Promise Me (Book One of the Kirkland Family)

Promise Me: Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The next morning -- and yes, she had very erotic and sweet dreams -- she drove to her store to take care of a few things, even though it was a national holiday and nobody else had to work.  But she needed the distraction before visiting Josie at the hospital.  The girl was scheduled to go home sometime today, and Hannah hoped that Justin didn’t pack her up and head straight back to Savannah without saying goodbye.  He wouldn’t do that, would he?  Not on the Fourth.  Not after learning his parents invited a bunch of people out for a barbeque and then planned to shoot off fireworks in one of the fields. 

Of course not.  He loved Josie, and Josie would want to see Hannah again.  Or would she?  Hannah wasn’t a fool.  She knew that Josie pursued their friendship because she lacked the same in her father.  But that didn’t seem to be an issue now…now that she and her father were getting along so well, so was Josie content enough to forget her friendship with Hannah?  Teenagers could be so finicky sometimes. 

So confused...  Though reluctantly at first, Hannah had come to love Josie as much as she would her own daughter.  She thoroughly enjoyed the girl’s zeal for life and music and the mischievous brain ticking away in her blond head.  It would break her heart if Josie decided to skip out on any more interaction with Hannah.  Josie needed her father’s love, but she didn’t really need Hannah.  And all Hannah had been was a diversion from boredom while Justin was away.  That had changed when he came back, and he saw Josie happy and laughing, and the healing had begun between them two. 

 And there was nothing much Hannah could do about it.

Not knowing how well she’d be received by the father-daughter pair this morning, Hannah finished her paperwork at the store and left feeling mildly irritated that the store had managed to run quite adequately in her absence -- really...why do I bother hanging onto this place?  She should just sell it to Mark and be done with it.  He loved it here, and Hannah only tolerated it because she promised her dying father that she’d keep the store, no matter what.  Sometimes, she wished she’d never made that promise.  Not that she had any other job propositions, but at least, she could spend the time looking for something she loved doing...like writing songs and singing.

Who am I kidding? she snorted as she exited her office.  My music career was a joke.

At least, now she had a paycheck every other week.  She was almost ready to put a new roof on her house, and then fix the porch, and then finish the interior...and then work on expanding Kim’s greenhouses, and purchase a few new delivery trucks, and then maybe she could afford some more advertising...her life was an endless To-Do list, and there really wasn’t anything fun on the list.  Just a bunch of jobs she couldn’t get to right now.

Last night had been the first time she’d gone out with friends in months.  Adult friends.  She’d gone out with Josie several times over the last month, but that had been the first “date” she’d had in over a year.  Yesterday had been the first time a man had kissed her in...in...

Wow, has it been that long? she thought, thinking back to forever and not coming up with anything recent.

Jeez!  I’m thirty years old.  Pretty soon, I’ll be forty, and then fifty, and then sixty, and I’ll look back and wonder where the years went to, and when I stopped looking for that perfect man, and if I can afford to repave my driveway!

By the time she reached the hospital, she felt like horse dung.  Her life was crap.  Her love life was worse, and none of it looking to get any better.

“Go for it,” Kim had said last night.  Go for what?  Go for a long-distance relationship with a divorced, single father who was sexist and bitter and could, in no possible way, kiss her over the eight-hundred miles separating Conway from Savannah -- despite how terrific a kisser Justin Kirkland was?

And, of course, to make her feel even more unimportant, she discovered that Josie had already checked out when she walked into the hospital room.  There was a young man stripping the sheets off the bed, and he said, “Sorry, the patient left earlier this morning.”  No one had called her.  They had forgotten, or rather didn’t think it was important.  “Stay away from my daughter,” Justin had kept repeating, and now the message was loud and clear.

Tears battled to escape from her stinging eyes as she gazed at the empty bed.  Her life before Josie and Justin Kirkland had circled back into existence.  Yeah, she promised that she’d see Josie today, but her pride would not allow her to hunt down the girl and her father.  Later, she’d have to call the Kirkland farm and decline the invitation to join them in the celebrations tonight.  Hannah couldn’t bear to see Josie turn away from her.

She left the hospital in a numb trance and went home to take a long, soaking bath...where the tears were hidden in the bubbles tickling her cheeks.

*****

“Hannah!”

