Charming Hannah

by Kristen Proby

  I send it to voice mail.

  And then twenty seconds later, I get a call on my personal cell.

  “Hell,” I mutter and answer.

  “I know you’re done for the day, Chief, but I think you’re going to want to know about this,” Officer Thomas, a long time friend and cop says.

  “What’s up?”

  “I need you to come down to the city beach.”

  “I’ll be there in ten.”

  I hang up and hurry out to the truck, calling Hannah on my way.

  “Hey there,” she says with a smile in her voice.

  “I might be a little late,” I say. “I’m sorry, I just got a call.”

  “If anyone understands, it’s me. Just keep me posted. Do you want me to go look in on Sadie?”

  I grin, wondering how in the hell I got lucky enough to find this sweet woman. “She’ll be okay. She was with me until lunch time.”

  “Sounds good. Be safe.”

  She hangs up just as I’m getting close to the city beach, or the swimming area at the head of our lake where people can swim and launch their boats.

  There’s an ambulance, two squad cars, a fire truck, and a crowd gathered around one of the boat launch docks.

  “What’s going on?” I ask Thomas as I approach. “And why are these people standing around?”

  “We haven’t had time to shoo them off,” he says with a grim frown. “It’s bad, Chief.” He leads me to the ambulance, which is angled away from the onlookers. Sam Waters, the head EMT with the department is standing inside next to a gurney with a body covered with a sheet.

  “Chief,” Sam says. “We worked on him for thirty minutes, but there was nothing we could do.”

  “Why aren’t you on the way to the hospital?”

  “He won’t be going to the hospital,” Sam says. “You didn’t hear the call?”

  “No, I turned the scanner down while I finished some paperwork. Who is this?”

  Sam and Thomas share a look.

  “Who the fuck is it?”

  “Kendall Reardon,” Sam says and rubs his fingers over his mouth. “Kyle’s oldest.”

  “Fuck,” I mutter and dig my thumb and forefinger into my eyes. “How?”

  “From what we can tell, he dove into the water from a boat and was electrocuted.”

  “What?” My head whips up.

  “There was an underground electric box that surfaced, and it killed him.”

  “No more swimming.” I yell over at the other officers who are managing crowd control. “Teller! No more swimming or boating until we get this figured out. Get all of the boats off this lake, and I want a team patrolling to make sure no one is swimming. Have the owner of the boat take you to where this happened, and call the damn electric company to get this taken care of.”

  “Yes, Chief,” Dan Teller says and moves into action. I get on the radio and call in all of the men I have that are currently off duty. I need all hands on deck for this.

  “I didn’t think you’d want just anyone to talk to Kyle,” Thomas says. “I know you guys go way back.”

  “You’re right.” I nod and make another call for my chaplain. “Get Kendall to the morgue, and make sure no one sets foot in that water.”

  “Yes, sir,” both Sam and Thomas reply at the same time. I run to my truck and take a call from the chaplain on duty.

  “What’s going on?” Matt Nichols asks. He’s been a chaplain for five years, but he’s lived in Cunningham Falls all of his life.

  “We need to visit Kyle Reardon,” I reply before clearing my throat. “Kendall was killed this afternoon.”

  “Damn,” Matt mutters. “Is he home this time of day?”

  “I fucking hope so, because I don’t want to have to go to the school to deliver this news. School just got out for the summer, so the chances are good he’ll be home. Meet me at his place and we’ll go from there. I want to get to him before someone else calls him.”

  We hang up and I’m at Kyle’s house within five minutes. Matt pulls up right behind me. I take a deep breath and stare at the small, well kept house that I’ve spent many mornings in having coffee with my friend after his kids have gone off to school. Kyle lost his wife to cancer just a couple of years ago, and now I have to deliver the news that his oldest son isn’t coming home.

  Matt waits for me on the sidewalk, and I join him, then walk with him to the door. Kyle’s car is in the driveway.

