If ever there had been a gloomy day in Destin, Florida, Hannah decided that this was it. Of course, it probably had more to do with her mood than the weather.
The aquarium was packed with tourists looking for something to do on the rainy day, which meant that it was crowded. The phrase packed in like sardines seemed especially appropriate as they were surrounded by tanks of fish.
Hannah shuffled along in Addi’s wake as she moved from tank to tank, exclaiming over the creatures swimming on the other side of the glass. After she’d visited all her favorites, however, Addi turned to Hannah. “I’m ready to go.” Then, as if remembering her manners, she said, “If you are.”
“Absolutely. Let’s go, moonbeam. Maybe we can cuddle up and watch a movie.”
“And make popcorn?”
“Sounds like a perfect rainy day. We’ll even order room service.”
“I want to cook something.”
Hannah called Carter’s driver to come pick them up and they made plans as they walked slowly back through the aquarium and found the car waiting at the curb outside.
By the time they made it back, they had finally agreed on making sandwiches and ordering dessert from room service. When they got back to the condo, Hannah carefully avoided looking at the spot on the couch where she and Carter had sat yesterday, wrapped in each other’s arms. It didn’t matter though. Just being in this condo overwhelmed her with thoughts of him and feelings she was trying to keep locked away.
“Here’s your sandwich,” Hannah said, bringing Addi her plate as she watched a movie from the dining room table. “Eat it all and I’ll order up our dessert.”
“The whole thing? Can I take the crusts off?”
“Sure. Otherwise, I couldn’t take the crust off my sandwich.”
Addi giggled and they both took the crusts off their bread and ate them. Five minutes later, Hannah had finished hers, so even though Addi still had a few more bites left, she ordered a brownie sundae for Addi and a piece of key lime pie for herself. It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door. “That was fast,” she said to Addi, going over to the door.
But it wasn’t room service. It was Carter’s mom.
With her stomach clenching with tension and dismay, Hannah stepped aside and walked away, leaving her to come in if she wanted. Hannah thought it was best if she just stayed out of the woman’s way as much as possible. Mrs. Ellis seemed equally eager to ignore her.
Going straight over to Addi, she said, “There you are. Come give me a hug.”
“Grandma Ellis!” Addi got up and walked over to give her a hug.
Watching in concern from the kitchen while she cleared the lunch mess away, Hannah thought of how most kids would be sprinting across the room for a bear hug, not such a delicate, polite embrace.
Mrs. Ellis released Addi and turned to look at Hannah. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you that I’d want to see Addilynn this morning when you went traipsing off somewhere, did it?”
Hannah bit back the words she burned to say, and merely remarked. “I made the plans with Carter. He approved them, so you’ll have to take that up with him.”
“You should call him Mr. Ellis.”
“He told me to call him Carter. You’ll have to take that up with him, too.”
By now, she had the food put away and the counters wiped down, so Hannah wondered what she’d find to do with herself. Another knock on the door came as a relief. She’d forgotten about room service. “Addi, your dessert is here,” she said, taking the tray from the waiter and carrying it over to the table.
Of course, Mrs. Ellis came over, looking down her nose at it. “I’m sorry, Addilynn, but I can’t allow you to eat that. I’ll be taking you to dinner soon, and I don’t want you ruining your appetite.”
Hannah met the woman’s eyes over the table. “Addi’s father has left her food choices up to me, and I made a deal with her that she could have it if she ate her lunch. I will not break my promise to her.”
Hannah pulled out a chair for Addi to sit in, but the little girl just looked between the two of them, unsure what to do.
“It’s okay, Addi,” Hannah said, trying to reassure her. Finally, Addi moved over to the table and picked up her spoon. Over her head, Hannah had a visual standoff with Mrs. Ellis, but when it came to Addi’s happiness, Hannah found that she was more than ready to go toe to toe with the woman. And her instincts told her that Carter would back her up.
“Well,” Mrs. Ellis said, sniffing, “I’m sure I can push back dinner reservations an hour or so. I wanted to do it earlier so Carter and Jenelle would have time to go do something else afterwards, but I’m sure it won’t matter.”
Hannah felt a tightening in her chest when she heard Carter had plans to go out with the other woman. Maybe it was just a polite gesture toward his mother’s guest, but a woman like Jenelle wouldn’t hesitate to flirt with him. No doubt she was a pro at it too.
Hannah decided not to let the other woman know she was upset about it though and smiled at her. Mrs. Ellis’ lips pinched together in a flat line.
Mrs. Ellis looked down at Addi then, and gasped, her eyes big. She grabbed Addi’s wrist and held it up. Addi swallowed the bite she’d just taken, her eyes following the blob of ice cream that fell off her spoon onto the table top from where her grandma held her hand in the air. Then Mrs. Ellis grasped the three weathered bracelets on Addi’s wrist. “What are these?”
