Thank goodness for Hunter and Will and the rest of my family, but particularly them. They sleep here every night, taking turns, so I never have to be alone. Homer sleeps next to me, whimpering in his sleep. I think he knows.
—From the diary of Hannah Abbott Guthrie, age twenty-eight
Despite her concerns about his business falling apart because of her, Hannah didn’t protest when Nolan insisted they spend the rest of the rainy afternoon in bed. They made love again to the sound of raindrops beating against the roof and then fell asleep wrapped up in each other for a couple of hours.
After another shower, Hannah donned one of his flannel shirts and insisted he show her around his small but tidy home. On his desk in the living room, she found a roll of architectural plans and asked him what they were.
“The house I’d like to build on this property. Someday.”
“Show me.”
He unfurled the plans for the post-and-beam house he’d envisioned.
“It’s beautiful,” she said of the architect’s rendering of the finished product. “When are you going to build it?”
Shrugging, he rolled the plans back into a tight cylinder. “I don’t know.”
She felt the wall go up around him, the same one he’d erected when she asked about his family. While she desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, she didn’t push him, hoping he’d open up to her when he was ready to. Wandering to the window that overlooked the yard, she noticed a huge pile of freshly split firewood. “What’s with all the wood?” The burning season was all but over for now.
“Takes a lot of wood to keep your fire pit going for an entire Sultans weekend.”
She turned to him. “You did that for me?”
“I had to do something with all my extra energy while I was waiting for you to do your thinking.”
“I’m sorry I put you through that.”
“I told you not to apologize to me.”
“I still feel like I should.”
“Well, don’t. As great as things are between us, I know we don’t live in a bubble, and there will be some bumps as people get used to us together. I just hope you know . . .”
She went to him in the kitchen, where he’d put soup on to warm, and wrapped her arms around his bare torso. “What do you hope I know?”
“That no matter what anyone says or does or thinks, it doesn’t have to change things for us. We may not live in a bubble, but perhaps we should build one around ourselves and our relationship so other people’s crap can’t get to us.”
“That’s a really good idea,” she said, leaving a line of kisses between his shoulder blades as his belly fluttered under her hands.
“Glad you think so, because this weekend is going to be another test. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh.
“If you want to play it cool until after it’s over, you won’t hurt my feelings.”
Dropping her hands to his hips, Hannah encouraged him to turn to face her. “I don’t want to play it cool. I don’t want to hide what we have together from our friends.”
“They were Caleb’s friends before they were your friends or mine,” he reminded her.
“True, but they’re ours now, too, and there’s never going to be a perfect time to ease them into the idea of me dating again. Or falling in love or anything that doesn’t involve Caleb. So there’s no time like the present.”
“And what if one of them says something like Gavin did?”
“I’ll be ready for it this time.”
“We’ll both be ready for it, and we’ll deal with it together.”
Hannah nodded in agreement and went up on tiptoes to kiss him.
His arm banded tightly around her as the kiss went from light and sweet to hot and sultry in the span of three seconds. “Food first,” Nolan said when he came up for air. “Then more of that.”
“You’re a spoil sport.”
“I’ll make it up to you.”
After a lunch of delicious vegetable soup and thick turkey sandwiches, he spent the rest of the afternoon making it up to her in every way he could think of. “I hate to say it, but I have to go soon,” Nolan said as their bodies cooled and their breathing returned to normal. “My crew chief was able to finagle a couple of hours of practice time on a track in New Hampshire that’s more than ninety minutes from here.”
“This was a very nice and very decadent day.”
“Indeed it was.”
“I won’t come near you during your workdays anymore. I’d hate to be responsible for running you out of business.”
“No chance of that, babe. The business is very flush despite my inattention recently. You can bother me any time your tires need checking.”
Hannah giggled with mirth at her flimsy excuse. “I figured that was quicker than an oil change.”
He cupped her backside with one big hand and squeezed. “I’ll give you a complete lube and filter job any time you need it.”
“I might need it tonight after you get back.”
“It’ll be late.”
“I’ll wait up.”
“Mmm,” he said, losing himself in another kiss. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
They spent that night and every night that week together. After he dropped off the wood for the weekend on Thursday afternoon, he took her with him back to his place to shower and change his clothes after the long workday, and they never made it out of bed again until pounding on the door woke them out of a sound sleep at four in the morning.
“What the heck?” Hannah muttered as she came to.
