Page 11 of Once Upon a Summer Night

“Wait—she’s coming here?” he looked to the back door. “Del, the whole—”

“She said you’d know where to find her. Somewhere the others wouldn’t think to look.”

A creak sounded overhead. Followed by another. A reluctant grin tugged at his lips.

Hannah had always been a climber. In fact, that’s how she’d gotten her nickname—Del had always been convinced her little sister was half monkey. Chase headed for the conference room windows…and the rusty old fire escape hanging just outside.

“Got it. Heading there now.”

“Okay, pard,” she said. “Good luck.”

He flipped the lock on the window and slid it open. “Good luck?”

“In convincing her to stay. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”

She disconnected; the chalice laid out before him.

“Great. No pressure.”

Chase shoved his phone into a pocket and eased out onto the fire escape, hoping to finally get some answers on whether or not his first love might be coming back to stay.

*

Hannah stood onthe rooftop of her father’s firehouse, taking in a bird’s-eye view of her hometown at twilight. Those new, decorative streetlights looked pretty cool this time of night, their oil-lamp-looking fixtures casting a subtle, flickering glow to the sidewalks below. If only that glow would do more to soothe her nerves. She’d made amends with the women in the family. Now it was time to see what could be salvaged of her relationships with the men.

She looked to the sky, so clear and endlessly black, just like that pivotal night so long ago. In a blink, she was eighteen again, sneaking around the far side of the front porch, about to make a beeline for the pines that would block the view of her escape.

“Where are you going at this hour?”

She’d flinched, her steps faltering.

“Out.” The word had been barely more than a nervous squeak as she tried to hide the duffel bag slung over one shoulder and pillow stuffed under that same arm. Beth was waiting out by the road, and Hannah wasn’t going to fail her. Chase was due to meet up with them soon, too.

“It’s late. Go back to your room.”

“No.”

Surprise had lit his features; it wasn’t often she talked back to the chief. “Go back,now.”

When she tried to step past him, he moved to block her path. “Take one more step, daughter, and you’ll be grounded for a month.”

It’d taken all she had to look him square in the eye…and keep on walking.

“Where could you possibly be going that’s important enough to be grounded for a whole month? Make that two whole months!”

“Can’t tell you,” was all she could manage. The emotions were beginning to choke her, the realization that she was truly leaving the others and not coming back settling in. Still, she continued on. His footsteps followed.

“Hannah, you get back here this instant. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you, Daddy,” she said, and kept on going as the first tear slipped from her eye.

“You’re running away, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”

At his demand, she stopped and hung her head. “I have to help my friend.”

Which was true. The part that she chose to leave out was that she was also using Beth’s excuse as her own to move away from him.

“No, you have to stay here. Y-you have to stay. Your family needs you. Nothing is more important than family. Nothing.”

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