Page 22 of Sultry Nights

"But you have to look at the best parts of this. You've learned valuable lessons. You'll never go through anything like that again. And you know we always have your back."

"Thanks, Mom." Her mom hugged her and kissed her on the top of the head. And Hanna's heart felt so much more at peace, knowing she had these people in her corner. They were her strength throughout her whole life and certainly when she was dealing with Isaac's messes.

They bolstered her up. They never helped her financially, though. They made her work her way out of it. She used to be irritated by that, but now she understood what they were trying to do. They wanted her to make the decision herself to get rid of Isaac.

And while she had married not to get unmarried, she had tried so hard to make that one work.

But she'd never be so gullible again. That was a fact.

12

Quinn left his house with a lighter step than he had yesterday. They had a nice date last night. And he wanted to ask her out again. Boy, it was great sitting and having adult company and looking into those blue eyes of hers. That was no hardship at all.

Deciding to stop at the bakery and buy his crew cinnamon rolls would do two things for him. It would make him a well-loved boss today, feeding his workers something sweet, and he'd get to see Hanna.

He turned his truck into the parking lot and hopped out with a step so light he could have skipped. As he entered the bakery, the warmth and the aromas of those cinnamon rolls and freshly baked bread and...was that pumpkin bread he smelled? Oh, he had a weakness for pumpkin bread.

He looked at the bakery-filled case and felt relief. There were people standing in line ahead of him, but there should be enough left for his needs.

Hanna came out from the kitchen with a bag in her hand. She hadn't seen him yet. He was standing behind an old fella he recognized from the hardware store.

She smiled brightly and breezed. "There you go, Mrs. Howell. I added a couple extra little goodies in there for you. You all have a nice women's meeting this morning."

Mrs. Howell nodded and said sweetly, "Oh, we always have a nice meeting, Hanna. And these goodies here will help make it extra sweet. Thank you."

Mrs. Howell paid for her order and walked past the people in line and out the door. The next person in line asked for a dozen cookies and a cinnamon roll.

Hanna breezed over to the case and deftly opened a bag. "Do you know which cookies you want?"

The young man at the counter said, "Yes, I want six of the chocolate ones and six of those sugar cookies."

"You got it." Hanna quickly filled the bag, added his cinnamon roll, wrapped in a separate little sheet of bakery paper on the top, rolled the top of the bag closed, and checked him out.

When she looked up at the man in front of him, she finally noticed him. Her smile was bright, and genuine, and sexy.

He grinned and nodded, and she faltered a little bit. She stumbled on her words, "Hi, Mr. ...Trask. How can I help you today?"

Quinn put his head down and looked at his shoes. A grin spread on his face. She kind of affected him that way too, and wasn't that nice?

Mr. Trask placed his order. She deftly fulfilled it, rang him up, and then it was finally his turn.

"How are you today?" He asked her.

She smiled, "I'm doing well. How are you?"

"I'm eager to repeat what we did last night. I'd love to have dinner with you again."

She smiled, "I'd like that too."

She glanced around to make sure that no one was listening. There were people sitting at tables, and no one was standing in line behind him, but she lowered her voice. "I still have this mess going on with my ex. I just feel a little conflicted about getting involved when I've got all this going on."

He leaned in so he could lower his voice as well. "Well, I don't know if having a couple dinners is getting involved, but I'd still like to have dinner with you. And I thought we agreed not to dwell on our ex's messes, remember?"

She chuckled, "You're right. We did say that."

"What's it going to hurt? Let's go to the Sandbar. We'll sit on the beach tonight. We'll have something light to eat, maybe a drink or two, and just talk."

Her eyes met his. "Well, yes, that sounds nice, actually. Thank you."

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