“I can’t even imagine how tiring it must be having one baby, let alone twins.”
My mind had drifted to the night of Liam’s birth, but that sentence snapped me back in the conversation.
“Clem is having twins?”
“No,” Hannah sounded confused. “I don’t think so.”
“Why are you talking about twins then?”
“Aren’t you listening to me?” she asked but didn’t sound offended. “My friend from work is having twins,” she paused, then smiled a dreaming smile. “She also has a dog, so there will be lots of cute pictures in her future.”
Finally, a verbal confirmation of my suspicions about how Hannah Spencer imagined her future.
“Does she have a perfect husband too?” I teased remembering Nick and how he eyed my new fuck buddy Tracy. “Nick won’t be a perfect husband, little Spencer. You have to cut your losses and move on.”
“I never wanted perfect,” she sounded offended now.
“Oh, come on,” I started counting on my fingers. “The twins. The dog. You are dating a surgeon,” I held three fingers in the air. “You want to be the suburban mom that drives the kids to soccer practice, goes to Pilates, and fakes orgasms once a month when the husband decides to pretend he’s still interested.”
“Maybe I should just get drunk every day and fuck strangers until I hit fifty and no one wants me anymore.”
“First of all, I will look great when I hit fifty. Second of all, I don’t get drunk every day.” I paused, wondering how far could I push her before she decided to dump me by the side of the road. I chose to risk it. “And you are not fighting to defend Nick’s honor. The faking started already, hmm?”
“Don’t talk about my sex life.”
“I can’t promise that. It’s too much fun. You look like a cute savage when you’re mad.”
She rolled her eyes and stopped blabbing for the rest of the ride. The easy-going Hannah was completely gone by the time she left me in front of my mother’s house. I got out of the car without saying a word and she drove off the moment I slammed the door shut.
I thought about calling Clem and explaining I missed the boys’ trip, but knowing Lucas, he had already informed her. She hadn’t called me yet, so I wasn’t going to call her either. Hannah was right about my little sister. I loved her more than the rest of my family. She never pushed me like the others. Clem knew I had limits and never crossed them, unlike Mom or Madison. The first thing she ever wanted from me was this stupid camping trip.
Now that I didn’t have to participate in it, I had time to focus on my future in Boston and really think about it. My new found relations with the mafia boss Patrick Hayes and how Chloe and Liam fitted in that equation.
The answer was easy. They didn’t.
It wasn’t safe for them to be associated with me at this point. I knew I had to concentrate on that. I had to, but my mind kept on drifting to Hannah Spencer. The perfect little good girl with the hair that looked like sunshine.
The right thing to do was to buy a plane ticket and fly back to Boston, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Lucas was away until Sunday, and even though I didn’t plan on calling Clem, I wanted to be close enough in case she needed something.
Two hours later, I was bored out of my mind. The moment the thought of calling my mother and asking her out for coffee crossed my mind, I got up and went straight to Hannah’s home. She couldn’t wait to get away from me when she dropped me off earlier, so I knew I was going to have fun just looking at her face, when I showed up at her doorstep.
“Tyler.” Lauren Spencer opened the door and greeted me with a smile when I appeared in front of their home twenty minutes later. “The last time I saw you, the girls were still in high school. Come in, come in,” she stepped sideways, and I entered their house. “Hannah!” Lauren shouted and my skin prickled just from hearing her name. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” She pointed to the couch.
I sat down, anticipation making my heart beat fast. It was true that I found Hannah predictable, but I still wondered how she would react to me and my bullshit. Or more specifically, when she would just give up on trying to squeeze some good deed out of me.
“Just a glass of water. Thank you, Mrs. Spencer.”
“Call me Lauren,” she waved a hand in my direction. “With your sister getting married, it dawned on me I am getting old.”
“You don’t look old to me. I can see where your daughter got her looks.” I released my signature charming smile and she giggled. It was true though. Lauren Spencer had the same blue eyes and golden hair her offspring had.
“You were always a charmer. Ever since you were little. You could talk your way out of anything.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Hannah’s voice boomed somewhere behind me.
I turned around and took her in. She was wearing a white formal shirt with thin black vertical stripes. Her hair was up in a bun. Not a messy one that a woman would normally wear at home. It was a bun that collected every lock on her head in a perfect hairdo. She had makeup on and from the waist up she looked like she was about to go on a business meeting. The thing that was happening below the waist had me laughing though.
She wore an old pair of daisy dukes that left her thighs on full display and …flip flops.
I liked the outfit, because I got to see her killer legs, but she looked ridiculous.
“I came by to say hi,” I grinned.
“Did you now?” Hannah said with a deliberately sweet tone, but you could see from a thousand miles, she wasn’t pleased to see me.
“I offered him some coffee.” Lauren looked between me and her daughter wide-eyed. She had no idea what was happening. Hannah shook her head, leaning down to take a folder from the coffee table.
I tried to ignore the view she revealed under her shirt. I saw black lace and that was enough for me to picture her wearing nothing but that and her daisy dukes. Definitely minus the flip-flops and that perfect bun. I wanted to reach over, undo it, and tangle her hair irreparably.
She turned her back on us, walking away with the folder, but stopped at the staircase.
“You know what?” She waltzed over to me again. “Since you clearly have nothing better to do with your day, maybe you could do something useful while I finish upstairs.” I wondered what she was doing upstairs dressed like that, but I didn’t have the time to tease her about it, because she threw the folder in my lap. “You fucked up the only thing Clem asked you to do. Make it up to her.” She pointed at my lap and the folder on it.
“Is she pissed?” I asked and I opened the folder, pretending to be looking through it while I was still trying to delete the image of Hannah in lingerie from my mind.
“Better,” Hannah said. “She feels like an idiot for asking you to go to the trip.”
“Yeah, well,” I shrugged. “You and I established it was a stupid idea when we were still in Boston. It’s a good thing she finally caught up with the rest of us.”
I was now starting to focus on the pages in that folder. I lifted my gaze up to meet Hannah’s.
“What is this?” I asked surprised.
“What does it look like?”