10. Chapter 10
Chapter 10
A few nights after first meeting Hannah and talking to my mom, I get my second chance at making a first impression on her. JJ sent me a quick text telling me to grab some steaks for him, Levi, and the three girls, and to head over to his place for a Tuesday night BBQ.
Why would I need a second chance at making a first impression you ask? Well, it seems that my so-called friends have been warning Hannah away from me. Like I would mess with a friend’s sister, or honorary sister, just for fun. Bros before girls and all that crap. This one is different though, I can feel it, and after talking to my mom it’s clear I need to get to know this girl.
I’ve never thought about a girl for more than a few weeks of fun. It was a win-win, they got what they wanted, I got what I wanted, and everyone went home happy and satisfied. But this girl, who I’ve barely spoken to, has had me in knots for five days straight.
For five days all I’ve thought about is how soft her blonde hair looks. Do her blue eyes get darker when she’s mad or passionate about something? Let’s not even get started on all the non-PG thoughts I’ve been having about her. Levi would kill me if he even thought I was thinking about her like that, but man does the woman have an ass.
Shaking my head, I will my thoughts to go to the weather or something that won’t make me semi-hard in public. I park my truck beside Levi’s and follow the sound of people laughing to JJ’s backyard. Once I get to the backyard I see Ellie, Lacey, and Levi are taking advantage of the in-ground pool as JJ is tending, what looks like, potatoes on the grill.
Looking around I don’t see Hannah. I can’t imagine she’s not here, the only people she knows in Calgary are all here, in this backyard. Maybe she’s sick? That would be the only reason she’s not here. Hopefully she’s not too sick.
Shaking my head at myself once again, I say to myself:
Why do you care? You barely know the woman. Scratch that, you don’t know her at all.
Yet she’s got me all tied up. Plus JJ said she was gonna be here—it was in his text when he told me to stop and grab some meat. As I set the meat down by the grill and give JJ a man hug, I hear the patio door open.
Turning around to see if it’s Hannah walking in, I’m rendered speechless as I see her walking out in a fire-engine red bikini, with a white linen shirt as a cover, holding three margaritas in her hands and raybans hiding her blue eyes from me.
“Alright buddy, stop drooling,” JJ says under his breath so only I can hear him. “Instead of staring, how about you help the lady out before she drops one of those,” he continues, shaking his head as he puts the steaks onto the grill.
“Need any help there?” I ask, walking towards her as I hear JJ laugh before he closes the patio door behind him.
“Sure, that would be great,” she answers as I grab one of the glasses and she makes her way to give one to Lacey and the other to Ellie.
“And here you go,” I say, handing her her glass.
“Thanks,” she answers with a small blush, looking down as she makes her way to one of the sun loungers.
“Not going in for a dip?” I ask as I follow her to the loungers.
“No, I . . .” she starts but stops as I take off my shirt. Now it’s her turn to stare. Good to know she’s not completely unaffected by me.
“You don’t like swimming?” I ask with a smirk, making her blush deepen and make its way towards her chest.
“No, I . . . uhh . . .” she starts, clearly flustered. “No, not necessarily. I’d rather sit by the pool and read,” she finally says, pointing to a book beside her on the deck. Looking at her book, I see a bright cover with a cartoon depiction of a man and a woman.
“Aww my mom likes those kinds of books,” I comment. “Made my dad convert a section of the basement into a library slash reading room for her.”
“Your mom likes these books?” she says, sniffling a laugh.
“Yeah the bright-colored ones with cartoons on the front,” I say.
“You’re mom sounds like a great lady. I’m gonna have to meet her,” she says with a full on laugh.
“What’s so funny over here?” Lacey asks, grabbing the towel off one of the loungers next to Hannah’s.
“I have no idea. I was just telling Hannah here that my mom likes those books,” I say, still confused, pointing at Hannah’s book.
“Your mom reads those?” Lacey asks as she also starts laughing. “Way to go Mama Morrisson,” she says between laughs.
“What’s so funny about these books?” I ask, confused, as I grab the one between our loungers, reading the back of the books. “Your mom . . . your mom . . .” Lacey tries to get out. “Your mom reads smut. No shit, she’s so chill.”
