Chocolate Cherry Cabin

Chapter 8

It was Monday morning, two days after her date with Louis, and Hannah still couldn't stop smiling. On Saturday she'd done something spontaneous, something just for her. An adventure. And she'd loved it. Going to an NHL game—where her team won!—and sitting in the VIP area was incredible. As was taking a plane and hired car to get there—with the coach, no less. Being Louis's date had been fun. Surprisingly so.
Her friends were right. She needed more adventure. And Louis, even if he wasn't the type to settle down with a family, was the right man to help her heal from her divorce and learn to live and rediscover herself.
She'd practically stalked his house yesterday, even though she'd known he was away for practice and meetings. They'd had two away games in a row, and another tomorrow night. She wanted more time with Louis. More adventure. More surprises. More feeling special.
"Miss Hannah, how many sleeps until Santa?"
"Hmm? Oh." She brought herself back to the present, to work. With Christmas morning only three days away the kids at the day care were pretty much bonkers. And she loved every second of it.
Kneeling on the floor, Hannah took three-year-old Anya Elm's hands in her own and gently curled down two fingers. "This many sleeps until Santa comes to your house."
Anya wiggled and grinned.
"Do you think you can wait that long?" Hannah asked.
Anya shook her head and Hannah felt a twinge of sadness. Santa was supposed to come today, but Garfield Goodwin's girlfriend, Mrs. Fisher's twin sister, had called earlier to say he was down for the count with the stomach flu.
Hannah had called half a dozen people, searching for any male in the county willing to don the suit. She'd failed, and then had had to break the news to the kids. No Santa visit today. They'd taken it like troopers. Troopers who'd lost their platoon in a horrifying and grueling war.
Hannah had been about five seconds from grabbing the sack of gifts hidden by the door and putting on the suit. Or from calling Louis and begging him to abandon today's schedule and rescue her. But the man needed to sleep and work. On Saturday night they'd flown home late, not getting in until two in the morning. The last thing she'd wanted to do this morning was wake him up and ask for a favor. A favor she was certain he'd say no to.
So instead she'd moved craft time up by an hour.
"Maybe we could make some reindeer food," she said to Anya. "Have you done that before?"
The girl shook her head again.
"That settles it. Let's get the rest of the kids and make some reindeer food for Rudolph and his friends."
Like the little leader she was, Anya gathered up the few playmates whose families weren't yet on holiday, and they settled at one of the low tables to get started. There were only ten kids, which was fine for Edith and Hannah—when Edith wasn't busy in her office.
"Do you know what helps reindeer fly?" Hannah asked the children.
"Snowshoes!" replied April Wylder's five-year-old son, Kurt, who then burst into giggles.
"Ice cream," another said.
"Wings?" asked Anya.
Hannah held up a tiny container of glitter. "This does." She showed them a small plastic bag. "And they love oats. So what we do is we mix these two together, and then on Christmas Eve we sprinkle it out in the yard where you think Santa might land his sleigh, so the reindeer can eat it."
"I'm not allowed on the roof," said Kurt.
"Sometimes they land on our lawns," Hannah said, "and I bet if you put some in the front yard they'll eat it. They aren't always hungry, though. But that's okay, because the birds will eat it."
"Is glitter safe for birds?" asked Edith, the day care owner, as she glided by. She was like a harbinger of gloom, the way she coasted silently through the room, popping up to make Hannah doubt the wisdom of anything she did. How the woman had ended up running a day care was a mystery. Maybe if Hannah didn't wind up going back to school she'd look into ways to take over the business.
She looked at the container of glitter, double-checking that this was the stuff she'd bought from the grocery store's baking aisle. "It's edible."
The kids and she set to work on the reindeer food, and by the time they were done Hannah was yawning. She'd been up late painting last night, imagining what it might be like to date Louis Bellmore for real. And the night before she'd been out with him, unable to sleep when she got home as she'd been so dazzled by the life he had and how it was so unlike her own.
"Okay, put your reindeer food in your cubby," Hannah told the little ones when they were finished. Then find your stuffy to snuggle with. It's story time!"
Story time. Then nap time. Everything was right on schedule, the only way to keep a roomful of tykes from extreme meltdown.
