Page 21 of The Perfect Secret
Chapter Six
He sank into the seat inside the cab. Shit. Drawing deep breaths, he counted to himself, controlling his oxygen flow and lowering his pulse rate. But this time he wasn’t breathing through physical pain.
His leg didn’t hurt, or at least it didn’t hurt any more than on any random day. His head hurt. His heart hurt.
He liked Hannah a lot. Whatever doubts he’d had from the night before disappeared when he heard her voice on the phone. He was honored she let him comfort her. When she stood at the entrance to Elysian Park, she’d looked small. That sweet, funny woman was alone and hurting. He wanted to fix things, to make her feel better. Power surged through him and he’d considered confiding in her. Because if he could feel powerful from trying to make her feel better, he wanted her to receive the same benefit. Maybe, this once, he wanted someone to be there for him.
She’d started talking about her brother’s addiction, and it was as if someone punched him in the gut. She’d noticed him stiffen. He’d worked hard to relax next to her. He felt her hurt as a tangible thing. Once again, he wanted to take it all away.
It meant he couldn’t confide in her, though he’d started to, no matter how much her expression begged him to when she asked about his leg. If he told her, he’d add to her hurt.
He gazed out the window at the cemetery where Beth was buried. It had been two years since he’d been to visit her grave. He leaned forward to tell the driver to stop, but hesitated before he could voice the request. At one time, he’d gone there often. He missed talking to her. Except when he’d visited, he did it so often, he felt like he couldn’t stay away, sometimes going beforework or in the middle of the night if Tess was away. It couldn’t be healthy to visit that often, so he’d stopped. If he went now, would it make him want to start that up again? He couldn’t risk it, and he let the driver continue on toward his apartment.
“Once an addict, always an addict,” Hannah had said.
There was no way he could deny it.
“Hannah, how’s the publicity coming for Fortex?”
She sighed. “They don’t see the story here. Most outlets will put a notice in their ‘New Hires’ sections, or mention it in a brief news blurb, but I haven’t been able to get anyone to bite on a profile. Despite their renown in the pharmaceutical industry, the company’s not well-known enough to the general public. The story isn’t sexy enough.”
Jim looked at his watch and nodded. “Okay, how about you and I meet to brainstorm a brand recognition plan for them. Say around two?”
Thank goodness he understood. She nodded. “Yeah, that would be great. I’ve about exhausted all my current options.”
He nodded, slapped the doorframe of her office, and left.
Stretching, she stood and walked to the kitchen to grab a second cup of coffee. Aviva stood next to the percolator. “Hey, Hannah, how was your weekend?”
“Good, for the most part. How was roller skating?”
Aviva frowned and leaned a hip against the counter. “What’sfor the most partmean?”
Hannah told her about her date with Dan and problem with her grandmother and Jeff.
Aviva drew her into a hug. “You’ll have to introduce Dan to Jacob and me one of these days.”
“I will. But…”
“But what?”
She looked around, making sure no one was coming into the kitchen. “I feel like he’s holding something back. Like, he’s completely there for me, but I can’t get close to him.”
Aviva patted her arm and turned toward the door. “Give it time, Hannah. Some people take longer to open up.” As she reached the doorway, she turned and looked over her shoulder. “And others need to be told outright to talk.” She winked.
Remembering Aviva’s problem with getting Jacob to talk to her, Hannah nodded. Maybe it was time to stop tiptoeing around Dan and ask him questions outright. What was the worst he could do?
Dan stared at his phone after he hung up. Tess had called when she got home from school and wanted to know when he planned to invite Hannah over for dinner. There were so many problems with Tess’s idea he didn’t know where to start. Although he’d not dated before Hannah, he’d heard everyone talk about finding the “right time” to introduce your girlfriend or boyfriend to your kids. First and foremost, he had to protect Tess. When was the right time? When it felt natural? Well, it felt natural now. In this case, Tess was right.
Would Hannah feel like he was rushing things? It’d been barely two weeks. He wasn’t trying to rush things, but he did want the two of them to get to know each other. Except if she got to know Tess, she’d learn things about him, things he couldn’t discuss after their conversation in the park yesterday. He couldn’t keep his past a secret forever, but deciding what to reveal and when could throw him into a potential minefield.Weighing the pros and cons would take much longer than he suspected Tess would give him.
He shook his head. When he’d made the spur-of-the-moment decision to call Hannah and ask her out the first time, he hadn’t bargained on how complicated things would get. Or how fast.
His phone rang and he jumped when Hannah’s ID flashed on the screen.
The universe was trying to tell him something.
“Hey, Hannah, how are you? I was thinking about you.”