Hannah
Hannah's phone buzzed in her back pocket as she barked directions toward a pair of staff members struggling to line up barricades.
"No, those go to stage one. The rest can go to stage three," she called out, waving toward an open lot.
She swiped to answer the call, not bothering to check the caller's ID until after the phone was already to her ear. "Hey, Mike. I'm swamped. What's up?
"Shit, sorry. You're not in the office this week, are you?" He asked.
"No, I'm on-site for the setup." She replied, stepping carefully over a tangled cord on the pavement. "Is something wrong?"
"You haven't read it yet, have you?"
"Read what?" She asked, squinting at a printout of the site map on the folding table beside her. A porta-potty truck rolled into view, and she waved the driver over, gesturing to the east fence.
"There was someone outside the restaurant the other night." Mike continued. "With a camera."
"What do you mean... camera?" Her eyes were fixed on the truck tires rolling dangerously close to a cable spool.
"Hannah..." Mike sighed. "There are pictures. Of us. All over the internet."
"Okay, and?" She asked, only half-listening, her focus still split. Until he said it.
"You should call Carmen."
That caught her full attention. She straightened. "Why?"
"Just... Google your name. Then call her. I'm serious."
"Mike, what are you talking abou–" But he already hung up. "Well, that wasn't helpful." She muttered to the now blank phone screen.
With exactly five seconds to spare before the lighting team arrived, she typed her own name into the search bar, wincing when she clicked enter.
Ten minutes later, she was still standing frozen, sun beating down on her, scrolling headline after headline.
Hannah Nelson seen dining with a mystery man. Sources confirm Mills split.
Is this the man who came between Hannah Nelson and Carmen Mills?
A quiet dinner... or a not-so-secret affair?
Some articles painted her as the heartbreaker, ditching Carmen in the middle of her family's scandal. Others accused her of cheating. Non cited an actual reputable source. Most didn't even mention Carmen's side.
Oh, no.
This was going to make everything worse. It could wreck the weekend. Not just personally, but publicly. She was the face of the event. If reporters latched onto the narrative, it wouldn't matter how good the music was or how well the artists performed.
Not to mention what she and Carmen were working toward. Every question would revolve around her love life and whether it was still connected to Carmen.
As she continued working on the site, she called Carmen. Voicemail. Over and over, each one went to her voicemail.
She tried to breathe. She told herself Carmen would know better. Carmen would remember the truth. That it was just dinner. Just Mike. Just Lyvie. Family.
But the photos... the one where Mike leaned in while she was choking, captured at the wrong angle, it looked intimate.
The shot of her handing Lyvie over was heartwarming and domestic. Without context, it looked like something else entirely.
YOU ARE READING
Of Course, It's You
Romance[Book 1 in the Of Course series] The only reason Hannah made it to this wedding, was because her friends asked for her daughter to be the flower girl. After the death of her wife, Hannah resigned herself to a life devoid of love and she's determined...