The children circled around Hannah on the carpet as she opened their afternoon story about a snowman. But then the front door of the day care opened, bringing in a gust of wind. It was Anya's mom, Naina Elm, the principal of the elementary school. "Guess who I found outside?" she announced loudly.
Hannah did a quick head count, her heart hammering in her chest. None of the children were missing. But before she could ask who she'd found, a man came in dressed in a red-and-white suit.
Santa.
The kids went wild, storming the gate that separated them from the front entry, where Santa stood with Naina. "Santa! Santa!" they shouted. "He came! He's here! He's here!"
As Hannah joined the kids, Santa glanced up from the kids and familiar blue eyes greeted her with warmth. Her breath caught in her chest.
Louis.
* * *
Any lingering uncertainty about Louis dissolved, and Hannah could have sworn that her ovaries twitched as she battled the urge to swoon over him. Just a little.
There was something about having a man you kind of liked dress up as Santa to come and save your day. It was a noteworthy item on the mental does-he-check-out list.
Louis let out a booming "Ho, ho, ho!" and the children's excitement level ratcheted up another notch.
"I saw Louis and his dad at the Longhorn this morning," Naina whispered in Hannah's ear. "When he heard you didn't have a Santa he offered to step in."
"He has meetings and a practice today," Hannah said with a frown. Was he skipping work for this? Was he going to scrape in—late, or almost late—because of her?
Naina was beaming at Louis in a way that made jealousy rise inside Hannah. "Naina, you're married," she whispered.
The woman simply smiled.
Hannah supposed ovaries were ovaries, and why wouldn't hers be twitching, too?
"Seriously," she muttered to Naina.
Anya bounced over to them, squealing, "Mummy, Santa's here!"
Naina nodded at her, then continued whispering to Hannah. "Don't judge me. He's hot. Successful. And dressed as Santa."
True, true and true.
"And he's doing it for you." Naina nudged her.
"Who is this?" Santa asked, coming closer to the baby gate that separated the entry from the play area in order to peer at Hannah. "Hannah Noelle?"
"How do you know my middle name?"
"I'm Santa! You live on Cherry Lane! And my, you're all grown up. Do you have a boyfriend?" He was watching her with dancing eyes, and she felt heat rise in her face as the children giggled.
She might have to mentally uncheck a box or two on the does-he-check-out list if he continued on like this.
"Miss Hannah, kiss Santa!" Anya called, starting another round of giggles.
"There will be no kissing. Everyone move back so Santa can come in." Hannah began shooing the kids farther from the entry while Naina opened the baby gate for Louis. As soon as he was inside Colts and Fillies, he closed in on Hannah, asking, "Have you been a good girl?"
Seriously. One minute inside the day care and he was knocking everything off-kilter. Why did she find herself drawn to him? She must have something wrong with her brain.
"Okay, boys and girls," Hannah said, ignoring Louis, "go to the story-time carpet so Santa can show us what he brought for us." She tipped her head to the right, subtly gesturing to the sack of toys hidden from the kids' view.
Louis had it over his shoulder in seconds. "Speaking of presents, do you boys and girls want to know what I brought for Miss Hannah?"
Her head snapped to Louis. He was digging in the sack of toys, and the kids all raced back to him. He had palmed a box roughly the size of a volleyball and was holding it over his head. "This present says it's for Miss Hannah. What could it be?"
"Me! Me! I want one, too!" Anya was bouncing in front of him, yanking at his sleeve as he tried to pass the gift to Hannah.
"There's one for you, too. Miss Hannah's been extra good this year, and she's often forgotten. Is it okay if she gets hers first?"
Anya nodded, and Louis handed Hannah the gift. "Go ahead. Open it."
Hannah reached for it, curious where it had come from. The look Louis was giving her suggested he'd somehow planted it in the sack. She hefted it, finding it heavier than she'd expected. What was it? Something over-the-top? Ridiculous? Embarrassing? Telling?
"I'll open it in a bit." She tucked the gift in the crook of her arm. "Let's get the kids settled." She eyed Edith's office, and sure enough, her boss came trundling out to see what the disturbance was.
"What's this?" Edith asked.
"Santa!" Anya yelled. "He came!"
The woman's eyes narrowed as she tried to identify the man behind the fake white beard.
