Mike woke up to the sound of bacon sizzling downstairs. He blinked, forgetting where he was, sunlight flooding the room. He looked around quickly, gathering his bearings…
Oh right… Missouri. Hannah's dad's house. Adam's room.
Mike got up, wondering what time it was. He grabbed his jeans and checked his phone. Luckily, no missed calls and it was 7:15am.
He shrugged on a long sleeve Henley shirt and put on some socks, running a hand through his hair. That would do.
He opened the door to Adam's room carefully, peeking out, wondering if Hannah was up yet. Her door was open. He crept down the hall to see…
He heard her laugh downstairs.
Well that settled that. She was definitely up. And probably eating bacon. He knew she was firm believer in breakfast.
He started down the stairs, wondering if one of them would give away his position, alert them that he was awake and coming downstairs.
"I'm happy to see you, sweetheart, but what about school? Are you on a break?" he heard Dave ask her.
"I took off some time… I get a certain number of days a year and I almost never use them… I figured I might as well," he heard her lie. He wondered if she looked guilty when she lied since she never had a reason to.
He turned the corner, following their voices and found them in the kitchen, Hannah at the farmhouse kitchen table and Dave at the stove, a dishtowel over his shoulder.
"Morning sunshine!" Dave cheered, spatula moving the bacon around in the pan, "How'd you sleep?"
Mike smiled, hand in his hair. "Well, thank you."
Hannah cocked her head towards the empty seats at the table. "Have a seat."
He smiled, warmed to see her, so carefree and happy to be home. He sat down and she got up, pouring him a glass of orange juice. He felt strangely uncomfortable having both Hannah getting him a drink and Dave making breakfast. It felt so homey, he almost didn't like it.
"So what's the plan for today?" Dave asked, dishing up bacon, eggs, and toast, "Eggs, Mike?"
Mike nodded. "Uh, yes, please."
Dave smiled, looking to Hannah who set down Mike's juice and sat down at her seat at the table.
"Probably show Mike around, just hang out," she said, shrugging as Dave set down plates in front of both of them.
Mike's had bacon, eggs, and toast. Hannah's just had bacon and toast on it. He remembered that she didn't like eggs. She frowned.
"Do we have any-"
"Already ahead of you, lovebug," Dave said, setting down a banana in front of her, kissing the top of her head.
She smiled, taking her napkin and putting it in her lap. Mike picked up his fork.
Dave sat his plate down at the other end of the table and cleared his throat.
"Go on, eat up," he ordered, "Before it gets cold."
Mike took a bite of his eggs and Hannah started peeling her banana, smiling that Mike fit in at their table.
"Anything new, Dad?" she asked, mid-bite.
He shrugged, swallowing a bite of toast. "Same old, same old. Just putterin' around the house. I told you Adam brought some old truck over for me to work on. I figure I'll keep working on that today."
Hannah nodded. Adam always brought home different projects.
"Where does Adam live?" Mike asked, hoping he wasn't advertising that Hannah didn't talk too much about her family.
"About forty five minutes away," Dave said, "At least one of my kids still stuck around."
He winked at Hannah and she rolled her eyes.
"Anyways," Dave said, turning back to Mike, "Yeah, Adam isn't too far away. Still comes over every now and then when he wants something fixed."
Mike smiled. He knew father's often gave their sons a hard time. But not Hannah… no… the way Dave looked at her, he absolutely adored her.
And Mike could see that she even brushed off her father's love.
"Maybe he'll come over for dinner," Hannah offered despite knowing that Adam would give her a hard time about bringing Mike home as well as would want to know what happened with Jason.
"He'll be over in a bit," Dave said, "I called him this morning. He was surprised to hear that you were home. He said you hadn't told him."
She set down her fork. "It was kind of a last minute thing…"
Dave studied her carefully. He could tell that she was skirting around something else… but he let it go. He knew it was best not to push her.
"You done?" Dave asked despite noticing their plates were empty, "C'mon, I want you to see this piece of crap Adam brought over."
He stood up, picking up his plate. Hannah stood and took both hers and Mike's plates before he could take it. He smiled. She would never let him do something that she could just get done herself.