  He’s home. He opens the door, and the second he sees both me and Matt, his eyes fill with sadness and he gestures for us to come inside.

  ***

  I should go home. I should absolutely not go to Hannah’s tonight. My emotions are raw. I would not be good company right now. But I can’t seem to stay away. I shoot her a quick text and ask her if it’s too late to drop by, and she immediately answers not at all.

  Kyle only lives about four blocks from her, so I’m there quickly. She answers the door with a sunny smile, lifting my heavy heart just a bit.

  “I’m so glad you texted,” she says as she steps back, letting me inside.

  “I shouldn’t have,” I reply honestly and shove my hand in my hair, pacing her living room. “I should have gone home.”

  She cocks her head to the side and props her hands on her hips. She’s in shorts and a simple T-shirt, but I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in all of my life.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Go home?” She nods. “Hell, because I’m not good company for myself either, and being with you sounded much better than pacing my house while Sadie watches with sad eyes.”

  “Why are you upset?”

  I rub my fingers over my lips, not wanting to put what I did today in her head.

  “Dead babies,” she says and walks right to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and looking up at me with shining blue eyes. “I deliver dead babies. I have to tell women that they have cancer. Or that their child will have Down’s syndrome. Or a deformity. I have had a twelve year old girl in my office, pregnant, and terrified to tell her parents.

  “I can take this. I can hear whatever it is that you have to unload.”

  I drag my fingers down her soft cheek and enjoy the way her arms feel around me, then take a deep breath.

  “Do you know Kyle Reardon?”

  She frowns. “The principal?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t think I’ve met him personally, but Grace has always had nice things to say about him.”

  “His oldest son died today.”

  The words sound hollow to my own ears.

  “Oh, Brad.”

  “Seventeen years old,” I continue and pull away from her. Not because I don’t love her touch, but because I have to pace. If I’m going to tell this, I don’t want her to touch me until it’s over.

  “I’ve known Kyle all of my life. He was a little older than me in school, but we’re friends. We ski together in the winter. I’ve known all of his kids since they were born, and I mourned with him when he lost his wife two years ago to cancer.”

  “Oh no,” she says, but I keep talking.

  “And today, I had to show up at his doorstep with a chaplain and explain to him that his son was electrocuted in the water and was killed instantly. That there was nothing anyone could do, and that it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was a stupid, horrible accident, and it took his son’s life.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Before I could tell him anything, I had to call his sister to come get his other three children, and then I held him while he wept. My friend, who has been through hell and back in the past few years, and was finally pulling it back together. How do you do that?”

  I stop and narrow my eyes, barely seeing her now, lost in my own head. “How do you do that, Hannah?”

  “You just do,” she says softly. “You do what you have to do, and you’re strong for them, and then you go home and you fall apart.”

  “It’s so fucking unfair,” I growl and shake my h
ead. “Kendall was going to be a senior this year, and he was a phenomenal football player. And not just for a small town. For any town.”

  “He sounds like a special kid.”

  I nod and swallow hard, trying to keep it together. “He is. Was.”

  “Do you need to go be with Kyle?”

  “Not tonight. We stayed for a couple of hours, and then his sister and mom came back with the kids. There will be visitors and lots of food delivered when news spreads through town, as it always does. I was so damn worried that someone who was at the lake would call him before I got to him.”

  “They didn’t?”

  “His phone started ringing just as I walked in the door, and I told him to turn it off.” I shake my head again, still not fully grasping it all.

  And Hannah walks back into my arms again, hugging me fiercely, her face pressed to my chest. I hug her back, holding her tightly, and bury my nose in her hair, breathing her in. She’s the calm in the storm for me.

  “Thank you for listening,” I murmur. She tilts her head up, and I want to kiss the fuck out of her. I want to haul her to her bedroom and strip her bare and have my way with her until we’ve both forgotten our names.

  But not tonight. My emotions are raw, and I refuse the first time I sink inside her to be when I’m upset.

