Page 29

Hannah

I can’t even think straight, but I do know I need to get the hell out of here and that’s exactly what I do.

Hopping into my car, I leave before Leo has a chance to catch up to me.

The first place he’s going to look for me is my house and the second place is Dylan’s, but I go there anyway.

I need someone to talk to, someone who understands why I reacted the way I did when I quit my job, a job I now wish I would have kept because I wouldn’t be in this situation if I had.

But then that would mean I would never have met Leo and just thinking about that starts up the tears.

I’m going to lose him regardless. Once he finds out what I did, there’s no way he’s going to look at me in the same way he does now. I was a complete asshole to his father.

Even though I know Leo will show up at Dylan’s, I also know Dylan will turn him away.

He’s always been protective of me and seeing me heartbroken will cause that protectiveness to kick in.

There’s no way he’s letting Leo in while I’m curled up in Dylan’s extra bedroom bed, sobbing into his high thread count sheets.

I’m crying so hard that everything looks like a blurry mess as I park on the street outside of Dylan’s place and use my key to let myself in.

“Dylan?” I wail, calling out to see if he’s home, but I’m met with silence and a few seconds later Tessa is rounding the corner, her eyes wide when she catches a glimpse of me.

“Oh my god, Hannah, what’s going on?” she asks, waddling over to pull me into her arms. “Are you okay?”

“Tessa, you’re never going to believe what happened,” I moan, attempting to sniff back the flood of tears but failing miserably.

It serves me right for being such a bitch when I quit.

I should have taken the high road, but Roy Langston is and will always be an asshole.

Fuck my life, Leo’s dad is an asshole. The guy I fell in love with, the guy I seriously considered spending the rest of my life with, has an asshole for a father and I pretty much ruined any chances of getting past that when I told him I never wanted to see his stupid face again.

Tessa pulls back, looking at me, she guides me over to the living room couch and has me sit down.

My head falls into my hands as I replay the look on Roy’s face when he realized I was the girl his son had fallen in love with.

Of course he had no idea it was me when Leo was telling his parents about his new girlfriend because Roy Langston thought my name was Anna not Hannah.

I’m pretty sure he even muttered it, confused and shocked when we met just a little while ago.

“Where’s Dylan?” I now ask, when Tessa returns, handing me a glass of water. I take it and thank her, but I think I need something a little stronger to kill off this disaster.

“He ran to the grocery store. He should be home soon. What’s going on?” She sits down next to me, running her hand down my arm with an air of sympathy.

My head is swirling with a million different thoughts, but most of all, I can’t stop thinking about how I ruined this amazing thing that Leo and I had going.

There’s no way his father didn’t tell him the story of how his sous chef quit, leaving him high and dry.

And not just that, but that she also called him every name under the sun.

There is literally no way Leo and I can get past this. His father hates me, no doubt.

“I can’t even talk about it. It’s so fucking embarrassing,” I mutter through sobs.

Not that I think Tessa will judge me. I know she ghosted Dylan when she didn’t want to confront what was going on between them and she also disappeared for a bit when she found out she was pregnant.

If there’s anyone who understands relationship disasters, it’s her.

“It might help to talk about it. When I thought things were going to go to shit with Dylan, he surprised me and look at us now,” Tessa says, reassuringly.

But she has no idea how bad this really is.

Getting knocked up accidently is one thing but telling your possible future father-in-law that he’s the biggest asshole you’ve ever met is another thing.

“Tessa, I love your optimism, but I really fucked up. Leo’s dad is my old boss,” I blurt out, the tears starting again when I think about the whole situation.

Her mouth falls open when she finally hears why I’m a blubbering mess and it feels like we sit in silence for hours. Not even she knows what to say.

“Okay, well that’s a new one,” she eventually says in the way that only Tessa can, avoiding making it sound judgy but somehow making me feel better all in the same breath. “What did his dad say to you when you met him?”

“Nothing. I got the fuck out of there before he could,” I admit, feeling like it sounds super childish to run from something I created.

“I would have done the same thing,” Tessa replies, chuckling a little. “It’s hard to confront something like that and I know you really laid into him when you quit.”

“I did and I’m almost certain I said I never wanted to see his stupid fucking face again. Well, that fucking backfired, huh?”

“You really should talk to Leo about it. I’m sure he’s confused and maybe he doesn’t even know his dad is an asshole?” Tessa suggests and talking to Leo feels like the last thing I want to do.

What am I supposed to say to him? There’s no way I can explain to him what happened. After all the conversations we’ve had about his family, he definitely holds his parents in high regard, especially his dad. His father is a world-renowned chef and someone Leo has looked up to all his life.

“And how did you not know that your old boss and Leo were related?” Tessa now adds and it’s a question I’ve been asking myself too. It was a thought that instantly popped into my head when I was in the safety of my car driving away from this nightmare.

“Since Leo’s last name is Marsh and his dad’s is Langston, there’s no way I would have connected them.

I mean, looking back now, Leo said some things about his dad being a famous chef and whatever, but not enough for me to think that in all of the Napa Valley area that they would be related,” I wail, realizing all this has done is get me fired up all over again.

“I wonder why he has a different last name?” Tessa asks, like we’re ever going to get to the bottom of this mystery since I don’t think I can ever see him again.

“Maybe his dad changed his last name after he became a well-known chef?” she suggests, but like it really matters why.

What matters is that I’ve fucked up a good thing so massively.

Whatever Leo and I had is now long over.

My phone begins to ring again, and I know it’s Leo, but I can’t bring myself to answer it. I have no idea how to explain any of this to him. It’s been ringing since I left his house, and I’ve been ignoring it.

“You gonna answer that?” Dylan yells as he comes through the front door, his arms loaded down with groceries.