They’d been up late and had only gone to sleep around two.
Knowing exactly who would be pounding on his door in the middle of the night, Nolan was immediately awake and in motion, pulling on a pair of jeans and zipping them. “Stay here. No matter what you hear, please . . . If you care about me at all, stay here.”
As he shut the bedroom door behind him and went to deal with his drunk and belligerent father, Nolan tried not to think about the stricken expression on Hannah’s face after he spoke to her so harshly.
“Open the goddamn door, boy. I know you’re in there.”
Nolan opened the door and gave his father a shove to get him away from the house. He pulled the inside door shut and went out into the chilly night, oblivious to the cold even though he was barefoot and shirtless. “You need to get the hell out of here.”
“Not until I get what I came for.” Vernon’s words were slurred, and he smelled like he’d fallen into a vat of gin.
“I’m all done. You’ve gotten the last penny you’re ever going to get out of me.”
“Is your fancy lady putting those ideas in your head?”
“Hardly. You think I’d be foolish enough to tell her about you? If you want to get yourself cleaned up, I’ll gladly pay for that, but that’s the only thing I’ll pay for where you’re concerned. I’ve been paying my whole life, and I’m done.”
“You’re done when I say so, and not one second before.”
“I’m done now. If you think I don’t mean it, push me on this and I’ll have the cops out here before you know what hit you. You’re trespassing on my property and causing a nuisance.”
“Listen to you all high and mighty. Your property. This was my father’s place.”
“Yeah, and he left it to me, not you. So you’d better get your ass out of here or deal with the cops. I’m all through with you and your brand of emotional blackmail.”
Vernon seemed to realize all at once that Nolan was dead serious. “You got some nerve talking to me like that, boy.”
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here time and time again and acting like I owe you anything. Now get going or go to jail. Your choice.”
“You never talked like this ’til you took up with that fancy Abbott girl.”
“She’s made me realize I deserve better than what I’ve gotten from you. Don’t you ever get tired of living this way? Why don’t you let somebody help you?”
To Nolan’s immense dismay, Vernon broke down into deep, gulping sobs. “You don’t know how hard it is.”
“No, I don’t, but I do know if I continue to enable you, you’ll never have a good reason to get help. You know where I am and the offer of help has no expiration date. But don’t come around here again looking for a handout. I’m tapped out in every possible way.” It took everything Nolan had to turn his back on his father and walk up the stairs to the porch.
“Nolan.”
He kept his back to his father. “What?”
“She’s too good for you.”
The barb went straight to the source of all his insecurities where Hannah was concerned. “Yeah, Dad, I know, but for some reason she loves me anyway.” He went inside and closed the door, leaning against it for several minutes until the trembling subsided and his heart rate returned to normal.
Having his father show up with Hannah tucked in his bed was his worst nightmare come true. How would he handle the questions she was sure to ask without also sharing the ugly truth about his family? He waited until he was as calm as he could hope to get before returning to the bedroom, shedding his jeans and sliding back into bed with her. The warmth of her body immediately soothed the part of him that had gone cold with fear when he realized who was pounding on his door in the middle of the night.
“Everything okay?” she asked as she snuggled into his embrace.
“Yeah.” He waited for her to press him for answers, but she didn’t. Thank God she didn’t. But as Nolan felt her relax into sleep next to him, he stared at the ceiling for a long time, aware he’d only dodged the bullet for now. It was only a matter of time before he had no choice but to come clean with her. When that happened would she realize his father was right? Was she way too good for the likes of him?
The thought of that filled him with irrational fear. He wasn’t his father. He knew that. But he’d spent his whole life being ashamed of where he’d come from and hiding the truth of his family from the friends who’d become his family. A lifelong pattern of denial was a hard habit to break.
Hannah had bared her soul to him. She’d shared the personal letter Caleb had left behind for her and talked of her deepest fears and hopes. How could he give her less than what she’d given him?
The question tortured him through that long night, and by the time the sun rose on Friday, he still had no good answers.
Final preparations for the weekend kept Hannah so busy on Friday she had very little time to think about what had happened the night before at Nolan’s. She hadn’t been able to hear much from the bedroom where he’d asked her to stay, but she’d heard him arguing with another man.
When he’d returned to bed, she’d hoped he would open up to her, but he hadn’t. And she’d forced herself not to push him. She’d let him think she was asleep next to him, but she’d been awake for a long time, aware of his turmoil and wishing she could do something to ease his burden. But until he decided to share it with her, there wasn’t much she could do.
