“Really. Where to?” She asked.
His mother was excited. He could tell because he heard the chair creak. She was leaning forward. “You are pleased?”
“Oh, someone is at the door. Talk to you soon, dear.”
And with that, she hung up, leaving Gavin to wonder why she couldn’t just admit to being happy or proud or anything positive. It had always been that way, for as long as he could remember…but before he could give it too much thought, Hannah leaned into the room.
“Dinner is served, chief.” She smiled at him before exiting.
Before he could help himself, Gavin had smiled back. What the hell. He didn’t even know who he was any more. And yet the more time he spent with Hannah, the more he was finding out.
A call that came in from his travel agent after dinner had Gavin scurrying to the office instead of helping Hannah in the kitchen like he usually did. He mouthed that he was sorry as he left. And Hannah didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his abrupt departure.
The girls, however, were bothered by his late arrival as they were reading after their bath that evening. Rory actually sighed. He was taken aback at her reaction, but continued into the room to sit in his usual spot under Zoe on the bed.
Smirking over the entire incident as everyone settled in
, Hannah asked Rory, “Where did I leave off?”
“With the fox!” Rory said excitedly
, her displeasure instantly forgotten.
“Ah, yes,” she said.
“‘One only understands the things that one tames,’ said the fox.” Hannah read, but as she did, she glanced up at Gavin, willing him to understand.
As happened so frequently after Hannah finished reading for the night, Gavin walked down the stairs in a stupor, mulling over the message to be gleaned from the story that evening.
It was obvious, he sighed. Hannah had tamed him. He would forever be different because she had been in his life. And that wouldn’t be a bad thing, unless at some point she was no longer in his life. He shivered some at that thought before entering the study.
Though they hadn’t been living together for long, he was already struggling to remember what life was like before her. Sure, she was headstrong and drove him crazy. It was nice in a way. At least he was feeling again. And maybe the trip would help cement the bond for Hannah. He could understand why she was hesitant to accept he might have feelings for her. He could even understand why it might take her a long time to even contemplate reciprocating those feelings. Suddenly, however, he had hope that his life could be better and different. And all of this was because Hannah had come into it.
When Hannah entered the study after tucking the girls in, she expected to find Gavin behind the desk where he usually was. Instead, she found him outside, staring off toward the water. It was dark enough that she couldn’t see the lake’s edge, but from the sound of the waves lapping against the shore she knew it was still there, close as it always was.
“Hey,” she called. “What are you doing way out here?”
Gavin chuckled. “Come here a moment,” he said with a smile.
It was going to take Hannah some time to get used to a Gavin that was more relaxed and
quicker to smile. At the same time, she liked it very much. Just what she needed…for Gavin to be any more irresistible. His mother had left just in the nick of time. It was all she could do to keep from climbing into him at the end of the every night. She found their fit was entirely too comfortable. When they spooned, her bottom slid perfectly into the lap he created as though it was made just for her. And the way he wrapped his arms around her was so natural so good…it felt like home. She sighed at the memory.
He heard the sigh. Was she annoyed with him? His brows knit together as she walked toward him. He was already rethinking everything. Hannah’s reaction was everything. She could shatter his confidence more thoroughly than any woman before. Given the woman who raised him and the woman he had married, that was really saying something.
“What brings you out here? I thought you hated the water,” Hannah commented as she reached his side.
Gavin smoothly slid an arm around her waist and walked her down to the dock. There was a sailboat there that she had never seen before. She looked up at him and started to question when he stopped her. “It belongs to a friend. I borrowed it for demonstration purposes.”
She looked at him quizzically. He was already standing on the boat with a confidence that can only come from years of experience. He held out his hand and she climbed on.
“This is a 27 foot Lancer,” Gavin said. “I usually prefer Hunters. Have you ever sailed before?”
Shaking her head, Hannah replied, “Never.” She inhaled the fresh night air and smiled. “I’ve always wanted to though. I’d watch the sailboats from the beach all the time. They looked so…free.”
“Funny,” he said. “I’ve always felt precisely the same way. I guess I always wanted freedom.” He motioned for her to sit down and he did the same. “I learned to sail at one of the camps my father shipped us off to every summer. When all my friends were busy buying sports cars, I had a truck and a sailboat…and a dream.”
Hannah had been looking around, studying the boat in the moonlight while he spoke, but now, she gave him her full attention. She could tell this was something big and meaningful, something he didn’t share with maybe anyone. And here he was sharing it with her. Her heart was bursting as it raced in her chest.
“I had the truck because I wanted to sail away. I wanted to live in the Caribbean. I wanted to teach people to sail, to offer charters for family vacations and business retreats, that kind of thing. I wanted to be happy.” He stared wistfully at the water.
“What happened?” Hannah asked quietly, afraid to break the spell.
He let out a hollow laugh. “My dream wasn’t big enough for my father. He hadn’t worked hard to build a company for his son to be a bum. He couldn’t leave a girl in charge…even if my sister was more interested and devoted.”
“Oh, Gavin,” she said seriously, “I’m so sorry.”
“That was the last fight I had with my father. I was home from college in between semesters. He was called away on business. He told me we’d finish this discussion when he returned…only his plane crashed. He never came back. And…I…” His voice trailed off.
