Page 17 of After You

She paused as tears rushed to her eyes at the familiar smell of the house. Lemon furniture polish and shortbread cookies. It felt like a simple deep breath of the air in her grandmother’s house and she was shot back to the past, and her heart ached.

“Darling!”

Alice emerged from the kitchen at the end of the hallway in front of Hannah, making her way across the hardwood floor, leaning heavily on the cane in her lefthand.

Hannah frowned as she turned to set her suitcase out of the way in the corner. She’d known the hip was bad, but it hadn’t occurred to her that her walk-four-miles-a-day, climb-up-and-down-on-step-stools, run-everything-at-her-church grandmother might be using a cane. Which was stupid. It made total sense. A physical therapist would have probably considered that. The meditation-loving, natural-supplement-peddling, massage-therapist-acupuncturist apparently hadn’t, however.

“Hi!” Hannah pasted on a bright smile and met Alice halfway across the foyer, wrapping the other woman in a tighthug.

If the smell of Alice’s house brought memories flooding back, being wrapped in her arms and hearing, “Oh, my sweet girl,” murmured in her ear, brought the tears.

Hannah sniffed and just let herself sink into the feelings for a moment. Then she pulled back and gave her grandmother a genuine smile. “I’m so glad to seeyou.”

Alice hooked her cane over her forearm, as if she’d been using the thing long enough to be used to doing that when she needed to free up her hands. She took Hannah’s face between her palms and studied her eyes. “Are youokay?”

Whoa, she hadn’t been expecting that question in the first thirty seconds. She swallowed. Her grandmother would see the truth, she knew. Finally, she gave a short nod. “I’m getting there.” That was the truth.

That seemed to appease Alice, at least for the time being. “I’m so happy you’re here, darling,” Alice said, again moving her cane to her hand and turning toward one of the chairs.

The chair had been in that same spot in that living room all of Hannah’slife.

“Don’t get too comfortable. We need to head to your appointment in two minutes.”

Alice frowned. “My appointment?”

“The one with Ky—Dr. Ames,” Hannah said. Yes, Dr. Ames. That’s what she should stick with when talking about Kyle. It was much less personal. It reminded her that her only dealings with him should be—would be—in his professional capacity in regards to her grandmother.

Except of course when he’s half-naked in the hallway outside your bedroom. Or sleeping in the bed thirty feet away. Or showering in the same shower that you’ll be using…

Yeah, so that had been her first thought when she’d stepped into the bathroom that morning. She was only human. And even if she shouldn’t be in love with him anymore, that didn’t mean her heart was listening. Or her libido, apparently.

She stubbornly shut down that nagging inner voice—that seemed to love the fact that Kyle had been sleeping two doors down all night—and focused on her grandma as Alice said, “Oh, that’s not for a couple of weeks.”

Hannah shook her head. Was her grandma confused? “We’re scheduled to see Ky—Dr. Ames—in his office this morning.”

Alice waved her hand. “I got the dates wrong. That’s in two weeks.”

“But your surgery is on Monday.”

“In two weeks.”

Hannah moved closer to the chair. “Grandma, what are you talking about?”

“I told you the wrong date,” Alice said. “My surgery isn’t for two more weeks. But it’s so great that you’re already here! We can spend some really quality time together beforethen.”

Hannah stared at the woman who was blinking up at her innocently. With a little twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Alice didn’t get dates wrong. “You lied to get me here early?” Hannah asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it thatway.”

“But youdid—”

Suddenly there was a loud clatter in the kitchen, and Hannah heard Ruby’s voice, and then a low, deep rumble that made goose bumps dance up herarms.

How could she recognize and react to the muted, unintelligible sound of his voice? That was ridiculous. But those goose bumps werereal.

“Kyle’s here?” she asked Alice, forgetting for the moment that her own grandmother had duped her. “Now?”

“Yes, he came over to help me with a few things,” Alicesaid.

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