Promise Me (Book One of the Kirkland Family)

Promise Me: Chapter 30

Chapter 30

On Tuesday, Hannah called Olivia back and told her she would drive up to Memphis on Wednesday morning, and together, they set up an appointment for three o’clock.  She had not heard from Justin since he left in a hissy-fit the day before, or if he still planned to see her that day, and she wondered if she should call him herself, or wait. 

She decided to wait.  And it was horrible.  She did what she could to keep herself busy, but her mind kept replaying their weekend of lovemaking and the fight in her office.  Had it really only been five days since that fateful night they began sleeping with each other?  She felt like she’d already spent an eternity with her jackass.  And now that they were back to fighting with each other, she seemed even more lost than usual.  She kept thinking that he was done with her and their lives were to go on as before.  Which was impossible for Hannah.  He said he wasn’t in love with her and he would never be.  Hannah, on the other hand, had only fallen further and further under her regard for him.  She couldn’t stop falling in love if she cut out her heart.

Now, she feared that whatever might have been between them would never come.  All because she wanted to hear what Olivia Williams had to say.

Oh, stop it...it’s only been a day.  He said he was worried about her getting hurt again.  And he looked sincere about it.  It wasn’t as though she’d suddenly become famous overnight.  More than anything, it was curiosity that drove Hannah to make that appointment with the record producer.  Why now?  Why not back when she’d been twenty and in the prime of her youth?  Today, she was thirty years old, and Justin had been right – damn him.  She did have a good life now.  And no matter how tempting Olivia William’s offer might be, she wasn’t going to give up Justin and Josie for something as flighty as a singing career.

And that was another problem weighing on Hannah’s mind.  Josie.  She didn’t like deceiving the girl.  If Justin’s parents knew about him and her, then it was only a matter of time before Josie found out.  Maybe that was why Justin had been so angry about her news.  He feared that Josie would eventually discover their secret affair, and if Hannah left for another chance at stardom, then Josie would feel abandoned again, so was he calling it quits now?  They had spent so much time together in the past five days, that the few hours apart from him were agonizing and lonely.

Chad said Justin would be back, but Hannah wasn’t so sure.  He’d been very upset.  Maybe he was packing up Josie and heading to Savannah that very morning.

And then, Eric showed up again at the store, which irritated Hannah, but Chad was quick to pick up on her frustration and quickly called her away with an “emergency.”  She seriously considered giving him that raise after his rescue.

Around noon, Hannah was heading into her office to order pizzas for lunch, and she spied a single rose sitting on her desk.  Mark appeared at her back, grinning.  “It was delivered a little while ago.  I would have radioed you, but you left your handheld behind again.”

Hannah ignored his snide remark about her radio.  She’d been out riding in the Gator, trying to keep her mind off of Justin, and didn’t want the interruptions.  She would have liked to have spent her morning with Kim in the greenhouses, but Kim had a doctor’s appointment and wasn’t at work.  Picking up the flower, she noticed a note attached to it, tied with a ribbon.  It read, “Take an extended lunch.  I’ll be waiting.  Jack.”

“Who’s Jack?” Mark asked, reading over her shoulder. 

“Do you mind?” she huffed at him.

“I thought you and Justin were getting cozy,” he said, not minding at all.  “How many boyfriends do you have?”

“Go away,” she said, tucking the note in her pocket and sticking the rose in a bottle of water sitting on her desk.  It was one of her grandmother’s roses, from the bushes along her front porch.  The pink tips were a dead giveaway.