It was half past seven in the morning and Hanna had been staring inside her closet for a good fifteen minutes. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to wear a skirt or a dress. Caleb was fast asleep, so she couldn't ask him for advice, and there was no-one Hanna could ask. It was her first interview about a possible job, and the blond wanted to look her absolute best. But then again, she didn't want to look like she was trying too hard.
In the end, she went for neither. Hanna decided on a colorful, summery playsuit, which she matched with a pair of ankle-strap white heels.
Waiting for her mom to come and get her, Madelyn was sitting on her bed, playing with Bella. The dog was trying to grab her own tail, but was failing miserably, and Maddie thought it was the funniest thing ever. Hanna didn't see the amusement. She wandered into the bedroom and padded across the pink carpet, where she swung the toddler into her arms.
"Good morning," Hanna said perkily, kissing her daughter on the cheek. She stopped by the bedroom door and turned her head around, calling for the dog to follow. "Bella, come." Bella's tiny paws trotted across the floor and followed Hanna down the staircase. She followed Hanna down the hallway, through the living room and kitchen, and out into the backyard. The pup went crazy and started haring around the yard.
Hanna, however, calmly and slowly sat down on a lounge chair, which was positioned in the perfect place for the sun to hit at just the right amount. Despite how early in the morning it was, the typical Rosewood summer's day was already heating up nicely. Maddie was still in the process of waking up, and curled into a ball on her mother's lap. She had just an oversized shirt on for her pajamas, but Hanna could tell the toddler was already warm.
"Hey," a croaky voice said from behind. The blond twisted her head enough to see Caleb standing at the door, his arms stretching up. He had nothing but a pair of boxer shorts on and Hanna nearly drooled over Madelyn's head.
"Morning," Hanna replied. She turned around as Caleb made his way over to her and Maddie. He slumped onto the chair next to Hanna's and took a deep breath in, and then out.
The brunette squinted in the sunlight and moved his hand to block his eyes. "Why are you dressed so early?" he asked Hanna.
"Because I'm going to New York. Did you seriously forget?"
"No. Of course not," Caleb muttered. He did forget. And Hanna knew he forgot. But Hanna didn't have the energy to have a go at Caleb. She was happy staring at his perfectly toned abs; she didn't want any arguments. "When are you going?"
Madelyn started moving about on Hanna's lap, so she carefully slid her off and let the toddler run wild and free. "In…" The blond pulled out her phone from her back pocket and glanced at the time, "about half an hour."
And half an hour later, Hanna was standing in the driveway. In front of her was Caleb, with Maddie sitting on his shoulder. The blond stood on her tip-toes to give the toddler a big kiss goodbye. "I love you, Maddie," she smiled.
"Love oo, Mama," Madelyn replied. She stretched down and tried to wrapped her tiny arms around Hanna's neck, but failed when she nearly toppled off Caleb.
Hanna chuckled and focused on Caleb, giving him a long, passionate kiss. "I love you, babe," she mumbled as she pulled away. Caleb replied with the same set of words, and gave his wife one last kiss on her forehead as she began to walk away. "Have fun today!" Hanna called out as she reached her car.
Maddie waved enthusiastically and attempted to blow kisses to Hanna. "Bye, bye Mommy!"
"Bye, baby!" the blond said. She ducked down and slid into the driver's seat of her car and dropped her purse on the passenger's. Caleb had turned around and was heading back inside the house, but Madelyn was still waving and looking at her mom. Hanna gave a small wave before the toddler disappeared.
Almost 4 hours later, Hanna arrived in the bustling city that was New York. It had taken her longer than usual, but she placed that down to the fact it was summer and all the tourists were out. I'll have to get used to this, she thought to herself.
As she stepped out of the car, Hanna checked her phone. She had a message from Spencer regarding the get-together that was happening in the next week, and a message from Caleb asking whether she got to New York safely. After replying to both, the blond straightened out her clothes, cleared her throat, pushed her hair behind her ears, and walked towards the building in front of her.
"You must be Hanna," a dark-haired woman said as Hanna wandered inside. "I'm Marlee. It's so good to finally meet you." Marlee held out her hand and Hanna gave it a quick shake, before being ushered to follow Marlee down a wide hallway. Marlee was in front of the blond, leading the way, but every so often turned her head back. "I'm sorry we had to schedule this meeting so quickly, but we were all so eager to meet you."
"I'm so happy you're considering me for the job!" Hanna replied excitedly. She was taken into a bleak, white office and directed to sit on a rather uncomfortable looking chair. Hanna gingerly sat down, and placed her purse by her feet as Marlee took a seat opposite.
