coming around anymore.
A tiny part of her wanted to reach out to Chad, to see if there was a way for him to get past what she’d done wrong and try again. But what chance did their relationship have? From the start, it had been clear that he didn’t want a commitment. She still couldn’t forget the conversation she’d overheard between him and Jett. Even if he could overlook her past, was a relationship even something he wanted, with her or with anyone? She couldn’t be sure.
For that matter, what about her? After John, she’d been unsure she’d ever be able to trust a man again. But Chad was nothing like John. Okay, maybe they both had egos, but it wasn’t like Chad was self-interested at the expense of everyone else. He could let his guard down and be silly with Aria. And he listened when people came to him with challenges, even if their opinions were different from his own. And he was thoughtful.
And sexy. Oh, so sexy.
Hannah felt the heat rushing to her cheeks and stood up abruptly.
“Anyway, ladies. Thanks for listening and understanding. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.” She placed her hands over her heart.
“Happy to support you, Hannah. And you might be surprised to discover there are others out there that feel the same way,” Noelle said with a knowing smile.
19
“No!”
Aria stomped her foot and pouted at Hannah.
“Young lady, that is not a nice way to speak to your mother. We need to pick some of your toys to pack. You can’t play with all of them.”
“I do play with all of them,” Aria said and stomped her little foot again.
Hannah sighed. Packing a house was never easy, but trying to do so with an overtired and unhappy four-year-old was something else entirely. Aria simply refused to believe that they were leaving Kingsley and did everything she could to slow the packing process, even going so far as to unpack some of the boxes that were waiting by the door. Hannah knew it wouldn’t be fair to discipline the confused little girl, but reasoning wasn’t working either.
“Hey, I have an idea!” she said in an overexcited voice. “Let’s play a game.”
Aria twisted her mouth and narrowed her eyes at her mother.
“Let’s see who can fill a box faster. Whoever wins gets to eat the last cupcake!”
Aria crossed her arms defiantly but seemed to perk up at the mention of the cupcake.
“I’ll even make it easy on you. You can pack all of your stuffed toys, and I’ll work on the games. Deal?”
She nodded reluctantly.
Hannah pulled two boxes into the center of Aria’s playroom.
“Okay, ready, set, go!”
Aria ran to the pile of plush toys and filled her arms with them, then ran to the box and dumped them in.
“I’m faster than you, Mommy!” she cheered.
“You are, sweetie. I think I’m going to lose this race.”
Hannah sat on the ground and stacked the puzzles and games into her box slowly. She still couldn’t believe how quickly the stuff accumulated. They’d brought barely anything with them to Kingsley. She turned and started on the next pile but stopped suddenly when she realized what was on top of it.
Candyland. Chad’s gift for Aria.
She smoothed her hand across the top of the box and felt a sadness that rattled her to her core. Their fake relationship started to feel real the moment they involved Aria. She’d never expected Chad to fit himself into their lives so easily and completely. For a little while, they had felt like a family.
“I love that game, Mommy.”
Aria was standing next to Hannah, looking down at the box with a frown.
“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Hannah felt like she needed to lift the mood in the room. “Want to play a round?”
The little girl shook her head slowly. “Nuh-uh. We only play that with Chad.” She stretched his name out and frowned. “When is he coming back to see us?”
Hannah pulled her daughter into her lap and hugged her tightly. “Oh, honey. Chad is really busy now. He’s got an important new job with the Cattlemen’s Association.”
“I know that,” Aria replied, sticking her bottom lip out. “But he could come see us after his job is over. For dinner.”
“It doesn’t work like that. Sometimes jobs … take over.”
The lie sounded so hollow that she doubted Aria would believe it.
Aria looked up at her mother with sad eyes. “I miss him.”
Hannah pulled Aria a little closer and sighed. “He was nice, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.