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Grady just stared at her, and she laughed. “You should invite them to come in for a milkshake after school tomorrow. I can’t wait to see them together.”
“Okay. But you really mean you want to see Hannah and me together, right?”
“That, too. And I can’t wait to see you both with Jacob on Wednesday night. I take it you’ll be going with Hannah and not coming with us?”
“Yeah. We’ll see you there. But I need to get back to work.”
Molly laughed. “We’re quiet. Go in the back and give them a call. Make sure they’re okay.”
“Thanks, Molly.”
~ ~ ~
“Bye, Uncle Grady. See you later.” Ava ended the call and gave the phone back to Hannah.
She slipped it back into her purse without taking her eyes off the road.
“Thank you for coming to get me.”
“It’s my pleasure. Did you have a good day at school?”
Ava nodded, but Hannah got the impression that there was something she wasn’t saying. She’d picked her up exactly as agreed. She’d been ten minutes early, just like she’d planned. She’d never forgotten the times she’d waited outside school by herself. Her mom had always come for them when it was her and her brothers, but by the time Jacob and Xander had gone on to middle school, her mom’s drinking had gotten worse. Of course, Hannah had believed that her mom just didn’t care about her as much as the boys. She still kind of believed that now.
She glanced over at Ava, wondering if she should try to dig into whatever was bothering her. She decided against it. She’d mention it to Grady later. She was probably better off trying to refocus her onto something fun.
“Would it be okay with you if I stop and see my brother on our way back to the cottage?”
“Sure.”
“We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay. I know he has a job for me.” The poor thing looked scared.
“Hey!” Hannah reached across and took hold of her hand. “It’s not like a job, job. He wants to ask you if you want to do something fun with him. And you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I told you that, remember?”
Ava nodded.
Hannah pulled up to the gate, wondering if it was a bad idea. Slade came out to greet them and leaned down to see Ava when Hannah put the window down.
“Hi, Miss Ava. Did you have a good day at school?”
“Yes, thank you.”
He raised an eyebrow at Hannah. It was obvious that the kid wasn’t happy. Hannah shrugged.
“Do you like school?”
Ava nodded.
“I bet you’re smart, aren’t you?”
She shrugged.
“Are you going to take Scooter for a walk when you get home?”
She gave him a small smile at that. “I hope so. But we have to go and see Mr. Jacob first.”
Hannah didn’t like the way she said that. It sounded as though she was scared of him. “Do you think that you’d like to call him Uncle Jacob?”