  “I have an idea,” she says, oblivious to my thoughts.

  “What’s that?”

  “How about ice cream?”

  I frown down at her, thrown off course. “What about it?”

  “It always makes me feel better. Let’s walk down to the ice cream place and get a scoop.”

  “We could drive.”

  She shakes her head and pulls away. She shoves a twenty-dollar bill in her pocket along with her keys and pulls her hair up in a messy ponytail. “It’s a beautiful evening. Let’s walk. It’s less than half a mile.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Oh, I checked. If I walk, I can get two scoops.” Her blue eyes are still full of worry, but she’s trying to take my head out of the horror of today, and damn if it isn’t working.

  After a couple of blocks of walking on the uneven sidewalks, the trees above us on the boulevards swaying in the slight early summer breeze, I pull her hand up to my lips and kiss her knuckles.

  “You’re right. It’s a beautiful night.”

  “I know.” She grins. “This place changes out the flavors all the time. Maybe they have some summer flavors.”

  “You’re really serious about your ice cream.”

  She laughs. “Ice cream is serious business.”

  It’s past seven in the evening, so there’s a line, but we wait patiently, reading the board of flavors. When it’s our turn, Hannah gets a scoop of huckleberry and a scoop of cinnamon vanilla, surprising me when she passes on the coffee ice cream.

  It all sounds great, but I get the same as Hannah and before I know it, we’re on our way back to her house. Our steps are slower this time, as we eat and enjoy the evening.

  “Wait. Did you pay for my ice cream?” I stop and stare down at her in surprise.

  “Sure did.”

  “Not cool, Doctor Malone.”

  “Why, Chief Hull? A girl can’t buy a guy ice cream?”

  “Not this guy. If we’re on a date, I’m paying.”

  “That’s quite chivalrous, and cave man, of you,” she says with a laugh. “I’m happy to splurge on some ice cream once in a while. I promise not to make a habit out of it.”

  “Now you’re mocking me.”

  I take the last bite of my cone and wipe my mouth with the napkin.

  “Of course I am,” she agrees. “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “It’s ridiculous for a man to take care of his woman?”

  This makes her pause, as she eats the last of her ice cream as well, and then tucks her napkin in her back pocket.

  “A couple of things,” she says at last. “First, I can, and do, take care of myself.”

  “And what’s the other thing?”

  “Who says I’m your woman?”

  “Me.” We stop on the sidewalk and I turn her to face me, my hands gripping her shoulders. “I’m sure as fuck not sharing you with anyone.”

  “Well, I didn’t suggest that either,” she says, shaking her head, then continues walking. About ten feet away, she looks back at me over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”

  “That’s all you have to say?”

  “You answered my question. But you need to know that I’m an independent woman, Brad. Not because I’m trying to prove anything to anyone, but because that’s just who I am. I don’t need to be saved.”

  “Not trying to save you,” I reply reasonably. I’ve never wanted to fuck anyone so bad in my life. “Just letting you know that when we’re together, I’ll be buying you dinner.”

  “And dessert, apparently.”

  We’ve arrived at her house, but I don’t follow her up to her door. She walks back down to the bottom of the steps. “You don’t want to come in?”

  “I do.” I cup her cheek and she leans into my touch. “So I’d better not.”

  She looks disappointed, but nods. “I don’t have to be at the clinic until noon tomorrow,” she informs me. “In case you need anything.”

  I lean in and cover her lips with mine, tasting the sweetness from the huckleberries and the cinnamon she just ate. Tasting her.

  “Have a good night,” I murmur against her lips and turn to leave.

  When I start my truck and drive away, she’s still standing on her sidewalk, her fingers on her lips, watching me go.

  ***

  I’m in the water. I’m an excellent swimmer, but I can’t move. It’s like I’m trudging through wet cement. My legs are heavy, and I can’t get through the water fast enough.

  I look up and see Kendall floating in the water, face down, just twenty feet away from me. If I can just get over to him, I might be able to save him. What’s he doing in the water?