She put them in the sink. "Whatever he brought can't be worse than the Jeep."
Dave scoffed. "Oh just wait."
He smiled at Mike and Mike returned it. Dave didn't bombard him with questions, didn't give him the third degree, didn't try to intimidate him or give him the "she's my daughter" speech. He just accepted him and welcomed him in, treated him like he was one of his own.
"C'mon, Mike, wait till you see this piece of junk. I tell you, it's the ugliest thing I've ever set eyes on," Dave said, coaxing them down the front steps of the house.
In the sunlight, Mike could properly take in Hannah's home.
Missouri was more beautiful than he thought. Clear blue sky, rich rolling grasses. Fields on either side. Woods and trees lining the edges.
The farmhouse stood in the middle of the clearing, fences on all sides. Perhaps they'd had livestock as some point… maybe they just used the fields for hay…
The old barn sat across the way, all by itself. Mike wondered how old it was. The farmhouse had been renovated at some point, the inside updated but the barn was original. He could tell it was old by the way the wood was warped from too many seasons of freezing and thawing.
Dave pulled back the big door as it protested, hinges squeaking and wood groaning.
The barn was empty in the middle, a full cleared area. He could see stalls lining the sides, large. Horses?
In the first two stalls, Mike could see toolboxes and work benches, no doubt useful space for Dave.
On the left, Hannah scoffed, noticing a truck parked in the space where a stall had been.
"No way…" she muttered, getting closer to the truck, disbelief sinking in.
Mike followed. Dave stood and smiled.
She ran her hand on it, from the hood to the driver's side door, tracing over the side mirror. It was different… but the same underneath.
She knew exactly what it was… it had been a long time since she'd seen it…
"What…." she couldn't even speak, smiling too wide. Mike desperately wanted to know what she was stunned about.
It was an old truck… but in surprisingly good shape.
Hannah wandered around the back of it, studying the paint job, impressed. And yep… there it was…. Chevrolet in white letters on the back… a dent still on the tailgate.
"I thought about getting that ding out," Dave mused, smiling, "But I figured I'd let it stay…"
Mike looked at Hannah, still smiling, hand running over the tailgate, leaning over to look at the dent.
She looked up at Mike, grinning. "From where I backed into a tree…"
She stood up, eyes still disbelieving. "When did you do this?"
Dave shrugged. "A couple months. Wasn't too difficult. Old girl wasn't actually in that bad of shape, shockingly. Y'all ran her hard and put her up wet."
Hannah smiled. The last time she'd seen that truck, it was covered in mud and the rust was starting to sink in. Now it had been returned to it's former glory. And was absolutely gorgeous.
"What do you think, Mike?" Dave asked proudly.
Mike glanced in the interior. He'd even restored that with white leather seats.
"Very nice. It looks amazing," he said, only seeing cars like that at shows downtown, not expecting something like this in an old barn in Missouri.
Hannah opened the door and got in, flipping the visor down, something falling into her lap.
She laughed. "Seriously?"
Mike looked over to see. She held up an old card, Ace of diamonds.
Dave shrugged, chuckling. "Best not mess with a good thing!"
Hannah looked over to Mike, returning the card to its spot. "The Ace of diamonds was Jason's good luck piece. This is his truck."
Mike's eyes widened. He hadn't planned on hearing about Jason again for a while. He was interested in the way Hannah looked at the truck, wide eyed and grinning. He'd never seen that look from her before. She'd always held things in such tight control, never letting on too much. But she was almost bouncing.
She got out and went over to Dave. "Did Jason ask you to do this?"
He shook his head. "Nah… Jason left it with Adam when he got deployed the first time and never asked for it back. She sat in the garage for years until Adam finally decided he wanted to work on her. We've been spending every Saturday on her for a while."
"Very impressive," she gave him, smiling.
Dave beamed proudly. Mike smiled. He hadn't seen a look like that from his dad in a long time…
"Well," Dave said, clapping his hands together, "Just wanted to show you the old girl. Go on ahead and get out of here."
Hannah smiled, leaning in and hugging him. "Yes, sir."