Hannah helped him finish. “So you took over out of guilt because this is what your father wanted?”
He nodded and leaned forward. Because they were in such tight quarters on the boat, his head was practically in her lap. Hannah reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. He relaxed some at her nurturing touch. She pulled his head close and pressed the side of her face against his.
Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine what his life had been like…all of it. And in her mind, she was lucky he had turned out as well as he had. He could have been bitter, filled with hatred, angry at the world. Instead, he was a wonderful, kind, endearing man who was a bit uptight. And she could fix that.
“Will you do something for me?” Gavin asked, leaning back and taking both of her hands in his. There was a sparkle in his eyes and Hannah would have agreed to anything to simply keep him looking like that. She nodded happily. “Will you and the girls go away with me this weekend? Will you let me have my dream for just a weekend?”
She tilted her head to the side. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was willing to go along for the ride. “Absolutely,” Hannah said with far more confidence than she felt. Quite honestly, she wasn’t sure what she’d just agreed to or where she was going, but she had taken a leap of faith before…when she placed the ad and moved in with Gavin. Look how well that had turned out. So…they were living his dream for the weekend…whatever that meant.
It ended up being a shortened week. Gavin announced that they would be leaving for their destination after dinner Wednesday. He explained that it would be a long drive. At first Hannah thought to suggest they should fly, but then she remembered that Gavin had issues with flying and closed her mouth just as quickly.
“Hannah, did you have something you wanted to ask?” Gavin paused in the middle of his sentence.
“I just was going to ask what I should pack.” She bit the side of her cheek to cover up the little white lie. How she hated upsetting Gavin.
“Pack light. Pack for all the varying temperatures of summer. And we’ll be getting some provisions last minute.” He looked so pleased with himself. He had that sparkle in his eyes again, the one that she saw a few nights before when they were talking outside on the sailboat.
He had taken them sailing the next evening. They sailed into the sunset on Lake Norman. And as the sun finally came down and the girls started to get tired, Gavin sent them below deck to rest in the queen berth underneath them. With the hatch open there was plenty of air circulating. He had looked so alive then. And if Hannah found him attractive before, this Gavin, Gavin on water, was positively yummy.
“Is it a surprise?” She asked before heading upstairs to pack. “Or can you tell me where we’re going to go?”
He hesitated. In truth, this was one of the biggest choices he had ever made. He was letting her in, into his dreams, further into his heart. And if he told her where they were going and she rejected his plan, he’d be crushed. If he told her and she came up with a bunch of excuses for why they couldn’t go, couldn’t do what he wanted…if he found out yet again that he couldn’t have his dream even temporarily…his fists clenched involuntarily just thinking about it.
Gavin simply shook his head.
“A surprise it is then,” she murmured before leaving the study.
The drive was long. Gavin didn’t lie. At the same time, it really didn’t matter since neither of them was driving.
When Hannah exited the house with the girls in tow she discovered that there was a car and driver outside waiting for them who loaded their luggage and had them on the road in minutes.
The girls were sitting and chatting excitedly about where they were going and what they were going to do. They knew that something pretty special was going on because they didn’t have to go to school the next two days. They were experiencing the magic of the long weekend. Hannah hadn’t been out of an office for that long, so she felt that same electric charge in the air that she recognized was the excitement of taking a vacation. For the first time in forever, she was taking a vacation. Her last vacation was nearly a year ago to the beach with the girls and that hadn’t been the restful family time she had envisioned. No, that weekend was spent struggling to reach Brett to no avail. It was spent discovering that her bank card was declined every time she tried to use it. It was spent reinforcing her belief that the secret emergency credit card was a fantastic idea. If she hadn’t had it, she would have been beyond screwed.
Without realizing, Hannah had tensed up at the memory. Gavin sensed it and reached over to grab her leg. “We’re going to have fun. I promise. You are in good hands.” And he released her leg, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
It took a moment. Hannah could feel where he had touched her leg long after his hand had moved. She stared at the spot. Then she looked over at him looking completely relaxed and at ease. It brought a smile to her face. She was getting out of town. She didn’t have to worry about money. She didn’t have to worry if she and the girls would be safe or what they would come home to. In just a few months her divorce would be final, the year long wait would be over. And the child support should be in place and enforced by then. Thank goodness Gavin was a man she could trust. He was a man she could love. She inhaled sharply at that thought and glanced at Gavin to see if he noticed. Confident he was resting, she leaned back. The head rest hit her all wrong because of her diminutive size. Slowly, casually almost, she laid her head on his shoulder. Seconds later she closed her eyes and slept. And that is why she missed seeing Gavin’s smile.
When she woke up, Hannah saw palm trees. The sun was rising slowly over the water. And although it took her a moment, she suddenly realized that she was in The Keys. The thought warmed her
through and through. The beach for her had always been therapy. It was always her thinking spot in Wilmington. It was the one place she could always go to be alone and return home feeling better.
“So, I told you we were going to live my dream this weekend, right?” Gavin began tentatively.
“Yes,” Hannah said staring out the window. “You sure do know how to dream.”