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Chapter Twenty
Hannah reached to move her red piece, saying, “I made it into the home. Finally.” She grinned at Remmy, who watched every move Hannah made carefully. As ifSorry!was the most important life-or-death game in the world.
She reached for a card and said, “Good job, Hannah. I hope I get an eight.”
Hannah hoped she did too. Then the seven-year-old would win the game and they could be done. Hannah loved the little girl to bits and pieces, because she had a very positive outlook on life, and she always had a big smile and a great story from school.
Her older brother sat at the table too, but Thomas clearly didn’t care about the game, and he looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
“Should I get out the ice cream?” Hannah asked, and the boy perked up.
“Can we have hot fudge?” he asked.
“I don’t see why not.” Hannah smiled at him. “It feels like a hot fudge night, right?” She got up as Remmy moved her piece—she hadn’t gotten an eight—and got the half-gallon containers out that she’d brought over to Jess’s and Dallas’s earlier.
She’d been thrilled to be asked to babysit while they went to the hospital. Their baby was coming early, but neither Jess nor Dallas had seemed too freaked out by it. They’d called, and they’d been gone by the time Hannah had made the drive from the ranch.
She was just glad she didn’t have to sit around the West Wing by herself. Worse, Jill would come over with a pan of brownies, and Hannah would war with herself for hours as they watched a movie, laughed, and ate far too much sugar.
The extra weight Jill had put on was due to her pregnancy, and no one would say a word to her about it. But Hannah’s extra five pounds were starting to make her body-shapers really uncomfortable, and she’d worked so hard to lose the weight in the first place.
She didn’t want to give Luke that kind of power over her, but as she got out three bowls, he had it anyway. She’d fallen in love with him, and she couldn’t change that now.
“Does anyone want bananas?” Hannah asked.
“I do,” Remmy chirped. “It’s your turn, Hannah.”
“Turn my card over for me,” she said over her shoulder.
“You got a four.”
“That one moves me backward, right?” Hannah turned back to the game board, a bunch of bananas in her hand. She surveyed her red pieces and pointed to the one clear over by Thomas. “Will you move that one back?”
Remmy knelt up and reached across the board to move it. She counted four backward and then said, “Oh, you get to slide. Good idea.”
Hannah’s piece ended up in the same place it had been in before, and she turned back to the bowls. “Thomas? Bananas?”
“No, thanks,” he said.
Hannah sliced bananas for Remmy and herself, scooped in the vanilla ice cream, and set the jar of hot fudge in the microwave to heat slightly.
Thomas said he wanted the chocolate ice cream with hot fudge, so she scooped that for him and turned back to the table. “Nuts, Thomas?”
“What kind?” He looked up, hopeful.
“Almonds or peanuts.” Hannah held up the little bags of chopped nuts.
“Peanuts,” he said. “Please.”
Hannah smiled and nodded, fixed up his bowl with hot fudge and peanuts, and placed it in front of him. She opened a couple of drawers before finding the silverware and got out spoons.
She took her bowl back to the table, along with Remmy’s, and sat down to finish the game.
Remmy won a few minutes later, and Hannah looked at Thomas. “Okay, bud. Your turn. What do you want to do?”
“Anything I want?”
Hannah smiled and took another bite of her ice cream. “Within reason, but yes. School hasn’t started yet, and the sun doesn’t set for a couple of hours. Miniature golf? Go-karts? Movie and popcorn?”
