Chapter 18

“Okay, spill it,” Kim said before the door even finished closing.  She had a giddy look in her eyes as she rotated on Hannah.

Hannah sighed and dropped her purse on the counter by the sink.  She glanced at herself in the mirror and fluffed her hair, stalling.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Kim grumped.  “Don’t think you can renege on your promise.”

“I’m not,” Hannah said, smoothing her dress over her hips.  “I just...I’m not sure what to tell you, okay?  Justin didn’t seem pleased that I’m telling you.”  She whipped around and faced Kim.  “And you can’t tell Josie.  I promised Justin I wouldn’t, and I want the same promise out of you.”

Kim pursed her lips.  "Justin, Justin, Justin...so, you're letting him dictate your every word now?"

"I am not!" Hannah exclaimed.  "He isn't -- doesn't...never mind.  Just promise me you won't say anything to Josie.  She'll get the wrong idea about us."

"And what's the right idea?"

"Nothing!  There's nothing going on, okay?"  Hannah crossed her arms.  "Do you want to hear about it, or not?"

Kim grinned and zipped her fingers over them.  “My lips are sealed.  What you tell me goes no further than this room.  I swear on it.”

Hannah continued to deliberate, chewing on her bottom lip.  Kim’s face grew impatient and dark.  “Okay, okay,” Hannah said, throwing her hands up.  “He kissed me.”

“You told me that already.  I want details.”

“Fine.  He kissed me in the hospital.  And he kissed me at my house.”

“More, more,” Kim said, snapping her fingers.  “Why did he kiss you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well?  What happened before he kissed you?”

“Which time?”

“Both times!  Dang it, Hannah!  I’m too old to be yanking this stuff out of you!  Make me feel it!  I want to feel alive...joyously through you!”

Hannah laughed, her irritation dissipated quickly.  “What?  Mark doesn’t make you feel alive?”

“Never mind Mark...he’s a great lover, very kind and gentle,” Kim said.

“Ugh!  I really don’t want to hear that,” Hannah said, digging in her purse for some lip gloss.  She knew she had some in there.  She distinctly remembered buying some about a year ago.

“Then tell me what kind of lover Justin Kirkland is,” Kim demanded with a grin.  “He’s really grown up...my gracious, you don’t even notice his ears any more...and his feet!  If what they say is true about a man’s feet...”  She wagged her blonde eyebrows.

“I don’t know what kind of lover Justin is,” Hannah said, though she was wondering the same things that Kim just spouted.  “We only kissed.”

“That man looks at you like you’re the greatest thing since frozen margaritas,” Kim insisted.  “It wasn’t only a kiss.”

“Well, he can look at me anyway he pleases,” Hannah said, not finding any lip gloss, but she did find some chapstick.  That would do.  “It was only a kiss -- two kisses -- and neither of them ended on a good note.”

Kim cocked her head to the side.  “If the first one didn’t end on a good note, why would he kiss you a second time?”

“I don’t know!  I told you that.  I don’t know why he kissed me, okay?”

“Did you kiss him back?”

Hannah grinned through the mirror at Kim.  “Well, of course!  You did see the size of his feet.”

“Fine,” Kim huffed.  “But you have to find out why he kissed you and then tell me.”

“I am not making that promise,” Hannah declared.

“Then can you find out if the boots match the shoe horn?”

Rolling her eyes at her friend, Hannah suppressed a giggle.  “You know...Mark wears a size twelve...”

Kim smiled very slowly, and actually blushed.  “I know.”

“Ew, ew, ew!  Stop that!  Gross!”

“Hey, you’re the one who keeps mentioning Mark,” Kim said, nudging Hannah aside at the mirror with her hip.

“And now, I’m gonna throw up.”

Kim waved behind them.  “Toilet’s that way.  But describe his kisses before you puke.”

“No.”

“Aww!”

“You’re starting to sound like Josie,” Hannah said, leaning back against the wall.  “I hope she’s okay.  I don’t know what possessed her to make her father go out with us.”

“Maybe she sees the same thing I’m seeing,” Kim said.

“Which is?”

Kim whipped around in astonishment.  “You’re kidding me, right?  That man is seriously into you, girl.”

“Then I must be stupid or something, but I clearly remember him getting so pissed at me, he could barely contain himself,” Hannah said, confused with herself because she had seen the way Justin looked at her tonight.  “I’m not going to get involved with a man who gets angry that fast.  It’s not healthy.  You know that better than anyone.”