"Now, Hanna." Marlee's voice became hard and serious, like she was getting down to business. "Do you know what this job requires of you?"
The blond nodded vigorously. "Yes."
Marlee clasped her hands together on the desk and took a deep breath in. "Well, Hanna. Myself and the other producers think you'd be perfect for this job. The only problem is that you have no previous experience working on a set."
Hanna didn't know how to reply. She didn't really have much experience anywhere, let along a movie set. The only jobs Hanna had ever had were working in a small clothes store in Rosewood, and working in the local coffee shop by her college. "I really think I could do well in this job."
"So do I, Hanna," Marlee replied. She reached into a drawer and pulled out multiple pieces of paper that Hanna recognized. "These designs you sent us were incredible. But, most upcoming costume designers start off as something like a wardrobe assistant."
"Oh, uh, okay." Hanna was sure this interview was over. She looked down at her lap and started picking at the polish on her thumbnail.
"But we're willing to give you a go," Marlee said, her voice chirping up.
The blond's head rose up and her mouth dropped slightly. "Really?"
"We'll need you to start on the 28th of this month, when filming begins."
"Yes, yes. Of course! Thank you so much!" Hanna couldn't hide her excitement, and it just seemed to burst out of her at once. But within a few seconds, it began to come crashing down. Hanna was worried her pregnancy would jeopardize the whole job offer. "There was something I needed to check with you, if that's okay."
Marlee had a warm smile and nodded. "Sure. Go ahead."
"Well, uh, a couple of months ago, I found out that I was, um, pregnant. Will that, uh, affect anything?" Hanna stuttered. She'd never felt so nervous before.
"Filming is due to take about five to seven months. You don't look that far along," Marlee gestured to Hanna's stomach, the stomach Hanna was trying to cover up. There was no bump there, but Hanna couldn't help but feel ever so slightly self-conscious, "so will that be a problem?"
"I'm three months," Hanna said. "But I'm sure I can work up to about eight months. That should be enough time, right?"
Three hours later, after a very long conversation with Hanna's new boss, the blond stepped out of the building feeling refreshed. That feeling didn't last long, though, as she was hit with a blast of warm air. The temperature seemed to have risen and risen throughout the day, and Hanna just wanted to get into an air conditioned space—like her car.
How did everything go? Hanna read as she pulled her phone from her purse. The message was from Caleb, and she was eager to share everything with him, but decided to keep the reply short and sweet—but only because she was saving all the excitement for when she arrived home.
It was good. Everything went well. Be back soon. Love you.
Hanna slid her phone back into her tote purse and swapped it for the car keys, which she shoved into the ignition to turn on the engine. The car rumbled to life, and soon, Hanna was back on the busy roads of New York.
"Come on," the blond muttered, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. She'd made it out of the city, but now in the suburbs, the traffic had come to a standstill. Hanna poked her head out of the car window in an attempt to see what was holding everybody up, but the only things in view for miles and miles were more cars. Hanna wasn't used to having such a quiet car journey. She normally always had either Caleb, Maddie, or both with her. "Come on, come on."
There was no movement for the next three hours. Hanna was sat impatiently waiting in her Range Rover, hoping and praying someone somewhere would move. She was at a point in time where she was ready to give up and kill herself. As the blond sat picking at a piece of material that was peeling off of the car door, her phone started buzzing from within the depths of her Gucci bag. It was clear no-one would be moving for a while, so she decided to quickly grab her cell and check who wanted what.
It an incoming phone call from Caleb, probably wandering where the hell she was.
"Where the hell are you?!" Caleb's voice exclaimed as she answered the call. He could hear honking sounds in the background, and was suddenly very confused. "Are you driving?"
"No," Hanna replied, sounding cheesed-off.
"So why does it sound like you are? Where are you?"
"I'm in the car, I'm just not moving." Hanna let out a groan as she heard another car turn off the engine. It didn't look like she was going anywhere soon. "I hate New York and their stupid roads and their stupid traffic."
"You hate New York?" Caleb asked, bemused.
"I don't hate New York itself. I just hate everything that comes along with it," Hanna explained. "Like the freaking traffic!" She banged her fists against the steering wheel and ended up dropping her phone. Hanna quickly raced to pick it up and gave it a check-over to make sure it wasn't cracked. Thankfully, it wasn't, and she let out a huge sigh of relief. "Sorry, I dropped my phone."
