“Good morning, ladies.”
Just the sound of Andrew’s voice made Hannah’s heart take an extra-hard thump. She hoped she hid that reaction when she turned to greet him as he and Steven came out of the diner, her cousin more confident now on his crutches. “Good morning,” she and Maggie said in chorus, while Patricia murmured something inaudible.
Nodding to them all, Andrew kept his eyes on Hannah. “Steven and I are going out to fish for a couple of hours, but I’ll be available to drive you to the doctor’s appointment and to pick up your car because everyone else is crazy busy today. What time do we need to leave?”
He had spoken breezily, as if it were no big deal at all that he would be the one giving her a lift, and Hannah hoped the others accepted it that way. “My appointment is at two-thirty, so I’ll need to leave just before two. But if there are things you’d rather do on your vacation, I’m sure one of the others—”
Andrew was shaking his head before she could even finish the sentence, just a hint of reproach in his dark eyes. “There’s no need to take anyone else away from their work when I have the whole afternoon free. I’ll meet you here at one-fifty.”
She nodded in surrender, trying to ignore her sister, who was watching a bit too closely. “Thank you.”
He gave her a little salute as he and Steven headed for the marina. “See you.”
Looking more glum than ever, Patricia headed toward the store. “Y’all have a good day,” she mumbled over her shoulder to Hannah and Maggie.
“I’ve seen her around the motel the past couple of days,” Maggie whispered to Hannah when the other woman was out of hearing distance. “Don’t think I’ve seen her smile once. I wouldn’t say she’s having a great time, but she hasn’t caused any problems or lodged any complaints.”
“I feel sort of sorry for her,” Hannah murmured in reply. “She seems very unhappy.”
Three men shoved noisily out of the diner, almost colliding with the sisters. Hannah repressed a wince when she recognized the man she still thought of as Skinny Romeo. His narrow face flushed when he saw her, and one of his companions elbowed him meaningfully. Apparently his friends were still giving him a hard time because he had hit on a pregnant woman, which she found vaguely insulting even though she hadn’t welcomed his advances. Nodding, the men headed for the exit while Hannah walked to the desk to relieve her grandmother, who’d been occupied on the phone ever since Hannah had entered the building. Maggie followed.
Hanging up, Mimi stood when Hannah rounded the desk. “We’re still getting tons of calls asking for reservations for the July 4th week,” she said with a shake of her silver head. “Some folks don’t take it too well when I tell them we’re full for the holiday.”
“Then they should have booked earlier,” Hannah said with a shrug, stashing her small shoulder bag in a drawer behind the desk. “Anything else I need to know?”
“That about covers it. So I understand Andrew will be your personal chauffeur this afternoon?”
Hannah shot her grandmother a look of warning. In response, Mimi chuckled and held up her hands. “I was just going to say how nice it is of him to step in when everyone else is so busy today. Those Walker boys are good men. You can tell they were raised right.”
Even though she didn’t believe for a minute that Mimi wasn’t still matchmaking, Hannah nodded. “I appreciate all the help both of them have given our family,” she said noncommittally.
Mimi had the tact to let it go then. “I’ll go see if I can help your mother in the store. She’s already had a steady stream of customers this morning.”
Knowing how busy everyone was, Hannah was a little surprised her sister was still hanging around the desk. Taking advantage of a quiet moment with just the two of them, Maggie leaned a hip against the desk and tossed back her sun-streaked brown hair. “Did you notice the earrings I’m wearing today?”
Hannah recognized the casual set. Three silver chains in graduated lengths dangled from each earring. The chains ended in little metal balls, one gold, one silver, one copper. “I gave them to you for Christmas.”
Maggie nodded, making the chains dance with the movement. “I love them. Wear them all the time. You picked them up in Dallas, didn’t you?”
The too-casual question made Hannah’s muscles tighten. “Um, yes. Why?”
“Just a comment. You know, it occurs to me that I never asked and you’ve never commented—did you happen to run into Andrew while you were in Dallas that weekend?” While the question was asked lightly, the expression in Maggie’s eyes was quite serious.
Hannah should have known her sister would be the first in her family to put the clues together. She didn’t know if Aaron had figured it out yet—or if Andrew had told him, though she didn’t think he had—but then Aaron wasn’t necessarily aware that she’d been in Dallas in December. She cleared her throat, trying to decide what to say.
The buzz of the phone was a welcome distraction. She reached for it quickly, giving her sister an apologetic shrug.
“We’ll talk later,” Maggie mouthed.
Hannah nodded, handling the reservations call by rote while watching her sister leave the building. The discussion with her family loomed ever closer. Perhaps Andrew was right that it would be best to get it over with soon.
He would be leaving Sunday. Everyone planned to meet at her parents’ house tomorrow evening for one last big gathering before Andrew left. Maybe that would be the best time for the announcement. She felt her throat tighten just at the thought of the pandemonium that would surely follow, but it had to be done. As happy as she was about becoming a mother, she couldn’t help wishing the circumstances were different. That was only normal, she assured herself, patting her tummy apologetically.
She stayed busy for the next few hours, which was a good thing because it didn’t allow her too much time to fret. She wasn’t really hungry at lunchtime, so she sipped a strawberry-banana smoothie at the desk, washing it down with water from the bottle she’d kept filled all morning in preparation for her ultrasound.
Lori showed up a few minutes early to fill in while Hannah was at the doctor’s office. She wore her usual floaty garments in her typical gray color palette, though she’d added a touch of lavender this time with a very pretty sheer scarf. Despite her somewhat limited choice of color, Lori definitely had a knack for wearing her wardrobe like a supermodel.
“You look nice,” Hannah told her.