“True,” Kim replied, thinking about Hannah’s objections.  “Normally, I wouldn’t suggest it, but then again, my ex never looked at me the way Justin looks at you.  And besides, if it bothers you so much, why did you kiss him back?”

“Hell, I don’t know,” Hannah sighed.  “Maybe I’m just lonely, and tired of being lonely.”

Kim shook her head at that.  “I won’t believe that.  You’re too smart and sweet to go the lonely, needy tart route.”

“I don’t think I’m going any route with Justin Kirkland.”

“I think you should,” Kim said, and Hannah stared at her.

“You just told me I wasn’t like that.  Would you make up your mind?”

“I meant every word,” Kim said.  “You’re not really hearing what I’m saying.  I’m not telling you to have a one-night stand with the man.  I’m saying, go for it.  See if there’s a relationship waiting in the wings for you.  Who knows what will happen?”

“I do,” Hannah said, gathering her purse.  “He’s leaving with Josie in a couple of days, and that will be the end of it.  So by definition, it will be a one-night stand.”

“Yeah, but--”

“No,” Hannah stopped her.  “I won’t risk it.  Josie means too much to me to take advantage of her trust and seduce her father just so I can get laid for the first time in five years.”

“But--”

“No,” Hannah repeated and left the bathroom.

*****

Hannah and Kim emerged from the bathroom a few moments later.  Justin noticed that Kim looked a bit put-out and Hannah’s face was a study in stubborn determination.  Apparently, their chat didn’t go so well.  What all did Hannah tell her friend?

Chad turned to Mark and asked, “What do you think?”

“I think you’d be smart to take the job,” Mark said flashing a grin. Justin barely paid any attention to the two men.  He was too busy watching that pink dress swirl around Hannah’s thighs as she whisked closer to him.  The fabric looked like cotton but moved like silk.  Kind of like the woman who wore it.  She looked like a good girl, but the swing of her hips, the stride of her walk, the swish of her hair...she was a bolt of sensual silk ready to be unrolled.

“Take what job?” Hannah asked as she and Kim entered the bar area again.

Chad flicked a tentative smile at her and said, “Your boyfriend offered me a job.”

Hannah froze in the motion of sliding her body up onto her bar stool, the hem of her dress hitching further up her thigh.  Justin groaned to himself as he jerked his eyes away from the exposed, tanned flesh.  With one leg dangling, and the other toed to the floor, she blinked at him, her hazel eyes questioning him.  Then she opened her mouth and said, “He’s not my-- Ow!  What was that for?”  That last question was directed at Kim.

“Sorry,” Kim murmured.  “I lost my balance.”  

Hannah rubbed her side where Kim’s elbow jabbed her and jumped up into her seat.  Now, she seared Justin with a glare and asked, “What’s going on?”

Justin shrugged.  “I’ve got a lot of work coming my way, and I need a new man.  I asked Chad if he wanted to come work for me.”

Her hazel eyes delved into his, enclosing the two of them in a private moment of staring at each other.  Hannah, trying to figure out what was going on inside his brain, and Justin, wondering what she thought about his offer to Chad.  Would she think he was trying to help Chad out of a jam -- which was the initial reason, though not his entire defense now that he’d had a chance to think through his mentality on the subject...or did she think he’d lost his mind?  Justin couldn’t tell, not by the way she looked at him.  Her face was shut down, no emotions or thought filtering out through her eyes.

Chad sighed in the crackling tension.  “Hannah, I haven’t said yes.  I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you, but he’s made a pretty damn good case.  Full medical...just think what kind of care I can get for Jackson through that.”

Hannah broke contact with Justin and smiled at Chad.  “For that alone, you’d be a fool to turn him down.”

Mark snorted, “I’m tempted to go work for him myself.”

Justin turned to the older man and sized him up for the second time since meeting him tonight.  And he realized, he liked Mark.  Even though he once thought of him as Hannah’s boyfriend, but that was before they did meet.  Boyfriend, indeed!  Who was Hannah trying to fool?  Justin recalled the mischievous grin on her face when she evaded his questions about it yesterday.  Upon introduction -- and realization -- Justin had almost been giddy to see the man’s silvering hair and deep wrinkles.  Mark was old enough to be Hannah’s father.  And considerably older than Kim, yet the two gazed at each other with a reverence and warmth for the other.  But hey, to each his own, right?

“What do you know about two-way communications?” Justin asked Mark.  He could see the intelligence and fairness in Mark’s features and demeanor.  He’d make a great supervisor.

Mark laughed.  “You mean, like it takes two people at each end of the line to communicate?  Right, Hannah?”

