by Camden Mays
“I know. I know. Wait, is that a ‘yes?’ ”
“Sure, I’ll go. I’ve never seen anyone work this hard to ask for a date.”
“Come on, get dressed, Jess is going to have everything prepped.”
“You sure she’s going to be cool with this?”
“Positive,” Cameron said pulling his pants on.
Hannah looked at the clothes tossed on the bench at the foot of the bed.
“Shit!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I still don’t know what to wear.”
✽✽✽
McLean Virginia
The dinner did not go as expected for Cameron. Evidently, Jessica assumed his friend would be Mr. Capps or some other male colleague. She had failed to decode his message. As a result, the three struggled to shuffle food around their plates and words from their mouths.
“This sauce is delicious Jessica. What do you use?” Hannah attempted yet again.
“A jar,” came the tart reply.
“Well, it's good. I really like it.”
“And, it’s not just any jar,” Cameron stepped in trying to break the tension, “tell her what our favorite is, honey.”
“It’s Newman’s Sookarooni,” she said with a fake smile.
“Oh really?” Hannah said trying to muster some enthusiasm.
“Are you enjoying studying at UCLA?”
“Sure, it was great until you guys all showed up and a terrorist tried to kill my friends and me.”
“Jess!” Cameron scolded. “Where’s this coming from?”
“May I be excused?”
“No, hold on. What’s going on here?”
“You said you were having a friend over. I even cooked it and everything,” Jessica said throwing her napkin down.
“Hannah is my friend.”
“Maybe I should leave,” Hannah said starting to get up, but Cameron reached his hand out.
“Wait. She is my friend.”
“Well, I thought I was cooking for Mr. Capps or somebody else. I didn’t know I was cooking for your date. How long have you two been dating anyway?”
Cameron and Hannah looked at each other. “Well, I guess since today.”
“Oh my God, Dad. You brought her here on your first date!” then she turned to Hannah, “Wow, isn’t that a little quick.”
“Jess! We’ve been working together for a couple months. It’s not like we’re strangers.”
“You work together? Isn’t that against the rules or something.”
“Jess! Stop it now!” Cameron said slamming his hand down on the table startling both Jessica and Hannah.
“Listen, yes we’ve been working together for a couple months, but only on this project. Hannah is with the FBI, which you would have known if you would have listened to our conversation or shown interest in someone other than yourself.”
Cameron stood up from the table.
“I’m sorry. I really am. Hannah and I have been through a lot together in a very short time. And now that our task force is over, I wanted to see her.”
He dropped his head, lowered his voice and slowed his speech.
“I know it’s hard for you to understand, but we’ve both had near misses with death. Do you get that? We’ve both lost people close to us. People we cared about are dead.”
He saw a tear run down Hannah’s cheek and his eyes teared up as well.
“My God Jess. Can’t you see we’re both hurting so bad? But somehow in the midst of all the sadness when I’m with Hannah I’m happy.”
Jessica looked at Hannah who was drying a tear. She saw her Dad’s pain and Hannah’s as well and dropped her head in shame.
“Look, a lot is changing. And I’m sorry for the way this happened. I really should have been clear in my text.”
“Yes, you should have!” both women said in near unison, throwing Cameron off his train of thought. He chuckled and then received a death stare from both of them.
“OK Jess, I told you about the Gala, and you asked me who I was taking. I told you I wasn’t sure yet. Well, I had asked Hannah, but with everything that went down, we had not solidified our plans. Today she said yes, and I wanted her to meet you. That’s why I texted you.”
Everyone sat quietly.
“Hell, if I were inviting Darryl Capps over, I wouldn’t text you to help with dinner, we’d just get pizza.”
“I bet right now, you wish you would have invited Capps over instead?” Hannah said blowing out her cheeks.
Cameron saw a slight grin on Jessica's face, and with it came a little relief.
“Hell, right now, I wish I would have invited him to the Gala!”
The tension broke as everyone laughed picturing the possibilities.
“He’s a big man, I’m not sure you could handle him,” Hannah said laughing.
“Oh my God, he is so intimidating!” Jessica chimed in. “Dad had him stay here when he went to the funeral. He kept telling me ‘girly, get away from the window,’ ‘who you calling now, girly,’ ‘your daddy needs an ass whipping, girly,’ ‘he done ruined my vacation.’” Jessica mocked Capps’ deep, gravelly voice, leading to a good hard laugh by all.
“Cole, you should take Jessica to the Gala,” Hannah suggested.
“No. No. You guys go. Besides, Dad would probably just try to embarrass me.”
Hannah nodded toward Jessica, prodding Cameron to push harder.
“You know, you’re right I’m not sure I want to make a fool of myself on a dance floor with Hannah, why don’t you come with me like she said.”
Jessica’s face lit up with an idea.
“Do you have extra tickets?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Well, if you had two extra tickets, you two could go, and I could get a friend to go.”
“A friend?” Cameron questioned, unsure if he liked where this idea was going. He saw the sheepish grin on his daughter’s face.
“Oh no, Kincaid is off limits!”
“Wait. Kincaid. Is that the rookie agent we met outside on the way in?” Hannah asked smiling at Jessica. “Well, I certainly see the attraction.”