The closed-off side of him was a source of concern to her. Every other part of their relationship seemed to work almost effortlessly, but getting him to open up about things he found unpleasant or potentially embarrassing could turn into a big challenge for them.
Hannah didn’t want to be in a one-sided relationship, even one that worked as well as theirs did most of the time. If he was unwilling to share all of himself with her, there’d always be a part of him that was off limits to her.
She was still puzzling over the dilemma when the doorbell rang just after two o’clock. Hannah was thrilled to find her grandfather on the front porch, holding an ornately carved wooden box that had been stained and finished with gleaming varnish.
“Oh my goodness,” Hannah said as she opened the door to him. “It’s incredible, Gramps!”
Elmer had insisted on working with Myles to prepare Homer for burial, to spare her from having to handle that dreaded task. “You think so?”
Fighting tears, Hannah said, “It’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined.”
Hobbling on his recently sprained ankle, Elmer carried the box straight through the house to the back deck, where he put it on a table. “It’s lined with soft flannel and he’s wrapped in his special blanket. It’s also completely sealed so it won’t attract any unwanted attention from the rest of the animal kingdom.”
Hannah hugged her grandfather. “You thought of everything.”
He kissed her forehead and returned the hug. “Nothing but the best for our Homer and our Hannah.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Landon took care of the marker,” he said of her younger brother who’d inherited his woodworking skills from Elmer. “He said to tell you he’ll bring it with him later.”
“You guys are the best.”
“You ready for all of this?” he asked, gesturing to the yard that was littered with chairs and coolers and the keg of beer her father had generously donated and had delivered the day before.
“As ready as I ever am. It’ll be fun and a bit sad, but mostly fun.”
“Any time you feel too sad, you come find me and we’ll go for a walk. I’ve got a whole bunch of new jokes I’ve been saving up for just such an occasion.”
“You got it,” Hannah said, charmed by him.
Clearing his throat, he looked down at her, his face unusually serious. “I need to say this because it’s been on my mind a lot lately, and I believe in telling people how I feel about them.” He took a moment to gather himself. “I’m awfully proud of you, Hannah. Not just for the way you’ve gotten through the worst thing life could’ve handed you, but because you keep doing things like this that keep Caleb alive for all of us who loved him, despite how hard it must be on you. I wanted to tell you I admire you more than just about anyone I know.”
“Gramps,” she whispered, moved by his heartfelt words. “That means the world to me coming from you.”
He hugged and kissed her again. “Now enough of the mushy stuff. When does the party start?”
She laughed at his attempt to change the subject. “I expect the invasion to begin around four.”
“I’ll be back by five.”
“It wouldn’t be a party without you.” She gestured to the gorgeous box that contained their darling Homer. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
“It was an honor and a privilege, my love.” He kissed her cheek again and was gone before both of them could dissolve into tears.
As Hannah ran her hand over the smooth finish, she noticed the engraved metal plaque her grandfather had affixed to the box.
HOMER GUTHRIE
A good and faithful companion
who was much loved by his people,
Caleb and Hannah Guthrie,
and everyone who knew him.
May he rest in peace.
The simple perfection of the words her grandfather had chosen reduced Hannah to tears. Caleb would definitely approve.
Newlyweds Austin and Debra were the first to arrive and greeted her warmly, expressing their sorrow over Homer’s death. Both were blond and athletic and well suited to each other. Before their wedding last year, Austin had confided in her how difficult it was to marry someone Caleb had never gotten to meet. Hannah had assured him that Caleb would’ve loved Debra, who was absolutely perfect for Caleb’s oldest friend. The two army brats had met in kindergarten at Fort Stewart and remained close until the day Caleb died.
Austin produced a bottle of Jägermeister from his suitcase and handed it proudly to Hannah, who cringed. Jäger was one of the more foul Sultan traditions. “Awesome,” she said dryly.
Debra laughed in solidarity. “I suggested that maybe we’ve outgrown Jäger, but my thoughts were shot down.”
“I imagine they were,” Hannah said. “I’ve been fighting that battle for years to no avail.”
“One of these days they have to grow up, don’t they?” Debra asked as she followed Hannah to the kitchen with a tray of brownies she’d packed in bubble wrap in her suitcase.
“Never!” Austin said as he brought up the rear.
