Mistletoe in Paradise (Wildstone #5.5) - Jill Shalvis Page 0,16

“No idea what you actually did, what your job entailed. It’s . . . incredible.” He reached for her hand, turning her to face him. “You’re incredible.” When her eyes went shiny, he pulled her closer. “I’ve always thought that, Hannah, with or without your job, but even more so now. You’re changing lives, making sure that some people get to live a healthier, longer life than they would’ve otherwise.”

She nodded and gave him a small smile, which he helplessly returned. “So I guess you were hoping to hand-deliver a pretty big Christmas present to the girl’s family this week,” he said. “Instead your boss gets to.”

“Assuming we win. Only, as you know, that’s never a given.” She paused, as if searching for the right words. “It’s always great when I get to see the looks on their faces, but in the end, it doesn’t matter who delivers the news. All that matters is that the patient gets what they need.”

He shook his head, still marveling at her. “How did you end up with a job like that? Your degree was in business. You started out at a bank, right?”

“I did.” She met his gaze. “But after watching what your family suffered and struggled through with Jason’s health, I knew I wanted to do something else. I kept the bank job while I looked around. It took me a couple of years, but when the position for health care advocate at my local hospital opened up, I applied.”

He felt overwhelmed by her revelation. That last Christmas they’d spent together had been only a few months after Jason had died. He’d been messed up and hard on everyone, especially Hannah. He didn’t like to look back on that time because it made him feel like there was an elephant sitting on his chest, but memories were coming in fast and hot now.

He’d been so caught up in his own grief and issues that he’d overlooked that she, too, had loved and lost Jason. Her parents were split up by then, and all of this had hit her hard as well, but none of it had stopped her. While he’d been running from continent to continent and then building his business, not dealing with his grief, Hannah had chosen to make a difference by working with families just like his every day.

So really, who had let whom down? “Hannah—”

“Look.” She pointed out at the water, where they could see The Therapist setting anchor.

“Ahoy!” rang out across the water.

Captain Harry, with his impeccable timing.

Chapter 7

Much later that night back on the ship, Hannah was helping her dad hang some new sparkling holiday lights that he’d not yet gotten up. Her mind kept drifting, playing the day on repeat—jumping off the bluffs, kissing James . . .

I thought you ran because you were scared . . .

“Well, if that’s not a crock of french fried baloney,” she muttered to herself, even knowing there’d actually been a lot of truth to his statement. She had hidden behind her scholarship and internship, when the truth was, what she’d had with James had been more real than anything else in her life, and well worth fighting for.

Something she’d never told him.

Harry stopped trying to untangle a ball of electrical cord and looked at her. “What are you muttering about?”

“Nothing.” She paused. “Love is dumb.”

He laughed and wobbled as he climbed a ladder, making her gasp and wrap her arms around the ladder and the bottoms of his legs. “Dad!”

“I’m fine.”

Sure. He was fine. And three sheets to the wind as well. “Seriously, please let one of us do this for you.”

“Are you kidding me? Trust my baby to a youngster?”

Of course the boat was his baby. It certainly wasn’t her—she wasn’t even his real daughter. Even though he’d raised her since she was a toddler, she always knew where she stood in the lineup. When it came to Harry, his priorities went: boat, fun, family—meaning her mom—and then finally Hannah.

She’d always understood that, accepted that, and even understood that was why James and Jason and their parents had been so important to her.

But sometimes deep down, when she let herself think about it too long, it stirred up feelings inside her she didn’t like. She was jealous of a damn boat. “Dad, you always trusted one of your ‘youngster’ crew to watch me when I was little.”

“Well, that’s different, kiddo. The boat needed my attention more than you did.”

Hannah sucked in a breath just as someone came