Finally a Family

Chapter Three

“So no money? Just half a farm?” Lizzie sounded frustrated, as if hoping Hannah had called to tell her the cash amount of her supposed inheritance. “And what are you going to do with that?”

“I don’t know. Sell it, I guess.” Hannah let go of the steering wheel of her rental car, downshifted, grabbed the wheel again and turned her car into the parking lot of the motel.

“In six months.”

“I know. I don’t know what to do.”

“You can’t negotiate?”

“With a dead man? Lizzie, this was written out by Sam, signed and sealed in front of a lawyer. I guess this trip was a waste of money.”

“I really thought you’d get money up front. Too bad you didn’t take up the family on their offer to pay for your ticket.”

“I don’t want a penny from them….”

“But if you get half of that farm, you’ll get more than a penny.”

“In six months? I’m not interested.”

Hannah pulled into the parking stall in front of her motel room. “So, did you go to the bank?”

“No. Not yet.”

Hannah continued as she got out of the car. “I thought you were meeting with them this afternoon?”

“I had to cover your appointments, honey.”

Lizzie sounded funny. “Is everything okay yet?”

“Everything’s fine. I’m waiting for a call from our loan officer and I’m telling Taylor tonight about the change in our appointment.”

“You sure this is still a go?” Hannah got out of the car and walked to the edge of a field bordering the motel. A few shoots of green worked themselves through the tangle of weeds covering the field.

“Absolutely. So when you coming back?” Lizzie asked, abruptly shifting the conversation to another topic.

“Dan Westerveld wanted me to take some time to think about my decision. I’ll talk to him on Sunday.”

“Excellent idea. Take your time, Hannah. You could use a break. You’ve been working day and night on that stupid business plan. You’ve already paid for your ticket. You may as well enjoy some time off work.”

“Not my idea of a holiday,” Hannah said, lifting her face to the warm spring sun. “Did you talk to the landlord about that leaky tap?”

“He says he’ll get to it when he gets to it.” Lizzie hummed a little tune and Hannah braced herself.

“What’s up, Lizzie?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re humming. Every time you hum, you’ve got some confession to make.”

Lizzie sighed. “Well, I was going to wait until you were back. I knew once we start running the salon, you’ll have more money and you’ll probably enjoy being on your own. The apartment won’t cost much ’cause it’s part of the salon….”

Hannah’s heart sank while Lizzie continued.

“And Pete’s been making noises about us getting more serious.”

“Don’t tell me he wants you to move in with him,” Hannah said.

“Now don’t even start on your old-lady fussing and moralizing,” Lizzie continued. “We’re going to get married once you and me get the salon going.”

“You sound like my mother.” Hannah couldn’t keep the slightly bitter tone out of her voice. “I’m guessing you’re moving out tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m disappointed Pete thinks you’re that easy, Lizzie.” And no sooner had the words left her mouth than Hannah wished she could take them back.

“Not all of us are willing to keep guys at arm’s length just because we don’t trust them,” Lizzie snapped. “You haven’t gone out with anyone since Alex dumped you.”

“I’ll date when I find a guy worth dating.” Unlike my mother who, after Sam, went out with any man that smiled at her longer than two seconds.

“And you won’t find a guy worth dating if you don’t date.”

Hannah checked her next comment. She needed Lizzie and didn’t dare push her too far. “So you’ll be moved out when I’m back.” Hannah deliberately pitched her voice low and forced a smile to her face.

“Pete’s a good guy, Hannah. He’s solid.”

Not solid enough to want to marry her.

“Anyway, I gotta go. Gotta make a few more calls about this business….” Lizzie let the sentence hang and Hannah felt a niggle of doubt creep into her mind.

“You sure everything’s okay, Lizzie?”

“Yeah. Hey, whaddya think about Pete coming in on this deal? He’s got a few dollars he can put in. Will help us out a lot.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She decided to forgo the obvious complications of bringing in a partner who knew precious little about the salon business, never mind the fact that if Lizzie and Pete broke up, the business would be affected.

“I kinda thought you would say that.” Lizzie sighed. “Okay. Gotta go. Take care.”

Hannah said goodbye, flipped her phone shut and slipped it into her pocket. Lizzie sounded distracted. The whole business deal was taking more out of both of them than Hannah wanted to admit.

She glanced at her watch. Lots of time left in this day. Maybe she should go for a drive and get her mind off all the events bombarding her mind the past few days.

Fifteen minutes later she was heading out of town, down the highway. The only other vehicle was a bright red truck and he had his signal light on for the next exit.

Ethan Westerveld, she realized as she came closer. The truck turned onto a gravel road marked with a hand-painted sign announcing a farm for sale. Was Sam’s farm at the end of the road? And what did it look like, this place Sam wanted to split between her and his nephew?

Dan’s comment slipped to the forefront of her mind.