17. Cara

Chapter 17

Cara

The framed pencil sketch is a drawing of me, smiling shyly, with the Main Street Branch of the Conception Ridge Public Library behind me. To one side of me is the alley where we had our first kiss. Behind me on the other side is Main Street, and in the background is a pickup truck parked on the opposite side of the street.

Hunter has drawn himself standing beside that truck, watching me.

Hannah stares down at the scene in confusion. “This is… Wait a minute. Dad, is that… you?”

I trace a finger over the drawing. It doesn’t look like something even a really talented person could do in a hurry.

Lifting my head, I meet his gaze. “When did you draw this?”

“As soon as I got home that afternoon.”

“What afternoon?” Hannah shakes her head in confusion.

Hunter doesn’t shy away from her question. He looks at her, steady as can be, and he says, “I met Cara last week, sweetie. Neither of us knew about our shared connection to you. We had a coffee date, and it was honestly the best date of my entire life. You know her. I bet that’s not a surprise. She’s…incredible. But I did something stupid. I made a bad judgement call, assuming for the both of us that I was too old for her.”

“Because you are .” She glares at him, and they’ve never looked more alike than in this moment. “Dad! What the fuck? You’re the idiot who ghosted her?”

“Which was a mistake.”

“And then I brought her to you? Ew, Dad!”

“Some connections transcend?— ”

“No. No. Nooooo. Not my lab partner. I wanted Cara to be my bestie!”

“She can still?—”

She turns on me. “Care Bear. My dad? ”

“I didn’t know,” I whisper. “And then when you brought me here…”

“Oh gross. ” She throws her hands in the air. “Well, now Christmas is ruined.”

“Not for me,” Wyatt says. “Maybe you just need to eat more pancakes.”

Hannah stares at him.

And then she bursts into tears and races out of the room.

Emily slowly looks from me to Hunter, and then to Wyatt and Heath. “Hunter is the guy from the dating app? The ‘best kiss of your life’ liar?”

“It was the best kiss of my life,” Hunter says steadily as he crosses to stand beside me. He gazes down at me as he adds, “I just didn’t handle that well.”

“And you two knew about this?” She wags her finger at her husbands.

“I figured out that they were sneaking around last night,” Heath says. “I didn’t know anything about the app.”

“And I just figured it out this morning,” Wyatt says. “There wasn’t time to tell you.”

Emily frowns at Heath. “You could have told us last night.”

“It seemed like their private business,” he says mildly. “And this was more fun.” He glances at the ceiling. “Broken daughter hearts aside.”

Hunter shakes his head. “I should go talk to her.”

Emily holds up her hand. “I actually think Cara needs to go.”

Hunter shakes his head and pulls me right up against him. Sheltering me from the storm, as promised.

“Me?” I shake my head. “I don’t?—”

“You heard her. She wanted your friendship. That’s why she invited you here. She knows her dad will always love her. She can be mad as hell at him, and she knows they’ll get past that. Her wound right now is about losing you , Cara. ”

Hunter wraps me in his arms. “If this is too much?—”

I squeeze him tightly. “No. It’s not.” I take a deep breath. “She was dropped into my lap, and my lab, for a reason. I’ll go talk to her.”

Upstairs, I find Hannah’s door ajar, which I think is a good sign.

I knock, then push it open.

Her room is a whole wing, just like her dad’s, but where his is dark and masculine and moody, hers is light and airy, a spa-like retreat. She’s curled up in a window seat, looking out at the morning mist.

“Can I join you?” I ask.

She makes a face.

But she doesn’t say no.

Another door left ajar, I think, and I take the risk, sitting at the opposite end of the same window seat.

“When you think about it, we aren’t really best friend material,” I say.

She rolls her eyes.

“But we have a connection anyway, don’t we?” I gesture at the PJs she picked out for me. “Look at us.”

“God, I hate this,” she says. But then she slides a glance my way, and smiles a little. “You look cute.”

“You do, too.”

“We’re the same age.” She wrinkles her nose. “That’s?—”

I cut her off. “Can we stop saying that your dad is gross? Because I don’t think he is. At all.”

She gives me a reproachful look.

I take a deep breath. “I think your dad is incredible. I think the way he devoted himself to raising you, an absolute hellion, is remarkable. And I think his talents—on the page, and in the kitchen, and with his family—are nothing short of amazing. I look at him and I…I’m in wonder, Hannah. It’s this very special, very warm, magical kind of wonder. I know he feels the same way. Can you please not ruin this for us by throwing a tantrum?”

She doesn’t say anything. But the reproachful expression fades a little.

I press my case. “Was last night terrible? All of us spending time together?”

Hesitantly, she shakes her head. “No.”

“We’d already kissed before last night. That so-called gross thing had already happened.”

She doesn’t argue with me.

“And you know who we were both thinking about all night? You. Your dad loves you so much. And I care about you, too. I love your enthusiasm. I love your joy. I didn’t want to dim that at all, but the second your dad opened that door, I knew at some point this would spill out into the open, and I wanted to soften that for you as much as possible.”

“Why are you so…smart?” She sighs, exasperated now. “Why do you have to be so… mature?”

I laugh. “I don’t know. Just your cross to bear, I guess.”

Her eyes spark, and she covers her mouth with her hand. “Oh, shit,” she mumbles from behind her fingers.

“What?”

“Remember how many times I called you Mom for bossing me around about homework?”

I groan.

“I’m not calling you Mom ever again,” she says.

“That’s fair.”

“But it probably was prophetic.”

“That might be putting the cart before the horse.”

She shakes her head. “No. I have to be okay with the idea of you having my dad’s babies. Oh my God. You’d be such a good mom, too.”

“Ummm… thanks. I think.”

She jumps up and races out the door. “Dad!” By the time I reach the hall, she’s sprinting down the stairs at top speed. “Father!”

Hunter appears in the foyer as she reaches the bottom of the stairs.

She grabs his hand and gestures to me at the top of the stairs. “I got you a Christmas present. ”

“What?” Hunter and I both say at the same time, equally confused.

She grins broadly. “I knew Cara was special from the second I met her. Maybe I should have invited her over here to study so you could meet her sooner, but… ta da! I got you a girlfriend for Christmas. She likes babies, you know.”

He looks up at me, and we exchange a what the fuck look, probably not the last when it comes to Hannah.

Then a slow smile spreads across his face. “Well, all right then.” He wraps one arm around her and squeezes her tight as he holds out the other hand, gesturing for me to join them. “Thanks for the lovely introduction, Hannah Banana.”

Slowly, I descend the stairs.

When I reach them, Hannah slips out from under her dad’s arm and marches back into the living room, announcing to her uncle and his spouses that Christmas is not, in fact, ruined, and then she’s taking credit for the matchmaking.

“But I am going to have to have a sleepover at your place tonight,” she says, projecting her voice loud enough so we can hear it. “Because some people just can’t keep their hands to themselves.”

I giggle. “Remember when she thought inviting me here would put a damper on all the happy sex talk?”

“Whatever gets us to this in the end,” Hunter murmurs, cupping my face in his hand. “Merry Christmas, sweetness.”

“Merry Christmas,” I whisper back as his lips collide with mine.

Right under the mistletoe.