"He's here now," Hannah said brightly.
"And he has a gift for Miss Hannah," Louis said with a wink.
"He does?" Edith's tone was unamused.
"He does," Louis said smoothly. He winked again, at Hannah's boss, whispering, "No gift for you. I heard you were naughty."
She jolted as if she'd been goosed, and Naina giggled.
"Open it," Louis urged, his attention back on Hannah.
"I will." She began directing the kids toward the carpeted area again, placing the wrapped box high on a shelf so they wouldn't open it on her behalf.
"Come, children," Edith said. "Let's gather on the carpet with Santa."
Hannah stood at the edge of the crowd, waiting to be needed as Louis expertly wrangled the little ones into a circle. The way Louis was so natural with them warmed her heart, and while she had no plans to fall in love again, and especially not with someone so frustratingly meddlesome, she could see that if she wasn't careful, Louis might just sneak in and steal her heart, anyway.
"He's a sweetheart," Naina said, joining Hannah. "And he really likes you."
"Oh, I don't know," she murmured, desperate to pump her for details on why she thought that.
"He thinks very highly of you," Naina said. "In fact, I heard you'll be joining the teaching profession very soon."
"What?" Her head snapped away from Santa and the little fantasy that had been playing out in her brain. Louis had been wrestling sheets onto Thomas's bed, then tucking him in before joining Hannah for a cup of tea and warm kisses that tasted like love and chocolate chai.
Naina was smiling at her expectantly. "You're going back to school for a few classes to complete an education degree, right?"
Hannah had told only one person that she'd applied. One. And he was already blabbing it all over town, while she hadn't even been accepted into the program yet. That man did not understand the no-meddle rule.
"You chose a great school. They're well-rated for their elementary education program," Naina said. "Do you have your résumé or portfolio ready?"
Portfolio?
"No, not yet."
"Well, when you're ready for a job, let me know."
"It'll probably be a few years before I'm certified...."
"Oh." Naina looked taken aback. "I didn't realize you had that much upgrading to do."
"That's if I'm accepted into the program."
"Oh. I must have misunderstood." Her cheeks pinked. She was no doubt thinking about how Hannah had sworn up and down that she was going to become a doctor and then hadn't. Naina herself was the kind of woman who made plans, set goals and then burst past them ahead of schedule. She didn't veer, she didn't waver. She didn't fail.
Hannah struggled not to shoot daggers at Louis, who had all the kids hanging on his every word. That man really needed to learn to keep his nose out of her business. Not only was she now feeling as though she'd just entered an impromptu interview wholly unprepared, but he'd put Naina in an awkward spot, too.
"I've only just applied, but I'd love to work at the elementary school when I'm done." Hannah pulled her sweater sleeves over her hands, wanting to disappear.
"Do you know which grade you're hoping to teach?" Naina asked, her tone a little less enthusiastic and a bit more professional now.
She shook her head. "Not yet."
"Well, we're often looking to cover maternity leaves or in need of a substitute teacher here and there. We'll get your name on the list when you're ready."
"Thank you."
Completely unprepared.
* * *
He was in trouble now. Louis had caught the angry looks Hannah had been shooting his way earlier, and now she'd called him into the small staff room off the barricaded playroom.
Still dressed as Santa, he had been sitting on the floor surrounded by shreds of wrapping paper that Hannah had given up collecting after he'd suggested the kids rip up every little bit and throw it around like confetti.
Yeah.
He was that guy.
Naturally, the children adored him. Hannah...not so much.
Was it his fault he got caught up in their enthusiasm?
He'd thought he'd been doing her a favor, keeping them happy. There'd been no fighting or whining. And he did have a game to play when it was time to clean up the paper later. He wasn't planning to saddle her with a mess.
"What's up?" he asked, as he joined her. She closed the door and he glanced through the window that allowed them to peek out at the kids.
Hannah licked her lips and straightened her red Christmas sweater.
"You okay?"
She reached out and straightened the cushion over his flat stomach that was filling out his costume. She was tugging it like she wanted to rip it off him. And not in a good way.
"You told Naina I was going back to school," she said, still focused on his Santa suit. Her tone was flat. Dangerously flat.
