The Memory Keeper: A Heartwarming, Feel-Good Romance(13)

“How about you, Hannah?” Georgia asked, leaning forward.

“I live in New York City.”

“Mm.” Georgia sat back, tipping her head against the seat in thought. “Funny,” she said. “You look very New York with your fancy clothes and your super shiny manicure.”

Hannah smiled in response, but the comment made her self-conscious. Growing up, Ethan had always made her feel like there was something wrong with being glamorous, but once she’d gotten to New York, she’d fit right in.

Georgia shook her head. “Isn’t it crazy that we’d probably never have met up were it not for this snowstorm?” She folded her arms with a content smile.

“Are you traveling to Franklin for vacation, Georgia?” Hannah asked, still not fully committed to the conversation at hand, but needing to refocus to keep her mind from returning to that kiss at the airport.

“Not really. I’m meeting my parents for the first time in my life.”

Georgia’s answer caused Hannah to turn around to make sure she’d heard right. Georgia was beaming.

“My birth parents,” she clarified. “I was adopted.”

Liam gave her a quick glance in the rearview mirror, obviously interested. But Hannah couldn’t get her head around the enormity of the statement and the way Georgia was so nonchalant about it, as if it were something people did every day.

Unable to hide her astonishment, Hannah asked Georgia, “So this is the first time you’ll have ever laid eyes on the two people who gave you life?”

“Yep,” she replied. “The adoption agency couldn’t tell me much, but they did remember that my parents were incredibly young when they had me, and they felt like they couldn’t offer me the life I deserved.”

“That was a very selfless and honorable act,” Hannah said. “I can’t imagine being faced with that decision. It would be so incredibly hard.”

“I’m excited to see them,” Georgia said. “I have no hard feelings at all. I just want to know who they are, you know?”

“Of course,” Hannah said.

They fell into a lull after that, and Georgia sat back in the seat, stroking the dog, who’d closed his eyes and stretched out on Georgia’s lap so she could rub his belly.

“How about you, Liam?” Hannah asked. “How long will you be in Franklin?”

“I’m doing business in the area, and I’m helping my mother with some insurance details. My father passed away six months ago and we’re managing his assets…” Then, quietly, he added, “I’m picking up my inheritance.”

Caught off guard by the sad news, Hannah looked over at Liam, but he seemed quietly composed, as if he’d practiced saying this. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

Liam nodded in thanks, but he didn’t elaborate. He kept his focus on the traffic in front of them, leaving Hannah to dive into her thoughts once more. She had a lot of very uncertain days to navigate ahead of her. She tipped her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes.



“Hannah?” A masculine voice sailed into her consciousness, but it wasn’t Miles’s. She wasn’t quite aware of where she was at first.

“Hannah?” A warm hand rested on her forearm, giving her a sense of security, like everything would be okay.

She took in her first fully cognizant inhale, opening her eyes and registering that they’d parked somewhere. Liam was facing her from her open car door. A gust blew, and she was suddenly aware of the frigid temperature around her.

“We’ve stopped for dinner,” he said.

Hannah cleared her vision enough to focus on his face in the darkness. She couldn’t see what was behind him. The sun had disappeared completely.

“Georgia was starving, and this exit had a restaurant that was still open.” He stepped to the side, revealing a tiny structure that looked like some sort of hodgepodge between a saloon and a thrift shop. The hesitant look on his face suggested he shared Hannah’s skepticism that this was the best option. “Georgia’s inside with Jerry in her handbag, getting us a table.”

With a punch of amusement over the dog, Hannah slipped her arms into her coat, which had slid down behind her on the journey, and then grabbed her purse.

“How long did I sleep?” she asked, walking beside Liam on their way to the restaurant.

“About three hours.”

“Really?”

It was only now that she realized how exhausted today had made her. She felt as if she’d been hit by a bag of bricks. Her eyes ached for more sleep, and the hollow sadness of her breakup and worry over Gran had settled upon her like a weighted blanket. She really just wanted to curl up somewhere and sleep until everything got better, but she knew she had to push through for Gran.

Liam opened the door to the restaurant, allowing Hannah to enter.

The aroma of fried food hit her right away, along with a surge of heat from the old wood-burning fireplace at one end of the narrow establishment. An empty stage with a single guitar and stool stood at the other. As they made their way further inside, the scent of burning oak took Hannah back to the winter nights she used to spend at Gran’s.

Georgia waved from a minuscule table midway down the room, across from the bar, her handbag in her lap revealing an unusually large, moving lump. She placed her hands on top of Jerry to settle him, and his shiny nose peeked out. When they reached Georgia and Jerry, Hannah scooted the faded silk-flower table arrangement to the edge next to the salt and pepper shakers to give them all more room.