“Smut? What the hell does that mean?” I ask, even more confused.
“Your mom reads porn, dude,” JJ finally says from the grill, not turning to look at us.
My mom does not read porn. I mean yeah she’s young, but she does not read porn. There’s no way. She’s my mom, I think to myself as my eyes go from the book, to JJ, back to the book and then to the girls.
“Don’t worry. It’s not that bad,” Hannah says, patting my arm, trying to comfort me. Before I can enjoy the sparks that fly up my arm at her touch, and the shiver that follows, she pulls her hand away.
“I’d say! I got Ellie to read me one of those scenes last night,” JJ says, with a smirk, making me turn towards him and moving me out of Hannah’s reach.
“Shut up!” Ellie screams, getting out of the pool, her face getting beat red.
“Is this the kind of book you’re writing?” Levi asks, as he also joins the conversation.
“Ummm . . . I don’t know, maybe,” Hannah says, blushing again.
“You guys are serious?” I ask as Lacey nods her head at me. Forever the instigator, she opens her mouth to add on.
Before she can, JJ calls out that supper will be ready in five minutes, making the conversations end there, not that I want to keep discussing my mother’s reading habits. With a full body shiver, I follow everyone into the house, completely lost in thought.
We barely have time to take the first bite before JJ says, “So I hear you three want to go up to the cabin this weekend?”
So, that’s why he decided to have an impromptu BBQ tonight.
“Yeah, I already cleared it with Mom and Dad. They won’t be there, so they said we should go up and enjoy,” Lacey says, giving her brother a look, knowing what he’s up to.
“I know, I spoke with them this morning. You sure you girls want to go up there alone though?”
“JJ, we’re three, grown-ass women, I think we can handle a weekend away,” Lacey retorts with an eye roll.
“You called me last week because you didn’t know what the exclamation light on the dash of your car was,” JJ says seriously.
“Oh my God, I knew I should have called Dad! You’re never gonna let me live that down are you?” Lacey says, easily getting heated.
“Now children,” Levi says, raising his hands, always the peacemaker.
Seeing my chance to spend more time with Hannah, I jump in, “What I think JJ was trying to say is that maybe it would be fun if we three could join you three?”
“Exactly what I was going to say,” Levi adds on, giving me a warning look, probably sensing that what I want is to spend time with Hannah. I am officially fucked. “Especially if you girls plan on going hiking to cross it off the list.”
“I guess it wouldn’t be so bad,” Lacey agrees, looking at Levi. I’m starting to think there’s something going on between those two. “But only if we can have your beach house for a week later this summer,” she continues, turning towards me. Or maybe nothing is going on with them, but she clearly had this planned. She’s just letting us go to get something in return. I swear the woman is always one step ahead.
“Sure, why not?” I answer, knowing very well that they will not be going there alone. Lacey is known to get in trouble.
“If you’re coming, we’re not cooking,” Ellie adds.
“If we’re not cooking, we’re not cleaning either,” Hannah tags on as she takes the last drink of her margarita with a flourish.
“Fine. No matter what, it’s gonna be fun,” Levi says, looking at Lacey. There is definitely something going on there; I’m gonna have to ask. JJ looks completely oblivious, too enthralled with Ellie, and her with him, but I see Hannah giving Levi a funny look from across the table. Looks like I’m not the only one thinking something is going on here.
“So, what exactly is the plan?” I ask.
“We’re thinking of leaving Thursday around noon, so we can hike Friday, hang out at the cabin Saturday and come back to the city Sunday afternoon,” Hannah answers.
“Sounds good,” I say, looking at her and making her blush a little. It’s giving me hope that I might not be the only one interested here.
“We were gonna get together tomorrow to go grocery shopping and to the liquor store,” Lacey cuts in before I can add anything else. “But since you boys are gonna be doing all the cooking, you should all go grocery shopping,” she says with a smirk.
“Fine,” JJ says, rolling his eyes at his little sister.
“Perfect, so we’ll have everything ready to go at noon on Thursday,” Levi says. “We can all meet here and figure out trucks then.”