Josh & Hannah (Redwood Falls 1)

She texted both Josh and Ava and told them she was home.

Josh didn’t answer and that was a concern, but Ava called back instead of texting. Hannah answered on the first ring. “Hey.”

“Hannah. I’m glad you’re home.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Hannah answered. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but I need to tell you something.” Ava’s voice sounded strained and Hannah got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“What’s up?”

“Have you heard from Josh lately?”

“Not in the last few days. We texted a few days ago but it was quick. He asked me how it was going and I said, ‘okay,’ and that was about it.”

“Well, it’s probably nothing, but I’m your friend and I’m going to tell you what I saw.” Ava’s tone was one of determination and Hannah’s throat almost closed up entirely with trepidation.

“Okay. What’d you see?”

“I saw him talking to Rebecca Sutty in town yesterday.”

Distress hit Hannah in the gut and refused to let go. “Where at?”

“They were sitting at a park bench close to the feed store.”

Hannah tried to settle her nerves before speaking. “Tell me everything you know.”

“That’s all I know. I don’t know how long they were there because I couldn’t stand there all day and spy on them. It could have been two minutes or it could have been an hour. But he had his arm around her.”

“What? There’s no way,” Hannah said in disbelief.

“I’m telling you, he had his arm around her. It looked highly suspicious, especially after the fight y’all had.”

Hannah sucked in oxygen and tried to think about it reasonably. “He wouldn’t cheat on me. There’s no way in hell. Not even in revenge for that stupid kiss your brother laid on me. Besides, Josh hates Rebecca. No, there has to be a reasonable explanation, and I’m going to give him a chance to explain.”

“Whew. Thank God you feel that way. I don’t think he’d cheat on you either, but I had to tell you.”

“Yeah, I know. So do you think it has anything to do with Jesse?”

“Crap. I bet it does,” Ava answered quickly.

“What do you think he did now?” Hannah asked.

“Since Josh had his arm around Rebecca, I’m sure that means she was upset about something.”

“Yeah, that’s it. She’s scared of Jesse and doesn’t know what to do.”

“Shit … we’re good, Hannah.”

Hannah let out a short laugh. “Yeah, we are. It’s either that or Josh is cheating on me and he wouldn’t do that.”

“I agree. So what now?”

“I’m not going to tell him you told me any of this. It’s been rocky enough between us lately.”

“Yeah, okay. You want to come over?”

Hannah knew Ava was lonely, but she couldn’t go over there, not today. “I promised Steven that just as soon as I got back, we’d work on our physics project.”

“That stupid boat thing?”

“Yeah. The school is open and he says it’s definitely going to float this time.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Thanks. It better float, because if it doesn’t, I’m going to flunk the class.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yep, bye.”

****

An hour later, Josh still hadn’t returned Hannah’s text and a tiny, niggling bit of anxiety settled in her stomach. She pulled up into the almost deserted school parking lot and looked at the cars scattered about. It was Saturday, and there was only a week of school left before the Christmas holidays began. Most of the cars on the lot she recognized as belonging to teachers, and Hannah figured they were there trying to get ahead of schedule and wrap things up now rather than later.

She got out of her car and pocketed both her keys and her cell phone. She walked over to the side entrance and let herself into the south gym and then through the double doors to the pool room. She didn’t see Steven yet, but his two best friends, Brett and Matt, were there and they’d already gotten their prototype boat to float. Hannah smiled in awe and walked up to them. “Badass, guys. That’s so cool. How long did it take you to get it to do that?”

Matt just blushed but Brett answered, “Not long.”

“Okay, spill it. How’d you do it?” Hannah asked.

Brett smiled from ear to ear. “You’re familiar with Archimedes’ Principle?”

“Sure. An object in liquid is held up by force,” Hannah answered distractedly, studying their cardboard boat.

“Yeah. And the buoyancy, or force, has a magnitude of the weight of the liquid displaced by the object—”

“The water displaced by the cardboard boat,” Hannah slotted in, catching on.

“Right. So we also know that the volume of water displaced has a weight equal to the boat.”

“Okay. So you made the boat flat-bottomed instead of v-shaped because both of y’all have to be in it on judgment day and it will be heavier, right?”

“Exactly. More weight equals more water displaced. We made it long and flat like a barge so it would more evenly distribute the weight across its surface area.”

Matt had pulled the boat from the water and Hannah inspected it closely. “That’s really brilliant, y’all. That makes it remarkably stable also, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. More stable and more buoyant,” Brett said as he watched her.

“Well, it’s awesome. Y’all nailed it. I hope Steven and I can do half as well.”

“You will, no problem.”

Hannah sat down on the edge of the pool and took her socks and tennis shoes off and dipped her feet into the cold water while she waited for Steven to get there. Brett and Matt fell into another shy silence, and except for the tiny ripple the water made as it sloshed against the tile coping, the building was silent. Hannah’s jeans were tight and she pulled her keys and cell phone from her pocket and set them down beside her. She watched as the guys finished up what they were doing and began to gather their stuff together.

“Are y’all leaving?” She wasn’t scared to be alone in this part of the school, she’d just never been alone here before, that was all.

“Yeah, we have to go. We’re doing some landscaping over at the football field for extra credit.”

“Do y’all really need extra credit?”

Brett grinned. “Nah, but it’s an easy ten points and somebody has to do it.”

Hannah laughed. “See y’all later.”

They walked out, carrying their boat between them and Hannah picked up her cell phone just to double check that she hadn’t missed a text from Josh. The sound of the double doors shutting behind the boys echoed thr

ough the empty room. There was no message from Josh, but she was about to set the phone down again when a text came from Steven. I’m sorry. Can’t make it. The cat died and my mom’s hysterical.

Hannah answered, No problem, sorry about the cat.

She was 17 and blind and deaf.

K. Later. I’m going to go meet up with Josh now. Hannah set the phone back down and stood to her feet, brushing the dirt from the backside of her jeans. Someone cleared their throat behind her and with a gasp, she turned and came face to face with Jesse Whitaker.

While she stood frozen a foot away from him, fear congealing in her throat, he looked at her with cold, empty eyes. With a single kick of his foot, he pushed both her keys and her cell phone into the water.

****

Josh couldn’t believe he’d let his battery die on his phone. He’d just gotten through a very rough hour at the sheriff’s department with Katie, and all he wanted to do was talk to Hannah. He expected her home today, and all he wanted was to hold her.

He’d had an exceptionally rough week, and with plenty of time to think about how shitty he’d acted toward her, his emotions were wavering between being pissed at himself and worrying that she wouldn’t truly forgive him.

He was an ass, pure and simple. The very thing that had made her so unpopular with the girls in school was the same thing that had made him almost go ballistic with anger. There was no question about it. He had to get over the money. He had to understand that the money didn’t matter, and that Hannah’s love was all he wanted. If she came with a bunch of baggage, well then, so be it.

He’d learn to live with it because he couldn’t live anyway else.

Since he was still in town, he drove by the Andersons to see if her car was there, but it wasn’t. He left and went to the store to grab a Coke. He saw that kid, Steven-something, looking at the over-the-counter medications as Josh walked toward the refrigerator. “Hey,” he said as he walked past.

“Hey.”

Josh grabbed the drink and on his way back, Steve stopped him. “Where’s Hannah?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to her since she got back.”

“She said she was going to be with you,” Steven said with a frown on his face.

“When was this?”