"Babe, when are you going to be home?"
The blond sighed again and shrugged, although Caleb couldn't see that. "I don't know," she said as she breathed out slowly. "Probably next week at this rate."
There was a small laugh on the other end of the line and Caleb smiled to himself. Madelyn was sitting down by his feet, pretending to paint his toenails. In actual fact, she wasn't pretending—as she'd actually opened up one of Hanna's polishes—she just wasn't painting Caleb's toes, she was painting his entire foot. Hanna would be cracking up with laughter if she were there to see it. "Where are you stuck? Is there no other way you can get home?"
"If there was, don't you think I would have gone that way three freaking hours ago?"
"I was just asking, Han." Caleb cleared his throat and nudged Bella away, who had just joined the nail polish party. "Well, let me know if there's any trouble and you need me to get you."
"Thank you, babe. But honestly, there's no way you could come and get me. I'm completely stuck in between thousands of cars," the blond replied, glancing out of the car's window. "I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you."
Hanna cheered with joy when the car in front of her finally switched on it's engine and started slowly moving forwards. She was desperate to get home and tell Caleb about the job—it had been a struggle not to just announce it over the phone.
Finally, after an extra four hours of driving—well, not really driving, just waiting—Hanna drove past the Welcome to Rosewood sign and grinned to herself.
"Finally," she whispered, pulling into the driveway. After throwing her keys into her purse, Hanna hurried to the front door. She gave a quiet tap, and Caleb was quick to answer. The blonde nearly fell through the door.
"Mommy!" Maddie exclaimed, throwing herself into Hanna's arms before Caleb could even say a word. Hanna let out an "oomph" sound and chuckled. "Miss oo!"
"I missed you too, baby," Hanna replied. She rested her hand on the back of Maddie's head and smiled. But after a couple of seconds, the toddler became restless and wanted to get down, so Hanna carefully placed Madelyn on the floor and watched her skip off towards her playroom.
"I'm never driving again," she announced, dropping her purse on the floor.
Caleb followed his wife, chuckling. "Oh yeah?"
Hanna was pulling off one of her heels and looked up at Caleb. "That was horrible."
"Did everything go okay?"
The blond looked up and waited for a moment before smiling. "I got it."
"You did?" Caleb answered, wide-eyed. Hanna stood up and nodded. "Babe, that's amazing!"
Hanna wanted to jump up and down on the spot, she was so excited. Holding all her excitement in for four hours and finally being able to tell Caleb made her want to burst. She wrapped her arms around Caleb's neck and held on tight. "We finally have everything sorted," she mumbled into Caleb's neck.
"Maddie's eaten, but I was waiting for you. Have you eaten?" Caleb asked as he starting wandering into the kitchen. Hanna left her heels by the front door and followed him.
"No," she replied. "And I'm starving." The blond opened up the refrigerator and stared inside for a moment. Her stomach was growling, she was so hungry, but nothing seemed to jump out at her. She leant in and pulled out leftover lasagne, considered eating it, but shoved it back in. Hanna turned to Caleb, who was checking his phone, and sighed. "Can we order in a pizza?"
Caleb left his phone on the side and walked over to Hanna, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. "I can make you something if you want," he suggested. Hanna turned and faced him, a big smile spreading across her face.
"You wouldn't mind?" Hanna asked. Caleb didn't reply, but instead gave his wife a lingering kiss. Hanna pulled back suddenly and announced, "I think I want meatloaf."
Caleb rolled his eyes, but smiled, and started walking backwards. He grabbed a few of the ingredients that happened to be lying on the counter. Hanna smiled again before
heading off to find Maddie.
The toddler was sitting in the middle of the floor, chatting away to herself as she held two dolls in her hands. Hanna stopped by the doorway and just stayed there, watching her and grinning. Madelyn must have sensed someone was there, as, after a couple of minutes, she turned around and waved.
"Can I come and play?" Maddie nodded enthusiastically and held out one of her babies to her mom. Hanna walked over and sat down, crossing her legs. She took the doll and started to rock it back and forth, just as Maddie was doing with her doll.
Fifteen minutes later, Caleb poked his head around the door. "We don't have enough garlic so I'm just going to run to store quickly, okay?"
"Sure," the blond replied, looking up for a quick second.
Caleb watched Hanna and Madelyn for a moment, and then headed back into the foyer and out of the door, grabbing his keys as he went. Hanna focused back on Maddie, but heard her phone buzz in her purse back in the hallway.
