Chapter 28
Iwas in Winnie's room the moment I heard her crying. I found her standing in front of her dresser with most of the clothes pulled out and littered all over the floor.
“Win, what’s wrong?”
She hiked up her shoulders and dropped them. “I have nothing panty-otic to wear.”
“Panty? Do you mean patriotic? Like for Fourth of July?”
“Aunt Laurey said we wear red, white, and blue, but I don’t have any.”
“You have your Cubs’ shirt. That has the right colors.”
“It’s dirty.” She stamped her foot.
“Okay, well maybe after breakfast we can go to Walmart and see if we can find something patriotic if you ask nicely and don’t stomp your feet.” I kissed her head. “Clean this up and I’ll start your waffles.”
Ten minutes later, she joined me at the table, still a touch pouty and sniffly.
“Mom, can we please go to the store and get something panty-otic?”
“Sure.” I patted the spot next to me. “Come eat, then we can go. Is your room clean?”
She nodded and stabbed her fork with impressive power into her toaster waffles.
Now, we are four outfits deep in the Walmart dressing room, bordering on tears when Winnie finally tries on a bright red top, overall shorts with little silver stars on the pocket and a pair of glittery blue rain boots. She spins in the mirror, content with what she sees.
“Winnie, help carry this in.” I hand her the dessert she threw in the cart at Walmart as we walk up to Lauren and Rhett’s.
She tries to hide a small eye roll, but she carries her little snack cakes in and sets them on the counter. Then not even a full second later, she’s off looking for Storm and I’m off looking for Tanner.
Every bit of the yard is cleaned up and decorated with mini-American flags, triangle flag garlands and string lights.
Country music plays over the rustling trees and chatter of the busy yard.
Despite all the people here, I spot Tanner immediately across the way, standing near the small bonfire.
Backwards baseball hat, a white T-shirt, a beer in hand and a smile on his face that says everything I need to know. I chose the right dress.
“Hannah!” Riley and the other moms catch me before I can even step off the back deck. “How’s Winnie?”
“She’s great.” I point at her across the yard. She’s found the other kids and Storm.
“Good, again, I am so sorry.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Don’t be. I should be thanking you again. The doctor said if you didn’t step in as quickly as you did, it could have been a lot worse. She can’t wait to get back.”
“Good. I’m so glad.” She forces a little smile, but I can still see the nervousness all over her face.
“This dress?” Bernie steps back and looks me up and down. “So good.”
“Is it okay?”
“What does Tanner think?” Pia wiggles her eyebrows, then looks over my shoulder.
Bernie smirks. “By the looks of it, he’s undressing you with his eyes.”
I look behind me, and Tanner is still in a group with a bunch of guys, but his attention is entirely locked on me.
I turn back to the women and they’re all smiling at me like it’s a middle school dance and my crush is across the gym.
It becomes a game to see who is going to be brave and say hi first.
It’s only a couple moments before I feel his hand press into my lower back. “Ladies, can I steal her?”
“She’s all yours,” Pia tells him but he’s already steering me away before she can finish answering.
“Let’s get you a drink,” he says.
“Really? I put on this little dress and that’s all you have to say?”
He leans over the cooler and shovels around before he stands with two beers. As he hands one to me, he lowers his lips to my ear. “I’m trying to be respectful in front of your sister and brother-in-law, but you are making it very hard in that dress.”
He tosses a strand of hair over my shoulder, and his finger just barely grazes my skin and yet every single cell in my body is aflame. A feeling I’ve only come to know this summer. I'm sure he can hear the uptick in my heart rate. If not, the flush on my cheeks surely gives me away.
We haven’t discussed what this party was going to look like. We haven’t even discussed what we are. Before my mind can spiral any further, he laces his fingers through mine and brings my hand to his lips.
“Come on. I want to introduce you to a couple of people.”
As we walk through the crowd, Tanner is stopped by just about every person we pass.
Everyone asking how he is, how’s the house, how’s the auto shop, if he’s ever going to get out of there or not.
People I don’t know look me up and down.
Checking out who this girl is with their precious Tanner Auclair.
He introduces me and everyone is kind and had already heard about me somehow.
Then I spot them and I realize in an instant I could pick them out of any crowd. They look exactly how I pictured them all this time, but also from the pictures on Tanner's mantel. And well, Tanner looks like them. The mayor and his wife, who we are walking right toward.
“Tanner, when were you going to give me a heads-up that your parents would be here?”
He squeezes my hand as we approach the beaming couple.
