Her emotions were all over the place and she didn’t think she could take any more surprises, nor handle idle pleasantries.
‘Well, at least it meant you and I got the chance to say goodbye.’ As he turned to leave, Ward tentatively reached across and rested a hand on hers. ‘See you round, Hannah.’
She barely managed to utter goodbye in return she was so overcome by the significance of what he’d revealed to her. He cared about her too. Yet what was she supposed to do? Run out on the street after him and fling herself into his arms?
Hannah sat there for a few moments longer, uncertain if she was still waiting for Ed or deciding what to do about Ward.
But before she could think any more about either scenario, Frank reappeared at the table with a plate, on top of which sat one of his famous pastries, the same one she’d chosen the very first day she’d come here.
She glanced up in surprise. ‘But I didn’t order …’
The older man nodded toward the door. ‘Ed did. He came in before you arrived and asked me to give this to you when he was gone.’
‘He did?’ Hannah looked at him, mystified.Ed had been in here already?How had she missed him? But Frank just shrugged and moved away.
Still reeling, she stared down at the plate and then noticed a piece of paper sticking out from beneath the cannoli.
Another note.
Hey Cannoli Girl. Good to finally meet in person.
Seems like you and I both made assumptions about a lot of things from the get-go. Believe me, I had no idea either what was going on until I read your goodbye note.
While I hope what I told you just now makes sense, there’s so much more I need to say. And a lot of time to make up for.
But I thought I’d start by paying you back for all those Rice Krispie treats you made for me. Good thing I already know you like this one.
Edward McKenzie
PS: I’m heading home now if you’d like to chat some more. I have a feeling you’ll know exactly where to find me …
Chapter 71
Ed … Ward … Edward … they were the sameperson?!!
But …how… ?
Still reeling, Hannah had stared at the note for an entire minute or more, stunned by what she was reading, or more to the point, the implications.
Her brain just couldn’t fathom the enormity of the notion that Ed and Ward could be one and the same. That she and Ward had been communicating anonymously all throughout the time they worked together. Had been living right next door to one another.
Without either of them knowing, it seemed, since Ed (Ward) had admitted in the note that he was clueless until her goodbye letter.
Was it actually possible...?
And yet weirdly, it kind of made sense somehow. How Ed’s advice seemed to work so perfectly for Ward, how his stubborn, old-fashioned ways pretty much mirrored the athlete’s contrarian personality … to the point that at times it did feel to Hannah that she was dealing with the same kind of person, albeit of a generational difference.
Because she was.
She knew that Ward had various homes in the city but how had she never passed him in the lobby, or seen him in the elevator …
And then remembered how Julie had mentioned P-1 had itsown private elevator, and that Ed (and Ward) was fastidious about his privacy …
She also recalled the strange looks Bruno and the building supervisor had given her sometimes when she talked about Ed, commenting on his age and grumpy personality. But she’d been led to believe that from Courtney’s first letter when she’d called him the ‘old guy next door’.
When of course to that generation, anyone over the age of twenty was practically geriatric …
But now Hannah cringed when she thought about how much of herself she’d revealed in those notes, inadvertently or otherwise.
