is passed around, and everyone takes one or two squares, dishing up plates for the kids and Andrew dishes up for Josie, who is holding baby Cooper.
Once everyone is eating, conversation continues throughout the group again. I pick up on random bits and pieces of it as I munch on the food, trying not to draw attention to myself. Thomas chats with everyone, telling them about Ron and Dottie, and all the animals, including the chaotic Dave.
Everyone laughs, the young girls loving the stories. Apiece of me misses the safe house and the secluded world that Ron and Dottie provided, but an even bigger piece is loving being home. I’m loving the fact that Thomas and I are getting back to our normal lives, despite my earlier freak out about it. We both go back to work tomorrow, and I cannot wait. I’ve missed Miles, and I look forward to chatting with him and hearing what I’ve missed in these last six weeks.
"So, kiddo, you ready to get back to work?” Gramps asks, nudging my shoulder and pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Oh, yes,” I reply, pushing the food around my plate. “I was actually just thinking about that.”
“You’re good at your job,” he says with a wink.
“Thanks,” I laugh. “Have you been staying out of trouble?”
“Sure have,” he responds.
“You sure about that?” Thomas joins in.
“I’m offended,” Gramps replies. “It’s not my fault I have poor balance in the morning.”
“I think you did it on purpose,” Thomas replies, resting his arm around the back of my chair, his fingers resting on my shoulder, drawing patterns on my skin.
“You think I fell on my ass on purpose so I could get you out to my apartment with a pretty young girl who is perfect for you?” Gramps says, his voice feigning shock.
“I think you did, but I don’t know how to prove it,” Thomas states, pointing his fork at his grandfather. Meanwhile, I’m trying to hold back my laughter.
There’s really no way he fell on purpose on the off chance that I was on duty and arrived at the scene with his grandson, but I suppose with a man like Earl, you never know what he’s capable of.
After we clean up from brunch, we all make our wayback into the living room, and this time, Thomas and I sit next to each other on the floor. He pulls me into his body, and I lean against him. Josie strides across the room. “Do you want to hold him, Hannah?” she asks, and if she didn’t say my name, I would honestly be questioning if she asked me, or not.
