“You too.”
When I get back to my room, I check my phone and see that, once again, I have missed calls from Mara.
I shoot her a text, apologizing for not getting the calls, and let her know I’m looking into having my flight changed.
It’s time to go home.
Bran
“Where’s Hannah?” I ask Willa after we bring Bob’s boat back in and load it on the trailer
“She left,” she says.
“Left? Why?”
She shrugs. “I have no idea, but I get the feeling she and Trudy got into an argument or something.”
“Can you do me a favor and ask Hal if he’ll help Keller and Bob load the boat back onto the trailer?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.”
I walk across the street to the inn in search of Hannah. The thought of her being upset after the wonderful evening we had doesn’t sit well with me.
I climb the stairs two at a time to her room and knock.
“I don’t need turndown service tonight, Annette,” she calls.
I grasp the knob and slowly open the door.
She turns, and whatever she was about to say dies on her lips when she sees me.
Her face is red and tear-streaked, and I look past her to see her open suitcase on the bed.
“Going somewhere?” I ask.
“Yeah, it turns out, I need to get back to Vegas after all.”
“I thought you made up your mind to stay until after Christmas,” I say.
“It’s an emergency. I had my ticket transferred to the first available flight home,” she says.
“A wedding emergency, huh?”
“Yep,” she lies.
“Liar,” I accuse.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t believe you. There’s no emergency. You’re just running because you’re scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“Of this.” I gesture between the two of us. “Of what’s happening between us.”
She laughs. “We just got caught up in the moment or the season. Whatever the spell of this place is.”