Chapter 23
23
T he back door opened and Hanna jumped. She popped her head out of the kitchen and looked down the hall to see her mom.
"Hi, honey, I thought I'd come and help out a little bit today. I understand you had an extra big bun order, and I thought maybe other things were set on the back burner."
Hanna's heartbeat raced, and she cleared her throat lightly, giving herself a moment to settle.
"Thanks, Mom, yeah a couple things got put on the back burner. I need to get some cookies in the oven. If you wouldn't mind rolling those out, I'd appreciate it. I have the dough all ready to go in the fridge. And then I can work on another batch of cinnamon rolls."
"Sounds good, sweetheart. Dad told me that he invited you to dinner the other night and you couldn't make it, but we would like you to come to dinner tonight."
Hanna froze. Now, what did she do? She was in a relationship, right? Small town, word was going to get out, eventually. She probably better tell her parents before they heard something through the grapevine. After all, they weren't exactly sneaking around.
She twisted her fingers together, "So Mom, I've been seeing someone. Just a few times. But well, I've been seeing someone, and I'm supposed to have dinner with him tonight."
Her mom stopped. Her smile spread across her entire face. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Much like Hanna usually wore while she was at the bakery.
"Is that so? Well, we would of course like to meet him, and of course, he's invited tonight as well."
Hanna played with her fingers. "Well, I'd have to ask him if he wants to do that. We haven't talked about... you know, meeting the parents or anything… or the kids, or whatnot."
"So he has children."
"Yes, he has two children. They're both grown. I mean, at my age, you know, that's who I'm going to meet, somebody with children likely."
"Oh honey, thank God you didn't have children with that criminal that you were married to."
"I know Mom, I know, I know, I know. I've thought of it so many times myself I can't tell you. That doesn't mean I don't wish I did have them, though."
"Well, you know with modern medicine and everything it's still not too late. You're only forty-five."
"Well, I'm not talking about having children, Mom. My gosh that's...oh my gosh I can't even think of that right now. But if the good Lord wants it I guess it could happen. Anyway, I'm not anywhere near that time, talking about that or anything. We're not that serious. But let me call him and ask him if he's interested in having dinner with you and Dad. "
"Well, tell him we're interested in meeting him. And who is this him, anyway? So I don't have to keep calling him, him ."
Hanna chuckled. "His name is Quinn Kurtz. And he..."
"Oh, I know Quinn Kurtz. Oh my goodness he's such a handsome man. You're lucky. He's, ooh, what do the girls call him these days? Dreamy?"
"Mom!"
"Well, he is, right? Dreamy."
"Yes, he's dreamy, but you shouldn't think that way about him. I mean what would Dad think?"
"Oh, honey your father and I have been married so many years he knows when I think a man is dreamy. I'll even tell him tonight that we're having dinner with the dreamy Quinn Kurtz."
Hanna's cheeks heated. "Well, I don't know that yet. I have to call him."
"Then you call him while I'm rolling out these cookies and get that taken care of. We'll grill steaks. Your dad is really good at grilling steaks."
"Okay, well, don't get too far ahead of yourself. Let me give Quinn a call and see if he's even interested. He was planning on cooking for me tonight."
Her mom scoffed. "How could he not be interested? If he likes you at all, he's going to want to meet your family to see where you come from."
Hanna chuckled and walked out into the front of the bakery. It was quiet right now, so it was a good time to call him.
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and tapped his number.
"Hey there, beautiful. Good to hear from you. "
His voice was so happy and cheerful that it brought a smile to her face. "Well, you may not think so in a minute."
"Uh oh, what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on, but my mom is kind of insisting that you come over tonight and have dinner with them. I know we haven't talked about meeting my parents, but is that something that you might be interested in?"
Quinn laughed. "Well, first of all I know your parents, sort of. In passing mostly in and out of church, at weddings. Small town, you know."
"Right yeah, I know." She laughed.
"But I don't see why that wouldn't work. Yeah, let's do it. Why don't we have dinner with your parents tonight? I'd love to meet them. What are they having? I'll bring wine and some flowers for your mom. How about that?"
Hanna laughed. "You'll turn her head. She already thinks you're dreamy."
He laughed out loud, and the sound made butterflies take flight in her tummy. She smiled as she listened to the melodic sound.
