It wasn't at first sight

Chapter 41

Two weeks later.

Hanna is down in the basement at her mother's house. She and Ashley have been cleaning it up during the weekend, setting things aside to donate for charity, throwing away broken objects they didn't know why they kept in the first place, in order to make room and make that part of the house useful again.

The last two weeks have been going very well for her. The talk she and Caleb had that night at her place helped to clear the air and from there on, everything just flowed better between them knowing where the other was coming from, knowing each other's fears and desires. And the night after their talk, Caleb had her over for dinner and gave her a key to his house to prove to her that it was more than okay for her to keep showing up at his place unannounced. Hanna also has been acting more relaxed on every other aspect of her life, she hasn't had another panic attack because she just didn't put herself in any other situation that could made her anxious. She confronted Mona about the ideas she had been putting into Caleb's head and made it clear that she wouldn't move to New York with her.

Now it's Monday morning and Hanna is setting up her sewing machine on an old table there in the basement. She is excited because she found some fabric in one of the boxes that her friends got back from Jordan's apartment in New York. She doesn't even remember what was she planning to do with that fine piece of fabric when she bought it a year ago, but the moment she got it out of the box the previous day, it inspired her to make a new design and she's stayed up late putting it down on her sketchbook. Normally, it works the other way around, she designs something first and then buys the materials to make the dress, but what happened to her last night was spontaneous, the idea just came up and her creativity flowed. Now she is ready to start bringing that idea to life. It's been so long since last time she made a dress that it feels just as exciting as the first time she ever did it.

She starts to work on the fabric with a smile on her face.

/

Later.

Caleb is working in his office at the Radley when he starts to feel hungry and after checking the time and seeing that it's almost lunch time, he texts Hanna. They've been having lunch together most of the days for the last two weeks.

Caleb: Hey! Are you on your way? I'm hungry already.

Hanna is still working on the dress when she gets his text.

Hanna: Hey babe! Sorry, I've been busy with something and time just flew. Go get lunch. I'll see you later.

She doesn't want him to know what she has been up to for the last hours, firstly because it's been so long since last time she made a dress that it could end up being a mediocre work that she ends up hating afterwards, and secondly, she doesn't want him to keep insisting on giving her money to start her own business. She won't accept it.

He is intrigued about what could keep Hanna so entertained, but things are going so well between them that he just lets it go.

Caleb: Ok, see you later babe.

Hanna only replays with a red heart emoji and gets back to her task.

Caleb gets up from his chair and decides to go out for lunch and get some fresh air. Fall has arrived and it has started to be cooler outside, so he grabs his zip-up hoodie and leaves.

On his way to The Brew where he is planning to grab a sandwich, Caleb ends up in the middle of some police chase. Two men run past him on the sidewalk and one of them even hits him a little, making him spin on his axis. That's when he gets to see the two cops that are running after them. One of them is Toby.

Caleb watches all them turn to the right and loses sight of them. Only a few seconds later, he hears some gun shots.

He rushes over there without second hesitation.