Braxton (Station 47)

Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

brAXTON

The minute we step into the elevator and the doors slide closed, Hannah steps away from me with a sigh.

“Thanks for that. Landon’s such a creep.”

She’s not wrong, but there’s something that bothers me about their interaction. “Yeah, he is. So, why didn’t you walk away from him when he started trying to talk to you? He never should’ve been able to corner you against the door. What were you thinking?”

Hannah lifts her chin, trying to stare me down, but she just looks like a pissed off kitten. She’s soft and gentle, the complete opposite of my sister. That’s probably why they get along so well. Kaydence is normally the one who steps in when Hannah’s being confronted about something. When they were young, Hannah always shied away from arguments and fighting. She’s never been the type to jump up and defend herself, but I guess I assumed that got better with age.

“It’s easy for you to say I should’ve walked away or said something to him, but he’s worked at this hospital much longer than I have, and even if he’s a dick, he’s a dick with a lot of power. I try to keep the peace and pray he finds someone else to take an interest in. It’s not like I’m something special, you know?”

She’s nothing special? I hate that’s how she sees herself. Hannah’s gorgeous and always has been. All my friends in school wanted to hang out at Tom and Alyssa’s house so they could drool over my sister and her best friend, even though they knew girls ten years older than us would never give us the time of day. Twenty-five-year-old women have no interest in fifteen-year-old boys, trust me.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the chance to refute her I’m not something special claim because the elevator chooses that moment to open on the main floor and Hannah strides out with her head held high. That kind of confidence is so damn sexy, and such a contradiction to her previous statement.

She starts walking away from me, so I reach out, catching her by the arm and pulling her to a stop beside me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Hannah looks up at me, confusion clear in her eyes. “What do you mean? I’m not on shift today, so I’m going home. I just came to check on Christina and see how she’s doing.”

“Okay… but we told Doctor Douche up there that we were on our way to lunch together. You don’t want to make me out to be a liar, do you?”

Tilting her head to one side, she studies me for a minute that feels like a lot longer. “It’s not like he’s going to know whether we do or not. You don’t have to eat with me for his benefit.”

“Hannah.” I roll my eyes at her ridiculousness. “Eating with you isn’t for his benefit. It’s for yours .” She’s skeptical, I can tell, so I take advantage of her standing still beside me to explain. “Knowing him, he’ll ask you the next time he sees you where we went and what you ate. He’s not the guy who’s going to just let it go when he feels like you disrespected him somehow by leaving with me. This way, you won’t have to lie.”

That’s my excuse, but it’s not the only reason I want to take her to lunch. It’s part thank you for being up front with me yesterday, all the times she was. I know she was under no obligation to tell me anything about Tina’s condition. She could probably get in trouble for telling me anything , so I’m more grateful than I could ever tell her.

Plus, I like spending time with Hannah. Her sense of humor is different from any other woman I’ve spent time with, and she won’t expect more from me just from eating a meal together. Yeah, that probably makes me as big an asshole as the douchebag upstairs, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Women love a man in uniform — especially a fire helmet and turnout gear. That’s why our house did a calendar last year with a bunch of other Nashville houses. A calendar full of firefighters wearing turnout gear — minus shirts — sold out in less than an hour and raised a ton of money for the Toys for Tots program.

Hannah lets out a frustrated huff, but ultimately says, “Okay, fine, but you’re buying.”

Her sass makes my smile grow. “Wouldn’t have let you pay anyway.”

The waitress leads us to a table along the wall and I let Hannah pick which side she wants to sit on before taking a seat across from her. She looks around the open room, shaking her head in what looks like disbelief. “I can’t believe this place is open for lunch now. It used to just be a bar open in the evenings. Bret and I came here more than a few times for date nights when your sister was available to watch the girls. They always have good music here.”

She shakes her head with a laugh, but there isn’t really much humor in it. “Did you know his now husband is good friends with the owner’s wife? Bret went to school with David, that’s how they met.”

“No,” I tell her, “and if I had, I wouldn’t have suggested the place for lunch.”

Hannah waves off my words. “It’s fine. I’d rather be divorced and still friendly than be married to a man who isn’t attracted to me anymore and never will be again.”

“That’s because he’s fucking insane.” It’s the truth. Okay, so maybe he can’t help that he’s attracted to a completely different gender now, and probably always was, but I don’t understand why anyone would choose someone other than Hannah. He had her, she was his, and I always thought they were happy. It was a shock when Kaydence told me Bret came out and moved out.

Our conversation is interrupted when a gorgeous redhead comes to the table to take our drink order. I’m shocked when I realize it’s the woman Hannah just mentioned.

“Hi guys! My name’s Lyric and I’ll be taking care of you today. What can I—“ she cuts herself off when she notices Hannah. “Oh! Hey, girl. How are you?”