Dave knocked her gently on the shoulder, pushing her off towards the front of the barn.
Mike followed her but her hand came down and slipped into his. He almost apologized for bumping his hand into hers before he realized she'd done it on purpose. He'd never held her hand before and figured that it wouldn't be something she'd accept welcomingly.
He grinned. She'd done it on purpose.
She walked with her hand in his out to the Jeep, Dave heading towards the house.
Hannah got to the driver's side and went to open the door, pulling her hand from his. He held on and pulled her back, catching her unexpectedly.
He pulled her closer to him and kissed her, smiling, tucking her wind blown hair behind her ear.
He wondered what had made her so unusually affectionate but he didn't question it. He didn't want to call attention to it and make her stop.
"I'd let you drive but you don't know where you're going," she said, smiling.
Mike smiled, nodding, reaching around and opening the door for her. She rolled her eyes, getting in.
"Boy Scout, remember?" he said, teasing.
He got in on the other side and she pulled the keys down from the visor, turning over the engine.
She backed it up and headed out towards the main road, which really wasn't all that main to begin it. It was just the only road in sight.
Hannah rolled down the windows and let her arm hang out the window, smiling in the sunshine.
Mike smiled. "Happy to be home?"
She nodded. "Happy you came?"
He grinned. "Very. I like your dad."
Hannah laughed. "Everyone likes my dad. He's Major McCheese around here."
"So what're you going to show me?" he asked, enjoying his time with her. He'd never been shown around anyone's hometown before.
"Well," she started, eyes glancing to his, "There's not much to see in town, but I figure I'll show you all the usual places. You know, that one part of the sidewalk where I fell and skinned my knee… The place where I lost my favorite bracelet."
She was being sarcastic and he reached over and knocked her on the shoulder.
"I'm telling you," she said getting serious, "There is nothing to do in this town."
He smiled.
True to her word, she showed him all the usual places. The only movie theater. The only drugstore. The only bookstore. Her old high school. The Dairy Curl where the cool kids hung out after partying all night.
And that was it, she announced. That was the entire town.
She pulled down a road at the end of the town, towards a field, she pulled off on the soft shoulder, a truck waving to her as they went by.
"And this," she said, putting the truck in park, "Is where Jason and Adam taught me how to drive. You'll notice no trees or ditches. Or other cars. The figured it was best if the only thing I could hit was a cow."
Mike smiled. "Then what happened with the tree you backed into?"
She frowned, frazzled, huffing. "That tree came out of nowhere. And that was coming home from the woods when Jason and Adam were too drunk to drive."
"The woods?" Mike asked skeptically.
She rolled her eyes, putting the Jeep back in gear. "When you have nothing to do in a small town, you go out to the woods and drink."
Mike laughed. It was hard to think about her as a teenager, sneaking off to the woods to get drunk with her brother and their friend.
She drove away from the field, back towards town, taking another road, a bigger one, up a hill.
"Where are we going now?" he asked, curious.
She looked at him and smiled. "The lake."
The lake wasn't too far away and was quite big. There were docks and sand. The perfect place to escape a hot, summer day.
"We used to spend whole summers here," she said, parking again, "My mom taught us how to swim here."
Mike sat up, carefully broaching the next subject. "You really don't remember her much?"
Hannah shrugged, looking a little guilty. "I remember her more here… it's hard to recall memories… but I do remember her when I'm home… my dad reminds me a lot of her."
Mike leaned against the door, elbow on the open window, head resting against his hand.
"I hope I don't forget my dad…" he said, missing him.
Hannah swallowed. She knew she wasn't good at grief… she knew she might say the wrong thing. Shit. Had it been wrong to bring him back to her dad's house with her?
She turned more towards him, leaning her back against the door, not caring that the arm rest stuck in to her back.
"You won't…" she said, trying to sound comforting, "I'm sure you have a lot of wonderful memories."
He smirked. He did have a lot of wonderful memories… but sadly… he wouldn't be able to make anymore with his dad…
Hannah could see him thinking and fighting the depression. She felt a knot in her stomach when she remembered that Max was better at talking to him about this than she was.
