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Brandy held up her hands. “I know, and it wasn’t my place to say it was anything else. I just haven’t seen you connect with someone so quickly. But regardless, I’m sorry for prying where I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s fine.” He smiled to let her know no harm had been done. Of all the people in the office, only his grandpa knew as much about him as she did. “I know you’re just looking out for me.”
She lowered her hands. “If you ever decide you want to try a relationship with Hannah or anyone—and I do think it truly is possible—I’ll be cheering you on.”
He blew out a slow breath. “Thank you, but I think I’m not ready for a relationship.”
“I think you’re closer than you realize. I see you with Hannah, and you don’t seem to mind when she touches you.”
“She has touch-stimulation issues as well, and it’s kind of connected us. But we’re only friends. If anything, our friendship is a great experiment to test the waters to see if I could ever be in a real relationship.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So you’re only friends?”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly. “Well, in that case, I hope your experiment goes well.” Her smile widened, and she turned away quickly.
Honestly, he hoped so too.
Hours later, long after most of the office staff had left—and hopefully close to when Hannah would be done with her event—he headed to his car. The entire drive home, he thought of excuses to call her. Any excuse, but nothing sounded right. It was too personal going to her house, and no one—other than family—had ever visited him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to cross that line either. But he wanted to see her, after hours, away from work, and without dogs jumping around them.
Just as he pulled up to his house, he knew something wasn’t right. Water was seeping out of the bottom of his garage door. Oh no! Quickly, he clicked the garage door opener, and a flood of water came rushing toward him. He jumped back, but not before dark-brown, poopy water seeped into his shoes.
Crap. Literally.
10
Hannah
Hannah finished the final stroke on the magical unicorn and held up a hand mirror. “What do you think, Miss Charlotte?”
The little girl grinned as she spotted herself in the mirror. “I love it!” the child squealed. “It’s my favorite. You are my favorite.”
Hannah laughed and hugged the little girl, grateful some of her students’ parents had dropped in. Her students were always her favorite customers. “Thanks for coming to see me. The unicorn only makes you more beautiful.”
Other kids tried to cut into her line, but the event was over, and she was nearly out of paint. “Come visit me another time,” she called as dejected kids walked away.
She sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her elbow. The Civic Center gym was stifling, and other than a few large fans, there was little to no air circulation. She hadn’t been surprised when she’d seen paint start to slide down the face of one of her first customers from the beginning of the fundraiser.
“Another great event.”
She turned to see Gretel coming toward her, her arms open wide. Hannah laughed to herself as she remembered the first time she had startled Gretel with a hug.
“It was great,” Hannah said, “but maybe let’s do an event outside next time. Or in air conditioning.”
“Noted,” Gretel said, wiping a handkerchief across her face. “Do you need any help packing up?”
Hannah’s phone buzzed right then, and she shooed Gretel away when she saw it was Jason. “I’m fine,” she hurried to whisper. “See you next time.”
She grinned as she held the phone in one hand and packed with the other.
“Calling after hours, I see. Don’t tell me you need me to come back to the office. I am completely wiped.” It was silent on the other end. Her hand froze on a stack of paintbrushes. “Jason, are you there?”
“I really didn’t want to call, at least not about something like this, but I have no one else to turn to.”
Hannah straightened and switched the phone to her other ear to hear better. “What is it? Did something happen?”
“Yeah, I need some help.”
