by Amber Lynn
“You don’t have to answer now, or even have to take up my offer this weekend. It’s always there. I just wanted to fill you in and let you know that I do miss you. I was the protector and you were the glue for so many years. It doesn’t have to be the same, since you have a new protector, but I would like to get my glue back.”
Nina’s lips curled up in what had to be one of the only sincere-looking smiles she’d ever given. Before saying anything else, she turned and walked away, leaving Hannah to try to figure out what in the world had just happened.
Chapter 24
Curtis had no clue why he was in a car driving towards a restaurant for dinner with the she-devil. Saying no clue was a little much, since all he had to do was look to his right and see why he was doing it. The woman had shown up out of the blue, yet again, to play some new game.
There was nothing Nina could say to make him believe she’d changed, but she was a good enough actress that she’d piqued Hannah’s interest. Curtis wanted to be generous and say he couldn’t blame Hannah for wanting to see if the only person possibly closer to her than Curtis had really changed. He couldn’t, though. Once a witch, always a witch in his book.
The only reason he was going was because Hannah had threatened to go alone. There was no way in the world his unborn child and fiancé were going to be alone with Nina without his protection. He’d punched a wall when he heard there’d already been brief contact.
“It’s a public place, Curtis. She’s not going to unleash the gates of Hell in there.”
Hannah squeezed his hand as she spoke. She’d been rubbing her thumb along it since she’d grabbed it just after they got in the car.
“At least you admit she has that capability. I just don’t see how letting her in our lives would be beneficial to either of us. We’re getting married, going to have a baby. You’ve even made new friends. I don’t understand why we need to see if she’s really changed. It’s just going to be one of her acts.”
Taking a deep breath, Hannah leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. He knew she was tired of hearing the same thing over and over from him, but the fact remained he was stating the truth.
“I need to know for sure. She was always like a sister to me. Maybe I gave up on her too soon.”
Curtis shook his head. If anything, Hannah had waited around for a miracle way too long. He’d made that clear, and since they were pulling into the parking lot of Trostel Haus, he didn’t really have time to go over it again, nor did he think going over it again would make a difference.
The one positive thing he could say about Nina was that she had good taste in food. It was one of his favorite restaurants. The fact had given him pause, but he tried not to see any hidden meanings behind the choice of restaurant. It wasn’t like he and Hannah went there often enough to think she picked it on purpose.
Once the car was parked, as close as he could get them to the door, which on a Sunday night was two rows away, Curtis sighed and opened his door. Hannah had put on a bright smile, clearly meaning to reassure him, and was already getting out on her side.
He wished she wouldn’t have taken the opportunity to wear a slinky black dress that clung to her like a second skin. Not that he didn’t love seeing her in the dress. He just didn’t want to have to deal with every other guy in the restaurant seeing her in the dress.
“Just remember that the safe word is pacifier if you want to get out of there.”
Hannah laughed at the reminder. Curtis had to try to have some fun with what he knew would be a horrible evening, so he’d come up with the safe word.
“With how much you’ve whined about tonight, you’ll be lucky if I don’t stuff a pacifier in your mouth.” She leaned against him as they walked hand-in-hand towards the door of the restaurant. “Listen, if you have a bad vibe after we get in there, we’ll leave. I just want you to see her and listen to her for a few minutes. I want to make sure I wasn’t hearing things.”
“And you think I’m going to be a good judge? I may not even understand a word coming out of her mouth since I’m not fluent in devil.”
Curtis smiled as he opened the door and greeted the hostess. She returned the gesture, recognition in her eyes.
“How are you guys doing tonight?” She moved from behind the podium and grabbed a pair of menus. “Your dinner companion is already here.”
For only a few words, the statement caused a mess of thoughts. The waitress knew them by looks apparently, but how in the world did she know specifically that they weren’t eating alone as usual. She also said companion singular, which alleviated some of Curtis’ worry. He’d been afraid there would be some kind of ambush of double trouble with Nina and Paul or someone else to cause them grief.
“Are you sure? We haven’t even had a chance to mention we’re meeting someone?”
At least Hannah sounded just as confused. As far as Curtis knew, they’d never exchanged names or anything.
“You were described in detail, a little more than necessary since you guys are regulars.”
“Care to share those details?”
Hannah’s elbow dug into Curtis’ side after he asked the question. He thought it was an important thing to know. The words used could be a key indicator what Nina they were about to run into.
“I think you two know what you look like, so it’d be silly for me to repeat. Plus, we’re just around the corner here.”
The woman held her arm out to direct them to a pair of chairs at a table with a booth on the other side. Nina was already seated on the booth. Curtis glared at her for just being who she was and for taking the seat he preferred. It was so much easier for Hannah to curl up next to him on the bench than the chairs.
The hostess put the menus down on the table and headed back to her post. Curtis didn’t move to sit, preferring to stare at the personification of evil. Hannah had claimed something looked different about her, but Curtis didn’t see it. If he squinted, he could still see the horns sticking out of her head.
“Here, guys, you can have the booth. I was just sitting over here so I could see when you got here.”
