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Hannah slowly makes her way to the window in the living room after Sawyer leaves for the parlor. She isn’t up to being around anyone. Yesterday’s events wore her out. She just wants to spend the day relaxing and getting her mind right after reliving everything from the past fifteen years. She is thankful that Sawyer went to work. She likes when he is there, but when he is hovering it makes her more stressed. She doesn’t like being treated as if she is so fragile that she will break. She wants things to go back to the way they were before she told him. She is going to have to talk to him tonight and tell him to cool it.
She sighs to herself as she stares out the window. She likes to look at the happenings on the street beneath her. She watches the clients enter the parlor downstairs. Each person has an anxious look on their face. She smiles when she takes note of this. She wants to get a tattoo she thinks to herself. She doesn’t know exactly what she wants permanently etched on her skin, but she wants something to remind her of what she has survived. While she is pondering this, Sawyer quietly enters the door. He immediately notices Hannah sitting peacefully in the large window. He stands in the doorway admiring her beauty. She senses someone behind her and turns around, startled.
“Sawyer, you scared me! I didn’t hear you come in. Is everything alright?” Hannah asks, still shaken up.
Sawyer smiles at her as he walks to where she is, “Yeah babe, everything is fine. I wanted to talk to you about something. You got a minute?”
Hannah gets up and walks over to the couch, beckoning him to join her.
“I’m glad you came back, there was something I wanted to talk to you about also,” she tells him.
“Well babe, you go first,” he answers softly.
Hannah takes a deep breath and begins, “Sawyer, I know I unloaded a great deal on you yesterday. Thank you so much for allowing me to do that. I feel so much better after finally being able to tell someone. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but could you treat me like you did before I told you? I mean, please don’t treat me like I’m going to break at any moment. I’m getting better, and I think I will get over this much faster if you didn’t treat me any differently.” Hannah stares down at her toes that are digging into the plush green carpet. She is too nervous to look at him. She doesn’t want to disappoint him, or even worse, hurt his feelings. She owes the man next to her everything, the last thing she wants to do is hurt him in any way.
Sawyer looks at her dumbfounded. He didn’t realize that he was treating her in such a way. All he wants to do is to show her that she isn’t alone in this.
“Babe, look at me,” he quietly asks her as his finger lifts her chin up gently. Hannah looks at him with watery eyes. His heart is breaking at the sight before him.
“Sweetheart, I never, never meant to treat you any differently. I only wanted to protect you. I just didn’t want you to feel that you were alone any longer. I will always be here for you. I will protect you as long as you let me. It was never my intention to make you feel that way. So, can you forgive me?” Sawyer asks, hopeful.
Hannah carefully listens to everything he has just told her. She feels strange, like her stomach is in knots but not in a bad way. Her heart flutters in her chest as she looks into his eyes as he speaks to her.
“There is nothing to be sorry for Sawyer. I’m sorry too. I just don’t want anyone to feel pity for me, especially you.”
Sawyer knows he needs to talk to her about the way he feels, but he doesn’t have the courage to do so. They stare awkwardly at each other until he coughs, getting up from his seat.
“Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up. Do you want to come back with me? Everyone is missing you down there, including me. It’s not the same without you,” he admits while rubbing the back of his neck.
Hannah looks up at him and smiles brightly.
“I’m sorry, but I think I need to take a me day. I’ll come back tomorrow. I might even bake something for everyone if they behave today,” she laughs.
Sawyer smiles and surprises them both when he leans over and presses his lips to her forehead in a lingering kiss. He quickly stands up and blushes. He waves goodbye while swiftly walking out the door. Hannah remains on the couch, wide eyed, with a silly grin on her face. She tentatively reaches up and carefully feels where his lips have been with her fingertips. She knows she feels something for him that is more than friendship. Hannah also remembers what he has told her. His words come crashing back down on her. “I don’t believe in love,” the words are ringing in her ears.
“Maybe he can have a change of heart. Shelley said not to give up on him,” Hannah says out loud to herself as she giggles.
***
“YO ELISE, GET THE CHART out! It’s happening! Our boy is in love. Who won the pool?” Bryce asks loudly while clapping his hands. The others quickly join him at the reception desk firing off questions at Bryce.
“Whoa, whoa. One at a time. You first Elise, you pretty thang you,” he says as he winks at her. She scoffs and rolls her eyes.
“What do you mean, he’s in love? Did he tell you? Are you just trying to get all of the money?” Chelsea questions.
“No way mama. I overheard him talking to himself. Then I told him to go right now and tell her how he feels before it’s too late,” Bryce proudly declares.
