By the time she pushed through the back door of the restaurant, her defenses were fully in place. Inside, the staff was already busy with lunch preparations, and Hannah slipped in like a ghost returning to familiar haunts, nodding politely to those who greeted her.
“Hey, good to see you again, Hannah,” Matt said, surprise evident in his voice as he looked up from chopping vegetables.
“Good to see you too, Matt,” Hannah said, keeping her tone light. “I thought it was the least I could do since your brother has been kind enough to give me a place to stay for the last couple of nights.”
She’d agreed to stay with Caleb to ease her finances, but now she was seriously considering a hotel room after all.
It would be simpler. Cleaner. There would be rules again — boundaries she understood.
Spending another night under his roof felt like tempting something she’d deliberately stepped away from this morning.
And if she didn’t step away now... she wasn’t sure she’d remember how.
How had life gotten so complicated?
All that would wait until later. Now she had a shift to work. And no matter what was going on in her personal life, she would not let it affect her work. She never had.
She reached for an apron hanging on a hook and tied it around her waist, as she’d done a hundred times. The familiar weight of it across her body felt like stepping into a role, leaving her feeling competent, reliable, and useful. Nothing more.
“I’m glad you’re here. We’re short on prep for the lunch rush,” Matt said, gesturing to a stack of vegetables. “If you don’t mind, I’d love an extra pair of hands...”
“Not at all.” Hannah took her place at the counter, picked up a knife, and began slicing onions with quick, even strokes. The work was simple and repetitive, requiring just enough focus to keep her mind occupied and leave no room for dangerous thoughts about vineyards, streams, or almost-kisses by firelight.
When Caleb appeared in the doorway fifteen minutes later, Hannah felt him before she saw him. Her body registered his presence before her eyes confirmed it, a warmth spreading across her skin that she firmly ignored. Instead, she kept her gaze on her work, her knife moving steadily.
“Hannah,” he said, his deep voice making her stomach flip. “How did it go at the garage?”
“My car part hasn’t arrived. It got sent to Riverside,” she told him without elaborating on her plans. Partly because they were still in flux. “It’s going to be another day or two.”
“Oh.” Caleb lingered for a moment longer than necessary, as if waiting for something more. When it didn’t come, he nodded. “I’m sorry about that.” Although he didn’t look too sorry. If she had to guess, he sounded... relieved.
Which confused her even more.
“These things happen,” Hannah said.
“At least you have somewhere to stay,” Matt said, looking pointedly at his brother.
“Oh, yes. Of course, you can stay as long as you want,” Caleb said quickly.
“Thanks,” Hannah said, and opened her mouth to say more. To say she didn’t want to impose on him anymore and would move to a hotel. But she didn’t. Because deep down, she knew she didn’t want to.
Even though she also knew this was a mistake. If she was going to stick to her plan and leave town, she needed to stick to her plan and leave Caleb’s house.
“One problem solved,” Matt said as he went back to prepping.
“I’d prefer if my car problem was solved,” Hannah said ruefully as she went back to work.
“I’m sure Roy will sort it out for you,” Caleb said, and then looked up as his mom waved at him. “Excuse me.”
Throughout the morning, Hannah buried herself in work, volunteering for tasks that kept her hands busy and her mind focused. She chopped and prepped, wiped down surfaces, filled saltshakers—all the small, necessary tasks that kept a restaurant running smoothly. When the lunch service began, she stepped seamlessly into the role of server, taking orders, delivering plates, and clearing tables.
She didn’t avoid Caleb—that would have been too obvious, too telling—but she kept their interactions as brief as possible as she tried to maintain her distance emotionally. That was the only way she’d cope with staying at his cabin for another couple of nights without repeating the mistake of last night and trying to kiss him.
The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself or Caleb again. He’d been so kind, she’d feel awful if she made things awkward for him in his own house with her unwanted advances.
But then her carefully constructed barriers, her steely composure, fell apart.
The moment came unexpectedly, as such moments always did. Hannah was clearing a table near the window when she heard it... a burst of laughter, filled with joy, from a family seated in the corner. A mother, a father, two young children, all leaning toward each other as if drawn by some invisible thread of connection. The father said something Hannah couldn’t hear, and the mother rolled her eyes with such fond exasperation that Hannah felt her chest tighten.
