AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hannah nodded. “I do, too. Is everything okay, though?” She jerked her chin at Jacob’s phone that he was still holding in his hand. “Was that work?”
“No.”
“Who was it then?”
Grady thought he knew, and he wasn’t sure that she should be pushing Jacob to tell.
He was relieved when Jacob smiled. “I … called Becca.”
“Ooh! Are you going to see her when she gets back?”
Jacob shrugged, but the smile on his face gave him away. Grady would put money on his answer being yes. “I should get going.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. “So that you can get back on the phone?”
He shrugged again. “Maybe. That’ll depend on how much racket Xander’s making.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. He went back out with Slade – hunting.”
Jacob’s smile disappeared. “What’s he thinking? Her mom’s … No. She’s not even here!”
“Wait. Who? I was talking about Slade. He’s the one who was going hunting. You mean Xander, don’t you?”
Jacob blew out a sigh. “Don’t tell me you don’t know about either of them?”
“I have no clue.”
Grady watched the exchange with interest.
“Jesus, Hannah. They’re your friends, and you really don’t know?”
Hannah put her hands on her hips. “No! And if you’re telling me that two of my friends are hooking up with Xander and Slade and not telling me who, I might …” She laughed. “I might burst! You have to tell me.”
Jacob shook his head. “Not my place.”
“Grr! Youhaveto. Just give me one name.”
Jacob laughed. “If I do that, it’ll give them both away.”
Hannah stared at him, and Grady could almost hear the cogs whirring as she thought about it. “Okay, so Xander said that Slade wants to see someone who’s home for the holidays. And you said that whoever Xander wants to see isn’t even here.” She pursed her lips. “And one word would give them both away?”
Grady had a feeling he knew. It wasn’t that hard to figure out.
Jacob cocked an eyebrow at him, and he nodded. Hannah saw it and pushed at his arm. “Don’t tell me that you know, too?”
He laughed. “I don’t know. But I’ve reached my own conclusion.”
“Then tell me!”
Jacob laughed. “Go ahead. You guess. That way if you’re right, I didn’t tell anyone. You figured it out for yourselves.”
“Well, bearing in mind that I don’t know the history – or even if there is any. I’m only going on the clues you just gave us. And this is only based on the people I know …”
“Just say it!” Hannah tugged on his sleeve, her impatience reminding him of Ava.
“Okay. I think that the one word that would give them away might be DuPont. Willow’s home and Tori isn’t.” He looked at Jacob for confirmation, but Hannah squealed beside him.
“It is, isn’t it?! I heard a rumor that Willow hooked up with Slade the last time she was home. And I always had my suspicions about Xander liking Tori. Even when we were kids. That’d be awesome!” Her smile faded. “Except, neither of them lives here. Willow’s only home because of her mom’s health scare, and Tori’s in Nashville. Xander doesn’t even live here anyway.”
