Chapter 29

GEORGE

Mom and I sat at my small dining table while we ate dinner, and Mom filled me in on the latest Dunedin gossip, her familiar gray bob bouncing up and down as she spoke. Mom always looked put together, and even after spending the day travelling, today was no exception. She was wearing ironed navy slacks and a floral blouse and her face was covered in carefully applied make-up.

I pushed the salmon I’d cooked around on the plate. I was not in the mood to eat. I hadn’t been able to shake the sense of unease that had settled in my stomach as I saw Hannah off this morning. I’d never seen Hannah so distraught, and it killed me that I couldn’t do anything to help, especially now she was fifty miles away. If she was here, at least I could have made sure she was eating, offered physical comfort, and otherwise supported her in whatever way I could.

Instead of finishing work early to have a celebratory glass of champagne to celebrate Hannah’s release day as planned, I’d finished work as usual and then headed down to the station to pick up Mom. Before Hannah had left this morning, I’d made her pancakes to celebrate, but Hannah was, understandably, so preoccupied with the events of the last twenty-four hours that the festivities fell flat. I’d driven her to the station and sent her off with the warmest, most comforting hug I could muster. I was already, pathetically, missing her. At least, according to the text Hannah had sent me, it sounded like the meeting with her editor had gone much better than expected.

Work had been so busy I hadn’t had much time to dwell on it until now. Ben had left on a four-day trip to Fire Island this morning, so it’d just been me and Josie working front of house, and we’d been flat-out busy for the entire shift. When Hannah had asked if she could go last night, I’d told her that me, Ben, and Josie would be fine, but Ben’s vacation had slipped my mind. I would have told Hannah to go anyway, so perhaps it was for the best that I hadn’t remembered so I could respond to Hannah truthfully and without adding to her stress, but it was terrible timing. With summer break just starting, the café was busier than ever, and there were more customers than two of us could handle. And tomorrow Josie was going to be away as well—she had a specialist appointment in the city, which would take up most of the day. I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope by myself. A pang of guilt that I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with Mom as I’d planned shot through me.

“You’re not hungry?” Mom asked, staring at my half-eaten plate of food.

My guilt increased as I realized I’d been worrying about Hannah, work, and not being able to give Mom enough attention, so much so that I’d zoned out on Mom.

“No. I ate a big lunch. If you aren’t feeling too tired from all the travel, how do you feel about giving me a hand with an apple-cinnamon tea cake?”

“Of course,” Mom said, smiling as she stood and rolled up the sleeves of her blouse. “I thought you’d never ask.”

We cleaned up after dinner and then set to work on baking.

Mom paused peeling the apples and glanced up at me. “So, when am I going to meet Hannah? I’d been hoping she’d join us for dinner tonight. You’ve sounded so happy since the two of you got together. I’m really looking forward to meeting her.”

My heart sank. I’d been really looking forward to them meeting as well. But I wasn’t sure how long Hannah would stay in New York for. There was a chance she’d miss Mom altogether.

I measured out the baking powder and tipped it into the mixing bowl. “Unfortunately, she had to go to New York for a work thing, and we’re not sure how long it’s going to take. But hopefully, she’ll be back before you leave. She’s really excited to meet you too.”

“Oh, that’s a shame.” Mom frowned. “Just a second, why does she need to go to New York for work? Are you thinking of expanding into the city or something?”

Whoops. I’d been careful not to tell anyone but Blake about Hannah’s alter ego as H. M. Stuart, and that included Mom. All Mom knew was that Hannah worked at Novel Gossip with me, and given Mom’s reading tastes leaned toward “women’s” fiction and cozy mysteries, it wasn’t surprising she’d missed the news articles and social media posts about Hannah’s pen name. But now that it was public knowledge, I thought I’d better fill her in. I’d rather it come from me than a Novel Gossip patron.

“Um, no. In addition to working at Novel Gossip, Hannah writes fantasy novels. She writes under a pen name and kept her real identity quiet, but it was disclosed without her consent yesterday. She’s gone to New York so she can meet with her publisher and agent and work out what to do. Her books are pretty popular, so there’d been a lot of speculation about who she was, and now her identity has been revealed, a lot of attention is on her.”

I hadn’t had much time to look at the news or social media today, but I’d seen enough to know that X and Threads were both full of posts about Hannah, some people going into full detective mode to try to find out more about her.

I stirred the sugar into the mixing bowl, glancing at Mom, who was unusually quiet.

“So, she’s famous too?” Mom asked, putting down the knife and looking at me.

My stomach sank. I immediately knew what Mom was getting at. Mom had liked Alexis as a person, liked Alexis as a politician, but hadn’t been a fan of Alexis as a partner for me. She’d felt that Alexis’s career took priority over our relationship and that I was having to make all the compromises so we could be together. Now that I thought about it, it made sense that Mom would have been thrilled to hear that Hannah fit so well into my life—same town, same job, same friends—and was now less than thrilled to hear that Hannah actually had a whole other, highly successful career that had the potential to overshadow mine.

“Well, only in certain circles. Nothing like Alexis. And very reluctantly. She was guarding her identity closely because she doesn’t like the attention.”

“Are you going to be able to manage okay at the café without her?” Mom asked, her face serious.

I wasn’t sure if I was being overly sensitive or if this was a pointed question, the subtext being that Hannah had left me in the lurch. Mom knew I’d struggled with staffing recently and had only just gotten things under control. I debated how to answer. My first reaction was to go on the defensive, to tell Mom it’d be fine. If Mom had been back in Florida, that would have worked. But Mom was here, in Sapphire Springs, and if she spent any time in the café, she’d quickly work out that having both Hannah and Ben away was a struggle. And tomorrow was going to be a nightmare with Josie away as well.

“You know, I’m really happy to help out in the café. It’d be nice to meet your regulars and learn a few new things,” Mom said gently.

Mom must have seen straight through me. The way I was breaking the eggs into the bowl, my facial expression, or my silence must have given me away.

“Hannah checked with me if it was okay before she left. She didn’t realize Ben was away this week, and I’d totally forgotten about it too,” I said to make sure Mom understood that Hannah hadn’t just run away to New York without thinking about me.

I turned over Mom’s proposition in my mind. Having an extra set of hands while Hannah was away would be a huge help, especially tomorrow when Josie was also out of town. But I wasn’t so sure about that extra set of hands being Mom’s. She had no hospitality experience, and after years of retirement, I wasn’t sure how she’d manage being back in a fast-paced work environment. It could all end in disaster. But on the other hand, I’d been worrying I wouldn’t be able to spend much time with her because of the extra work I’d have to do, so her suggestion would kill two birds with one stone—I could work and hang out with her. It wouldn”t exactly be quality time, not with how hectic the café had been recently, but perhaps it’d be like when we cooked together and would bring us closer. It would certainly give her a better understanding of my day-to-day life.

Hoping I wouldn’t live to regret it, I wrapped an arm around Mom and gave her a squeeze. “If you’re sure about helping out at the café, that would be great.”

With any luck, Hannah would be back before I knew it. While work was hard without her, it was even more difficult worrying about what she was going through. After the cake was in the oven, I’d call her to check she was managing okay.