She considered offering to call Max so he could talk to her… no… that would start a fight…
She sighed, reaching over and taking his hand in hers. "You know I'm here…"
He smiled, looking over at her. He knew that she wasn't good at this… but she was trying… Even after all that he'd messed up and could've lost. She was trying.
He leaned over and kissed her. "I know… I love you."
There was a glimmer in her eye and for a brief second, he thought she was going to say it, too…
She hesitated but then leaned in and kissed him again.
"Keep the tour going?" she suggested and he nodded, along for the ride. For once, it felt nice to relax and not be chasing people down.
"Do you ever think about moving back?" he asked as she pulled back onto the highway.
She shrugged. "I've thought about it. I mean, maybe not home home, but Missouri… yeah sometimes… be closer to Dad… but I'm pretty happy where I am."
Mike reached over and put his hand on her knee. "I'm happy where you are, too."
She smiled. He was the first guy she'd ever brought home and it didn't scare the absolute daylights out of her.
"So no," she said smiling, "I'm staying where we are."
He grinned, trying to look away to not freak her out. Where we are. She thought about them together, too. Being together… having a life together…
"I would, however, like to have a house of my own though… not be in apartments forever… maybe a smaller city than in New York… but eventually," she said, considering a little house with a porch, close to sidewalks and jogging groups.
Mike wondered if they'd ever live together… really live together… not have their own places and but stay at one every night… kind of like they did now… but honest to goodness living together…
Hell… She didn't even want to commit to a relationship title… and she wouldn't admit that she loved him… living together would be a big hurdle one day.
The Jeep pulled to a stop on the side of the road before and Mike looked over at her.
"This is where the accident happened," she said calmly, pointing to a spot about a hundred feet from them, beyond a road that intersected with the one they were on.
"So… the guy came off this street here," she pointed, "He didn't stop at the sign… He was drinking."
She moved the Jeep farther down. "This is where Adam swerved to miss him and we started to flip."
Hannah pointed at a tree on the right. "That's where the other guy ended up. He hit that tree right there. Only broke his wrist."
She drove a sickeningly slow way down the road, gut wrenchingly far. Mike's stomach started to churn, imaging her in a flipping car. She looked at the guardrail in the median. "This is where we finally stopped."
She kept driving, one hand casually on the wheel, the other out the window, not at all phased by driving past the place where she and Adam could have died.
"Have you always been this relaxed driving past this spot?" he asked incredulously.
She shrugged. "Yeah… It was a freak thing… And I don't remember most of it… It's like… You watch a scary movie at a theater… but that doesn't mean you're going to be scared everytime you go there, ya know?"
He looked out the window. Driving by that spot gave him goosebumps. The possibility of worse things happening to Hannah running through his head.
"I don't know how you can be so casual about so many things," Mike said, still unable to grasp how lightly she treated everything.
She shrugged, used to being told those kinds of things. Used to people finally having enough of her blasé attitude and not seeming like she cared about a lot of things. She did care… but she wouldn't admit it.
"Not many things bother me," she said, trying to make it not sound like she was a sociopathic monster, "And if something upsets me… I don't want to seem weak and admit it. You know that."
Mike smirked. He knew that well. "And what about if something makes you happy? You still don't like to admit it."
She glanced over at him. She knew he was talking about their relationship… what they had… the fact that he loved her and she wouldn't say it back… though he'd say he already knew…
"I'm working on it," she smiled and he trusted it. He knew she was making progress.
She reached over and put her hand in his, trying to show him that she wasn't a lost cause just yet.
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, eyes out the window, wondering if that would be too much and she'd pull her hand back and tell him to knock it off.
She smiled and she let him return her hand to his lap, squeezing it.
Hannah pulled down the road to her dad's house smiling. She was very happy that Mike had come. Admitting that to herself was the first step. Maybe at some point soon, she could admit that she cared for him. Maybe… even more than that…
Mike noticed a car parked next to the barn that hadn't been there when they left. He looked over at Hannah.
"Looks like Adam's here," he said, watching her smile.
Hannah turned to him, smiling. "Welcome to my big, happy family."