Jess smiled.
“Ladies, please,” Cameron said clearing his throat.
“Dad! No. I was thinking of bringing Brittany. Please.”
“Yeah, I guess I can ask for the extra tickets. Hannah is that OK with you?”
“Well, it would be a dating first for me, going on a double date with a father and his daughter.”
She paused sipping her wine as both of the Camerons waited for her response. She’s his daughter alright, she thought.
“Sure. I’m in.”
“Good you can take Hannah, and we can have David drive us.”
“Who is David?” Hannah asked.
“Agent David Kincaid,” Cameron replied in a stare down with his daughter.
Hannah sipped on her glass of wine and tried to watch out the corner of her eye to see who would blink first.
“One more thing,” Cameron said breaking the stare, “there will be a little ceremony Monday morning near my office. Jess, I’d like for you to be there and Hannah if you’re free maybe you could meet us there, as well.”
“What kind of ceremony?”
“Evidently, someone thought I deserved to be awarded the Intelligence Star for our recent work.”
“Wow, that’s a big deal. It’s like the third highest award in the CIA,” Hannah said.
“I think they’re just trying to get some good press out of the situation,” Cameron said pouring more wine for Hannah.
“Is that where they put a star on the wall?” Jessica asked.
“No, that’s for those who die in the line of duty.” Cameron paused and thought of Amir. He explained the differences in the medals and awards in the CIA and that most are given secretly. Cole also shared that he was receiving a promotion, although he wasn’t sure what the new job entailed. He was moving forward.
As he discussed the
promotion, he noticed Hannah’s body language, she had a very subtle look of concern. He knew he would need to explore that further at a later point.
Later Jessica was on the couch texting with her friends while watching a reality show. Cameron and Hannah stood at the sink doing the dishes that Hannah had insisted they do since Jessica had prepared the meal.
She handed Cameron a plate to dry and looked up at him and narrated in a whisper their previous exchange.
“She asked, ‘are you sure your daughter is going to be cool with this?’, ‘positive,’ he said not skipping a beat.” She handed him another plate and shook her head.
“Well, I think it ended alright,” he said.
“Yeah, crises averted for now,” she whispered looking over toward the couch.
“Thank you for tonight. I think I’m ready to get home.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Where did I put my phone? I’m going to get an uber.”
“No. No. I’ll drive you back.”
“Nonsense, you should stay with Jessica.”
Jessica overheard their whispers.
“It’s OK Hannah. Dad should drive you back.”
Hannah was facing Cameron with her back to Jessica when she heard her call out, her eyes widened and gave Cameron a look that said, you’re killing me. “Oh no Jessica, that’s not necessary,” she said turning to the living room.
“No please, take him,” she said with an eye roll, “he’ll just make me watch ‘Last of the Mohicans’ for the hundredth time, or ‘Hoosiers,’ actually, that one’s not too bad.”
She stood and walked over to them.
“And please, call me Jess…and…I’m really sorry about tonight. I was way out of line, and you should know that my parents raised me better than that. I was just caught off guard, it was not your fault.”
Cameron was proud that his daughter had recovered her maturity.
“Thanks, Jess,” Hannah said giving her a hug. “I think your Dad is a special guy, even if he is a poor communicator.”
“Hey!” Cameron said taking the brunt of the joke.
“Well, you must be a special woman for him to bring you here to meet me. I’ll see you Monday.”
Cameron and Hannah pulled out of the driveway, he waved to the agents sitting watch in the car across from his home. As he drove down the street, he said to her, “See, I told you I was ‘positive’ everything was going to be great.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, the kid has superhuman powers when it comes to hearing. Seriously, especially when you are whispering. I mean, the TV going, texting, multitasking, doesn’t matter, she’ll pick up everything. I swear I don’t know how she does it.”
“Uh-huh.”
Cameron was getting a little nervous that it was all going to be too much, too fast for Hannah.
“Hannah. You OK?”
“Hears everything, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s crazy.”
“I guess we’ll be spending a lot of time at my place, then.”
CHAPTER 26
Washington, DC
The weekend went by way too fast for Cameron. He had broken away from the house on Saturday to visit Hannah. This time she was prepared for his arrival, and he could barely pull himself away from her. On Sunday, he and Jess were growing stir crazy in the home, so they drove downtown and walked parts of Arlington Cemetery and then went to the Lincoln Memorial.
Cameron had taken Jess there a few times over the years when he wanted to have father-daughter talks with her. They stood in the Memorial looking over the engraving of the second inaugural address.
“What is it about these places you like so much?” Jess asked.
“I guess it’s the thought that such great sacrifices were made for freedom and it reminds me to respect and honor those sacrifices made by men like your uncle Jack and Jason Albright.”
He looked over to Lincoln and put his arm around his daughter appreciating the time they had but realizing as she grew older there would be less.
As they walked back to the car, Jess saw her Dad, texting. “Why don’t you invite her over again tonight. I could use a mulligan from Friday night,” she said.
“She’s not going to trust that I’ve communicated well enough. I mean, you’re not the only one needing a mulligan.”
“Call her.”
