I’ve been wondering about Hannah’s reaction to her clean bedroom. I knew it could go one of two ways: either she’d hate me forever for touching her stuff, or appreciate the cleanliness, but I’m not sure what the silence on the matter means.
I’m heading out of town for half the day to shoot a newborn session in the middle of a tulip field and I need to clear my mind, to put the heart doodles swirling around my head away for the time being. Of course, I can’t help it and check my phone for any missed text messages before opening my front door.
Nope.
With my bag slung over my shoulder, I grab my sweatshirt from the wall hook and turn for the hallway, finding Brody leaning up against the wall with two cups of coffee. A smile forms, it’s instant and uncontrollable—it’s a new automatic reaction he forces out of me.
“Did you have breakfast?” he asks, walking toward me.
I twist my lips to the side and shake my head. “I have a shoot—”
“At ten. The location is an hour away, I know,” he says, proving he listens to everything I say.
He pulls a white bag out from the pocket of his sweatshirt and hands it to me. “A chocolate chip muffin for the road.”
Why would his ex-wife do what she did to him? He’s not the man I once thought he was. He has a heart of gold and tries his best at whatever he does. Though, he’s probably wondering about certain decisions I have made and what caused them too. It can go both ways and I wouldn’t want him speculating.
“You are incredibly sweet, Brody Pearson, and I don’t hand out compliments very often.”
He grins, showing just a small portion of his pearly teeth. “I’m well aware how tough it is to fish for a compliment from you.”
“I could work on this, I suppose.” I smirk and take a sip of my coffee. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I have a favor I need to ask, and I didn’t want to do so over the phone.”
Brody hasn’t asked me for a favor in the time we’ve known each other. He’s been the only one giving and giving. Something else I should work on. “Of course. What’s up?”
“There’s an emergency PTA meeting tonight about an end of the year event for the fourth graders. They’re having trouble coming up with the necessary funds, so we need to figure out a fundraiser to raise money. I can’t bring Hannah though. We don’t want the kids to know there are any issues with their end-of-year celebration.”
I had almost forgotten Brody’s role on the PTA. Despite his good nature and willingness to help others, I still have a hard time seeing him fill the role of heading up a PTA, but I like that it’s important to him, especially knowing how little Hannah’s mom is around to take a place in these parts surrounding her life. “I can watch her,” I offer.
“Are you sure? I know she’s a handful.”
“We’ll be fine. Was she happy or mad about the cleanliness of her room when she got home?” I smashed my two statements together, but I shouldn’t have said we’d be fine until knowing she doesn’t completely hate me for touching her things, too.
“She was quite happy and content, actually. In fact, the room has stayed clean since she got home yesterday, which is a long time for her.”
“Oh good. I’m glad she doesn’t hate me for interfering.”
“No, she really likes you. I still don’t know why though,” Brody jokes.
I close my eyes and shake my head at his remark. “What time do you need me to be at your house?”
“Will you be able to get there by five?”
“Definitely.”
“We can order pizza or something when I get back. The meeting should only be an hour or so.”
“Sounds good,” I tell him.
“One more thing …”
Is this where I’m supposed to say, that was too easy? “Uh oh.”
“I ran into your mom at the grocery store last night. She wants to have dinner tomorrow night with the two of us.”
“What about Hannah?”