"Yeah. It came up." He removed her hands before she ripped the red fabric. "She sounded excited."
"How did something like that come up?"
He'd meddled. That was how. And she was supposed to be too excited to notice.
"Did you like your Santa gift?" he asked.
"I haven't opened it yet."
Louis gave her an expectant look, which she ignored.
"Louis, there are boundaries to establish. And respect. We need that if we're going to make this work."
"Ah. No meddling. Ever." He scratched under his red hat, hoping he wasn't messing up his wig too much. He froze, replaying her words. "Wait. Make this work?"
Did that mean she was thinking of a relationship?
"Santa! Come see my train!" Elias hollered through the glass window. That kid was the best. If he ever had a son he hoped he was like Elias. But the boy's timing maybe wasn't so hot at the moment.
"Santa!"
Hannah sighed and gestured toward the door.
"Are we...?" Louis wasn't sure how to phrase his question. "You and I...are we something?"
"Santa! Santa!"
"Hang tight, Elias. I'm coming."
Hannah began physically steering Louis from the room. He turned in the doorway, watching her for a moment. She was beautiful, even when frustrated with him. They'd had a good first date—the best he'd ever had—and today had been shaping up to be good, too. He hoped his slip-up hadn't ruined it all.
"No meddling," she said firmly.
He grinned.
"Louis! I haven't even been accepted into the education program." Hannah's frustration finally exploded and her words came out in a storm. "She was practically interviewing me for a job, thinking I was already looking. It took me off guard, and I gave her the impression that I'm completely oblivious and unprepared, and that I don't understand how any of this works!"
Before she could do anything other than suck in a fresh breath to continue her rant, Louis shut the door again, pulled down his fake Santa beard and kissed her like it was his last chance.
Which he hoped it wasn't.
Moments later he released her limp body, now devoid of anger.
He really needed to have her happy with him because he'd seen an article online speculating that the mystery woman in the sky box was his girlfriend. He wanted Hannah to be pleased about that, but he wasn't certain she was ready to claim the title, let alone to do so publicly.
"It's fun being more than a friend," he murmured. "And I'm sorry I overstepped."
"You totally did!"
"I really am sorry if I made things difficult. But just so you know, you had it coming."
"What? How?" Anger flashed in her eyes again.
"Being awesome and so easy to brag about. I want to help you in any way I can."
Her shoulders relaxed and her gaze drifted through the window to where the kids were playing quietly with their new gifts.
Louis pulled her close again, giving her a long, sensual kiss. Then he released her, slid his beard back into place and left, hoping she was feeling at least a little bit charmed.
* * *
"Hey, y'all," Hannah said, smiling at her phone as her boys and ex-husband crowded around the screen on the other end of the video chat. She could catch glimpses of a statue of a man on a horse in the background, as well as a fountain and some trees. It looked like a wet and cool morning in Paris.
She was still feeling warm and fuzzy from Santa's visit at the day care earlier, and her head was drifting in the clouds over Saturday's date as well. Even though Louis had totally meddled. Again. Man, that had been so embarrassing and awful. And maybe she was too much of a softie to have forgiven him already. But before he'd left, one of the little ones had crawled into his lap and gone to sleep. Seeing him cuddling the small child while still playing with the others had done some irreversible ovary twitching and iceberg-in-her-heart thawing.
Before he'd left the day care she'd asked him if he might want kids.
His reply had been, "Might? No. I definitely do."
She'd never really considered having more children, or even remarrying, but in that moment her brain and hormones had gone wild, her imagination building a future that surely was never going to happen. Her and Louis with kids? Not so likely.
But she was starting to wish that it could happen.
"What did you do yesterday?" she asked her boys. It was late in Sweetheart Creek and early there. It felt so odd that they were ready to start their Tuesday while she was just putting an end to Monday. "Where are you?"
"We're outside! Gammy's still sleeping!" Thomas said, coming close enough to Calvin's phone that Hannah could see the shadowy circles of his nostrils.
"We're outside the hotel," Calvin stated.
"We ate ice cream!"
"Yesterday," Calvin said. "And we went to a museum."
"We ate ice cream at the museum," Wade declared.
Hannah's heart warmed at his enthusiasm. It looked like her sons were having a good adventure.
