Chapter 14
HANNA
Idon't want to go home. It's not really home anyway, just a place I'm staying for now.
I run a couple of errands, then pick up a book on hold for me at the library. I read for half an hour, then begin walking back to my apartment as slowly as humanly possible.
It would be different if I were on my way home to Knox’s place.
A big part of me is already begging me to just move in with him.
I’d want to find a new job as soon as possible, of course, but would there really be any harm in sponging off him for a couple of weeks?
He has the resources, and I know it would make him happy.
I’ll do it.
I'm smiling as I turn the corner, then a chill goes through me when I see that only my aunt's car is in the driveway. Uncle Davis isn't home yet. He usually reins her in. Actually, no, he doesn't. She just behaves better in front of him.
Given how angry she is, I don't want to be on the property alone with her. What does that say – a grown woman afraid of her crazy aunt?
I sneak past the front window as quickly as possible, in case she's in the living room. I turn the corner to reach the back stairs, then stop in my tracks. Blaire is in the back yard, with the speaker of her phone set to deafening, as per usual.
"Everyone's talking about it," the voice says. After a second, I recognize it as belonging to her friend Marjorie. "Don't be surprised if Hanna starts asking for days off so she can go off gallivanting somewhere with him."
"Don't worry, I’ve got a plan."
There's a shuffle. I peek around the corner to see a couple of boxes on the picnic table.
"She's always lost in her damned books. If I get rid of those, it should make her realize I mean business and that she needs me to survive."
"I'm sure she'll find new books somewhere," Marjorie laughs.
"Her fucking books are just the beginning. Next, I’m going to set a small fire in the garage. It’ll ruin her crap upstairs with smoke damage."
"You really make your niece live in that rickety apartment over the garage?"
"Of course!" Blaire snaps. "I'm not going to let her live in our house!
" She cackles, her friend joining her. "If all her stuff is destroyed, she'll have to keep working to earn the money to replace it all.
She'll need a loan. Which means she'll be working here as long as I want. I can take whole days off, and that idiot Davis won’t even know.”
I risk another quick glance around the corner. Blaire is grabbing my books out of the boxes and piling them in front of a makeshift pizza oven she's constructed with some old bricks.
Tears fill my eyes, so much that I can barely see…Knox’s truck backing into the front driveway?
Oh wow.
Somehow, he knew I needed him.