“Are you leaving? It’s just started.” Her voice was so sweet, and Hannah had her eyes and nose.
I swallowed hard. “I am…I, uh…I’m tired, so I should head out.”
I was just after eight thirty. I was here for closure, and instead, I’d cried like a baby over a Jesus song. I was definitely calling Dr. Morgan the second I got home. Chloe would be thrilled that I actually wanted to go to therapy now.
“Oh, that’s too bad. Hannah would have liked to see you.”
I perked up at that. “She would?”
She gave me a no-nonsense look. “Jack, you changed her life. Buying her the restaurant, paying for the doctors to consult on my care. I…Thank you.” Her voice filled with emotion, and then she leaned forward and pulled me in for a hug.
This was why I did my good deeds and left. I didn’t linger for the thank-yous. But I had to admit that her hug reminded me of my mother’s hugs. Tight and soft at the same time. I missed those hugs.
“Oh, it was nothing, Mrs. Phillips,” I told her as she pulled back with tears in her eyes.
“No, you don’t ever say that. It waseverythingto us. And you can call me Claire.”
I just nodded. Maybe it was better this way, that I would say goodbye to Hannah through her mother.
“Hey, since I have to go, can you tell Hannah I said goodbye and congratulations?”
Her mother frowned, her brows bunching together. “Congratulations? Oh, on the house! I didn’t think you knew about that. Hannah said you two weren’t talking.”
Ouch. She’d told her mother that? Now I felt bad. So she and Luke had bought a house together? That was good. I hoped it was beautiful.
“Yeah, the house and the engagement.”
She reeled her head back. “The engagement? Jack, Hannah said no.”
It felt like the entire room spun in that moment. “What?”
Her lips turned down into a frown. “Last Christmas, when Luke proposed, Hannah said no.”
She’d said no.
Why would she say no?
My heart pounded like crazy against my sternum and the rush of adrenaline filled me up so fast my hands shook.
“Oh,” was all I could say.
She peered back at the coffee cart, where a few people were waiting. “Hey, if you’re tired, how about you help me run the coffee cart until the end of the concert? Free coffee for volunteers.”
I just now realized she was wearing an apron.
Stay and run a coffee cart with Hannah’s mom? I glanced at the double doors. There was no way I could go back in there, but I didn’t want to leave just yet. Especially not if Hannah said no to Luke. That meant she was available. It meant I might have a chance.
“That way, maybe you can talk to Hannah when she gets out.” She winked at me.
I relaxed into an easy smile. So her mother knew what I was doing. “Okay.”
Volunteer at a church coffee cart. Why not? Add it to my list of quirky philanthropy, as Chloe would say.
An hour later, Claire and I had the coffee cart running smoothly. I wrote down the drink orders on the cup and put in the syrups as she ran the espresso machine. It was actually kindof fun. A mindless repetitive task that reminded me of my Candy Smash game. I’d invented the whole thing to keep my mind out of dark, depressing places.
“So, Hannah tells me you used to come to Willow Harbor with your mom?” Claire asked as she poured some milk into the steaming cup.
“Yep. Every Christmas.” I tried to keep the conversation short around my mother.
