Folk Around and Find Out (Good Folk: Modern Folktales #2)(78)

As usual, I couldn’t quite read him. But one thing was for certain: he didn’t look happy.





The moment Hannah shut the door behind us, she turned to me and demanded, “What’s going on with you and Hank?”

Caught and once again mired in verbal bankruptcy, I could only stare at her silently.

Her stare turned teasing and squinty. “I know something’s going on. It’s all anyone can talk about. And it’s not like he’s making any effort to hide his interest. Everyone keeps asking me, so spill. What’s going on?”

“I—hide—what?” My knees wobbled and I sorta collapsed into my office chair.

“Charlotte.” She crossed her arms. “Don’t play coy. The way he was gawking at you on Sunday? And then y’all disappear into the club. Ten minutes later, you run out and leave without a word. Then today, just now, he’s licking forks, sending you sexy eyes, and you’re looking at him like he invented cake. Go on. Tell me.”

Gaping at her, I tried to catch my breath. I couldn’t. My chest rose and fell like I’d just run a mile in bad shoes.

Her squinty stare eased, losing its edge of teasing and morphing into something different. “Charlotte?” Her voice pitched higher at the end of my name, obvious concern pulling her eyebrows together. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” I covered my face. “I’m a mess.” I felt like crying. But I wouldn’t.

“Oh no, honey.”

I heard her pull a chair over and sit, her hand on my shoulder a moment later. “Tell me what’s going on. I promise, I’ll help. No judgment. I just want to help.”

Letting my hands slide down to my lap, I leaned back in my chair and looked at her. “I don’t think this is something we should talk about.”

“What? Why not?”

“Hank is still your boss. And I’m not sure it’s appropriate. And besides that—” I sighed.

Hannah and I weren’t close friends. Yes, we’d grown closer in a sense since I’d started working at The Pony and forged a bridge of trust between us. And though I needed to talk to someone, I wasn’t at all sure she should be that someone.

I didn’t want to talk to Sienna. She and Hank had dated at one point.

If Rae had been in town, I would’ve reached out to her. She was the obvious choice. I trusted Rae. But she wasn’t in town and therefore wasn’t an option.

What about Patty? I dismissed the idea out of hand. Between saving her mother’s bar and all her classes and course work, Patty was even busier than me. Given our tight schedules, even if we arranged something right now it would be weeks before we spent time together.

Which brought me back to Hannah.

Could Hannah keep information I shared to herself? Could I trust her? And Hank being her boss made everything that much more complicated.

“How’s Heather?” I asked to change the subject, my voice reedy. “Have you talked to her recently?”

Hannah’s frown looked confused. “Uh, yeah. I talked to Heather on Monday. I told her that you had been asking about her and wanted to make sure she was safe. She didn’t seem worried or upset by that like she might’ve been in the past. In fact, she’s thinking about turning herself in.”

“Turning herself in? You mean in Florida?”

“That’s right. I should tell you first that I asked her if I could talk to you about this and she said it was okay, but she doesn’t want you talking to her folks about it. She hasn’t decided what to do and doesn’t want them stressing out even more. But she feels like she can’t move forward in any real way until she’s no longer looking over her shoulder, waiting to be arrested. She also said she wants to prove to herself she can take responsibility without falling to pieces.”

“Huh. I guess that makes sense.” I was impressed with my cousin. Even though she must’ve been terrified. Heck, I was terrified for her. Clearly, she wanted to make things right and find some way to start over. “And I won’t mention anything to her parents if she doesn’t want me to. After you and I talked, I did just what we discussed. My aunt and uncle went back to Florida on Monday.” I wondered what part Heather’s parents would play in this next act of her life and how they’d react if they knew she was thinking about turning herself in.

“Good. She needs the space to make these choices for herself. I’m glad you talked them into going home.”

I chuckled. “Well, I’m not sure I can take much credit for that. They were staying with my momma and driving each other bananas. After over a month living together, I think even their worry over Heather wasn’t enough to keep them in town, especially since they now know Heather isn’t in Green Valley.”

“They didn’t push you for more information?”

“They did at first, but when I explained how she had a stable job, was no longer in Tennessee, and wasn’t on drugs, they eased off. I think they simply wanted to know whether she was safe.” My mother had attempted to guilt me into revealing my source of information, but my aunt hadn’t pushed. She’d been sad but accepting that Heather wasn’t ready to talk to her yet, whereas my uncle had just been stoic. “I think the drugs scared them the most.”

“I can definitely understand that. Drugs can be scary,” Hannah said, giving me the sense she had wisdom in this area.