Chelsea and Elise stare at Bryce in astonishment. It was common knowledge that Sawyer Monson was not the settling down type. That was part of the appeal that attracted women to him. They wanted to be the one to make him change his mind. Bryce, Shelley, Chelsea, and Elise had watched the same thing play out repeatedly. The revolving door of women who thought they could tame the bad boy, only to have their hearts broken in the end when realization slapped them in the face. Sawyer never made promises to calm his ways, but that didn’t stop the numerous vixens from banging on his door. His friends were all surprised when he began to stop his womanizing ways. He was maturing, and they all knew he felt as if he was missing something in his life. He was just too proud to realize it himself. He liked his rough persona, it kept him protected from being hurt. Those closest to him knew it, even if he didn’t.
The girls carefully examine the chart closely to see who has won the pot. They have put the participants in order by how long they thought it would take Sawyer to fall in love.
“How long has it been since Hannah came?” asks Elise.
“Like about six weeks, right?” replies Bryce, confident that he won.
Elise spots the name that has bet six weeks and starts to laugh. Chelsea stands stunned with her mouth open when she realizes the winner of the thousand-dollar pot.
“Scot O’Neill, you had the most faith in our boy. You were the only one that chose the six week time frame. Most everyone else thought it would be six months or longer,” Elise chuckles. Bryce is astonished that he has lost. He just knows that he had picked six weeks.
“Let me see this, it can’t be right. I know I won,” Bryce says, irritated. He scans through the dates, finds his name under the six-month slot in his own scribble. He turns around and admits defeat. Scot slowly stretches his hand out to accept his winnings with a smug look on his face.
“Thanks, doll. Pleasure doing business with you,” Scot mumbles as he turns to walk back to his booth. Just then Sawyer swiftly comes through the door. All the crew looks at him in surprise and quickly begins to hide the chart. They all know that Sawyer will not take too kindly to a bet being made as to when he will succumb to love.
“What is everyone doing? Get to work. I have bills to pay. If you don’t have a client, find something to do,” Sawyer aggressively orders.
The girls look at each other while Bryce jogs to catch up with Sawyer in his office. Bryce catches the door just before it crashes on his face. He steps into the room and quietly closes the door behind him.
“What’s the matter, bro? Did you tell her?”
Sawyer was frantically pacing back and forth in his small office, grasping at his brown hair. He looks at Bryce, then begins to rub his face with his hands while mumbling to himself.
“Dude, chill out. You are freaking me out. What happened?” Bryce quizzes while trying to calm the man in front of him down.
Sawyer stops and slumps into the chair, then rests his head on his arms that he lays on the desk. He slowly raises his head and starts to speak to Bryce.
“I couldn’t do it. When I went up there, she told me she had something to tell me. I became hopeful, I thought she was going to tell me she had feelings for me. But no, she told me to back off. That I was basically suffocating her. She told me about her past yesterday. Bryce, she has survived so much. I can’t help it, I want to protect her from everything and everyone. I don’t want her to go through any more pain as long as I’m living. I told her that, in not so many words. We came to a truce, but then . . .” he stops and lays his head face down on the desk again while groaning.
“Bro, what did you do? It can’t be that bad,” Bryce reasons with him. Sawyer looks up miserably.
“I kissed her forehead. I lingered and everything. Then when I pulled back, I saw the shock on her face. I think I just messed everything up. What am I going to do? I’ve never had to deal with this before. What should I do?” Sawyer desperately asks his cousin. Bryce chuckles at him.
“Bro, you’re in love. This is all new to you. Did she really say you were smothering her? I can’t believe she would say that,” Bryce says.
“No, she didn’t say that. It just felt like she did. She just wants me not to treat her differently because she opened up to me. I get it, but I just freaked out. I froze, then I made her uneasy,” Sawyer snarls out.
“I don’t think you freaked her out. Did she at least smile? If she didn’t like it, I think she would have slapped you or something.” Sawyer thinks over what Bryce had just said. He is right. Hannah would have pushed him off or jumped away from him. Maybe he just shocked her. He wishes he knew where he stood with her. What her feelings are for him. He can’t ask her, he doesn’t want to know if his feelings aren’t reciprocated.
“Well, she didn’t push me off. I think she may have smiled, I don’t really remember. I got out of there as fast as I could. I’m sure I looked like an idiot. What am I going to do?” he pleads.
“Well, you are going to act normal. Act just like she wants you to act, like nothing is bothering you. Keep talking to her, get to know her even better. I think things will turn out alright, man,” Bryce tells the sad man before him. Sawyer looks dumbfounded.
“When did you become smart? That was actually good advice. Thanks,” Sawyer tells the red-head.
“All in a day’s work, bro. Speaking of which, we got Kimmy coming in for those wings she’s been wanting.”
Sawyer shakes his head, takes a deep breath and follows Bryce out of the office. He decides to follow Bryce’s suggestions. He will get to know Hannah better and completely win her over. He feels like he doesn’t want to be without her. He knows he can’t live without her now.