A pink hue grows on Hannah’s cheeks, probably embarrassed she was just talking about her — and if it had been a few seconds later, would have been caught in the act — but she still grins up at the woman. “I’m good, Lyric. How are you all? And, what are you doing waiting tables?”

Lyric lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “We’re short-staffed today, and since the kids are at school, I figured I’d come in and help David out. Better than sitting at home, though I do enjoy the quiet.”

Hannah explains to me, “David owns this place. Their two girls are Maddie and Mallory’s age, and they have one boy a few years older, and one who’s a few years younger.”

Four kids? That makes me take a closer look at her, because the woman definitely doesn’t look like she’s given birth to four kids.

The two of them talk for a few minutes more, something about a school function they both have to go to next week for their kids, so I tune them out. I’m not sure I ever want to have kids, but I do like Hannah’s. They’re adorable, and hilarious to be around. There’s no way you can be in a bad mood around those two.

It’s funny, because the only other kid I have experience with is Hawk’s girlfriend Skye’s sister Tori. She’s a couple years older than Maddie and Mal, and way more snarky and sarcastic. Hannah’s girls are still at that age where they’re not quite teenagers, but they aren’t little kids either. They haven’t developed the same kind of attitude Tori has yet, but spending time with her is a trip too. She’s always given Grayson so much shit, and he gets a kick out of it.

Once we’ve placed our orders, we’re left alone for a bit and I watch Hannah start to fidget. It’s cute, but then, she always is. I can tell she wants to ask me something, but she’s staying quiet.

“What did you and Tina talk about earlier?” I’m curious to find out why she was in her room when I got there this morning. The last thing I expected was to see her sitting beside her. Actually, I figured her parents would have been there as soon as visiting hours started, but I’m glad I was able to get a few minutes with her before her mom showed up.

Hannah doesn’t immediately answer. In fact, she refuses to meet my eyes and I can tell she’s biting the inside of her cheek while she thinks of a response. That’s cool. I’m a patient guy… sometimes. I can wait her out.

Eventually, she sighs, and her shoulders drop. She looks so guilty, and it makes me want to know even more. When I don’t cut her a break, she finally sighs, then says, “I went to see how she was doing. I didn’t get to go up and check before I left last night, and I sure wasn’t going to ask Landon about her condition. He’d want to know why I was asking, and I try to avoid talking to him whenever I can.”

We’ll get back to Tina in a second, but now I want to know what the deal with Doctor Dickhead is. “And why is that? I mean, I know the dude is an ass, but what did he do to warrant you actively avoiding him?” That’s the part I don’t understand. I know they went out on a few dates, but only because Kaydence bitched about him to Alyssa at our monthly family dinner. She didn’t go into much detail aside from telling us how much she hated him and I know she was happy when they stopped seeing each other for the same reason.

Again, she hesitates before answering, but this time the delay makes me see red. “Hannah.” My tone makes her jump slightly, but I don’t back down. “Did he do something? I’ll kick his fucking ass if he did.”

“No,” she hurries to tell me, sliding her hand across the table to cover the fist I didn’t even realize I made. “He’s not even worth it. The few dates we went on weren’t great, but he didn’t like hearing that, and he didn’t like it when I told him I didn’t want to see him again.”

I’m pretty sure she’s lying, but I know Hannah well enough to know pushing her is only going to cause her to retreat further. Plus, Lyric brings out our food a few moments later and Hannah turns our conversation to much lighter, less personal, topics.

Biding my time, I wait until she finishes eating before bringing the conversation back around to her visit with Tina this morning. “You didn’t answer me earlier. What did you and Tina talk about this morning? Whatever it was, it gave her the courage to admit to her mom that I didn’t know about Nathan and am not the deadbeat jerk she thought I was.”

Hannah gasps before covering her mouth with a hand. Now her eyes shine with unshed tears and I really hope they don’t fall. I’ve had enough female tears for one day. And I’m not saying that to be a jerk, I just really have hit my limit on emotional shit today.

“Really? She told them? I’m so glad. That was pretty much our conversation earlier. She was really worried about how they would react to the truth, and about how upset they’d be with her when she told them.”

Thinking about her mom’s reaction and the way everything went down, Tina was right to be worried. I explain what happened to a wide-eyed Hannah who hangs on every word, finishing with, “I made sure she still had my number before I left so we can talk later about introducing me fully to Nate.”

For whatever reason, talking to Hannah is easier than talking to anyone else. Maybe it’s because she’s been in my life for so long, or maybe it’s because she’s my sister’s best friend, or because she was there for everything yesterday. Regardless, I feel comfortable telling her something I wouldn’t admit to anyone else.

“I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a father. What if I totally screw him up? The next few months are going to be hard enough for him, and he’s so young, how will he understand what it means that Tina’s gone?