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“You’re not wrong, Diana, it is,” James called out, making Hannah cock a brow at him.
He could have run off. He’d done the deed. Had told her, in person—which was better than she’d expected because he could have simply texted her—that he couldn’t go to dinner. Why wasn’t he trying to make an escape?
Before she could do little more than complain, her mom was saying, “James? Hannah, why haven’t you invited him in?” And the man himself was pushing past her, a smug look on his chops as he did so.
She couldn’t glower at him, not without earning another rebuke from her mother, so she merely said, “I didn’t think he wanted to stay.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Diana immediately retorted. “He’s family. Is Aidan with you, dear?”
“No. He’s working, Diana. It’s all hands on deck now the prototype is approaching road testing.”
“Apparently not all hands if you’re here,” Hannah said snidely, earning a glare from her mother.
Diana wafted her hands at James who followed her motions and headed into the lounge. Though the sight of the family room always filled Hannah with warmth, it was a double-edged sword. She loved being in here. Had some of the best memories. This had been her grandmother’s room. She’d lived with them from Hannah’s fourth birthday and had been here until she’d died two years ago.
Her death was why Diana was so different now. Her mom had never used to be such a stickler, but since Granny Rose’s passing, grief or whatever, had turned Diana into an A-class bitch.
The truth was, Hannah found herself constantly reeling from the differences between the mother who had raised her to the one standing here today. Unfortunately, her father was dealing with the new Diana by blindly supporting her, even if her mother’s preaching made no sense.
The lounge had changed very little over the years. Save for the sofas, that is. They never lasted long. A huge flat screen TV hung on the back wall and before it, there was a comfortable, cream leather sofa complete with matching armchairs mirroring one another. The space was large though, large enough to have another smaller seating area around a sash window on the northern wall, and on the southern, there was a desk where her mother usually worked.
Her father saw James and his eyes lit up. It was a long time since she’d seen such a reaction aimed her way, and she couldn’t deny, that particular home truth hurt.
Shrugging it off as she’d been doing since Granny Rose’s death, she plunked herself down on the sofa and watched as her dad hugged James before handing him a scotch from the drinks tray on a dresser underneath the TV.
“What brings you out this way, James?” Edward said, but before James had the chance to answer, her mom barged in with, “Has Hannah discussed her situation with you and Aidan, James? Those two were always thick as thieves, so I can’t imagine he doesn’t know. I can’t think either of you approve.”
“I don’t need your approval, mother, so why would I need my brother and his friend’s?” The waspish retort had the room as a whole freezing in place.
“Are you going to let her speak to me that way, Edward?” Diana snapped.
“Yes, he is, mother, because I’m not speaking to you impolitely. You’re intruding upon my life. You have no say in what I do or why, and you can’t stop me from living here either.”
Hannah cast James a look to see how he was processing this unfortunate conversation and had to stop her lips from twitching at how wide his eyes had opened. Damn, if they were any wider, they’d fall off the sides of his face.
“Really, there’s no need for this,” her father blustered, but that was nothing new. Her father was exactly that. All bluster.
“We have no say in your life, do we? Don’t you even want to know what we think? That we utterly disapprove of you just abandoning your fiancé in Florida, and quitting your job without telling us you were coming back?” Diana’s lips tightened. “It’s the height of irresponsibility.”
James’ mouth fell open at her mother’s indiscreet words, but rather than say a word, Hannah got to her feet and sauntered out of the lounge. An argument immediately started between her parents; each one blaming the other for her wayward ways. It came as no real surprise when moments later, James was at her side, walking with Hannah, in silence, to her room.
“Should you really come up here?” she demanded. “I thought you were frightened of my brother?”
James didn’t jump at her bait. “What’s going on, Hannah? I thought you were dating that ass, not engaged to him? And what do you mean you don’t have to ask them to stay here?”
Ignoring the former question. “It’s my house,” Hannah told him succinctly.
He grabbed her arm and dragged her to a halt. “You’re kidding?”
“Why would I joke about something like that? Granny Rose left it to me in her will.”
“This place belonged to your grandmother?” James said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you act so surprised before.”
“Trust me. This is no act. Why didn’t Aidan tell me?”
“Because it had nothing to do with either him or you,” Hannah retorted with a huff. She was about to fold her arms, but decided against it in favor of starting to walk down the upstairs hall to her bedroom.
