Page 2 of Billionaire Unforgettable: Tanner

I’d just started my first job as a cosmetologist at the time.

Since my mother and his mother were close friends, they suggested that we meet up so I could introduce Tanner to more of New York City.

That casual coffee meetup between Tanner and me in New York had turned into a seven year relationship for the two of us.

I’d spent the majority of my twenties with Tanner.

He and his two brothers had built their own business during our time in New York, and I’d advanced my career in cosmetology by learning as many extra skills as possible.

We’d gotten engaged before the two of us moved back to Crystal Fork together after Tanner’s older brother, Kaleb, had relocated the KTD Remington headquarters back to Montana.

Our relationship had ended badly, but I wasn’t exactly a villain because I’d left Tanner, and I definitely hadn’t left him for another man.

The people in this town assumed what they wanted to assume.

I’d grown up with a lot of the people in this town, and they were good people, but they lived in a small world. Gossiping and speculating was a ritual in Crystal Fork.

“Have you talked to Tanner at all since you moved back home?” Silas questioned.

I curled my hands around the warm mug. “No,” I said flatly. “I think it’s better if we don’t. He goes out of his way to avoid me most of the time, and I really have nothing to say to him. We’ve both moved on. Like you said, it’s been a long time.”

If Tanner had something to say, he could have contacted me in Seattle, but he hadn’t. He still spoke to my mother when he saw her, but he’d never once asked her about me. She’d knownexactly where I was, and knowing my mom, she would have given Tanner any information he’d wanted.

“It wouldn’t hurt for the two of you to talk about it if it’s really water under the bridge, Hannah. Maybe you can get some kind of closure.”

My stomach twisted at the thought of actually discussing my heartbreak with Tanner Remington.

Breaking up with him had nearly destroyed me, and I wanted to leave that pain in the past.

“Why?” I asked right before I took a sip of the coffee.

I let the taste of a good coffee roll over my tastebuds, closing my eyes for a moment because Silas’s coffee wasthat good.

I’d lived in Seattle for seven years, but I’d never had a cup of coffee as good as The Mug And Jug could brew up, and that was saying something since Seattle was known for their coffee.

“Why?” Silas repeated. “Maybe I think he owes it to you to set the record straight in this town. If people knew you were on good terms with each other, maybe they’d stop ignoring you like you were at fault.”

Silas was one of the few people in town who knew my side of the story, and I loved him for defending me, but I didn’t want to renew my acquaintance with Tanner Remington.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “I’ll probably move to Billings once I convince myself that Mom is really okay. I’ll still be close enough to her that we can still see each other often.”

“Wouldn’t you rather be able to see her almost every day?” Silas asked.

I fiddled with the handle of the mug. “You know I do. Her heart attack scared me to death, and she’s all I have. I guess that really woke me up to the fact that I wasn’t spending enough time with her, and that she was getting older. I think sometimes we get so involved with work and life that we forget what’s really important.”

My mother and I had always been close, and she’d been so happy when I’d moved back to Cystal Fork the first time with Tanner.

However, she’d been the first one to encourage me to take a great opportunity in Seattle when Tanner and I had broken up, even though she’d rather have me closer.

She’d wanted me to be happy, even if that meant that I’d be moving eight hundred miles away from her.

My only parent had always wanted what was best formefirst.

Now it was time for me to think about what was best forher.

I was her only child, a daughter she thought she’d never have until she finally got pregnant in her thirties.

She’d raised me well, and she’d done it alone because we’d lost my dad when I was an infant.

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