“Mom, Dad,” he says. “This is Hannah. Hannah, this is my mom and dad.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Auclair.” I go to shake their hands, but his mom pulls me into a hug instead.
“Please. Call us Dan and Danielle. It is so nice to finally meet you. Tanner has been talking about you, for well, months now. A year now? Over a year?” She looks over her shoulder at Dan who is nodding in what seems like approval at Tanner while he picks my hand back up.
I flick my eyes to him, and he tilts his head at his mom, his cheeks a soft shade of pink.
“She’s not lying,” Dan adds.
Danielle has corkscrew blonde hair with silvery streaks running through each curl.
Her eyes are dark brown, the bridge of her nose is dusted with freckles and if there was ever a question on who Mayben belonged to, there would be no denying her mother.
Though Tanner’s hair isn’t as curly or as blond, there is no mystery as to who his mom is either.
Dan is tall and thin and dressed like a dad ready to mow a lawn.
“He told us about your little girl too, Winnie, is it?” Danielle squeezes my arm as she leans in. “You really are as beautiful as he’s been saying you are.”
“Momma.” Tanner rubs the back of his neck with his free hand and blushes like a schoolboy. “Come on.”
“It’s true.” She glances down at our interlocked hands, and her smile is all Tanner’s. “We would love to have you and Winnie over for dinner sometime soon.”
“We would love that,” I tell her and try my best to stifle the flame of anxiety.
“Dan and Dan!” Rhett’s voice calls out through the crowd.
“Oh, Rhett Atwood.” Dan chuckles and clasps hands with Rhett as they slap each other on the back.
“How’s the Auclair manor treating you?”
Dan rolls his eyes. “It’s treating us just fine Rhett. Is this place holding up?” He nods up to the cabin.
“Hardly. We need a new roof soon, and some of the plumbing needs to be fixed up before the baby comes.”
The look on Dan and Danielle’s faces makes it very clear they did not, in fact, know about the baby.
Danielle gasps and clutches a hand to her heart. “No—”
“Oh man, don’t tell Laur I told ya. I keep slipping up. I'm just excited and—”
Danielle cuts him off with a hug that could make anyone feel home. “Baby doll, I am so happy for you. Your mom would be so proud. I wish she were here to see it.”
The tears start falling from her eyes and then there’s no missing the tears in Rhett’s eyes as he holds her too.
Lauren told me about Rhett’s mom. The beloved author, Jo Atwood. She had Alzheimer’s and died a couple years ago. Rhett was her best friend and she was his.
There’s a sniff, and I realize it isn’t coming from me, but Tanner next to me. Instead of using his free hand, he uses the hand with mine in it to wipe away the tears on his cheek and then the ones on mine.
“And Hannah!” Danielle turns to me. “You’re going to be an aunt!”
“I am!” I laugh through my own sniffles, and she hugs me again.
“Oh, and with Mayben’s? What good news for our families.
” Her eyes are filled with big tears. “Oh, I'm a mess. I need to go find a tissue. Hannah, it was so great to meet you sweetie. Let me know if you and your girl have any dietary needs or allergies and then I’ll make the menu. Rhett come with me to find Lauren. I won’t be able to pretend I don’t know. ”
As they go to walk away, Dan pats Tanner’s shoulder then leans over and says to me, “He’s the best of us.”
Once they’re out of earshot, I turn on Tanner. He’s still blushing and shaking his head.
“I love them.”
“They’re the most embarrassing people I know.”
“Well, I love them.” This time, I tug him along. “Come on, I want to find air conditioning.”
We slip inside the empty house and I relish in the quiet and sip my beer with by back up against the counter.
“Are these…” Tanner picks up little paper squares from the table and holds them up to me.
“Temporary tattoos,” I finish for him. “Yes. Lauren loved them growing up.”
“Which one?” he asks as he shuffles through them.
“What?”
“Which one do you want?”
I can only laugh and point at the firework.
He grabs the rag off the stove and soaks the corner in the sink behind me. “Where do you want it?”
“Tramp stamp?”
“Don’t tempt me.” There’s a shift in his eyes that steps past just attraction and into something borderline lustful.
I turn my arm and motion to the inside, just below my inner elbow. “Here is fine.”
I look up at him through my eyelashes and try to steady my heart as he brushes his fingers against the fleshy part of my forearm.
“Here?”
I nod and he presses the tattoo down and holds the wet cloth on top. His thumb absently rubs the side of my arm, but he doesn’t acknowledge the goosebumps. Though there’s no denying them or their cause, he keeps his gaze trained on where his skin is touching mine.
“It’s hot out there,” I say and his eyes flick up to mine.
“Don’t.”