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“I was the one who put the idea in your head.” Olivia reached out, taking Hannah’s arm and squeezing it. “Stay, please.”
Hannah knew that she was being selfish, jealous, and petty. Olivia lived a dream life, she should be happy for the one friend who had stuck by her all these years. Even when she lived in Washington, Olivia had made the effort. But Hannah was tired of being tired.
She shook her head. Olivia had Jesse and Mae, and Emma had the cousins, and the others had their families and homes, and Maggie had all of them. “Do you mind if Emma stays?”
“Of course not.”
“I could get a few errands done,” she lied.
“Are you really alright?”
“Yes, of course.” She widened her smile, but at that moment, she had never felt more alone.
Chapter 5
As soon as the bus picked Emma up, Hannah pushed her landlord’s doorbell and waited. Mrs. Curtis shuffled toward the door while Hannah fought the urge to run away.
“Hannah,” she said as she opened the door. “How can I help you?”
Hannah wrung her hands. “Mrs. Curtis, I’m afraid I’m going to be late with the rent. About a week.”
Mrs. Curtis’s face wrinkled. “Is everything alright?”
Hannah nodded. “Yes, but I just started a new job, and my paycheck is off by a week now.”
“You should start trying to save some money,” her elderly neighbor chided, but she was right, of course. One missing paycheck and Hannah was broke.
“One week is fine,” the landlady said, giving her an uncertain smile. “Just so long as it’s no later than that.”
Hannah knew she had been wary of taking on a struggling single mother, expecting this sort of grief. She acted a lot like Mr. Hooley, and Hannah was kicking herself over being late, hating to prove her right.
“I’ll pay the late fee,” Hannah said. “And I won’t be late again,” she promised, but it was more of a hope. She needed to find a second job… or a cheaper place.
The empty apartment above the Boudreau barn kept rolling around in her head. It would be so easy. Olivia and Jesse wouldn’t even hesitate to offer it to her. It was the perfect solution if only she was a Boudreau, but she wasn’t. She was a Destin. Worse, she was still legally a Higgins.
“Have you seen your father lately?” the older woman asked.
“Not recently.” Hannah saw her father here and there in town, but most of the time he pretended not to see her. Other times, he’d give her a cold, hard, stare.
“Well, I think you might want to go and see him. I heard he was sick.”
Hannah felt as though the world had tipped on its side, unbalancing her. “Sick with what?”
She tilted her head. “With cancer.”
“Oh.” Hannah whispered. At least a decade had passed since her father had spoken to her, longer since he kicked her out for being a “tramp”.
She mumbled a goodbye and left Mrs. Curtis, her head spinning. The right thing to do would be to go visit him, but he probably wouldn’t even let her in, and if he did, she wouldn’t know what to say.Hey, I heard from my landlady that you’re sick.
When she arrived at Olivia’s, the house was full of chaos. Olivia was running around in a bra and a suit skirt, holding a Mae who had peanut butter smeared all over her face, hair, and hands.
“Oh dear,” she said, as the dog jumped up and licked the baby’s face from chin to forehead.
“Help!”
Hannah began to laugh, taking Mae out of Olivia’s arms and into her own. “What did you do?”
Sticky hands reached out to the dog.
