“I’ve known him for a few years now, he’s the closest friend I have here, and I can guarantee you that he loves you, Hannah-Banana. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
With that he confirms what I already sense—that Ian loves me.
“What are you going to do with that?” Levi asks. “I gave him a hard time when I first saw that he was into you—telling him to be careful, to stay away even. But now I feel the need to tell you to be careful with him. When he loves, he loves with his entire being, if you don’t love him, or don’t see yourself ever being in an actual relationship with him, you need to tell him the truth sooner rather than later. I honestly think you have the power to destroy the man.”
I take a moment to let what Levi just said settle in my mind. I’ve just come to the realization that I love him, and that I can see myself loving him for the rest of my life. But what if we can’t. What if we grow in different directions, or life gets in the way?
Then you work through it, my inner voice says. Ian would, and the way he makes me feel would be worth the fight and the uncomfortable feelings.
“If it makes you feel any better, I honestly think he has the power to destroy me too. I can honestly say that I would be hurt, heartbroken even, if he showed up right now calling off whatever you wanna call what’s going on between us. Maybe even more so than Lucas, Ian would have the power to shatter my heart,” I admit, something I realize Lucas never had the power to do. He just shattered my reality, one that wasn’t even true.
“So, again I ask, what are you going to do with the knowledge that he loves you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hannah, for a woman who went on about how Ian is younger and whatever, how can you say that you don’t know what you’re going to do with the knowledge that not only does he love you, but the guy is straight up obsessed with you, and that you love him? You spend your time reading romance novels, don’t tell me you don’t know what to do! Hell, grand gesture the guy!” he says, before walking off leaving me sitting alone on the couch.
Again, he’s not wrong. I could, should, grand gesture Ian. He’s always doing some kind of romantic gesture or planning out a surprise date for me. But what can I do?
Chapter 32
There’s one last thing I absolutely need to help Hannah cross off her list before the pre-season starts and I can’t spend most of my time with her. I also need to tell her that she’s it for me—that I want to make things officially official between us. I want to see her wearing my jersey in a crowd, I want to be able to let the world know that she’s mine. I want to answer ‘she’s mine’when people ask me who she is.
It needs to be something from her Bucket List; this list is how it all started. From the notes on my phone, she’s accomplished quite a few things this summer, but I know exactly what I need to do. With a plan forming in my head, I send a quick text asking if she’s free this afternoon, to which she quickly responds, “Yes.”
An hour later, I have her sitting in the passenger seat of my truck, bugging to know where I’m taking her, but I won’t give in this time. She’s bested me every time I’ve planned a surprise for her so far, but not this time.
“Are we picking some stuff up for Hagrid?” she asks, confused, not understanding why I just parked in front of the PetSmart.
“No, not for Hagrid,” I simply answer without any explanation while getting out of the truck, knowing I’m driving her crazy. It doesn’t take her long to join me outside, but before she can question me any further, we’re interrupted the minute we walk into the store.
“Ian! Already that time of the month again I see! And who did you bring with you today?” Susan, the black-haired, fifty-year-old manager says, seeing me pull up with our cart of cat food.
“Hi, Susan. Yeah, it’s already been a month!” I say as she starts scanning our carts. “And this is Hannah,” I introduce her, just waiting for the day I can call her mine. “Hannah, this lovely lady is Susan. Not only doesn’t she work here, but she also volunteers at the rescue we’re going to and even fosters baby kittens with no moms. The lady is a saint.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Hannah says, passing her another box of canned food.
“You as well, young lady. Now, how did you two meet?”
“I recently moved in with my best friend’s younger brother, Levi, Ian’s teammate,” Hannah answers politely, even though Susan is being noisy and knows it.
“Is that the devilishly handsome young man that accompanies you from time to time?”
“Yeah, that’s Levi,” I answer.
“Are you heading to the shelter right after this?” Susan continues with her usual twenty-thousand questions, making me smile.
“Yes, Hannah, here, is actually looking to adopt a cat.” Shit. I got bested again. She now knows why I picked her up. I swear this girl . . .
“I’m getting a cat?” she almost squeals, looking at me with her hands clasped in front of her.
“Or whatever animal you fall in love with. I already spoke to Levi, and he’s okay with whatever you want to bring home.”
“This is so great! Thank you!” she says before throwing her arms around me. “But what are we doing here, should I know what I’m adopting before I shop?”
“You definitely should, but this is something I do every month,” I start, ushering her to the carts so we can each grab one. “I stop here, grab a bunch of pet supplies, and bring them down to the local shelter where I got Hagrid.”
“You are just full of surprises aren’t you, Mr. Morrison?” she asks, making me blush at the awe I see in her eyes.
