Hannah's List (Blossom Street #7)(37)

At noon I found a message from my brother-in-law and returned Ritchie's call while I ate lunch.

"It's me," I said when he answered the phone. "You called?"

"Yeah, I wanted to give you the details for Max's party."

"Go ahead." I reached for a pen and a pad.

"Saturday at eleven. Steph's taking Max and five of his friends to the arcade and out for pizza afterward."

"Are we expected to tag along?" I asked, grinning, knowing Ritchie was a kid at heart.

"You mean you don't want to accompany me and six highly active screaming boys to the arcade, where they'll go through quarters faster than a slot machine?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

"I didn't think so."

"I'll make a point of arriving early this Saturday," I told him.

Then that radar of Ritchie's seemed to kick in. "Anything new with you?"

"How do you mean new?" I asked, stalling for time.

"With you and that oncology nurse."

I hesitated, then decided I'd tell him about meeting Leanne. "I went to dinner with her last night." "Dinner? You actually asked her out?"

"Yeah."

"How'd that go?"

"Good." I didn't elaborate.

I felt more than heard Ritchie's uncertainty. "Define good." I should've realized he wouldn't be satisfied with a oneword response. "Okay, if you must know, we spent three hours together."

Ritchie released a sharp whistle. "Sounds like the two of you hit it off."

I wasn't convinced I should be discussing this with my brother-in-law. Sure as anything, on Wednesday when we met at the gym he'd besiege me with questions. Questions I had no intention of answering.

"Leanne and I have a lot in common," was all I was willing to tell him.

"That's a great start," he said enthusiastically. "You've met with Winter and now with Leanne."

Apparently, he was keeping tabs.

"Of the two of them, who has the strongest appeal?" he asked.

"Leanne," I said. "Not that I don't like Winter," I added quickly, remembering they were cousins.

"What's the name of the third woman again?"

"Macy Roth." I had no connection with her at all, no way of casually running into her as I had with Leanne. And it wasn't as if I could stop by her restaurant for coffee and a croissant.

"What do you know about her?"

"Practically nothing."

"No, wait. She's the model." Ritchie wasn't giving up. "What else did Hannah say about her?"

"I don't remember." A lie. In her letter Hannah had mentioned the fact that Macy held several jobs. She'd also written that she thought Macy would make me smile.

"Are you going to call her?" Ritchie asked.

"Macy? I wouldn't even know how to get in touch with her."

"Come on, buddy, you're smarter than that."

I wasn't interested in meeting the third woman on Hannah's list. I liked Winter, but I had more of a connection with Leanne. Adding a third woman to the mix would confuse me, especially if I felt any kind of affinity with her, the way I did with Leanne.

"Hannah wanted you to meet her," Ritchie pointed out--as if I'd forgotten.

"Then I'll let Hannah arrange it."

"You know what? She just might."

"I can handle that," I said, not altogether sure I could. I looked down at my lunch of broccoli soup and a hard roll. I realized I'd spent most of my break talking to Ritchie. "I've got to run."

"See you in the morning."

"See you." With that I disconnected.

I wondered why Hannah had chosen three candidates. Why not two? Or four? Maybe because three's a magic number, the number that always appears in fairy tales. If I was going to complete all my tasks like a fairy-tale hero, I had to meet this third woman.

"Okay," I muttered, sensing her dissatisfaction with me. If not hers, then Ritchie's. "I'll meet Macy. Somehow." I wasn't happy about it. I was astonished by how susceptible I was to guilt. And both Hannah and Ritchie were piling it on.

When I'd finished my lunch, Linda came by, all smiles. She tended to be a sober woman and her amusement caught my attention.

I asked her about it.

"Have you seen Dr. O'Malley's office?" Linda asked me.

"Not recently." I saw Patrick two or three times a week but rarely visited his office at the opposite end of the floor.

"He had a mural painted for the children. It covers the entire hallway, both sides. It's the cutest scene with fire trucks and bulldozers on one side for the boys, and on the other is a castle with a coach and horse-drawn carriage for the girls."

"A mural," I repeated slowly.

"I was thinking this is something we might want to consider, too."

Hannah had done it again. She'd given me the perfect excuse to contact Macy Roth. In her letter she'd mentioned that one of Macy's many professions was that of artist. She painted murals. Therefore I'd hire her to paint the office wall; that would allow me to meet her without any expectations. Well, other than for the job I was hiring her to do.