Chapter 3
Hannah
M y heart sank to my feet when I saw Tanner enter Sweet Mornings.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
He stood in line behind the family I was currently serving, and it didn’t look like he was about to leave because I was the one working the counter this morning.
What in the hell was Tanner Remington doing here?
He’d never frequented the donut shop.
He was more likely to go to The Mug And Jug for coffee and a cinnamon roll, or to Charlie’s for breakfast.
I tried to keep my composure as I checked out the customers in front of him, keeping a smile plastered on my face as I gave them their change.
Don’t panic, Hannah. This isn’t a big deal.
I could serve him just like I took care of other customers.
Unfortunately, as the previous customers left and Tanner stepped forward, it felt like a very big deal.
Sweet Mornings was essentially a small storefront with bakery cases and a small baking kitchen in the back room.
The place was way too small for the likes of Tanner Remington.
It felt like his huge presence sucked all of the oxygen from the small space.
My heart literally ached as I turned my fixed smile toward him.
Dammit! I hated the way that Tanner’s muscular body and gorgeous face could still get to me.
“Tanner,” I acknowledged because doing anything else would be ridiculous. “What can I get for you?”
I could hardly pretend that he was a stranger.
The two of us had a past that spanned over seven years together.
“I need some donuts,” he said in that deep baritone that made my female hormones stand at attention.
I froze for a moment, transfixed because it had been so many years since I’d actually heard that sexy voice of his.
He was dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt just like I was, and he looked so good to me that my heart tripped.
Stop it, Hannah! You’re acting like a fool.
I wasn’t going to moon over a guy who had nearly destroyed me years ago.
“I figured that was why you were here,” I said, forcing a cool tone from my lips even though my heart was racing.
“Mom sent me here for apple fritters, which is something she’d never normally ask me to do,” he said huskily. “Why are you here today?”
“My mother was tired,” I replied politely. “I told her I’d work the counter today.”
“Do you think this was a set-up?” he asked with a rueful smile.
Surprise rolled over me as I realized what he was asking.
My mother never complained of tiredness, and his mother had probably never asked for apple fritters.
Millie had never been particularly fond of donuts.
“You think the two of them conspired to get us to talk to each other?” I asked.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It wouldn’t exactly surprise me. They are best friends.”
Crap! Now that he mentioned it, I had to agree that it wasn’t impossible.
Like Silas, Mom had encouraged me to face Tanner and deal with our past to stop the gossip about the two of us.
Tanner explained what he wanted for his mother and the crew of people that were going to be working on Charlie’s farm today. I started to box up his order, happy to have something to look at other than his handsome self.
“People think I’m still heartbroken,” Tanner said conversationally.
“And they think I’m a bitch,” I shot back as I loaded donuts into a box. “Everyone hates me around here because they think I broke your heart.”
“Didn’t you?” he asked smoothly. “You did leave me, Hannah.”
God, I really hadn’t wanted to get into our past, but his comment made me so irritated that I retorted, “For a very good reason.”
Luckily, there was no one else in the store to hear us bickering.
“What reason?” Tanner demanded. “I was on a business trip in Tokyo. When I got back, you were gone. You left for Seattle the day before I got back.”
“I told you on the phone that I was leaving. You told me to do whatever made me happy,” I said icily as I put an apple fritter in a box with more force than was necessary.
“Not possible,” he answered in an annoyed tone. “If you had said you were leaving, I would have done everything possible to make sure that didn’t happen.”
My anger started to fizzle away.
Like I’d suspected, he had no idea what I’d said that day. His answer had been automatic because he hadn’t been listening to what I’d said.
“You didn’t hear what I was saying, Tanner,” I said in a calmer voice. “It had been that way with us for a while. Your company was everything to you and your brothers. You were so distracted with world domination after Kaleb set up your headquarters in Billings that you never noticed that I wasn’t happy. I tried to talk to you. You just weren’t listening.”
I’d loved being back in Crystal Fork, but there was very little opportunity for my profession here. I ended up working with Tina at her shop in Crystal Fork doing old style perms and haircuts.
Maybe that would have been enough for me if my relationship with Tanner hadn’t gotten so broken. Maybe I would have eventually sought out something else in Billings if Tanner hadn’t completely changed once we’d moved back to Montana.
The last time we’d talked when he was in Tokyo, I’d told him that if things didn’t improve between the two of us, I had to go.
When he’d told me to do whatever made me happy, I suspected he hadn’t been listening.
He hadn’t been listening to me for a very long time, and I’d gotten to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore.