"I'll be right back, baby," she said, standing up. Hanna hurried out of the door and found her phone lit up with Spencer's name written on the screen. Hanna clicked answer and said, "Spence, hey!"
"How did your interview go today? Did you get the job?"
Hanna started walking back into the playroom but stopped to squeal, "I did! I got it!"
"Oh my God, Han. That's amazing! I'm so happy for you!" Spencer replied.
Just the previous night, Hanna had spent over three hours on the phone to Spencer, catching up on everything they'd missed in each others lives. One topic of conversation was the Rivers' move to New York, and mainly Hanna's interview. It was times like those when Hanna missed her best friends, all four of them. She missed hanging out with them every day like she did when she was eighteen, and she missed talking about all her problems to one—or all—of them.
"I seriously can't wait to see you next week," Hanna breathed down the phone. "We haven't been in one place together for ages."
"I miss you so much, Han," Spencer said. Hanna was sure she heard the crack in her best friend's voice, and was wandering she, herself, was going to start crying.
Before the blond could say anything else, Maddie called for her from inside the playroom.
"I'll be right there, Maddie!" Hanna called out. "Spence, I'm going to have to go—Maddie wants me. I'll see you next week! I love you!"
"I love you, too," Spencer said before hanging up. Hanna kept her phone in her hand as she wandered back to Madelyn, who was looking rather upset at the disappearance of her mom. Her face lit up when Hanna walked back in.
As the blond knelt down by her daughter, she was handed the same doll as before. "You know what, baby? I think it's time for bed."
"No! Play, Mommy," Madelyn replied. She tried to shove the baby doll into Hanna's arms, but Hanna had to stand up to stop her. "Mama!"
Hanna held out her hand for Madelyn to take. "Come on, Maddie. Bed." When the toddler shook her head in refusal, Hanna knelt down. "Maddie, you need to come to bed," she said in a much softer, calmer tone. "What if I read you a story when we get up there?"
"Fine," Madelyn groaned. Hanna couldn't help but laugh: there was so much attitude in Maddie's voice, she sounded just like Hanna did. The toddler gave her mom her hand and followed her down the hallway and up the stairs.
"Which pajamas do you want tonight?" Hanna asked, holding up a pair of Disney princess pajamas and a pair with puppies on. Maddie pouted as she thought, and then pointed to the Disney pair. "Princess pajamas it is."
As Hanna took Madelyn's shirt off and was about to put her pajama one on, she heard the front door slam.
"Han? Where are you?" Caleb yelled.
"Upstairs!" Hanna called back. "I'm putting Maddie to bed!"
Caleb nodded to himself and headed through to the kitchen, where he carried on with his cooking. Hanna continued to change Madelyn, proceeding to take her into the bathroom to clean her teeth and wash her face.
It took an added ten more minutes than usual, but once Hanna had gotten Maddie to sleep, she breathed a sigh of relief. All she wanted now was to eat.
"Oh my God, babe. This smells so good!" Hanna exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen. Caleb was standing by the stove, plating up the meatloaf Hanna had asked for. He turned around and smiled, holding two plates of steaming food. Hanna followed him to the table, where Caleb pulled out a chair for her. "Thank you," she said, grinning. Before sitting down himself, Caleb lit the scented candle that permanently sat in the center of the table. "I wasn't quite expecting this when you said you'd make dinner."
"I don't strive to disappoint," Caleb replied as he sat down. Hanna picked up her knife and fork and dug right in. The first bite tasted like a little piece of heaven. She hadn't realized how much she had really been craving her husband's meatloaf.
"You can seriously cook, babe," she said after taking another bite. "You should do it more often."
"I'm happy letting you cook." Caleb smirked at Hanna and took a sip of the beer he'd previously put on the table. "I'm so happy you got the job. Congrats, babe."
"I love you," Hanna said quietly. With the candle light flickering, the kitchen lights dim, and the moonlight shining in through windows, this was definitely the kind of romantic dinner Hanna wanted every night.
"I love you, too," Caleb replied.
A/N - omg im so sorry this took a week to upload. i ended up writing chapter 15 before this chapter so it took me even longer to write this one. sorry!
to the guest who asked about One More Chance, i haven't yet decided if im going to continue it. the original idea was that i would take a break from writing it, but go back and finish it a few weeks later. well lately, ive really been getting into writing this story and thinking of ideas for my next, so im not sure. hopefully i'll find the time to finish it! of course, i'll let you know what i choose.
thank you to everyone who takes the time to review. i seriously love you all so much, and its highly appreciated.
keep reviewing!