“Mr. and Mrs. Auclair.” I go to shake their hands, but his mom pulls me into a hug instead.
“Please. Call us Dan and Danielle. It issonice to finally meet you. Tanner has been talking about you, for well, months now. A year now? Over a year?” She looks over her shoulder at Dan who is nodding in what seems like approval at Tanner while he picks my hand back up.
I flick my eyes to him, and he tilts his head at his mom, his cheeks a soft shade of pink.
“She’s not lying,” Dan adds.
Danielle has corkscrew blonde hair with silvery streaks running through each curl. Her eyes are dark brown, the bridge of her nose is dusted with freckles and if there was ever a question on who Mayben belonged to, there would be no denying her mother. Though Tanner’s hair isn’t as curly or as blond, there is no mystery as to who his mom is either. Dan is tall and thin and dressed like a dad ready to mow a lawn.
“He told us about your little girl too, Winnie, is it?” Danielle squeezes my arm as she leans in. “You really are as beautiful as he’s been saying you are.”
“Momma.” Tanner rubs the back of his neck with his free hand and blushes like a schoolboy. “Come on.”
“It’s true.” She glances down at our interlocked hands, and her smile is all Tanner’s. “We would love to have you and Winnie over for dinner sometime soon.”
“We would love that,” I tell her and try my best to stifle the flame of anxiety.
“Dan and Dan!” Rhett’s voice calls out through the crowd.
“Oh, Rhett Atwood.” Dan chuckles and clasps hands with Rhett as they slap each other on the back.
“How’s the Auclair manor treating you?”
Dan rolls his eyes. “It’s treating us just fine Rhett. Is this place holding up?” He nods up to the cabin.
“Hardly. We need a new roof soon, and some of the plumbing needs to be fixed up before the baby comes.”
The look on Dan and Danielle’s faces makes it very clear they did not, in fact, know about the baby.
Danielle gasps and clutches a hand to her heart. “No?—”
“Oh man, don’t tell Laur I told ya. I keep slipping up. I'm just excited and?—”
Danielle cuts him off with a hug that could make anyone feel home. “Baby doll, I am so happy for you. Your mom would besoproud. I wish she were here to see it.”
The tears start falling from her eyes and then there’s no missing the tears in Rhett’s eyes as he holds her too.
Lauren told me about Rhett’s mom. The beloved author, Jo Atwood. She had Alzheimer’s and died a couple years ago. Rhett was her best friend and she was his.
There’s a sniff, and I realize it isn’t coming from me, but Tanner next to me. Instead of using his free hand, he uses the hand with mine in it to wipe away the tears on his cheek and then the ones on mine.
“And Hannah!” Danielle turns to me. “You’re going to be an aunt!”
“I am!” I laugh through my own sniffles, and she hugs me again.
“Oh, and with Mayben’s? What good news for our families.” Her eyes are filled with big tears. “Oh, I'm a mess. I need to go find a tissue. Hannah, it was so great to meet you sweetie. Let me know if you and your girl have any dietary needs or allergies and then I’ll make the menu. Rhett come with me to find Lauren. I won’t be able to pretend I don’t know.”
As they go to walk away, Dan pats Tanner’s shoulder then leans over and says to me, “He’s the best of us.”
Once they’re out of earshot, I turn on Tanner. He’s still blushing and shaking his head.
“I love them.”
“They’re the most embarrassing people I know.”
“Well, I love them.” This time, I tug him along. “Come on, I want to find air conditioning.”
We slip inside the empty house and I relish in the quiet and sip my beer with by back up against the counter.
