Page 73 of Why We Break

“I’m pretty sure this has been the most perfect day ever,” she whispers, and I tighten my grip around her.

“Yeah, you’re right. But now we can spend the rest of our lives trying to beat it,” I say, kissing her forehead.

“You’re on,” she agrees, before pulling back. “I love you, Will.”

“I love you too, Han. Now, let’s get this shower over with so we can go to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a busy one. And you know, we’ve gotta go by and drop the news on your grandfather. I’m sure the STS will probably beat us to it, but still.”

She laughs at that. “You’re right. I also need to take Merle for a ride tomorrow afternoon, and I need some help getting the tractor to start after the last cold front so we can set some hay out for the cows. Oh, and the latch on the barn still needs fixing from where you busted in there last week.”

I shake my head at her with a smile. “Don’t tell me you just want me around for the farm help.”

“You know, it is a perk,” she teases. “But the sex is pretty good too.”

She stands, scurrying away from me and laughing at her joke. I chase after her, swatting her ass playfully before pulling her to me and planting a kiss on her lips.

“Life with you won’t ever be boring, will it?” I ask, causing her to giggle.

“Not even a little bit.”

“Knock, knock,”Hannah calls out the next morning as we stand in front of her gramps room at the nursing home.

She enters ahead of me, yelling, “Hey, Gramps. How ya feeling today?”

“Oh, I can’t complain. I just…” he starts, pausing when he sees me entering the door behind her. “Well, I’ll be damned. The two of you actually worked it out.”

We both pause, trying not to laugh as he looks between us over and over again, like any second we’re gonna come up for some reason why I’m here that doesn’t have to do with a relationship.

“We did,” I tell him, grabbing Hannah and pulling her to me.

The old man throws up his hands and lets out a whoop of excitement, causing us both to laugh. “It’s about damn time,” Hannah’s gramps says.“Gladis showed me the blast about y’all in the STS last night after the game, but I’ve told her I don’t believe a damn thing those old ladies say. Looks like Miss Mabel might have gotten it right for once though, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say with a laugh. Hannah and I chuckled when Huey sent me a screenshot of the gossip this morning as all the older ladies tried to figure out how we kept our relationship a secret from them.

“You know, I thought I was gonna have to resort to threatening to kick both of your asses if you didn’t stop acting so damn stubborn,” Mr. Scott says, winking at me.

“Gramps, you’re on a walker. Did you really think we’d be scared of you?” Hannah teases.

“Hush up, girl. We both know I wouldn’t have done it even if I could, but I felt like I had to do something. You need each other too dang much to let whatever it was keep you apart,” he says defensively.

“You’re right,” I tell him as we walk over to sit around the table beside him. We spend the next several minutes making small talk with him before one of the girls from the office knocks on the door.

“Oh, hey, Mia,” Hannah says with a wide smile. “How are you today?”

“Hey, Hannah,” the girl replies before turning to Mr. Scott. “Hey, Mr. Scott. We’re working on plans for the Christmas party this week, and I wanted to make sure you and Miss Gladis will be joining us?”

Hannah’s gramps nods. “We wouldn’t miss it. I’ve got my dirty Santa present ready to go too.” He thinks for a moment, before turning to Hannah. “You think Margaret could make us some desserts?”

“I’m sure she can. I’ll text her when I leave,” Hannah responds before turning to Mia. “I haven’t gotten a chance to thank you, but I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your help. I don’t know what magic you managed to work with the Medicaid gods, but I’m really grateful. I know you said you’d do what you could, but I never expected you to get my gramp’s care covered in full. It was a real lifesaver though.”

Mia’s eyes widen as she looks around awkwardly. Mr. Scott and I make eye contact, and he nods at me, indicating that it’s time for me to come clean.

“I’ll take this one,” I murmur to Mia, and I feel the immediate relief when she realizes she won’t have to try to explain. As she leaves, I turn to Hannah and decide to get this over with.

“Actually, Han, that was me. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d freak out, so I asked for them to keep it vague for me. They couldn’t actually lie to you, but I figured if they just told you it had been taken care of, you’d assume it was his insurance or whatever.”

“Will Thompson, what in the hell were you thinking? That’s thousands of dollars!” she cries, her eyes widening in panic.

“Baby, don’t do this. I’ve saved up a lot of money by sharing that apartment with Seth these last few years, and I found the bills at your house one night while I was working on the fence. I knew you’d never ask for help, but we could all tell that you were stressed. So I took care of it and a few of the smaller miscellaneous ones I didn’t think you’d notice. And I’m sorry I kept it from you, but honestly, I’d do it again. I’m never gonna let you struggle with something if I have the power to fix it.”

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