I sighed. Jack. Thinking of him made me more angry than it did sad. It had taken all of last year for me to heal from my breakup with Luke and the betrayal of Jack blocking my number and not even saying goodbye. My heart felt like it was covered in Band-Aids, but I was surviving, putting one foot in front of the other and trying to move on.
After about a month, everyone in town had mercifully moved on from gossiping about why I’d turned down Luke. Speculation went from everything as innocent as me never forgiving him forbreaking it off after high school to something more sinister as me having an affair with another man.
Luke and I had some intense conversations that week after I said no, and we decided to part ways as friends. But we weren’t really friends. We avoided each other as the pain was still fresh on his end and I understood that.
My friends had all agreed to avoid the parade this year in solidarity for me, and instead they’d come to my housewarming party.
“Give us a tour, hun!” My mom beamed and snapped me from my thoughts.
I had about an hour left to hang with everyone before we had to leave for the special church worship concert. This was a short and sweet housewarming party with pies delivered from Jules’s mom.
“So, this is the kitchen.” I pointed to the room we were in and everyone laughed. The cabinets were a little too dark for my liking, but with some white paint, they’d look fresh in no time.
I moved into the dining and living room of the 1920s two-bedroom craftsman. “There are hardwoods under this carpet, so eventually I’ll pull it up and sand it down and give it a new stain,” I told everyone, and they were sweet to compliment the molding and other things that weren’t super aged and falling apart.
I could have gotten one of the new builds out on Pines Road for the same price, but something about the older home spoke to me. And I could walk to work now, as it was right off Main Street and near the park I’d grown up playing at. Honestly, the neighborhood was nicer than I’d thought I could afford, with tree-lined streets and old-growth willow trees dotting the backyard. But because the house needed so much work, I had been able to get a deal.
I moved them to the downstairs office, which was piled high with boxes of stuff from my restaurant that needed to be sorted out, and then we walked out to the backyard porch.
“Wow!”
“Oh, Hannah.”
“This is incredible.”
I smiled at their reactions. What the house was lacking on the inside, it made up for on the outside. I was on a full acre, from back when they’d still built homes on large lots, and the entire thing was expertly landscaped. The old owner, Mrs. Patty, was a master gardener with a green thumb. The perimeter of the property had a brand-new, white vinyl fence, and the yard was lush with trees, flowers, garden beds, and even a blue-and-white chicken coop.
“Are there chickens in there?” Jules asked, eyeing the coop.
I laughed. “No. Mrs. Patty took them to her daughters in Arizona when she moved.” She wanted to be closer to her grandkids. Mrs. Patty had been my kindergarten teacher growing up, and part of me thought she’d sold me the house for such a great price because she’d always told me I was her favorite student.
“It’s so peaceful here, hun.” My mom squeezed my shoulder.
It was. “I want to put a hammock under that willow.” I pointed to the corner of the yard.
After that, I showed them the small two bedrooms upstairs, which included the master. This house felt lonely with just me, but I figured I could get a roommate down the line if I wanted, and I was hoping to fill it one day with children and a husband…
Although, if that was my plan, I should have said yes to Luke.
It being the one-year anniversary of him asking for my hand in marriage was bringing up a lot of things I’d thought I’d gotten over.
We moved back to the kitchen and everyone grabbed a slice of pie as I found myself wondering if Jack would be here this year. He only came on Christmas…and it was Christmas. Yet I thought if I saw him, I might smack him with how mad I was. We’d grown close in the short friendship we’d had together, and blocking my phone number, telling Chloe he didn’t want to speak to me…It felt like a punch to the gut. So I’d stopped caring, but I never stopped praying for him.
There was a darkness in Jack, a sadness that I feared tried to pull him under. So even though I was mad at him, I still prayed that God would pursue him, deliver him, give him freedom that could only be found in Christ.
“We should get going, Hannah,” Jules said, checking her watch. “We’ve got mic check soon.”
I was snapped from my thoughts and nodded.
I thanked everyone for coming, and they disbanded then, jumping into their cars and leaving. Everyone except my mom. She stayed back and lingered in the open doorway as I put on my shoes. She was wearing a troubled expression, and my stomach sank.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing big. I don’t want to stress you out before your concert.”
I stood bolt upright. “Is it your health?”
If the cancer was back, I…I couldn’t handle that.