Hannah made a disgusted sound on the other side of Justin.  “Oh, hush.  So, I forget to take my radio with me sometimes.  It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s not just your forgetting,” Mark said with a grin.  “You intentionally leave it behind, or hide it when you head out to the greenhouses, or when you lock yourself into your office.”

Kim snickered.  “I found it buried in my fertilizer pile last week.”

“I like my privacy,” Hannah muttered, picking at the platter of food on the bar.  “I don’t know why you insist on me carrying the damn thing everywhere.  You can take care of any problems that arise.”

“Yeah, but you’re the boss,” Mark said.

Hannah snorted.  It was a cute sound that made Justin want to smile...or kiss her again to see what that sound tasted like on her tongue.  “You know the store better than anyone, even myself,” she shot at Mark over Justin’s head.  “For god’s sake, you built the place with daddy.  You only need me to sign the checks.”

“That’s not true,” Mark replied tenderly.  “And you know it.  That store is in your blood.  It would fall apart without you.”

Justin turned to Hannah to see her reaction.  She glanced away from all of them and stuck a coconut shrimp in her mouth.  Her avoidance of the subject told Justin a lot.  She wasn’t as happy with her choice in life as she presented.  He knew she told him that going to California had been a huge mistake on her part, and that made him wonder what she dreamed about now.  What were her hopes and desires today?  What did she truly want out of her life?  It wasn’t working at her daddy’s store for the rest of it, Justin would bank his entire company on that fact.

However, it wasn’t a subject for the moment.  Justin decided to give her that privacy she so desired, and he shifted back to Chad to redirect the conversation.  “How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

Chad’s face glowed with delight.  “Here...”  He fished out his wallet and pulled a small photo to show Justin.  There were three children sitting in a field of daffodils with a man and woman.  “This is my dad, Robert, and my stepmom, Susan...this is Isabella,” he said, pointing to a little girl with brown ringlets framing her tiny face.  “She’s three and a half now, and this is Ethan, the middle child -- he’s seven now and loves to play baseball...and this one is Jackson.  He’s nine.”  

Justin studied the nine-year-old wearing a breathing mask around his pallid, thin face...and he finally, finally understood the depths of Chad’s devotion to his siblings.  My God!  How can he smile so much?  Justin would be in a state of total despair if his child was afflicted in such a way.

“They’re beautiful children,” Justin said, his voice thickening a little.  

Chad smiled lovingly as he gazed at the photo before tucking it away.  “Thanks.  I think so, too.”

“And you’re the only family they have...that must be rough.”

Chad shrugged -- it was just a fact of life.  “Well, when my mom and dad divorced ten years ago, he estranged his whole family.  They’re wealthy folks, own a shipyard in Florida, and thought he was throwing his life away for Susan, my stepmom.”

“What did your mom think about that?”

Hannah slapped Justin on the shoulder.  “Nosy much?”

“I’m just curious,” he told her.  “If I’m gonna be working with the man, I like to know where he comes from.”

“I don’t mind,” Chad said to Hannah, smiling.  “It’s not really a secret.  You all know at the shop, and if you’re dating Justin, then you must trust him, too.  I trust whomever you trust, Hannah.”

Hannah blinked at Chad, her eyes getting a little watery.  “Thank you, Chad.  That’s...that’s so sweet.”

Chad gave her a smirk and leaned over the bar to kiss her cheek.  Justin attempted to hold the growl back, but he was unsuccessful.  Chad grinned as he pulled away from Hannah.  “Calm down...I’m not after your girl.”

Hannah piped in with, “I’m not his-- Ow, Kim!  Stop that!  And don’t tell me you lost your balance.”

Kim grinned.  ‘Nope, just saving you from looking like an idiot.”

“Anyway,” Chad said, clearing his throat, “Mom was glad of the divorce.  She and dad were never in love.  It’d been a marriage of convenience.  They only stayed together as long as they did because of me.  But since she didn’t contest the divorce, her family -- who are partners with my dad’s parents -- cut her off, too.  She owns a flower shop in Kissimmee, and she’s never been happier.”

“And what about your stepmom?  No family there either?”  Justin asked his questions as he gulped down the rest of his beer, still a little irritated that Chad kissed Hannah.  But he couldn’t blame him.  Who didn’t want to kiss Hannah?  Justin shot a quick look at Mark.  Don’t even think about it, buster.