The others arrived in waves over the next two hours—Turk and his girlfriend, Cicily; Mark and his brother Chris; Ethan; Liam; Josh and his wife, Ava; Jack and his guitar; Dylan and his fiancée, Sophia, who seemed overwhelmed by her first official dose of the rowdy Sultans. They ran the gamut from childhood friends to high school to college to hockey to the army.
They’d met through Caleb and become closer than brothers to each other during years of adventures dreamed up by their fearless leader. They’d continued their traditions in the years since they lost him. And now they came together to say good-bye to Homer and to remember Caleb on the seventh anniversary of his death.
Gavin came in carrying a huge pan of chicken wings that he swore he’d made himself, kissing Hannah’s cheek and looking at her for signs of residual damage.
But Hannah felt nothing other than happy to see him—and delighted to razz him about the wings she knew for a fact he’d bought and made to look homemade.
Her family showed up with food and beer and champagne and yet another bottle of Jäger donated by Will. Hannah put him in charge of getting the fire started in the pit.
Nolan was almost the last to arrive, all apologies about an emergency road call just as he was closing down for the weekend.
Since they had the kitchen to themselves for the moment, he gave her a lingering kiss and studied her intently. “How’re you holding up?”
“So far so good. It’s always great to see everyone.” She looked up at him. “I’m going to tell them about us tonight so there’s no chance for gossip or speculation. Okay?”
“Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”
She curled her hand around his nape and brought him in for another kiss before they went outside to join the party.
As it always did, the Friday night gathering turned into a rager with the booze flowing freely and the food mostly overlooked because everyone was too busy talking and catching up to take time to eat. Before she lost them all to alcohol-induced stupor, Hannah clinked a rock on her beer bottle to quiet the crowd.
They focused their solemn attention on her, as they always did when she requested a moment of their time.
“I want to thank you all for coming on somewhat short notice to honor Homer. As you well know, this is exactly what Caleb would’ve done if he had outlived his beloved Homie. And I have to thank Nolan for coming up with the idea for an over-the-top Sultans funeral.”
A round of cheers followed her statement and everyone raised their bottles in a toast to Nolan, who laughed and shrugged off their praise. He’d stayed close to her side all evening, providing steady support and comfort that Hannah appreciated even though he didn’t get close enough to start any tongues wagging. Which had led to the second half of her impromptu speech. She’d given this a lot of thought and had decided to learn from her mistake with Gavin by coming clean about Nolan at the beginning of the weekend.
“The other thing I want to say is I have a bit of news I want to share with you.”
Nolan glanced at her, sending a supportive smile.
Hannah reached for his hand, and he offered it willingly, curling his fingers around hers in a move that drew the attention of everyone gathered around the fire pit.
“Nolan and I have been seeing each other lately.” She added that last word, lately, intentionally, lest there be any doubt about when their relationship actually began. “We’re very happy together, and I hope all of you can find it in your hearts to be happy for us. That’s all I wanted to say. Carry on.”
A murmur of surprise went through the group before Turk, known for his boisterous laugh and irreverent sense of humor, raised his bottle in salute. “To our patron saint, Hannah, who has weathered the storm and kept us around despite our horrendously bad manners, may you know many days of happiness with our brother Nolan. You deserve every good thing that comes your way.”
“Hear, hear,” Dylan said.
Jack began to strum his guitar to the tune of their theme song, “Sultans of Swing,” and soon everyone was singing at the top of their lungs.
“Well,” Hannah said to Nolan, leaning in close to him so he could hear her over the din, “that went well.”
“I guess we’re now officially out of the closet.”
“Looks that way. No going back.”
“Wouldn’t go back for all the tea in China.”
She could tell by the way he looked at her that he desperately wanted to kiss her. “Save it for later,” she whispered. They’d decided he would spend the weekend at her house, and they were counting on the drunken antics of the others to get away with their plan.
“I’ve got lots of things saved up for later,” he said with a playful waggle of his brows.
Hannah shivered with delight and relief that she’d shared their news with Caleb’s closest friends and gotten over that hurdle unscathed, thanks to Turk’s kind words of support. She relaxed into her chair, but kept her firm grip on Nolan’s hand. For the first time in seven years, she didn’t feel like her heart was breaking all over again as she sat in the midst of Caleb’s band of brothers.
Rather, she felt a whole new chapter was beginning—one that paid tribute to the past while holding out hope for a future filled with love and joy.