Page 29 of The Forever After Bet

“Okay.” Hannah nods, letting her shoulders slump.

I give her another kiss. “We’re going to get through this—together.”

When we walk into the kitchen, there’s a note from my grandma saying she took everything up to the apartment above the garage. Well, she called it our apartment. When we walk outside, we’re in the middle of a blizzard. I wrap my arm around Hannah’s shoulders, and we trudge through the snow to the back of the detached garage and up the stairs. The lights are on, and it’s warm when we get inside. The apartment is spacious for a studio. It has a living room area with a small sofa and a tv that hangs from the wall. The kitchen area is small, with only two cupboards, a small butcher block counter with a half-sized stove, and a small round table with two chairs. Even the fridge is tiny. It comes to my shoulders. The bedroom is sectioned off with a large white bookcase. I help brush snow out of Hannah’s hair and off her shoulders. “Do you think we’ll be able to get up the canyon road in this weather?” Hannah asks.

“We might be able to in the Range Rover but not in your Venue,” I say, running my hands through my wet hair.

“I’m going to call Leah.” Hannah pulls out her white phone and walks back to the bathroom, shutting the door. There’s another note from Gigi saying the food is in the oven warmer, and there’s plenty to eat and drink in the fridge. I pull a couple of plates from the cupboard and then grab the food from the warmer.

“That smells amazing.” Hannah inhales, coming out of the bathroom. “Where did you order from?”

“A little Italian place called Maxie’s.”

“Yum.”

“There should be stuff to drink in the fridge if you want to get it,” I say.

“Okay,” Hannah says, opening the fridge. “Do you want Mt. Dew? Or there’s bottled water.”

“I’ll take the soda, even though I shouldn’t.”

Hannah opens a cupboard, pulls out a couple of glasses, and then searches the drawers until she finds utensils. I put our plates loaded with food on the table. Hannah tears several paper towels off the roll, and we sit down.

“I thought we could share the Mt. Dew. There’s a six-pack in the fridge if you want more,” she says.

“That’s great. Thank you.”

We sit down together; what should be easy and fun is tense and complicated. I reach across the little table, taking Hannah’s hand. “Is everything all right with Leah?”

“Yeah. I guess the school district has already canceled school for tomorrow. She said my dad texted and told me he wanted me to stay the night at Leah’s if it was okay with her parents because the weather is so bad. Leah texted him back, saying her parents were great with it.”

“Did you tell her where you were?” I ask. Leah has been a hundred percent team Hannah since everything happened.

Hannah nods. “She started crying when I told her I was with you.” She puts her fork down, wiping tears out of her eyes. “My friends have been amazing. When I tried to push them away, they pushed back. They don’t say anything, but I know this has been hard for them. When June told me she had broken up with Ty, I cried about it all weekend. I feel like it’s my fault.”

Hannah tries to pull her hand away, but I tighten my hold. I can’t handle watching her cry like this. I stand up, pull her out of her chair, sit in her seat, and pull her down onto my lap.

I sigh. “This is much better.”

Hannah wraps her arm around my shoulder, laying her head on mine. “I’m so scared, Ford.”

I adjust Hannah on my lap so she’s straddling me and leaning my forehead against hers. It takes everything inside me not to groan out loud at the feel. “I’ve missed this.”

“Me too.”

“Why are you scared?” I rub my hands up and down Hannah’s arms.

“I’ve messed everything up. How can you forgive me for what I did and said to your parents? For what I said to you.”

“I understand why you did it. At least, I think I do. My parents’ relationship is rocky. I didn’t handle it very well when they told me they were getting a divorce at the end of the summer. I tried to hold everything in, and I ended up hurting you and our relationship. We all need our parents in some capacity. My parents have been trying to work on saving their marriage, and they’ve been trying to have a better relationship with me.”

“I was so scared I was going to ruin your relationship with them, even ruin their relationship.” Hannah lets out a shaky breath. “When I realized that, I got scared I’d lose my family. I wasn’t ready for that.”

“I’m in this with you. I could’ve called you on your lie and said we were married. I made a choice, the same as you.”

“I want things to be the way they were, but I don’t know how to go back,” she says.

“We can’t go back, Baby.”

---