Hannah jerked upright in the bathtub.  She’d dozed off, and considering how cool the water was, she’d been out of it for a while.

“Hannah?  Where are you?”

Josie’s shrill call came from downstairs.  A happy tingle raced along the goosebumps on Hannah’s skin.  She hadn’t forgotten about her!

“I’ll be right down!” she yelled, pulling her body out of the bathtub.  She yanked the drain and searched for a towel.

Wait...if Josie was here, then that meant so was Justin?

A towel won’t do.  Hannah pulled on her bathrobe from behind the door, which really only ended mid-thigh, but it covered more than a strip of terrycloth would.  Tendrils of hair escaped the bun on top of her head, sticking damply to her neck, and she felt cotton-mouthed and jittery, a product of getting abruptly awaken.

“What are you doing?” Josie called, her footsteps coming up the stairs.  The girl knew where Hannah hid her spare house key.  She’d let herself in…and probably her father, too.

“Just give me a second!”  Hannah hastily dried her skin before donning the robe.  She was tying the belt as she opened the door to her bathroom and walked out of her bedroom, and caught the gaze of Justin following Josie up her staircase.

“Hey!” Josie said, smiling and carefully holding the railing for support.  “There you are!  We went by the store, but then we remembered you closed for the Fourth.  And Grandma said you called and cancelled for tonight.  Are you sick?”

Hannah blinked at them.  “Um...I have a headache, that’s all.”

Pouting, Josie said, “You didn’t come see me before I left the hospital.”

Hannah frowned.  “I did, but you’d already left.  What time did you check out?”

“Nine-thirty,” Justin answered, leaning against the wall at the top step.  Gone were the jeans and collared shirts she grown to associate with him.  Today he sported a pair of time-worn cargo shorts with more holes and frays than pockets.  And the faded blue Navy t-shirt looked as soft as down feathers stretching across his chest.  Hannah's eyes traveled down to his feet of their own accord.  Athletic sneakers.  Ratty ones.  She smiled to herself.  What other man would look that great in clothes that old and crappy?  

His eyes flickered from her face, down her robe to her feet and back again, in much the same manner as she'd done to him.  Only, he wasn't standing there practically naked.

Hannah pulled the robe tighter.  “Let me get dressed,” she said and rushed back into her room, closing the door.  Josie talked on the other side, not the least bit fazed by Hannah's lack of attire.

“I tried to call you,” Josie said, “but cell reception in the hospital is crappy, and when I did get through, it rang and rang and then went straight to voicemail.  I've been calling for hours!”

“Oh,” Hannah said, feeling guilty about her thoughts earlier that morning.  Of course, Josie wouldn’t forget her that easily.  Relief caused her to throw on the first pair of panties, shorts, bra and tank top she hauled out of her dresser.  “Sorry about that,” she shouted through the door.  “I went to the store to do some things and then fell asleep in the bathtub.”

“That’s okay,” Josie said.  “I was all icky anyway and wanted to go back to Grandma’s for a shower, though I can’t get my scar wet yet.  That sucked, trying to wash around the thing.”

“How are you feeling?” Hannah asked loudly as she pulled the lime green tank over her head.  “Are you sore?”

“I can’t stand all the way up, cuz it pulls on my scar, but I’m okay.”

“You should be resting,” Hannah said, opening the door.

Josie wrinkled her nose.  “I’m tired of resting.  I can’t stand lying around in bed all day.”

But from the unhappy look her father threw at her, Hannah guessed he had already tried to keep Josie in bed...and apparently unsuccessfully.  That girl had Justin wrapped all around her little finger.  He was just too stubborn to admit it.

“Well, you should take it easy anyway,” Hannah told her.  “You don’t want to rip your scar open so soon.”

Puffing out a sullen breath, Josie sighed, “Why does everybody keep telling me that?  It’s not like I’m going to run in a marathon or anything.  I just want to get out of bed for a while.”

Hannah smiled and hugged Josie.  “I’m glad you stopped by.”

Josie grinned at her daddy.  “See, Daddy?  I told you she wouldn’t mind.”  She looked up at Hannah and said, “And since you’re staying home all day, can I hang out here with you until tonight?”

Hannah couldn’t think of a better way to spend her day.  “I’d love for you to hang out,” she said, smiling brightly.  “If your dad doesn’t mind, that is.  And I can drive you home later on in time for the barbeque.”