"Dreamy huh?"
"Yes, those were her exact words. As a matter of fact, when I asked her what Dad would think, she said, 'Honey I will tell him I'm having dinner tonight with the dreamy Quinn Kurtz.’"
He laughed again and she closed her eyes to focus on the sound. And then it dawned on her that she'd had little laughter in her life with Isaac. This was so… well it was so darn nice.
"Yes, okay, well, I don't know that I want to play that up too much, but I'll pick up flowers and wine. I'll pick you up at your house at six o'clock to meet the parents."
"Thank you so much, Quinn. I do appreciate you being willing to change your plans for them, and on the spur of the moment. Sort of, at least formally."
He laughed again. "It's fine, hon it's fine. It'll be fun. Talk to you later, sweetheart."
"Talk to you later." She tapped the end call on her phone and her heart beat so hard in her chest she wondered if anyone else could hear it. Butterflies rolled around in her stomach. He called her hon and sweetheart . Things were starting to get a little real. She turned around and jumped.
Her mom was standing right there, listening.
"So I suppose you heard."
"Well no. I just... Well, so he's coming, right?"
Hanna laughed. "Yes, he's coming. Oh my god, Mom, you act like I've never had a boyfriend over before."
Her mom sighed. "You've never had a quality boyfriend, sweetheart."
And then it dawned on her that her mom called her sweetheart, too. Two times in one day. A girl could get used to that.
She went back into the kitchen to roll out her cinnamon rolls and get them ready for baking when her phone rang again.
"My god it's like everybody wants to talk to me today."
Her mom tsked. "Of course they do. You’re Hanna, cinnamon roll girl, Valentine. Why wouldn't they want to talk to you?"
Her mom giggled at her own joke, and Hanna shrugged her shoulders and looked at her phone. It was her friend Jalyn.
"Hey, Jay. Nice to hear from you."
"Well, I haven't heard from you in a couple of days. I've been wondering what's going on. "
"Well, nothing's going on. I mean, what do you mean what's going on?'
"I mean I haven't heard from you in a couple of days. I normally hear from you at least once every other day."
Hanna stopped to lean on the table. "Well, you know you could have called me sooner if you wanted to. What's going on with you that you haven't called?"
Jalyn was silent for a moment. She finally responded, "All right ya got me. Nothing's really going on. I was just sulking because you weren't calling me."
Hanna chuckled. "Well, that's stupid. Just call me when you want to call me. I've been a little busy. That's all. There's a big fishing tournament in town, so the Sandbar ordered extra buns for sandwiches. I have a lot of cinnamon rolls rolling out the door. No pun intended. And I've had a few dates with Quinn. Well, I guess maybe three."
"Three dates? Oh my God. Have you guys...have you...?"
"Stop it. Don't ask. My mom's here, by the way."
"Oh no, she can't hear me can she?"
"No, not really. She's trying to though." Hanna glanced at her mom. "Aren't you, mom? Trying to listen to what Jalyn's saying."
"I'm not. I'm not. I'm just rolling out these cookies. I'm not trying to overhear or eavesdrop or anything. You're standing right next to me."
Hanna laughed. “Anyway Jalyn, Quinn's coming over to my mom and dad's house tonight to meet the parents. So that's what's been going on."
"Oh my God. I would love to be there and see that."
"Tell her she's welcome to come and join us."
"So you can hear?"
Jalyn said, "Oh my God she can hear me? "
Hanna shook her head. "I don't know. She's got selective hearing, but I think she heard everything."
"Oh my God. I'll have to remember that next time I call. I'll ask if you're alone first. Apparently, it's a good question to ask since you're also dating Quinn Kurtz now."
"Stop it. Oh my God." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, dinner at six. Dad's making steaks for all of us. Quinn's bringing wine. Why don't you bring a dessert?"
"You want me to bring a dessert? You're the baker."
"I bake desserts all day long. If you don't want to bring a dessert, how about you bring, I don't know, an hors d'oeuvre."
"That I can do. I'll bring the hors d'oeuvre. I'll see you around six o'clock tonight. And tell your mom I said hi."
Her mom grinned and yelled, "Hi, Jalyn, I'll see you later."
Hanna shook her head as Jalyn laughed, then ended the call.