AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
“He asked you to dinner?” Olivia squealed, wrapping her hands around her coffee mug.
“Shush!” Hannah jerked her head around to see if Maggie, or worse, Emma, were standing close enough to hear. Mae had just gone down for her afternoon nap.
“What did hesay?” Olivia wasn’t going to drop it.
She shrugged, sipping the coffee. “He said, ‘Will you come to dinner’?”
“No, I mean, like,howdid he ask?”
“We were on a walk.” She didn’t add the part about waiting forever. It had to just be something a guy said, right?
“And you’re not sure you should go?” Olivia’s confusion showed in her face. “Why wouldn’t you go?”
“Because of Troy’s mother, and the gossip that’s going around this town.”
“Marie Higgins should be more concerned about the fact that she didn’t raise her son to be a better husband and father. And who cares what the haters are saying?”
“Emma would be heartbroken if he suddenly decided he didn’t want to deal with all of my problems.”
“Emma would be heartbroken? Or you would be?” Olivia said gently, setting her mug down.
“My own father would rather drink alone at Lumberjacks than see his granddaughter.” She wondered why her father hated her so much. What had she ever done to make him willing to die alone, rather than see his family? “Why would a guy from a big, rich, family want to date a girl like me? I just can’t accept that it’s real.”
“As a woman, and mother, and friend…” Olivia leaned over the table. “Hannah, you’re a catch, believe me.”
“ShouldI have dinner with him?” She wanted Olivia to decide for her. She wanted to believe this could be her happily-ever-after, but hadn’t she thought that about Troy? Hadn’t her mother thought she’d had that with her dad, and all the other men she fell for?
“Yes, you should.” Olivia reached out and squeezed her hands. “Emma is strong, and she wants you to be happy, too. And you have us, Hannah. We have your back.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t,” Olivia said, and slapped her hand down on the table.
“What?”
“I love you, Hannah, but you still don’t trust us.” Olivia made a broad gesture with her hand. “You have lived on this farm as long as I have! You are as much a Boudreau as anyone here, but you still just about ask before you use the bathroom!”
Hannah could feel the stinging behind her eyes. “But I’mnota Boudreau.”
“Family isn’t always about blood, it’s about being there for each other.” Olivia leaned against the counter. “And you’ve always been there for me.” She fanned her hand in front of her face.
“Now, I’m going to cry.”
Hannah laughed, but grabbed Olivia’s hand and squeezed it. “I’ll say yes.”
“I’ll take Emma for the night.”
The back door swung open, and Jesse walked in. He froze at the sight of the two sniffling women. “Am I interrupting something?”
They started laughing and crying. Olivia pulled Hannah into a hug. “We’re taking Emma for the night.”
“Oh?”
“Hannah’s got a date.”
“He finally did it.” Jesse smiled, wrapping his arm around Olivia.
