Page 23 of Elijah’s Whim

Chapter Six

Hannah

After parking on the circular driveway of my parents’ Brentwood home, I checked my rearview mirror one more time. I wasn’t completely convinced Elijah wouldn’t show up for dinner, despite the multitude of ways I uninvited him. It was oddly comforting, though, to see the dark SUV creep down the street past our address after I made the sharp left turn into the driveway.

From what Elijah had said that first day at Abstract, when he and Grant came over to gather the details about what happened to me, several of his men would be protecting my family around the clock. Whether it should or not, it warmed my heart to know he was a man of his word.

It was probably foolish to think his integrity had anything to do with me personally and wasn’t just his dedication to Grant and ultimately Abbigail’s man, Sebastian Shark, but I couldn’t help feeling the way I did. And with every day that passed, every interaction we shared, the feelings were getting more and more difficult to keep separated.

I still hadn’t confided in my sexy protector, but the nightmares stemming from the day I was filmed in the walk-in cooler hadn’t let up. He had asked me about it the first two or three mornings I woke up in his beautiful oceanside home, but he let it go after that. Undoubtedly, a stern lecture would be coming my way after my confession, and the longer I let the problem persist, I assumed the bigger the punishment would be.

Also, I received the third call from an unknown number today. As was the case with the previous two calls, I was promptly hung up on, only to be left staring at the blank display on my cell phone and feeling the familiar icy fingers of anxiety gripping me around the throat until I nearly passed out. So, yeah, I knew I was going to have to come clean about the phone calls too. Mr. Banks was not going to be a happy landlord, for sure.

Eventually I would have to discuss my past with the man too. But that was a big, smelly pile of crap I would leave buried for as long as possible. Plus, there was no telling how long I would have to be in Elijah’s proximity. They could very well figure out who was causing all these problems for the businessmen, and I’d be out of harm’s way and be able to come home.

With one last check of my hair, I made myself a promise. If I was still staying at the Banks Estate in a week, I would talk to the man about my situation. Because there was one thing I knew about my history—it always came back to haunt me. Usually at the worst times and with unerring clarity to those around me. Then I always wished I had been the one who had brought it up first.

So maybe this should be the first time in my life that I was in control of both my anxiety and what caused it in the first place. I had just said to Agatha today that I wanted to start living my life for myself instead of feeling like I was living for everyone else. What better way than to take the bull by the horns?

“There’s my Hannah Banana!” my father said when I walked into the family room. He was in his customary spot in front of the television, with the local station’s evening edition of the daily news playing at a volume much too loud for everyone else’s pleasure.

“Hi, Daddy.” I smiled, bending over to hug him in his chair so he wouldn’t have to stand. The man worked too hard, and if it was a mercy I could show him, then so be it.

“Daddy, this is so loud… Can you not hear it, or are you trying to drown out Clemson’s music again?”

“Is that noise considered music these days?” He rolled his eyes, and I playfully shoved his shoulder. He used to say the same thing about the music I played at her age and every one of my sisters since. Funny thing, when he thought no one was around, I’d hear him humming those same songs with incredible accuracy.

“Mark, she’s listening to Led Zeppelin. You’ve told all the girls too many stories about your glory days at this point to try to pretend you don’t like Robert Plant,” my mom teased as she bustled through the great room with a laundry basket perched on her hip.

“Hello, beautiful daughter,” she said to me warmly and thrust her cheek out for a kiss. I swept the basket out of her arms first and then gave her the kiss she was hoping for.

“Let me take this from you. The other girls can help around here too, you know. Is Ta-Dah home? I didn’t see her car in the driveway,” I asked, balancing the laundry basket on the back of the sofa. I really hoped we could finish our conversation from that afternoon.

Just then, Sheppard, my twenty-two-year-old sister, beelined through. She must have caught my question. “Do any of you read the family chat? Why do we even have it if no one reads it?”

“Sheppard, honey, please answer your sister if you know the information,” my mother said with the patience of a saint. “Hannah can’t have her phone out most of the day while she’s working. She’s explained that to all of us a number of times.”

My sister heaved an exaggerated sigh and said, “She texted and said traffic was really bad and she was running late.”

“Now was that so difficult?” my father asked.

“I just don’t know why you and Mom insisted we create that text thread if we aren’t going to utilize it.”

“Sheppard, I’m not going to warn you again about this nonsense,” my dad said, and I swiftly moved the laundry basket to the floor and went to my sister’s side.

Close to her ear, I muttered, “Don’t get him riled up, Shep. His heart. Okay? Just walk away, please. If you really need someone to argue with tonight, I’ll come in your room and you can lay into me. But please don’t get on Daddy’s nerves.”

“You must get really tired, Hannah,” Shep bit, not even trying to keep the conversation between just us anymore.

“Pardon?” I looked at her, confused.

“Carrying the weight of the world. Righting all the wrongs and so on. I mean, seriously, sister. What’s next? World peace? Curing cancer?”

“Unnecessary, Sheppard. So unnecessary. You’re exceptionally nasty this evening, and it has nothing to do with me or our parents. Maybe you should go to your room until dinner is ready?”

“No, I’m leaving. I have a spin class in twenty minutes.”

We just stared at each other for a few tense moments before I finally pulled her into a hug. Or whatever you called a one-sided embrace, because she just let her arms hang limply by her sides. I couldn’t help but notice how I felt more bones than anything else in that hug.