Chapter 40
A little over two weeks later, on a Wednesday, Hannah moved into the Chatham rental. Once the rental agreement was signed, everything moved quickly and she found a moving company to move her furniture. She didn’t have a lot, so it wasn’t a big job, and because she was flexible on the day of the week, they were able to squeeze her in sooner.
She went down the day before the movers were scheduled to deliver her furniture and spent the night at Aunt Maddie’s. She met the movers at the rental at one. It didn’t take them long to move everything in and she spent the rest of the day unpacking.
The house was even cuter in person. Whoever had lived there had taken good care of it. Hannah could turn her spare bedroom into an office and keep a pullout sofa there, too, for overnight guests. She’d never had a dedicated home office before. The price of New York real estate didn’t allow for it. She knew she’d still want to go to the coffee shop though. But it would be nice to work in her home office, too.
She’d expected to be wrestling with doubts about her decision, but once it was made, she instead felt like a weight had been lifted. As much as she loved Brooklyn, she’d slowly come to the realization that home didn’t have to be a physical place as much as where she felt most connected—where her people were.
Aside from Lucy, most of her family and friends and most importantly, Spencer, were in Chatham. And she thought of Lucy’s wise words—that nothing had to be permanent. She could always move back to Brooklyn if she wanted to. But now that she was in Chatham, at her own place, Hannah couldn’t imagine that she’d want to go back.
She knew that Spencer usually left work by five thirty, so she waited until six and then drove the short distance to his house.
She breathed a sigh of relief that his car was in the driveway and then felt a rush of butterflies in her stomach. She took a deep breath and pulled in behind him, turned the motor off, and walked to his front door.
Hannah was about to knock when the door flew open, surprising her. She heard the dogs barking and figured they’d heard her car.
“Hannah, what are you doing here?” Spencer looked confused but happy to see her.
She smiled nervously. “I hope you don’t mind that I just dropped by. I know you hate that.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “It depends who it is.”
She felt a tingle in her toes as his eyes met hers. “I have a favor to ask…”
Spencer looked amused. “What’s that?”
“I need some help moving a table from my mother’s patio to my rental house.”
It took a moment for her words to sink in and then his smile grew into a grin. “Where is your rental?”
She told him.
“That’s right around the corner from here. What about your Brooklyn lease?”
“I didn’t sign it. I found something better.”
He pulled her close and kissed her hard. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt a rush of happiness she hadn’t felt in a long time. If ever.
When they stopped kissing Spencer looked at her in amazement. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
“I missed you. Missed my life here. Missed Chatham. But mostly, I missed you,” she admitted.
“I missed you, too. I really didn’t think you’d come back.”
“I wasn’t sure, either. But once I was back in Brooklyn, it just didn’t feel the same. I wanted to be here. With you.”
He kissed her again, then took her hand. “Let’s go get that table.”