shared with Caleb in the twelve years they’d had together.
“What’re you thinking?”
“That I probably have no business starting something with Nolan when I’m still so screwed up over Caleb.”
“You’re not screwed up, Hannah. You’re the strongest, most courageous, resilient person I’ve ever known, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way you’ve conducted yourself in the years since we lost Caleb.”
Her mother’s forcefully spoken words brought tears to Hannah’s eyes.
“You’ve earned the right to be happy, and if Nolan makes you happy, spend time with him. Give yourself permission to start over.”
“I want to. I really do, especially because it’s him, and he loved Caleb so much. He gets it, you know?”
Molly nodded in agreement. “When he first took a shine to you, I couldn’t decide if his friendship with Caleb would be a pro or a con. I can see how it would help you to move forward with someone who lived through it and understands what you’ve lost.”
“Right. But . . . I often wonder if it would be easier and less risky to just be by myself.”
“It’d be both those things and awfully lonely, too.”
Hannah could attest to the loneliness. After years of contentment with her own company, she’d begun to chafe a bit lately at the boundaries she’d set for herself. As the long cold winter came to an end and spring began to bloom all around her, she wondered if it wasn’t also time to step outside the cocoon and start over again.
The night she’d spent with Nolan, the heated kisses they’d shared, the desire he could barely hide made her want to reach for the brass ring that’d been out of her reach for so long now.
“Why are your cheeks suddenly bright red?”
Damn her mother’s never-ending intuition. “No reason.”
“That doesn’t look like no reason to me. You know you want to tell someone . . . Why not me?”
Hannah laughed at her mother’s shameless campaign for info. “Fine! I kissed him. A lot. There! Are you happy?”
“Are you? That’s the more important question.”
“I’m . . . intrigued.”
“That’s not happy—yet. But it’s an excellent start.”
• • •
After a quick stop at home to shower and change, Nolan arrived at the garage where six cars had already been delivered by their owners. His eyes were gritty from the lack of sleep, and he was chugging his second coffee of the morning as he started with the easiest job—an oil change and filter on a Dodge SUV.
An hour into what should’ve been a half-hour job, Nolan snapped out of a daze to discover he was staring at the engine as he relived the amazing night with Hannah. Thinking about how it had felt to hold her and kiss her and sleep with her in his arms ran through his mind like a movie he never wanted to stop watching.
For so long, he’d thought about what it might be like to spend that kind of time with her, but the reality was much better than the fantasy. And if he continued to think about her, he’d still be here at ten o’clock tonight when he certainly had better things to do.
He buckled down and finished the oil change, rotated tires and dug into a complex transmission issue, all before noon when his so-called assistant, Skeeter, came rambling in looking like something the cat had dragged home. That thought made Nolan chuckle under his breath as the always eclectic Skeeter was known throughout Butler for putting his dead cat in his mother’s freezer and forgetting about it for ten years.
“Mornin’,” Skeeter grumbled. His fine white hair stood straight up, giving him the appearance of having grappled with electricity and come out on the bad end of the encounter. At just barely five foot, eight inches, he had a wiry, compact frame and a face full of broken blood vessels thanks to his love of moonshine.
“Afternoon.” Nolan knew it was pointless to remind Skeeter that he’d promised to show up early in the day to deal with two cars in need
“What’re you thinking?”
“That I probably have no business starting something with Nolan when I’m still so screwed up over Caleb.”
“You’re not screwed up, Hannah. You’re the strongest, most courageous, resilient person I’ve ever known, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way you’ve conducted yourself in the years since we lost Caleb.”
Her mother’s forcefully spoken words brought tears to Hannah’s eyes.
“You’ve earned the right to be happy, and if Nolan makes you happy, spend time with him. Give yourself permission to start over.”
“I want to. I really do, especially because it’s him, and he loved Caleb so much. He gets it, you know?”
Molly nodded in agreement. “When he first took a shine to you, I couldn’t decide if his friendship with Caleb would be a pro or a con. I can see how it would help you to move forward with someone who lived through it and understands what you’ve lost.”
“Right. But . . . I often wonder if it would be easier and less risky to just be by myself.”
“It’d be both those things and awfully lonely, too.”
Hannah could attest to the loneliness. After years of contentment with her own company, she’d begun to chafe a bit lately at the boundaries she’d set for herself. As the long cold winter came to an end and spring began to bloom all around her, she wondered if it wasn’t also time to step outside the cocoon and start over again.
The night she’d spent with Nolan, the heated kisses they’d shared, the desire he could barely hide made her want to reach for the brass ring that’d been out of her reach for so long now.
“Why are your cheeks suddenly bright red?”
Damn her mother’s never-ending intuition. “No reason.”
“That doesn’t look like no reason to me. You know you want to tell someone . . . Why not me?”
Hannah laughed at her mother’s shameless campaign for info. “Fine! I kissed him. A lot. There! Are you happy?”
“Are you? That’s the more important question.”
“I’m . . . intrigued.”
“That’s not happy—yet. But it’s an excellent start.”
• • •
After a quick stop at home to shower and change, Nolan arrived at the garage where six cars had already been delivered by their owners. His eyes were gritty from the lack of sleep, and he was chugging his second coffee of the morning as he started with the easiest job—an oil change and filter on a Dodge SUV.
An hour into what should’ve been a half-hour job, Nolan snapped out of a daze to discover he was staring at the engine as he relived the amazing night with Hannah. Thinking about how it had felt to hold her and kiss her and sleep with her in his arms ran through his mind like a movie he never wanted to stop watching.
For so long, he’d thought about what it might be like to spend that kind of time with her, but the reality was much better than the fantasy. And if he continued to think about her, he’d still be here at ten o’clock tonight when he certainly had better things to do.
He buckled down and finished the oil change, rotated tires and dug into a complex transmission issue, all before noon when his so-called assistant, Skeeter, came rambling in looking like something the cat had dragged home. That thought made Nolan chuckle under his breath as the always eclectic Skeeter was known throughout Butler for putting his dead cat in his mother’s freezer and forgetting about it for ten years.
“Mornin’,” Skeeter grumbled. His fine white hair stood straight up, giving him the appearance of having grappled with electricity and come out on the bad end of the encounter. At just barely five foot, eight inches, he had a wiry, compact frame and a face full of broken blood vessels thanks to his love of moonshine.
“Afternoon.” Nolan knew it was pointless to remind Skeeter that he’d promised to show up early in the day to deal with two cars in need
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