"I learned how to say thank-you in French," Thomas told her. He said something that sounded almost correct, while Calvin winced.
"We're working on our French," he explained.
"That's great."
As Wade and Thomas filled Hannah in on all they'd been up to, Calvin listened with a slightly odd look on his face.
"What's up?" she finally asked him, when the boys went digging through their bags to find the museum map. "How were your meetings?"
"Good. And I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your support, Hannah. My mom didn't think you'd be up for me taking the kids on this exploratory trip, and it's been really great. We're bonding."
"I'm glad."
Thomas popped into view of the screen. "I wore out Gammy." He disappeared again, asking, "Where's the map?" His brother muttered something and the two began bickering.
Calvin mumbled something to the boys, then said to Hannah, "Anyway, I really appreciate that you're up for an international move, and how family-focused you are." His smile was warm and kind. She used to do anything for that smile.
Hannah eyed the notes she'd taken about the education classes and the costs of entering college in January. It was all very doable if she got a student loan, maybe a scholarship or two, as well as a few more hours at the day care. Assuming she didn't have the cost of moving to France—even though Calvin had said he'd cover most of it—and that she was accepted into the program.
"The meetings have been positive?" she asked.
"They have."
"When will you know if the project is the right fit?"
"Three to four weeks. It's all up in the air at the moment. It could be longer. Maybe less." He gave a carefree laugh, obviously unbothered by the unknown and how it was leaving his entire family in limbo.
The winter semester at the college started in two weeks, but Hannah could take the first several classes toward her degree online, meaning she could be anywhere in the world. Although starting school while navigating a family move to a foreign country might be taxing.
"I heard a rumor about you," Calvin said, his lips quirked in a bemused expression.
"A rumor?" Hannah's mind immediately went to Louis. Had someone seen them kiss? The song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" started playing in her head.
"I'm not sure what to think of it." Calvin was watching her through the screen and she felt on the spot, like there was no way to hide or distract him from talking about the kiss.
"Well, life is unexpected and sometimes...things happen."
"Things happen?"
"Yeah. You know. Out of the blue."
"Out of the blue." His brow furrowed. "What is going on?"
"Louis Bellmore and I might be becoming friends. He—" Hannah caught a glimpse of Thomas, who was reading his map, and realized she couldn't relay the story of Louis dressing up as Santa. Her little boy still held an impressive and tenuous belief in the existence of Santa Claus. Any day that bubble would burst, but she didn't want to be the one responsible.
Hannah opened her mouth to mention the plane ride instead, but that felt like the date it had become. Calvin had enjoyed the odd romantic outing himself in the past year, but Hannah felt the need to hold her relationship status close to her chest for some reason.
"I'll admit that for a moment I thought the rumors were true," he was saying.
Hannah felt her face heat up and she debated pretending there was a bad connection and hanging up.
"But seriously? That's as crazy as the one about you going back to school." He laughed. "You were so ready to get out of there when I finished my degree that you didn't even finish yours."
"Yeah. Crazy, isn't it?" Her face grew even hotter. She hated the Sweetheart Creek grapevine right now. Not only had her mom called her up, all confused about why she was insisting on becoming a career woman, but the rumor of her application had made it all the way to France in less than two days. How had she been so naive as to believe that she could wait to discuss this with Calvin in person?
It was like expecting her mother to understand. She was still unconvinced the divorce was necessary, and as for Hannah wanting her own financial independence, her mom had asked why she couldn't just "hold Calvin to his financial commitments" and be a stay-at-home mom like she'd always wanted.
But had she always wanted that? Yes, for a while. But she hadn't envisioned it being forever. And one day Calvin might have two families to support, or might be downsized at work. Hannah needed her own money. She needed to be able to move on.
"Wait. Is it true about school?" Calvin was staring at her, his face slightly pale in the December morning light.
"Um, maybe." She scrunched her nose, trying not to cringe. "I haven't totally decided. I've only just applied."
"I thought we were building toward a move to Paris." There was impatience and anger in his tone, to which Thomas was thankfully oblivious. Wade, probably not so much. Being two years older he caught a lot of things Thomas didn't.
Her youngest held his map in front of the screen, blocking her view of Calvin. "There was a statue of a man with a sword and another one of a lady," Thomas announced. "Her one private was showing." He lowered the map to gesture to his chest, and beside him Wade giggled.