Nina stood and moved around the table to sit in the chair opposite where she’d sat. Curtis watched her movements closely, waiting to jump into action in case she made a move. She didn’t, as she quickly sat back down, keeping a smile on her face the whole time.
The smile made Curtis uneasy. He couldn’t deny there was something different about it. He didn’t spend much time with Nina, but the smile he was used to was always easily definable as fake. Maybe it was the dim lighting in the restaurant, but it seemed almost real.
“Thanks again for agreeing to come tonight. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you, Curtis. I know how much you hate me.”
Hannah pulled him over to the booth and slid in, so she was across from Nina. The idea didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t stop her. She put her purse on the other side of her and squeezed her hand around his thigh as soon as they were both settled.
“I’m not sure you understand how deep my hatred is. If you did, you wouldn’t have asked us to dinner.”
Curtis didn’t see a reason to lie. His eyes let her know that information, so spelling it out seemed like a good idea.
“My shrink has told me I’m nothing more than a tight ball of hate, so I understand how deep it can run. Luckily for you, you seem to be able to love at the same time. I’ve made my hatred a way of life.”
She gestured to Hannah when she mentioned love. The words were probably the most honest thing to ever come out of her mouth. Curtis wasn’t going to cut her any slack, but he conceded it was an improvement.
“Just so we’re clear, nothing you do or say is going to make me change my mind. Hannah makes her own choices in life now, and I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that stays the same.”
“Can I get you guys something to drink?”
A waiter appeared with a pad of paper in hand, ready to take their drink orders. Hannah couldn’t drink, and Curtis
wanted to keep his head on straight anyway, so he’d decided to keep the drink choices for their side of the table non-alcoholic. He could’ve really used at least a beer to make things tolerable, but he’d resigned himself to the fact he had to deal with Nina sober.
"I’ll take just a glass of water with a lemon wedge,” Nina ordered.
“The same,” Hannah followed.
“You can skip the lemon in mine.”
The waiter’s eye was drawn to Nina during the quick interaction. Curtis didn’t doubt she had to deal with that all the time. He liked the distraction from Hannah, who often had men’s eyes lingering a little longer than Curtis accepted.
“Great, I’ll go grab those and be right back to see about appetizers.”
A sort of awkward silence followed him. It didn’t last long, just long enough for Curtis to open his menu and pretend to look at it. He knew everything they offered, so he’d already decided what he’d get if they lasted until it was time to order. Leaving still seemed like the best idea.
“I understand.” When Curtis looked over to Nina, a little confused, she continued. “About Hannah making her own choices. You have to know, though, that it wasn’t always just me controlling her life. There was a reason for it all.”
“He knows.”
Hannah’s response had an odd effect on Nina. Curtis thought she could be in the process of having a seizure or something, because her eyes actually cast down at the table, almost like she was embarrassed. That couldn’t be. She wasn’t shaking, so the seizure probably wasn’t right, maybe a stroke though.
“I guess that leads us right into my long list of things I need to apologize for.” Her eyes lifted back up and connected with Curtis’. “You have to understand that I will never say I’m sorry about what I did in high school. If you know why I started protecting Hannah with the ferocity of a lioness, you know why I had to do it. Obviously, you guys are meant for each other, but none of us could have known that in high school.”
Curtis hated that he had to concede that. With his trajectory back then, things wouldn’t have been smooth between him and Hannah. The time they’d have to be apart while he was in the minors would have driven them both crazy.
“I do have plenty to apologize for.”
Nina looked humble as she switched her focus to Hannah. Curtis had to believe it was the lighting causing her features to soften. It was either that or she’d figured out some miracle makeup trick.
“I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you. I shouldn’t have cancelled your appointment, and when you confronted me about it, I shouldn’t have thrown it back in your face. I was ashamed that what I’d done could have a very lasting effect on your life.”
“Can you turn your head to the side?”
Nina seemed confused by Curtis’ request, but she paused her apology to do as asked. Hannah laughed, probably realizing why he asked the question. When Nina finished turning one way, he motioned with her finger to look the other way.
“I suppose it could be buried in her ear. Someone’s out there telling you what to say, right?”
There didn’t seem to be another explanation. There was no way Nina Hughes was acting like a human being.
She smiled and shook her head to the side as she figured out what he was looking for. The waiter came, briefly interrupting the conversation by bringing their water and taking their orders. Curtis had thought he’d be out the door by the time ordering came about, but it seemed like Nina was actually going to apologize, and Hannah deserved to hear it.
“Now, where were we? I can request a flashlight if you’d like to take a closer look in my ears, but I promise, even if it doesn’t mean anything to you, that I’m not being fed lines. You see, I realized when Hannah walked out of my life, one of the big reasons I continued to guide her and push her to seek my opinion on everything is because I never wanted to lose her. I knew eventually she’d find a guy who’d take her away and I wanted to make sure that was a long way down the road.”
She stopped to take a sip of water and look around the room. They were at the end of a long booth with tables, but no one sat directly around them. She’d probably made sure of that since she seemed to be willing to bear her soul.
