Chapter Twenty

~Hannah~

Two Months Later

“HOW WAS YOUR DAY, dear?” Brad asks as I walk in the house from work. He beat me home today, and if my nose isn’t deceiving me, he’s made spaghetti for dinner.

Good God, I love this man.

“It was pretty good. I had two hysterectomies today, and I thought I was going to have to stay a bit late for a delivery, but it came about an hour ago.”

“That baby knew that you had a sexy guy to go home to.”

“Yes. That must be it. And then I saw my therapist for an hour, and I’m glad I’m going. He’s helping a lot.” I giggle and turn my face up for a kiss. He takes it from an innocent peck to a hot, searing make out sesh in about one-point-six seconds. “Mm, I missed you, too.”

He winks at me and returns to his work station, chopping up vegetables for a salad.

“I grabbed the mail on my way in,” I announce and sort through it, setting his mail to the side. There’s an envelope from the school of medicine that I graduated from, and I immediately open it. “Wow.”

“What is it?”

“A thank you letter,” I reply and read it out loud.

Dr. Malone,

It is with great respect and appreciation that I write this letter to thank you for your donation to the Yale School of Medicine. For generations, taking anatomy classes has been a rite of passage for medical students, and this integral part of becoming a physician would be lost without the opportunity that donors such as yourself have given us.

We take great pride in knowing that you believe that we can make great changes in the future of medicine. The donation of your family member is something we hold near and dear to our hearts and use the greatest care as we use them to teach future generations of physicians.

On a personal note, you were one of my students in your second year here at Yale, and I wanted to offer my sincerest condolences and personal gratitude.

Sincerely,

Matthew T. Murdoch, M.D., Ph.D.

I fold the letter and return it to its envelope as Brad walks around the island to wrap an arm around my back.

“Are you okay with this?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” I nod and smile up at him. “I know that I did the right thing in not abandoning him and instead donating his remains to science. I finally have a reason to be proud of my dad, and he’s finally a productive member of society.”

Brad smiles and returns to his vegetables.

“I think your dad would be happy with that.”

“I don’t know if he would, but my mom would be, and that’s something too. Now, I’m starving, and that smells fantastic.”

“It’s a family recipe.”

“Spaghetti?”

“That’s right.”

I glance at the empty jar of store bought spaghetti sauce and snort. “Are you a descendent of Ragu?”

“No, smart ass. You use that as the base, and then add other things to make it more delicious.”

“If you say so. Gimme.”

“You’re very demanding.” But he smiles and dishes up a helping of the steaming sauce and pasta. It does smell fantastic. “Here you go.”

I take a bite and chew slowly as he watches, knowing that he wants me to offer him a reaction.

I swallow and shrug a shoulder. “It’s pretty good.”

“Just pretty good?”

“Okay,” I say with a smile. “It’s really good. I hope there will be enough for leftovers.”

“I made a ton,” he says and dishes up his own plate.

“I have a favor to ask.”

“Anything.”

“After dinner, do you mind taking me down to the lake? It’s a nice day and it’s not anywhere near dark yet.”

“Of course.” He takes a bite of his own dinner. “We can go anywhere you like.”

“Just the lake.”

We’re both hungry, so dinner disappears quickly. We stack our dirty dishes in the sink for later and head out in his truck for the public access beach.

“It’s so nice since most of the tourists have gone home,” I remark, enjoying the way the sunlight bounces off the water.

“Even OPTS is over.”

“OPTS?”

“Old people tourist season. Haven’t you noticed that about the time that school starts and the families go home, that’s when the old people come in for the last half of September?”

“No,” I reply with a giggle. “Is this really a thing?”

“Hell yes, it’s a thing. I can’t even begin to tell you how many elderly people we pull over in the early fall. It’s ridiculous.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” I reply as he pulls to a stop by the boat launch dock at Whitetail Lake. “Let’s go sit on the dock.”

He gives me a weird look, then says, “Okay.”

He follows me down the long dock over the water to the very end. I sit down, careful to not put my feet near the water, and he joins me.

“It’s a beautiful evening,” I say again, grappling for conversation.

“Yes. Did you bring me here to break up with me?”

My gaze whips up to his, but he’s smiling down at me.

“No. Not even close.”

“Good. What’s up, Hannah?”

I swallow hard and look down at the water. “I think I need to put my feet in this water.”

He’s quiet beside me for a moment, and then he reaches over and takes my hand in his, linking our fingers.

“Why?” he asks softly.

“Because I’m afraid of it, and I don’t need to be.” I lift my chin and look at him. “Because you’ve helped me conquer so many fears this year, and this is one that I need to be gone so I can enjoy our lake again. I want to be able to kayak and boat and swim in it next year with our friends without being afraid.

“I’m so fucking tired of being afraid.”

“Okay.” He nods and looks down at the water, then back at me. “How do you want to do this?”

“I don’t have any idea.” I blow out a breath with a humorless laugh. “When I’m hiking in the woods, afraid that I’ll get attacked by a grizzly bear, I just march fast ahead, intent on getting through it alive.”

“Well, you could just take the plunge, literally, and put your feet in there.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple.” I chew my bottom lip for a moment, thinking it over. “Tell me again about how they decided that it’s safe.”

“Well, first they turned off all of the power that runs under the lake, and then they used a grid to methodically comb the lake, diving down to see where the power lines were exposed.”

“Why are there lines that run under the lake?”

“Because there are homes all around the lake, but not necessarily roads that access it all. The city is currently working on approving a road that would completely circle the lake, but we don’t have that at this time. So, to make it more cost effective to feed power to all of the houses, they ran the lines through the lake, under the bottom of it where it’s the most shallow, at the most narrow points.”

“I see.” I nod, looking out at the lake before us. The sun is just beginning to set, casting the mountains in pink. It’s breathtaking. “And you believe that it’s totally fixed, without any chance of it happening again?”

“I do believe that,” he says, squeezing my hand. “Not only did they fix the problem, they spent weeks surveying every foot of the lines, making sure they’re secure and safe. Hannah, I wouldn’t let my townspeople near anything that could harm or kill them.”

“I know that,” I reply. “Remember, this isn’t rational.”

“It’s okay.” Most of the beach is deserted, except for a family walking their dog about two hundred yards away. The little girl has taken her shoes off and dips her feet in the water, giggling at how cold it is.

“A toddler can do it,” I murmur and then look back out at the water again. “Will you put your feet in with me?”

“So if we die, at least we die together?”

“Not funny.” But then I laugh, unable to help myself. “Okay, it’s funny. Yes. If one of us dies, we both die.”

“I can do that.” I slip out of my flip flops and he takes his shoes and socks off and looks at me. “Are you ready?”

“Hell no.”

“We don’t have to do this.”

“Yes, we do.” I purse my lips and dip my big toe in, then pull back fast. “Not even a zap.”

“All right, the whole foot now. Let’s do this.”

I nod, and we both sink one foot into the water. It’s cold and feels good on my skin, between my toes.

And I didn’t die.

I sigh, feeling like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I sink the other foot in with it and let them dangle, swishing around.

“I’m still here.”

“Thank goodness,” he says, still holding my hand. I don’t feel foolish, I feel powerful. “I’m so proud of you.”

I look up to find his green eyes happy, full of pride, and sexy as hell, just as they always are.

“You know what? Me too. Let’s go home.”