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Hannah’s heart clenched in her chest when Ava reached across and squeezed her hand. “Hannah’s my friend.”
Slade grinned. “She’s a good friend, too. Will we be seeing you out here on Wednesday?”
Ava gave him a puzzled look. “I don’t know. Why?”
He shot Hannah an apologetic look, but she smiled. She was glad that he’d brought it up. “Because we’re having the tree lighting. I hope you and Uncle Grady will be able to come.”
“Oh! That’s right. We’re going to the tree lighting.” Ava’s face fell. “But we’re going with Aunt Molly and Uncle Marcos.”
Hannah squeezed her hand. “That’s okay. We’re all friends. We can all hang out together.” She turned back to Slade. “Are you working Wednesday night?”
“We all are. We’re expecting a decent crowd.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s all good. I’m not big on crowds myself, but Jacob’s invited us to go up and have a drink with him once everyone’s cleared out afterward.”
“That’s great.” Hannah was surprised. It seemed that her brother really was softening up lately. He’d gotten all sentimental about family the other night. And now, despite not being too thrilled about the tree lighting ceremony, he was making sure he included the staff as best he could.
“Well, we’ll leave you to it.”
Slade waved at Ava again. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Ava.”
“You too.”
The gate swung closed behind them as Hannah drove on up the long driveway. She hesitated as she approached the turn off for the cottage. “Would you like to meet my brother?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Hannah to had laugh. “Does that mean yes or no? It’s okay if you don’t want to. You can say so. I only suggested it because I thought you might like to.”
“I don’t want to be rude.”
“It’s not rude. Don’t worry. We’ll go straight back to the cottage. Scooter’s waiting for us anyway.”
Ava looked a little less sure of herself as they drove on, and Hannah felt bad. She’d thought it would be nice for Ava to meet Jacob. And that she might be thrilled when he asked her to help him turn the lights on, but perhaps it’d be best to run the idea by Grady first anyway.
As soon as she opened the kitchen door, Scooter bowled out, wiggling around their legs, and putting his paws up on Ava’s waist as he tried to climb up on her.
“Get down, Scooter,” Hannah said it in the sternest voice she could muster while trying not to laugh and was relieved when he did as he was told.
“You’re so lucky!”
She looked down at Ava.
“I wish we could have a puppy.”
“Aww. I know. But it’s hard because Uncle Grady has to work.”
Ava nodded sadly. “I know. But …” She shot a look at Hannah. “Are you going to be his girlfriend now?”
She stared back at her, wondering what she should say. She and Grady weren’t exactly on a firm footing yet, despite having ventured into serious conversations about where it might be possible for things to go between them. Ava was watching her closely as she waited for her answer. Hannah remembered being that age, and how it felt not knowing what was really going on with the adults around her. That made it easy to know what to say. The best thing she could do was tell the girl the truth.
“I don’t know yet.” She smiled. “I’d like to think so, but last night was our first date.”
“Did he mess it up? He’s a good person, you know. He’s a bit goofy sometimes. But he’s kind and he gives the best hugs.”
She had to laugh. “He didn’t mess up. We had a lovely time. And I agree with you. He’s a very good person.” She chuckled. “He can be goofy, but I like that about him. And he’s kind. And …” She looked around, as if making sure no one was going to hear what she said next. “I think he gives the best hugs, too.”