  Suddenly, I’m surrounded by floating bodies. My men. My sister and brother. Hannah. All just out of my reach.

  I can’t save them.

  The water is rising around me, no longer just around my legs, but up to my chest now. Then my chin, and over my head.

  I’m completely submerged, my feet still held in the bottom of the lake. I look up and see faces staring down at me. Faces of those I love. Their eyes are wide open, glaring at me in accusation.

  You didn’t even try to save us.

  I’m fighting to swim. To dislodge my feet, but it’s no use. I can’t get free.

  I wake up, sitting the bed, screaming. I’m covered in sweat, and Sadie is standing beside me, whining in worry.

  I still can’t breathe. I tip my face up, gasping for air and trying to push the terror away.

  I haven’t had an episode like this in over a year, but it’s not surprising after yesterday. The sadness is here again, but the guilt is gone.

  There was nothing I could do about what happened. I couldn’t save him.

  But my friend is hurting, and that makes me sad. A kid who had a bright future ahead of him is gone, and that’s the biggest tragedy of all.

  I push my hands through my soaked hair, then pat the bed, inviting Sadie up. She’s not usually allowed on the bed, but I could use some companionship right now, and Hannah is clear across town.

  Hannah.

  She calmed me down yesterday. She seemed to understand, and I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone except my dad who could really understand what this part of the job is like.

  She’s a special woman, and now that I have her in my life, I’m not going to fuck it up.

  Sadie finally lays her head down to sleep, and I leave the bed for a shower. I’m gross, as if I’d been in the ring at the gym for an hour. Once clean, I put on clothes for the day and brew a cup of coffee.

  It’s only four in the morning, but I’m up for the day. I’ll never go back to sleep now.

  I want to go
to Hannah’s and climb into bed with her, but she’s asleep, and we aren’t quite there yet. Soon, I hope.

  Sadie pads out of the bedroom, her eyes sleepy.

  “You don’t have to get up,” I tell her, but she sits next to me, always loyal. I let her outside and set some food down for her, which she appreciates when she comes back in. Finally, I sit in my living room with another cup of coffee and Sadie at my feet and wait for morning.

  Four hours later, I walk into Drips & Sips and nod at Anna, the owner who happens to be working behind the counter today.

  “Are you taking coffee to a certain doctor again today?” she asks. Anna might be the nosiest person in town, which is saying a lot because Cunningham Falls has its share of nosy people.

  “I am,” I reply with a nod. “And I’ll take my usual as well.”

  She gets busy making our drinks.

  “Heard about that poor Reardon boy,” Anna says, shaking her head. “Do you have anything you can tell me?”

  “No, ma’am,” I reply and grit my teeth. “It’s an ongoing investigation.”

  “It’s just so horrible. Poor Kyle. He must just be devastated.”

  “I’m sure.” Just make the fucking coffee.

  Anna keeps chirping about Kendall and his mom, then finally passes the coffees to me, which I throw a bill down for and tell her to keep the change, just wanting to get the hell out of here.

  Sadie is waiting patiently for me in the car. When I turn down Hannah’s street, Sadie gets excited. She already knows where Hannah’s house is.

  Seems I’m not the only one falling for her.

  Chapter Six

  ~Hannah~

  SOMEONE IS RINGING MY fucking doorbell. I was at the hospital until the wee hours, I was finally in a deep, lovely sleep, and someone is ringing the bell.

  All I know for sure is, this had better not be the damn door-to-door people trying to sell me a vacuum. Or a magazine. Or Jesus.

  I wrap my robe around me, stumbling toward the door. I pull it open and am surprised to find an excited Sadie and a ridiculously sexy Brad standing at my door.

  “Is that coffee?” I ask.

  “For you,” he confirms and holds it out to me.

  “Come to mama,” I mutter and take it from his hand, taking a grateful sip. Sadie brushes past my leg, into the house, and curls up on my couch.