“Wish bracelets,” Addi said, her face solemn and wary.
“Well, you can’t wear those to the restaurant tonight. How do you take them off?”
“You can’t,” Hannah told her. “They’re tied on.”
Mrs. Ellis let go of Addi and walked into the kitchen and began sifting through drawers. “Then we’ll have to cut them off. I won’t have my granddaughter look like white trash.”
While Addi cried, “No!” and argued with her grandma, Hannah grabbed her phone and sent a text to Carter that she needed help with his mom. She just hoped he would respond quickly because she had a feeling this was going to get bad.
“Here we go,” Mrs. Ellis said, heading back toward Addi with the scissors in her hands.
Addi put her hand behind her back. “Don’t cut them off, Grandma. Please? My wishes won’t come true.”
“Wishes? What nonsense is that? A girl like you doesn’t need wishes, Addilynn.”
Then, to Hannah’s horror, Mrs. Ellis grabbed Addi’s arm and forcibly pulled it from behind the little girl’s back and cut the bracelets off in one snip. Addi picked them up frantically and stared at them as her lips turned down and began to tremble. She started crying, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
“Addi,” Hannah said, pulling her close and rubbing her back. “It’s okay, moonbeam. I promise it will be okay. We’ll make more. As many as you want.”
“No, you won’t,” Mrs. Ellis said. “Addilynn is not going to be an unkempt hippie like you.”
If the situation weren’t so tragic, Hannah would have laughed at being called a hippie. Fortunately, since she was about to lose it on Mrs. Ellis, Carter came in then. He looked around quickly, first to Addi who was still wrapped in Hannah’s arms, then to his mother, and finally back to Hannah.
“What’s going on?”
“She cut off Addi’s wish bracelets,” Hannah said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Carter turned sharply to his mom. “What? Why did you do that?”
“Because it makes her look like a piece of trash. If she wants a bracelet, I’ll go and buy her one.”
“Mom, whatever your opinions are on the matter, it wasn’t your decision to make.” He came to Addi then, squatting down to be on her level, and Hannah stepped back so he could hold her. “There, there, sweetheart. Stop crying, okay?”
But Addi pressed her face into his shoulder and cried harder. “But Daddy, now my wishes won’t come true, and I wanted them to so badly.”
“I know. Tell you what, why don’t you go wash your face with a cool washcloth and try to calm down. Your grandma, Hannah, and I need to have a talk.”
Addi nodded and ran from the room, shutting her door hard behind her. When she was gone, Carter turned to his mom. “You can’t do this anymore. Do you even understand what you did?”
“It was just a couple of cheap bracelets.”
“Their worth isn’t defined by how much they cost. She made them and treasured them. How could you love her and be so cruel as to take that from her?”
“Oh, you’re just bewitched.”
Hannah gasped, but when Carter looked at her, his eyes were warm. “You may be right about that, Mom. You want to cut mine off, too?” He turned and pulled up the cuff of his dress shirt, revealing the bracelet Hannah had made for him. She was surprised and flattered to see that he was still wearing it.
“I think she’s a bad influence. Addi has never looked so wild.”
“Or so happy,” Carter argued. “Did you notice that at all? Did you see that Addi has gained some weight so that she looks strong and healthy now? She goes out and plays, cooks, and a dozen other things. And all of that I can directly attribute to Hannah. She is the reason Addi is blooming into a healthy, happy, well-adjusted little girl. It’s perfectly clear to me which of you I want around Addi, so if you want to see her again, you will apologize.”
“I’ll do it now.” She turned as if to go to Addi’s room.
“No,” Hannah called out. “She’s too upset.” Realizing she was bossing around her boss’s mother, she clamped her mouth shut and looked at Carter, but he nodded in agreement.
“Give her some time. Hannah, why don’t you go in there and check on her?”
Hannah nodded and went to Addi’s door. As she went in, Carter’s mom was protesting that she should be the one to check on her, so Hannah was happy to close the door on that nonsense.
Addi lay buried under the covers so far that Hannah could only tell she was there by the lump in the middle of the bed and the occasional sniff coming from it. Hannah had no idea what to say to make it better, so she just pulled back the blankets enough to see Addi’s tear-stained face. Brushing her curls back, Hannah just looked at her. Addi stared back, her lashes spiked and her eyes awash in tears.
“I have an idea,” Hannah ventured.
“What?”
“Want to go back to my house and make more wish bracelets?”
She nodded and flung an arm around Hannah’s neck. “Yes, please. But will Grandma cut them off again?”
“No, she won’t,” Carter said from the doorway. He went to the other side of the bed and sat down. He kissed Addi’s cheek, bringing him so close that Hannah could see flecks of gold in his blue eyes. “Go with Hannah, sweetheart. She’ll take good care of you. She always does.”