“Nah,” Chad answered Justin’s question.  “Susan was a product of the foster system.  She never knew her parents, or if she ever had any brothers or sisters.  She was a Spanish teacher down at UF, and then UCA hired her, so they moved up here.  Jackson, the oldest, isn’t my real brother, but I love him just the same.”

Chad took Justin’s empty mug and refilled it.  And Justin quietly asked, “So, what happened to them?”

The bar got silent.  Chad wiped his towel along the length of the top before speaking.  “Drunk driver.”

With his filled mug pressed against his mouth for a sip, Justin paused and set the glass down.  Well, shit...here they were, drinking away, and Chad was providing for them, knowing they’d have to drive home.  Why the hell did he work as a bartender?

Chad’s eyes glowed with knowing.  “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s good money, and I would never let anyone walk out of here if I thought they were a danger.  You’ve got Hannah with her, and she knows her limit.”  He waved at Hannah’s beer mug.  The thing was still mostly full.  “She never finishes hers.”

Justin flicked his gaze to Hannah, who currently wore a pretty blush on her cheeks.  “I tend to make a fool of myself when I drink too much,” she argued, “so I’d rather not act a fool when I’m in public.”

“No, she saves that for when she’s measuring feet,” Kim piped up, and Justin watched Hannah’s blush go from pretty pink to popsicle red.

“Feet?” Chad asked, that same bewildered look on his face that Mark wore and Justin probably displayed.  How the hell did feet get into this conversation?

“Yeah,” said Kim with an evil grin as she leaned over the bar top to look down Chad’s legs.  “What size do you wear?”

Hannah dragged Kim back into her seat by yanking on her shirt.  “Stop it,” she hissed softly.  Then she turned to Justin and said, “I don’t want to cut your night short, but I’m feeling a little tired, and I’d like to say goodnight to Josie before heading home.  Do you mind if we leave?  If it’s a problem, I can call a cab to take me back to the hospital.”

Justin knew a smoke-screen when he saw one.  Hannah was trying to avoid the feet subject, and he had a fairly good idea what that subject meant.  He’d seen women look at his giant feet and take measure of the rest of him.  Not that he’d ever admit they’d be wrong in their assumptions, but the theory of a man’s feet wasn’t entirely accurate.  Therefore, he wondered if Hannah thought such things about him.  He had about an eight-block drive to find out.

“No, no, I don’t mind at all,” he said, standing.  “I need to get back to Josie, myself.”  He dug out his wallet to pay for their drinks and food, but Hannah shoved some bills under Chad’s nose.

“I’ve got it,” she said, and Chad glanced at Justin before plucking the money from her fingers.  Justin took it from him and gave it back to Hannah.

“No, you don’t.”

Hannah pressed the money back into Chad’s hands.  “Yes, I do.  You are my guest tonight.  I’m paying.”

Chad didn’t know who to take money from.  Mark was barely holding in his laughter, and Kim was digging into Hannah’s coconut shrimp, saying, “Just let her pay.  Or two weeks from now when you’re vacuuming your truck out, you’ll find a wad of cash under your floor mat.”

"Or in your lunch cooler," Chad added, and Mark said, "Or folded up like a little swan and tucked into your hat band...I think that one was my favorite."

"Oh, she made a tiny basket out of a five once and hung it from my keychain," Kim laughed.

Chad grinned at Hannah as he leaned against the counter.  "I got a catfish out of a twenty."

Hannah rolled her eyes at all of them, but Justin blinked with astonishment and decided to compromise, since he was starting to think the redhead siren was a lot more clever than he originally thought.  And he really wasn’t in the mood for an argument over who takes care of the check, so he snatched half of Hannah’s money from Chad, and said, “We’ll split it.”

“Fine,” Hannah huffed and stuffed the rest of the money in the tip jar.  Chad shook his head at Justin as though to say, You won't win, but Justin glared at Hannah.  Damn woman.

“See?” Kim said, licking her fingers.  “She always gets her way, even if it’s not the way she starts out with.”

Chad rang up the check and printed a receipt for them.  “You want to take the rest of that with you?  I can get you a box.”

Hannah pushed the appetizer platter to Kim.  “Since your fingers are all over it, take it.”

“Thanks, Hannah,” Kim said sweetly.  

Justin shook hands with both men before they left, and they asked after Josie while Hannah stood, shifting from foot to foot, very eager to get out of there.  With a firm hand against the small of her back, he led her out into the evening air.  Leaning down, he whispered, “I’m a 13 ½.”

He had the pleasure of seeing her stumble on the sidewalk and her cheeks flood with another splash of red.  Her eyes shot from his boots to his