Justin cleared his throat and pushed away from the wall.  “Actually, I hadn’t planned on going anywhere.”

What?  Surely, he didn’t mean to “hang out” with them?

Josie rolled her eyes.  “Daddy, you’re such a killjoy!  I’ll be fine!”

“I know,” he said, sending Hannah a silent message that said he truly meant that.  “But since I’ve got nothing better to do today, I thought I’d do some work around here, as a thank you for giving me a place to crash yesterday morning.  Like mow down that forest she’s got growing in her front yard.”

Josie giggled, but Hannah stood shell-shocked.  “No, no...it’s fine,” she protested.  “You don’t have to do that.  Your thank-you was enough.”

Justin shrugged.  “Like I said, I’ve got nothing else better to do.  Mom told me to get out of her house this morning and not come back until later.  She’s cleaning.”  And with that, he trotted down her stairs and out through the backyard.  Hannah stared down at Josie, completely bewildered.

“Does he mow the yard of everyone he thanks?” she asked.

“I didn’t know he knew how to mow,” Josie said, laughing at her wisecrack, and pulled at Hannah’s arm.  “Come on...I want to see Lady and Teddy.”

A few seconds later, her rusty old lawnmower roared to life...only to sputter and die.  Hannah smiled to herself.  Maybe she could go out and watch him fight with that ancient contraption.  It could be very entertaining.

But then, the second time the mower clamored alive, it stayed that way, and soon the oscillating rumble of Justin pushing the machine back and forth over her front yard filled the house.  Inside the house, Josie pulled the guinea pigs out of the cage and sat down on the floor to play with them, chatting non-stop about everything and nothing.  Hannah only listened with half an ear.  Every time Justin passed the window, her eyes drifted to follow him until he disappeared again.  

Eventually, Josie started yawning and muttering, “Dang pain pills” with every yawn, and Hannah told her to go lie down on the couch and rest for a while.  Josie went without argument, which only led Hannah to belief she wasn’t as great as Josie wanted everyone to believe.  The first week after surgery could be exhausting.  

And by that time, the lawn mower stopped rumbling, and the whine of her electric grass trimmer followed.  With Josie drifting off on the couch to a re-run of the MTV Awards on the television, Hannah peeked out into her front yard...to see how much progress Justin had made.  No other reason.

But that “no other reason” had stripped his shirt, tucked it halfway into a back pocket and stood at the end of her driveway, swiping the edger back and forth as the sunlight glinted off broad, sweaty shoulders, his blond hair and darkly tanned skin.  

“Oh heavens,” Hannah breathed, as Justin turned to edge her sidewalk.  Even though his six-pack had been covered by a little padding in the past couple of years, she could still see the outline of solid muscle when he crunched his stomach as he held the lawn tool steady in his arms.

It wasn’t right -- or appropriate -- for her to drool with Josie snoozing just a few feet from her.  And after the second time Justin pulled his shirt from his pocket to mop the sweat from his face, Hannah unstuck her nose from the window glass and trotted to the kitchen to get him a tall cup of ice water.  It’s was the least I can do, you know.

With cup in hand and a friendly smile in place, Hannah approached Justin as he finished the stretch of grass between her drive and the side of her house.  "Hey," he said, spotting her and the drink while flipping the off switch on her edger.  "Is that for me, or are you planning to tease me with it?"

“I might tease you first,” she said, keeping the cup out of his grasp.  He set the edger against the side of her house.  

Then he smiled.  A slow, lazy smile, and said, “Go ahead, tease me...I dare you.”

Hannah didn’t know what to say to that.  But she managed to shrug and make it look casual, and she handed the ice water to him.  He winked before he drank, and Hannah stared at his undulating throat with fascinated enjoyment while he drained the cup.  Water trickled out the side of his mouth, dripped off his chin, landed on his chest, and kept right on following the laws of gravity.  Hannah touched her tongue to her teeth as her gaze chased the wayward drops of water.

"Oh, that's good," he gasped, lowering the cup with a smile and setting it on the ground.  "Thank you, Songbird."  

Hannah quickly lifted her eyes to his face and said, "You're welcome."  But her lips twitched from his endearment, though the first time he called her that, it had been with bitterness.  “And thank you.”