“You sure?”
Jess nodded.
Cameron obeyed and dialed Hannah’s number, but before he could bring the phone to his ear, Jess had snatched it from his hand, wanting to personally deliver the message to avoid any misunderstandings.
“I was just thinking about you,” Hannah said in a soft sexy voice as she answered the phone.
Jess freaked out and shoved the phone back to her Dad. Cameron shrugged his shoulders questioning Jessica’s reaction.
“She’s thinking about you,” Jess whispered and shook herself as if gross insects had just crawled all over her body.
“Cole, you there?” Hannah asked hearing muffled sounds.
“Shit!” she quietly screamed clenching her fist in the air.
“Hannah,” Cameron said trying to remain cool.
“She heard that didn’t she,” Hannah gritted through her teeth. “Oh my God, she does hear everything.”
“Umm, well, hey, Jess wants to talk to you.”
“Cole!” Hannah yelled. Then blew her cheeks out.
Cameron handed the phone to Jess who had regained her composure.
“Hi, Hannah. My Dad and I wanted to see if you wanted to come over tonight. We’re probably just going to watch a movie or something.”
“Ahh…thanks, Jess, that’s very kind, but I’m not sure. I mean, I know your Dad really wants to spend as much time as possible with you before you go back to school. I don’t want to get in the way of that.”
“Oh please, come. It’s my idea, seriously.”
Jessica walked a few steps away from her father.
“I know my Dad really wants to see you and besides I thought maybe you could help me pick out something for the Gala as well.”
Hannah agreed.
Later that evening the three enjoyed conversation over dinner and learned more about each other. Afterward, Jess grabbed her iPad and asked Hannah to join her on the couch.
She scrolled through images of formal evening wear she had narrowed down to a handful of favorites. “This is the one my Mom likes the most,” Jess said showing the picture to Hannah.
“Oh yeah. That’s beautiful. I think you’d look great in that.” As the two reviewed other selections and pointed out nuances of each, Cole dismissed himself to his study for a while.
He sat at the desk and flipped through encrypted emails, preparing himself for the upcoming week. He had appreciated the time he had been given to take care of his daughter, to grieve and to connect with a remarkable woman. But he also missed the work, the productivity, the sense of accomplishment that he had grown accustomed to over the last few weeks.
He was anxious to see what McCune had in store for him in his new role, but none of the recent emails gave any details on that. After a while, he decided it was movie time before it got too late.
“OK, girl time is over!” he said entering under the barrel archway back to the family room breaking up the fashion conversation.
“Which one?” he asked picking up the smart device remote.
“Oh my God, Dad, no. Really?”
“Which one, what?”
“He wants to see something like ‘Last of the Mohicans’ or ‘Hoosiers,’” Jessica explained.
“Hey, I tried to get you to expand your entertainment choices years ago, but there’s only a dozen that you let me use.”
“Dad, you really should have had a boy,” she said.
“Hannah when I was a kid, he would make me watch these ‘guy’ movies with him. ‘Gettysburg,’ ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ‘Band of Brothers,’ I mean you get the idea. So, I agreed that each time I come h
ome I would sit through it at least once and tonight is it.”
“How long ago did you start this,” Hannah asked.
“I was probably around ten.”
“Wow, isn’t that kind of young?”
“Hey, parental discretion is just that, and besides you didn’t mention ‘Brian’s Song’ or ‘Pride of the Yankees,’ ” Cameron said defending himself.
“You mean the ones you tear up in. Then tell me it’s your allergies acting up.”
Hannah laughed trying to picture Cameron in that situation.
“Oh, my Mom, hated it,” Jessica said. “But when he quotes these lines at least I know what he's saying.”
Hannah shook her head, “Yeah, guys really like to quote movie lines, I don’t get it.”
“OK, if you two are done now,” Cameron said handing the remote to Jessica. “Jess, you pick it, I’ll start the popcorn.”
Jessica scrolled across the icons on the screen and said, “We’ve got to work you up to ‘Last of the Mohicans.’ I don’t think you’re ready for that yet,” she said as she searched other options.
“Hey, I’m an FBI agent, bring it on!”
“OK, blood and heartbreak it is,” Jess warned.
“Good choice,” Hannah said with a smile. I really like this girl, after all, she thought.
“Let me help you, Cole,” she said joining him in the kitchen and sneaking a kiss.
“I’m having a good time,” she said taking his hand and reaching up to kiss him again. This time their lips smacked a little, and she covered her mouth.
“I’m starting the movie!” Jessica said with a hint of I can hear you carried in her voice.
“Damn the open floor plan,” Cameron joked in a whisper.
Later, near the end of the movie, Jess had fallen asleep, and Hannah snuggled up close to Cameron who was seated in the oversized chaise part of the couch. She laid her head on his shoulder and thought about how their lives were so different, but at the same time they seemed to share the same values, and for her, they really seemed to fit well together.
She had tried other relationships in the past, but nothing seemed to fit as he did for her. He was confident, but not arrogant or pretentious, he was fearless and yet humble at heart, and he was modest yet had shown that he could be strong-willed. She admired his relationship with Jess, not an easy feat for any man.