“I made mistakes trying to get your attention. I’m sure you know that I made sure no one else would hirer you. I thought it’d make you come back and at least talk, but obviously that didn’t work. Speaking of work, I mean, you have to know what hell that’s been. I had to fire May. Without you there, her incompetence became completely apparent, and did you know she hates cussing? Who the fuck in their thirties makes stupid faces anytime someone says fuck. I can’t see how you worked with her.”
Nina shook her head as Hannah laughed. Fuck was definitely the right word. Curtis could see where things were headed and he wasn’t sure whether he should stop them. Hannah had always considered Nina the big sister she never had biologically growing up, and even though she pretended not to care their relationship had been on the outs for months, he knew she missed her.
“And then, since you still wouldn’t call, I started leaving notes on Curtis’ car. I figured he’d bring them home to you and you’d recognize my handwriting. Somewhere that idea broke down, so I happened to run into Paul at the store one day. I had to chase him for about a block, evidently he’s still not over me kicking him in the balls. Anyway, I got him to agree to pay a friendly visit to Curtis to see if that would make you call me.”
“You could have just called me yourself.”
Hannah said it like she was speaking to a logical person. Nina had long ago proven she couldn’t be confused for that.
“When have I ever made the first move in something like this? When my little plots didn’t work, I finally took your advice and sought professional help. I have a long, long way to go, as Dr. Barnes makes clear almost every session, but I’m hoping you won’t give up on me. I mean, not talking to you in months feels like you already have, but I’m trying to be better and do better.”
Rather than respond, Hannah looked to Curtis. He didn’t know what to tell her, so he just shrugged. Nina was a master manipulator, so chances were good it was all just an act. He’d never in a million years thought he’d hear her be contrite and apologize for what her actions did to others.
“I’m glad you’re getting help, Nina. And boy, have I missed you.” Curtis could hear the tears in Hannah’s words. “What are you doing next Wednesday? We’ve got something kind of planned that day and it would really show us if your actions follow along with your words.”
Curtis thought checking out the actions part was a good idea, but he wasn’t sure inviting Nina to their wedding was the right time to check it out. He didn’t say anything as their appetizers arrived and the evening continued. He was too busy trying to catch Nina in some kind of new lie or find her façade fading away. Either she was really good, something he knew to be true already, or the woman was actually turning over a new leaf.
Chapter 25
The knock on the door startled Hannah. She was busy going over the numbers. In about seven months, she’d be a mother. In two weeks, she’d turn twenty-nine. And in less than thirty minutes, she’d be Hannah Power.
She still got a chill thinking about it. Her sleeveless dress made that clear as goosebumps appeared down her arms. She’d dreamed about her wedding day when she was little. As she got older, it seemed silly to think about horse-drawn carriages and a big white dress with glass slippers. Oh yeah, she went all fairytale princess when she thought about what it would be like. The carriage was even in the shape of a pumpkin.
It’d been at least fifteen years since she thought about the dream, but she kept referring back to it in the days leading up to her big day. There weren’t going to be birds carrying her veil behind her as she walked down an aisle, but her prince would definitely be waiting for her at the end.
“Are you decent? I need a break from dealing with the flower catastrophe going on out here.”
; Nina didn’t wait to walk into the bedroom after the knock and the announcement. Hannah was stressed enough and trying to think happy thoughts that she hadn’t even considered her response to someone joining her. Hearing what Nina had to say, she should’ve considered locking the door.
“What are you talking about? We didn’t mess around with flowers on such short notice. I was lucky to find a dress that fit in the time we actually planned this out.”
Hannah was in her dress, standing in the middle of her bedroom. She had no idea where Curtis was since he’d been very strict about not seeing her before the big event. He hadn’t even slept in the same room the night before.
Too afraid to sit and wrinkle her dress, Hannah had stood as still as a cake topper bride as she let a million thoughts run through her head. It probably wasn’t the best use of her time, but she didn’t have any fancy makeup or hair she had planned to do, so she’d just thrown her dress on and waited for her dad to come get her.
“That’s exactly the catastrophe I’m talking about. You’re only getting married once, Hans, if I have anything to say about it and everything has to be perfect.”
Nina stopped and looked Hannah up and down. Her mouth twisted from side to side as she did.
“Can you twirl for me real quick?”
She motioned with her finger, just in case Hannah couldn’t understand her words. Hannah wasn’t sure how possible a twirl would be, but she went ahead and gave it a shot. She’d been fine not going the traditional huge white gown route, but Curtis had glared her into submission.
When he’d proposed, she made the mistake of telling him a few of her childhood ideas about her wedding, and the dress was one he didn’t think she should miss out on. The problem was finding the perfect one that didn’t need to be altered for her skinny body.
“Is there a reason your stomach should be poofing out like that?”
Hannah looked down over the heart-shaped bodice squeezing things in to try to figure out what Nina was talking about. She pushed her hands along her stomach and didn’t feel any particular bumps. She still had at least a month or two before the baby would make its presence known.