"Thomas, I need to chat with your dad."
Ignoring her request, he continued pointing out various things on the map as he chattered a mile a minute. "At the museum there were bathrooms everywhere. And ice cream and doughnuts, but Dad told me only one treat so I had an ice cream, but Gammy bought me a doughnut later because she didn't know. And there was a bench outside, with ducks on a pond. A lady let me feed them her pretzel."
"None of this is for certain yet, Calvin," Hannah said, after giving Thomas a quick hum of acknowledgment. "France and...everything." She waved a hand and slid her admission notes farther away.
"I thought we were on the same team. I thought we had a plan."
"We are! We do. I can take these courses anywhere." At least the first ones. "I could even study while sitting on that bench feeding the ducks a pretzel."
"A man said it was bad for the ducks, but I'd already given it to them," Thomas chimed in.
"An American education degree will be worthless in France. It's a completely different system." Calvin's voice was low and urgent. "You don't need a degree to work where you are, and we're both still paying off our student loans from before."
"I thought you'd like the idea of me expanding my financial independence. And my student loans are almost gone." That was one benefit of working so hard during school, as well as taking only a few classes.
"I take good care of you and the boys," he said. "I'm good about flexing my schedule or calling my mom to help us when Edith drops a shift in your lap, but that's for work."
"And I appreciate that."
"There's no need to change things. They're working fine."
Hannah sucked in a deep breath and held it to a count of five. She released it and sucked in a second one.
"I don't want to fight, Hannah." Calvin shook his head as though disappointed.
He wanted her to roll over. Withdraw from the program and lose the application fee, because it was inconvenient for him. Her choice could put them on separate pages in terms of their goals, and could even make him appear selfish if he moved them all to France when she wanted to go back to school.
In some ways Calvin and Louis weren't that different. They both wanted her to do things that suited their image of her. Louis wanted her to stretch more. Calvin less.
"What if something happens to your job?" Hannah asked. "Don't you want me to—"
"Where is all of this coming from?" When Hannah didn't reply, he said, "Is this about your neighbor? I heard he dressed up as Santa for you and that he wined and dined you with his big fancy NHL status."
"Louis is Santa? He's so cool!" Thomas's face popped into view of the camera. He gasped, his eyes widening. "Is his plane really a sleigh?"
"Santa's not real, dummy," Wade muttered.
"Wade," Hannah warned. "Louis was just helping out Santa. Santa's real busy this time of year. Louis is a hockey coach for the Dragons, the team Daisy-Mae, Athena and Violet work for."
"Cool. I bet he knows lots of players."
She nodded. "He does. I met some of them."
"Whoa!" Wade looked impressed.
"Can Louis take us to a hockey game?" Thomas asked, jostling his way into the camera's view again.
"Maybe. He took me to one."
Calvin's voice was low, almost a growl. "Since when do you like hockey?"
"Would he take me, too?" Wade asked hopefully.
"I thought this guy was your enemy, Hannah," Calvin said, angling the camera his way again. "And applying for school without discussing it with me—this is something that can impact all of us. We had an agreement about making big decisions that can affect our family, and you storming ahead isn't like you."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just want to be more independent. I want to be able to shoulder the responsibility that befalls me."
"Louis flies planes," Thomas told Wade. "I bet he could fly us home and then we could take our seat belts off whenever we wanted."
Calvin let out a big sigh. He slid back on the bench, the phone swaying in his grip. "We have to go." He ended the call before she could say goodbye to the boys.
Hannah blinked at her phone for a long minute before setting it down. Was this what Louis had been talking about? How everybody liked her being quiet and staying in her place?
Calvin obviously wasn't a fan of how she was potentially upending their lives, even if, overall, it would be better for everyone.
Then again, it was a rather sudden shift for her to go back to school, and she'd broken their agreement about discussing things like that ahead of time. She'd ambushed the poor man and she was certain that if she'd been the one to break the news to Calvin it would have gone much smoother. Instead, due to Louis's meddling, she'd sideswiped her ex, potentially making everything more difficult.
She dropped her head in her hands and sighed. All things being equal, it was going to be a very awkward Christmas.