Charming Hannah (Big Sky 1)

“The guys are having fun,” Grace says, pointing to the boat whizzing by about a hundred yards away. Max is in the water now, with Brad, Jacob, Jenna, and Bruce, Brad’s dad, in the boat. “I can’t water ski. I’d drown.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Mary says with a laugh.

“Oh, I would,” Grace assures her. “I’m as clumsy as they come. My name is not appropriate for me.”

We all laugh and I finally start to relax. I decide to go up to the roof of the pontoon boat so I can sit in the sun for a little bit and just be calm.

Just be.

“If you ladies will excuse me, I’m going to soak in some sun.”

“Won’t you burn?” Mary asks.

“I’m the only redhead I know who tans,” I reply with a shrug. “But I won’t stay out for long.”

They both nod happily and I can hear them chatting away as I climb the ladder to the top of the boat. This is an impressive watercraft. With two levels, a slide off the back, and seating for twenty, it’s huge. Even this upper deck has an umbrella I can open for shade if I get too hot.

I could live on this boat.

And the best part is, there’s no chance of falling into the water the way I did when we went kayaking. That was humiliating, but we laughed it off and had a great day.

I don’t want there to be any chance that I could fall into this water. I know that Brad made sure the electrical issue was fixed, but it still happened. Someone died.

I don’t want to chance it.

You’re being unreasonable. And I know that. It’s the anxiety. The rational side of me knows that there’s nothing to be afraid of. The irrational anxious side of me doesn’t give even one shit.

I’m going to over think it anyway.

I can’t watch the other boat without my stomach dropping, so I turn my lounge chair in the opposite direction and sit back, breathing deeply. I’m in a bathing suit with a cover up, but I’m not too hot. It’s always about ten degrees cooler on the lake. The chair is soft and plush, and before long my anxiety has calmed down and I could easily drift to sleep.

But I don’t. I’m watching the shoreline off in the distance, floating by lazily. We took the boat out in the middle of the lake, directly in front of Grace and Jacob’s house. From way out here, their house still looks massive. It’s just been the two of them in that big house, but soon there will be three.

I’m happy for her.

“You’re up here by yourself,” Jenna says and sits next to me, surprising me.

“I thought you were on the other boat?”

“I had the guys bring me back here. There was a lot of testosterone on that boat.” She laughs and passes me a fresh Coke. “We could go in Grace’s house and make iced coffees.”

“How did you just read my mind?”

“Friend, your mind is always on coffee.”

“True. Maybe in a bit, the sun is so nice right now.”

Jenna is in a turquoise bikini, showing off her curves. Her natural platinum blonde hair is tucked up in a sun hat, and she’s wearing huge sunglasses.

“You look like a starlet today.”

She smirks. “Sure.”

“You look like a starlet every day. You must hear that a lot.”

She shrugs one shoulder and then links her fingers over her flat belly. “Maybe I shouldn’t dress nice in front of my crew.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know I’m building the tree houses on the mountain, right?”

“Yes, and I’m dying to see them.”

“I’m so irritated. My brothers are co-owners with me, but I’m the brains behind the operation. They’re my vision, my heart, my project.”

“Gotcha.”

“But I guarantee you, every single day when I go to the job site and speak with someone, they either dismiss me altogether, or tell me to have my husband come talk to them.”

“What the fuck?”

“Right?” She pats my arm and nods. “When I explain that they’ll have to talk to me, they shake their heads and look frustrated. It pisses me off.”

“It would piss me off too.”

“So I’ve told Max and Brad to stop coming to meetings. They’re all going to learn to deal with me and me only. I’ve been in real estate for over ten years. I’ve run my own vacation rentals, including a super fancy B&B, for almost that long. I know what I want, and I have the money to get it.

“But now they’ve decided to go over budget already and we’re only half way built.”

“Not acceptable.”

“No,” she agrees. “So I just fired my contractor yesterday, and now I have to find someone new. I would just do it myself, but it’s three buildings, thirty feet off the ground. It’s not a normal house.”

“It sounds incredible.”