Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(72)

Where were my shoes?

Had she walked home?

After pulling my running shoes on, I ran out to my SUV.

It was dead. No clicking. No nothing.

“What the f*ck is with all of these dead f*cking batteries!” I shouted in frustration, pounding my hand off the wheel.

I thought about charging my phone and then calling her, but that just wasn’t fast enough.

I needed to get to her now, and find out if she’d left me this morning because she was freaked out. Or if—God forbid—she decided it was all too much. If I’d pushed her too hard, too soon. I had to let her know that Rachelle was gone and never coming back.

The Astro van.

It was only a few blocks uptown to their shop, so I decided to run there, hoping the van was where I’d seen it last.

It didn’t take me long to round the corner in front of O’Fallon’s garage and the door was wide open with Dean inside.

“Hey, I’m grabbing the van real fast, my battery is dead,” I said, not really asking for permission.

“Sure. I can take you back and jump it though.” Then asked, “Where’s Mutt?”

I took a deep breath, either I was going to have to get used to people calling her that, or I would have to take out an ad in the paper saying, “Knock it the f*ck off.”

“Hannah is at her cabin. That’s where I’m headed.”

“Yeah, sure, man. Keys are in her office on the wall.”

I hadn’t even thought about the keys. What would I have done if he weren’t there?

“Thanks.”

“Sure.” He waved and went back to what he was doing.

I ran inside to get the keys off the hook, then around the other side of the building and pulled the handle on the van.

The f*cking door jammed.

I smashed my shoulder against it, just like Hannah did the day when her dad first loaned it to me. The handle unstuck and the door came open. It turned right over and I was headed out to her cabin, just like I had the first time.

I tore out of the parking lot and down the roads. Only to get slowed down by Wynne’s slow ass Sunday drivers. Who’s to say small towns didn’t have traffic?

The Astro van wasn’t the quickest vehicle on the road either, though, and I tapped the steering wheel like it would help things go faster.

Finally, I flew down her lane and threw it in park next to her truck before jumping out and running up the stairs. Two by two.

“Hannah? You up here?”

Nothing.

An irrational flood of worry hit me, but I knew she had to be close.

I opened the door, but she wasn’t inside. I walked around to the far side, the one closest to the water and slowed as I noticed her there on the dock, sitting on the end, looking out at the water.

I wondered if I should give her some time. Maybe she was angry, which I could handle. I could deal with her frustration. Rachelle had been awful to her and I’d pretty much just stood there.

What if she changed her mind about being with me altogether?

There was only one way to find out.

So, as I played out different scenarios in my head, I walked down to the water where she was, willing to fight for her. Willing to plead our case if I had to.

I heard her sniffle as I got near, and the mere thought of her crying squeezed at my heart.

“Hannah, are you all right?” I asked from behind her.

She swiped her cheeks and blew out a long breath.

“Did you know she was coming?” Her voice shook, but it was clear she was trying to hide her emotions.

“No.” What a terrible thing for her to think.

Then she asked, “What happened?”

“She asked me to take her back. To choose between you and her.”

Her shoulders slumped forward.

I couldn’t take it. I knelt down and sat beside her, hanging my feet off the dock with hers.

“I told her there was no choice to make. I want you.”

Her head spun to face me.

“You do?”

“Of course I do, beautiful,” I said. Even though there were no tears to be seen, all of them wiped away, I could tell by the way her eyes were red-rimmed they’d been there. “I’m in love with you. Only you.”

“Really?” She smiled and her chin quivered just enough to make me reach out and touch her.

“You have to know it. I told her to leave.”

“I was kind of a bitch.” Her eyebrows rose guiltily.

“She deserved it. Everything you said was right and I told her that. I want that to be our home. It already feels like you belong there. You’re in every room. Every step I take in that house has a memory of you in it.”

She threw her arms around me, almost reflexively.

“But there’s more we need to talk about. Something happened even before Rachelle showed up.”

As if she knew, or remembered, she pulled away and straightened, a complacent look fell upon her pretty face and her hazel eyes dulled.

“I know. And I’m so sorry. I came down here to think, and then it really hit me. I left. I ran.” Her voice got strained again, but she swallowed it down and cleared her throat. She was trying to be stronger than the emotions she was feeling.

Again, how had I ever found a woman so brave?

“That’s what she did. You know?”