It wasn't at first sight

Chapter 46

Sunday afternoon.

Hanna and Caleb are in Hanna's basement, where they've spent most of their weekend. Hanna has been working diligently on her dresses, managing to finish her two first models the day before and now working on a new one. Having many designs ready on her sketchbook has saved her a lot of time allowing her to only focus on bringing them to life. Meanwhile, Caleb has been multitasking, splitting his time between developing Hanna's website and working on the business plan for the startup he plans to start with Toby.

Hanna is sitting at the working table, using her sewing machine, while Caleb is sitting at her desk, working on his laptop.

Hanna's precise movements have become sluggish now after so many hours of hard work, so when she attempts to guide the fabric through the machine for what feels like the hundredth time, she accidentally brushes her finger against the moving needle. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She starts swearing as a sharp pain shoots through her finger.

Caleb looks at her right away. "You okay?"

Hanna "Yeah... I just got my stupid finger poked." She says while staring at her finger, a tiny drop of blood welling up where the needle pierced her skin. "Could you hand me a Band-Aid? They should be in one of the drawers." She asks him before taking her finger into her mouth to suck away the blood.

Caleb looks into a couple of drawers and finds them. He gets up from his chair and approaches her. "Let me see." He says while taking her hand and he applies the Band-Aid on her finger himself.

Hanna "What an amateur... I haven't poked my finger like that since my freshman year in college."

Caleb smiles at her. "I think we both need a break. How about taking Chocolate to the park? We could use some fresh air." He suggests, placing his hands on her shoulders and giving her a gentle massage.

Hanna "I don't know, Caleb... I really need to make some more progress here..."

Caleb "Come on, I'm tired, my back hurts... just an hour?"

Hanna "Okay, let's go." She finally stands up from her seat. "You don't have to be here working with me, you know that right? I won't be able to start selling my dresses for a few weeks, so I won't need the website right away." She says as they head for the stairs.

Caleb "Yeah, I know. It's just that I won't have much time in the coming weeks with The Radley and meetings with Toby."

Hanna "Then don't waste your time on my website. I could find someone to-"

Caleb "It's not a waste of time." He interrupts her. "I want to do it. It's the only way you'll let me help you, since you wouldn't accept my money. Besides, it won't take too much longer. The domain name is ready, and I've already chosen a good e-commerce platform with payment processing. The platform has templates too, but we will need to customize it later when your branding is ready. Anyway, it's going well so far."

Hanna "You know I didn't understand half the things you just said." She smiles at him while grabbing Chocolate's leash. "What would I do without you?" she approaches him and kisses him on the lips. "Hey, Chocolate!" She calls for the dog. "Wanna go for a walk?"

/

That Monday.

Caleb is at his office with two other employees from the Radley Hotel. Ashley has designated them for training by Caleb on how to use the security system he has set up, in order for them to be able to access the security camera records along with some other tools once he is gone.

It's almost lunchtime, so he gives the guys a break and takes the opportunity to text Hanna: "Hey, Han. Are you coming over for lunch?"

He knows Hanna is more likely to stay home and keep working on her dresses, but he takes the shot anyway.