Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
HANNAH
“Congratulations!” Jules clinked glasses with mine.
I laughed as everyone shouted congratulations ! My mom, all my friends from church, and even the restaurant staff were all here at my new home on Christmas.
Me. Hannah Phillips owns a home!
The bank had made me wait until I had a full two years of my new owner operator income to show before they approved my loan, but that had also given me time to pay off my eight-thousand-dollar credit card debt from the electrician fiasco. I was in a good place now, financially.
Thanks to Jack.
I sighed. Jack. Thinking of him made me more angry than it did sad. It had taken all of last year for me to heal from my breakup with Luke and the betrayal of Jack blocking my number and not even saying goodbye. My heart felt like it was covered in Band-Aids, but I was surviving, putting one foot in front of the other and trying to move on.
After about a month, everyone in town had mercifully moved on from gossiping about why I’d turned down Luke. Speculation went from everything as innocent as me never forgiving him for breaking it off after high school to something more sinister as me having an affair with another man.
Luke and I had some intense conversations that week after I said no, and we decided to part ways as friends. But we weren’t really friends. We avoided each other as the pain was still fresh on his end and I understood that.
My friends had all agreed to avoid the parade this year in solidarity for me, and instead they’d come to my housewarming party.
“Give us a tour, hun!” My mom beamed and snapped me from my thoughts.
I had about an hour left to hang with everyone before we had to leave for the special church worship concert. This was a short and sweet housewarming party with pies delivered from Jules’s mom.
“So, this is the kitchen.” I pointed to the room we were in and everyone laughed. The cabinets were a little too dark for my liking, but with some white paint, they’d look fresh in no time.
I moved into the dining and living room of the 1920s two-bedroom craftsman. “There are hardwoods under this carpet, so eventually I’ll pull it up and sand it down and give it a new stain,” I told everyone, and they were sweet to compliment the molding and other things that weren’t super aged and falling apart.
I could have gotten one of the new builds out on Pines Road for the same price, but something about the older home spoke to me. And I could walk to work now, as it was right off Main Street and near the park I’d grown up playing at. Honestly, the neighborhood was nicer than I’d thought I could afford, with tree-lined streets and old-growth willow trees dotting the backyard. But because the house needed so much work, I had been able to get a deal.
I moved them to the downstairs office, which was piled high with boxes of stuff from my restaurant that needed to be sorted out, and then we walked out to the backyard porch.
“Wow!”
“Oh, Hannah.”
“This is incredible.”
I smiled at their reactions. What the house was lacking on the inside, it made up for on the outside. I was on a full acre, from back when they’d still built homes on large lots, and the entire thing was expertly landscaped. The old owner, Mrs. Patty, was a master gardener with a green thumb. The perimeter of the property had a brand-new, white vinyl fence, and the yard was lush with trees, flowers, garden beds, and even a blue-and-white chicken coop.
“Are there chickens in there?” Jules asked, eyeing the coop.
I laughed. “No. Mrs. Patty took them to her daughters in Arizona when she moved.” She wanted to be closer to her grandkids. Mrs. Patty had been my kindergarten teacher growing up, and part of me thought she’d sold me the house for such a great price because she’d always told me I was her favorite student.
“It’s so peaceful here, hun.” My mom squeezed my shoulder.
It was. “I want to put a hammock under that willow.” I pointed to the corner of the yard.
After that, I showed them the small two bedrooms upstairs, which included the master. This house felt lonely with just me, but I figured I could get a roommate down the line if I wanted, and I was hoping to fill it one day with children and a husband…
Although, if that was my plan, I should have said yes to Luke.
It being the one-year anniversary of him asking for my hand in marriage was bringing up a lot of things I’d thought I’d gotten over.
We moved back to the kitchen and everyone grabbed a slice of pie as I found myself wondering if Jack would be here this year. He only came on Christmas…and it was Christmas. Yet I thought if I saw him, I might smack him with how mad I was. We’d grown close in the short friendship we’d had together, and blocking my phone number, telling Chloe he didn’t want to speak to me…It felt like a punch to the gut. So I’d stopped caring, but I never stopped praying for him.
There was a darkness in Jack, a sadness that I feared tried to pull him under. So even though I was mad at him, I still prayed that God would pursue him, deliver him, give him freedom that could only be found in Christ.
“We should get going, Hannah,” Jules said, checking her watch. “We’ve got mic check soon.”
I was snapped from my thoughts and nodded.
I thanked everyone for coming, and they disbanded then, jumping into their cars and leaving. Everyone except my mom. She stayed back and lingered in the open doorway as I put on my shoes. She was wearing a troubled expression, and my stomach sank.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing big. I don’t want to stress you out before your concert.”
I stood bolt upright. “Is it your health?”
If the cancer was back, I…I couldn’t handle that.
“No,” she said firmly, leaving her place by the door to come grasp my hands. “Nothing like that.”
I sagged in relief. “What is it? Just tell me or I’ll think the worst.”
She chewed her lip and nodded. “I was in my prayer time this morning, praying for your heart to heal from what happened with Luke and for the Lord to guide you to the man He has chosen for you. And…”
She paused, and I was completely frozen, waiting on whatever she was going to say.
“A name popped into my head, honey—not of my own thoughts.”
What did that mean? God had given her a name? If she said Luke, I was going to vomit. I felt good about my decision to say no to him, and he already had a new girlfriend—a successful lawyer two towns over.
“Hun, I heard, Jack. Jack. Jack. Three times,” she said, and chills rose on my arms.
I pushed her hands away and felt like all the blood rushed from my face straight to my heart.
“I know that sounds crazy, and he’s not a believer, but…I heard Jack. Pray about it, okay?” she asked.
Jack? My mother had prayed for God to send me a husband and He said Jack ?
“Okay,” I mumbled, unable to fully process this.
The enemy could get in our minds, too. Maybe he had said Jack and was trying to mess with my life.
Because Jack wanted nothing to do with me.
I left for church then, praying harder than I ever had before.
Lord, if Jack is the person you have planned for my life, I need a huge sign of confirmation.