Page 45 of Chocolate Cherry Cabin

6

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

Louis could hear Hannah through her door, grumbling away. He heard the lock slide back, but the door didn’t open for a full twenty seconds.

Obi wasn’t even barking.

Just when Louis was starting to grow concerned, it opened and a sleepy Hannah squinted against the weak morning light.

“You again?” she asked in a sweet, groggy voice.

Obi slipped past Hannah and leaned against Louis’s legs, his big doggy eyes adoring as he waited for some love. Louis scratched his ears.

“Don’t you ever sleep?” Hannah complained.

“Not much, no.”

She huffed, obviously unimpressed. Most people thought it was cool how little he slept, imagining how much he could get done. He did a lot with his life, but that was to fill the gaping hole of those extra, empty hours.

Last night, at least, he’d had the gala to go to. Secretly, he’d been hoping for some way to swing Hannah into being his last-minute date, but that hadn’t happened.

“You’re cute when you’re all sleepy.” He handed her an insulated cup of coffee.

“Don’t you understand fighting? You don’t just come over the next morning as if everything is good again.” She hoisted the cup like she was toasting him, and went to swing the door shut.

Okay, so apparently there hadn’t been enough hours between their tough words and his coming over in order for her to feel sorted out again. He’d noticed her lights had still been on when he’d arrived home at one in the morning.

Probably painting. Probably fighting with him in her head.

He got it. She wanted to go to France to be with her family.

But she didn’t want her family to go to France.

And she also didn’t want to hold anyone back from having the life they wanted.

And yeah, he planned to pester her without mercy if she didn’t pull the plug on leaving the country.

Louis stopped the door from closing. “I have a surprise. Put on some clothes.”

Hannah narrowed her eyes, but didn’t budge.

He tilted his head to the side, watching her for a moment. “I’m sorry if I was bossy last night.”

“I’m happy, Louis.”

“Okay.”

“And I won’t take back my words. About any of it.”

“Fine.”

They stood in silence. Not even the birds that liked to sing in the oaks lining their street had anything to say.

“So?” Hannah asked, eyebrows lifted.

“We’re good?”

“No, we’re notgood. And I’ve created some mighty big plans around how to avoid you for the next few days, weeks, maybe even months! So git. Scram. Go crawl back under your rock.”

---