“And what’s Hannah doing here? Saw her car out front.

I thought she was meeting Leo’s parents,” he says absentmindedly, like it hasn’t even crossed his mind that things may have not gone well.

“She was,” Tess answers, speaking for me because I’m sure I’ll start sobbing again should I try to open my mouth. “It didn’t go very well. Leo’s dad is Hannah’s old boss.”

“What the fuck? Seriously?” Dylan shouts, plowing his way into the living room where I’m currently sprawled out on his couch, trying to drown out the sound of my incessantly ringing phone.

“At least turn the damn ringer off if you’re not going to answer it,” Dylan barks, rifling through my purse and switching it off for me.

“And yes, seriously,” I reply to the first part of his question. “He’s probably coming over here right now, but don’t you dare let him.” My words come out as a warning to Dylan to not even think about betraying his sister for his work acquaintance.

“I’ll tell him you’re not here,” Dylan immediately answers, again looking through my purse for my car keys. “I’ll move your car to the back.”

But just as he begins to leave, Tessa rests a hand on his shoulder. “Think about how you felt when I was trying to hide from you,” she says, her words quiet and sweet. I know she means well, but I’m not up for being thrown to the wolves just yet.

Dylan turns to look at her, swallowing hard and the flash of a memory crosses his face. It’s a mix of fear and worry, and I’m sure he’s thinking about when Tessa not only tried to ghost him after their hook ups, but also when she found out she was pregnant.

There’s no way he wouldn’t have wanted to know about his future kid, but this situation with Leo is different.

We don’t have that connection to tie us together like Dylan and Tessa do.

We’re just two people who fell in love only to find out that starting a relationship based on a lie by omission wasn’t the best idea.

Now I feel like a fool for leaving it off my resume and for not telling Leo.

But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I can’t change it.

I have to live with my decision not to and I have to live with the way I behaved when I quit.

“Han, I know you don’t want to talk to him, but if he loves you, which we all know he does, you need to figure out how to move past this,” Dylan says, his voice comforting, but I find no comfort in it.

“Dylan, I flipped his dad off with both hands!” I wail, my face growing hot when I think about it.

“I told him I never wanted to see his stupid fucking face again and fuck me if the universe doesn’t hate me because I totally saw it again.

I saw it at my boyfriend’s house, and it was his dad’s face!

” I’m yelling and crying and carrying on.

I can literally see no way out of this other than quitting my job and never speaking to Leo again. Problem solved.

“Maybe now’s a good time to talk to Leo about how different it is working at Somerville’s than it was at The Yellow Door. Maybe he has no idea that his dad is a dick?”

“I’m not going to be the one to tell him that!”

“You need to talk to him, Hannah,” Dylan presses and while he’s right, it’s not happening tonight. I’m totally irrational and there’s no way I can say anything without sobbing uncontrollably. Poor choices coming back to bite me in the ass.

“Yeah, not tonight,” I say, drawing the line and holding up my hand to get him to stop talking. “I’m going to take a bath in your huge bathtub and then I’m going to cry myself to sleep in your extra bedroom. I’ll reassess this mess in the morning.”

“There’s nothing stopping him from showing up here, Han,” Dylan now says, and I realize he’s not on my side anymore. Fucking falling in love has made my brother soft.

“You are,” I bite back, glaring at him as I grab my purse and storm toward his guest bedroom.

“He’s calling me!” Dylan shouts, and I feel like I’m going to puke. “I’m not going to ignore him.”

“Fine, do whatever you want, you traitor!” I cry, slamming the bedroom door. I flop down on the bed, my head a huge fucked up mess.

Not only did I lose the first guy I’ve ever fallen in love with, but I’m also about to lose my job.

Lauren and Jack’s loyalty is to Leo since he’s their head chef.

Wait…I’m their head chef too, but Leo’s been there longer and they don’t want all this relationship drama on their hands.

Especially after just having their babies.

I’m supposed to work tomorrow, but there is not a chance I’m showing up there. The last thing Leo and I need is to have this conversation at work in front of all these people who we just confessed to that we’re together. That we were together, because we certainly aren’t now.

I start the bath, letting the hot water fill the tub and warm the air before stripping off my clothes. I climb in, hoping this somehow makes me forget what happened. If I were lucky, this would all be a bad dream.

My phone chimes out with a text, and being the glutton for punishment that I am, I can’t keep myself from checking it. Luckily it isn’t Leo, but it’s not much better. It’s Dylan and his guy code or whatever the hell it is that is making him take Leo’s side in this.

Dylan: I told him not to come here.

Me: Thank you

Dylan: Tomorrow is a new day, Han. Talk to him. Think about how he’s feeling.

Me: What about how I’m feeling?

Dylan: I know you’re a mess, but Leo probably is too.

Me: A mess with realizing that his girlfriend hates his dad.

Dylan: I’m going to let you wallow and ignore that you’re being a whiny pain in the ass.

I text him a middle finger back, letting him know that while I appreciate his words, I’d rather not hear them right now.

I also need to do something about work tomorrow.

I can’t bring myself to go in and face Leo.

So instead of calling Leo, who I would normally report my absence to, I text Ellen, letting her know that I need to take tomorrow off.

She doesn’t ask any questions and all I can hope is that she can see past this mess should she find out. I need to keep my job. But as much as I’m worried about my job, I’m more worried about my relationship with Leo. It’s hard to picture my life without him now.

I toss my phone onto the towel I have crumpled up on the floor and I sink down into the water.

I fucked up the best thing that has ever happened to me all because I had to get the last word in with a person who meant nothing to me.

Now these two worlds have collided and I can’t even begin to imagine how I can fix this.