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“Maybe,” she admitted. “But mostly I was just nervous.”
Something uncomfortable plunked in my gut. I didn’t like the thought of her being anxious to approach me about anything. “Why’s that?”
She stared at her meal. “It’s just that we’ve always, like, thrown rugby balls and fixed cars together, and I love that, but I kind of want to make my hair prettier and maybe learn to paint my nails and stuff as well, and we’ve never done that or talked about it, and I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
Ouch.That hit home.
“Ruby, sweetheart,”—I reached over and took her hands in mine—“you could never disappoint me. I’ll always love you and accept you for who you are. If you wanted to quit rugby tomorrow, that would be okay, as long as you’re happy.”
“I don’t,” she said quickly. “I’m just, maybe, not as obsessed with it as I used to be.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Guilt squeezed my chest. Had I said or done something to make her think I wouldn’t be happy if her hobbies and interests changed? “You’re growing up. You’re bound to want to do new things. As long as that doesn’t involve drugs, alcohol, or piercing anything other than your ears, it’s fine with me.”
She looked up and narrowed her eyes mischievously. “What if I wanted a tattoo?”
My mouth dropped open and I sputtered.
She burst out laughing. “You should see your face!”
“It’s not funny, young lady.” I used my sternest voice, but it didn’t have the desired effect. She continued to giggle. “If you want a tattoo, you can damn well wait until you’re eighteen.”
“Sounds fair.” She cocked her head, studying me with interest. “Miss Olson has tattoos. I think they make her look cool. Do you like them?”
I schooled my expression, determined not to let my impressionable daughter see exactly how much I liked her teacher—and how much I’d seen of her tattoos. There was the script on the inside of her wrist, a delicate vine of flowers on her other upper arm, and a real stunner twisting around her hip. My mouth went dry.
“I haven’t noticed them,” I lied. “But I’m sure they’re fine.”
They were better than fine.Muchbetter.
“Did you notice how pretty she is?” Ruby persisted, like a dog with a goddamn bone. “I love her hair, and the way she dresses. She’s not like the other teachers. She just does her own thing.”
Yeah, Hannah did seem the type to do exactly what she wanted regardless of what anyone else thought. I supposed that’s how we’d ended up in a hotel room together for one of the most intense nights of my life.
“Dad?” Ruby prompted. “She’s pretty, right?”
“I guess so,” I conceded. “I didn’t pay much attention when we met yesterday.”
Lies. All lies.
Ruby seemed to sense it. She smirked. “Sure you didn’t. Everyone else thinks so though. Rumor has it that Mr. Carswell and Mr. Brennan both asked her out.”
“They what?” The thought of either of those smarmy bastards—who were actually perfectly nice guys—hitting on Hannah made me want to punch something. “How do you even know that?”
She shrugged. “It’s school. Everyone gossips, even the teachers. I heard Mrs. Winston and Mrs. Trove talking about it.”
“That’s inappropriate,” I grumbled.
“What do you care?” she challenged. “You didn’t even pay attention to her.”
I sighed. Called out by my thirteen-year-old daughter. And to think, I had years more of this to look forward to.
4
HANNAH
For the next week and a half, I couldn’t get Warren out of my head, even though the few times I’d seen him, he’d been distant and couldn’t have seemed more disinterested if he’d tried. Ruby took to catching me after school most days to give me updates on how things were going, and in some cases, it seemed, just to chat. She managed to bring her dad into nearly every conversation, and if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought she was trying to talk him up to me.
On the last Friday of summer, I met my friend, London, at the local pub, aptly named Drunken Destiny. London was also new to town. We’d met at the coffee shop and bonded over a love of caffeine and this little town we both now inhabited. Although, technically, London didn’t live in Destiny Falls. She’d purchased a ramshackle farm property a few miles out of town and intended to turn it into a dog shelter and horse trekking operation.