I’d felt disregarded and unloved, and feeling that way had been slowly killing me.
“Maybe I was a little distracted,” he admitted reluctantly. “But I would have heard you if you’d told me how you felt.”
I rolled my eyes.
The man was still in total denial about what had happened.
“You didn’t,” I said flatly as I sealed one of the boxes. “I’d been trying to get you to hear me for a long time. You were completely obsessed with KTD Remington. I got that. You, Kaleb, and Devon had built that company from nothing. You wanted to succeed. I waited on the sidelines and supported you, but I finally realized that I was never going to come first with you anymore, no matter how successful you became.”
“You always came first, Hannah,” Tanner said gruffly.
“Did I?” I asked, shooting him a pointed stare. “Do you realize that the last time I talked to you was my birthday? I didn’t want a gift. You’d given me so many material things, and we were building our home. Maybe I just wanted you to acknowledge the fact that you remembered.”
It hadn’t always been that way with Tanner.
We’d spent a lot of blissful, meaningful years together before his intense obsession with KTD’s success.
Once KTD had started its rapid rise to success, everything had gone downhill from there.
I didn’t mind that he had to travel.
I didn’t mind that he was a little distracted sometimes.
What I did mind was the complete and utter disregard that he showed me once he became successful.
It had slowly and painfully ripped my heart out.
I tried to be patient and give him some time to adjust to his success.
I’d hoped that he’d go back to appreciating what we’d had.
Unfortunately, that had never happened.
“Did I really forget your birthday?” Tanner asked hesitantly.
“Yes,” I answered simply. “Just like you forgot a lot of other personal things. We were building a home together. You couldn’t even be bothered to give me any input. We were also planning a wedding, but you never wanted to discuss an actual date.”
“I wanted you to do whatever you wanted,” he protested.
“And now you’re probably living in a home that I planned and decorated,” I answered drily.
Tanner and I had never lived in his home together. It was close to completion when I’d left, but we’d still had another few months before it would be ready.
Our wedding had also been planned, but those plans were never really executed since he’d put off setting a date.
“I always thought there was someone else,” Tanner told me.
My head shot up and I met his earnest gaze. “Seriously?” I said in a disappointed voice.
I’d been so crazy in love with Tanner Remington that I’d never looked at another man after we’d met.
He’d been my everything for over seven years after that.
“Yes,” he answered grumpily. “You didn’t even leave a note or any explanation. I overheard your mother mention to someone that she thought you’d be happy in Seattle. I assumed that meant that you’d be happy with someone else.”
Obviously, Tanner had never asked my mother for specifics or he would have found out the truth.
“I wasn’t,” I said as I pushed the boxes of donuts toward him. “I mean, I was happy, but not with another man. A woman doesn’t just get over a very long relationship to skip off with another guy. Well, maybe some women can, but you should have known me better than that.”
“I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally at the time,” he confessed in a graveled voice.
I shook my head as I took the credit card he offered me for the donuts. “It’s over, Tanner. It was over a long time ago. Sometimes priorities change. People change. We were young when we got together. I was barely twenty, and you hadn’t been out of college for long. Maybe I just wasn’t what you needed anymore.”
God, it was still hard to say those words, but it was probably the truth.
“That’s not true,” Tanner said irritably.
I held up a hand. “This happened a long time ago. We’re different people now. It doesn’t matter. I think we’ve both moved on.”
“Is that really how you feel?” he questioned.
“Yes,” I lied. “We don’t mean anything to each other anymore, but I’m glad you know now that I wasn’t fleeing with another guy.”
At that point, I’d do or say almost anything not to have to talk about our old life anymore.
Leaving Tanner had been the hardest thing I’d ever done, and as much as I wanted to deny it, talking about that time in my life did still hurt.
He picked up the boxes looking like he had more to say, but another customer walked through the door before he could say another word.
“Have a good day, Tanner,” I said, just like I’d say to any other customer.
He ran a hand through his wavy brown hair, his gorgeous blue eyes swirling with some kind of emotion I couldn’t completely decipher.
“You, too, Hannah,” he finally said politely. “It was good to see you again.”
Without another word, he turned and left.
I let out a sigh of relief, and it took me a moment to pull myself together enough to greet the next customer.
Well, at least we’d broken the ice between the two of us.
We probably wouldn’t have to go out of our way to avoid each other anymore.
Maybe I should be happy about that, but seeing Tanner again, hearing his voice, and talking to him had shaken me up more than I’d thought it would.