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Hannah hadn’t thought about it until Tucker mentioned his plans for this year’s turkey, promising anyone willing to hear that this year’s turkey will not end in disaster, as his previous attempts had.
And even then, Hannah doesn’t pay the time of year much mind, more focused on classes and work and everything else she promises Garrett isn’t stressing her out.
It’s not until she’s standing in Malone’s about to close, and Allie asks her what her plans for thanksgiving are this year, Hannah thinks about it. She thinks about it all the way to the house, too deep in thought to hear the boys’ greetings, and she keeps thinking about it right up until she’s face to face with Garrett.
“What are you doing this year for thanksgiving?” She blurts out, before he can say hi.
“Oh, erm. I hadn’t really thought about it.” He replies, leaning down to give her a quick peck on the lips.
“Right.” She nods and sits down on the corner of his bed. “Neither had I…”
Garrett shrugs and pulls one of his many Briar’s sweatshirts over his head—one of the few Hannah hasn’t stolen yet. “We could stay here, be with the boys. Allie is going to New York again, isn’t she? If you want to go with her, I won’t stop you.” Hannah is shaking her head before he’s finished talking. He grins. “We could take a trip somewhere, just the two of us.” He holds a short, hesitating pause. “We could go see your parents.” He then says, a silent question left hanging in the air.
“That’s a lot of options.”
“Yeah. Well, the world’s your oyster.”
“Our oyster, you mean.”
A sappy look, Hannah has more than gotten used to, takes over his face. He hums. “That’s right.”
Hannah flops down into the bed and sighs, soundly. “I want to be with you.” She tells him. “If I’m coming with Allie, then so are you. But,” she sighs, again. “Allie mentioned inviting Dean too, and he will be meeting most of her family for the first time, and if we’ll be there too…” She trails off. “I guess we do owe it to Tuck to stay after we flaked last year.”
“But…” Garrett drawls.
“But…” Hannah parrots with a grin. “I kinda want to get away from here.”
Garrett flops down beside her and takes one of her hands in his. “You don’t have to choose now, but I can find a place we can stay, not too far, not too close. Just us, and a fridge filled with cold turkey and red-wine.” He raises an eyebrow and lifts her hand to his lips.
“That does sound nice.” She says as he places a soft kiss to her fist.
Garrett draws her closer, his arms encircle her and he draws in a breath, nose to her neck. “If you want…”
“If I want, what?”
“If you want to go home, there isn’t anything wrong with it.”
Hannah twists away from him. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not.”
“I mean, I know I can’t be there, so I don’t understand why I—why I want to be there.” She huffs. “It’s stupid.” She repeats.
“You miss your parents.” Garrett says, softly. “That’s hardly a crime. And if you really want to be there, I’ll be right beside you.” He rolls on top of her and whispers into her ear. “Y’know, what else is your big, beefy boyfriend for, if not to protect you.”
Hannah giggles. “I called you beefy once, and you still haven’t let it go.”
“What, why would I? There are worse things to be called by your girlfriend than beefy.” He laughs.
Hannah lets herself be kissed and cuddled before she sobers the mood.
“Hey.” Garrett moves her hand gently with his hand so he can look her in the eyes. “We have time to figure it out, okay? It doesn’t have to be now.”
“I know.” Hannah slides her hands up his shirts and palms at his pecs. “I suppose, this is the first time I’ve wanted to go back, since… since I can remember.”
“Yeah?”
Hannah shrugs and hides her face in his neck. “The world didn’t end when I saw him again, so maybe it won’t if I go back there for thanksgiving either.” Garrett removes his sweatshirt and twists them, so Hannah is lying on him. “I do miss my family every year, during this time. My aunt makes this incredible fruit-salad, you have to try it—what?”
Garrett keeps smiling, his eyes sparkling. “Nothing. I just have the strongest girlfriend in the world.”
“Oh, fuck off.” Hannah laughs and hits his shoulder softly, sitting up in his lap.
It doesn’t hurt to have Garrett take her mind off things, for a bit.
“Garrett and I were talking about going to my parents for thanksgiving.” Hannah blurts out, wincing when she interrupts the gossip Allie has been sharing for a good ten minutes now.
Allie’s jaw drops, but she hides it by taking a sip of her drink. “Oh?”
Hannah throws her hair over her shoulder, then takes a strand to fiddle with, biting the inside of her cheek. “Yeah. Nothing’s planned, I guess, but,” she drops her hair. “I think I want to be there.”
Allie nods, her bangs bouncing. “Oh, totally.”
Hannah looks down at her lap. “But I don’t know… if I tell my parents, they’ll make a big deal out of it, and I don’t want it to be—I don’t know.” She looks up. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”
“Hey, don’t call my best friend stupid.” Allie faux-glare at her. “You haven’t been there for thanksgiving in years; it is a big deal. I’m sure if you tell your parents, you don’t want them to make it a thing, they’ll understand.”
“I know,” Hannah admits. “I don’t know what I’m thinking.” She swallows.
“You don’t have to decide now, there’s plenty of time. Dean has tried to chicken out of coming with me, like, four times now, and I know he’ll try at least another four. And he has time to do so.”
“But does your patience?” Hannah quirks an eyebrow.
“Girl, don’t even get me started.”
Hannah tries to make up her mind; really, she does. But, not unlike her writer’s block, there’s just something keeping her from taking the final step. On her daily calls with her mom, she doesn’t mention her thoughts for thanksgiving break, carefully skirting around the subject.
She decides the day is the day after a rehearsal-filled afternoon, and while Garrett is off at practice, there isn’t anything better for her to do.
She opens her laptop, types in the plane and freezes.
She doesn’t know how long she’s been sitting there, staring at the same website, filled with seats of a plane and pricings that seem to go up and up, but her eyes are dry and the streetlights have turned on by the time Garrett steps into his bedroom.
Hannah turns to him with wide eyes and upturned eyebrows. “I can’t do it.” She says, a hiccupping sob falling from her lips.
“Hey, what, what’s wrong baby?”
Hannah lets herself be embraced, hiding her wet eyes in Garrett’s wide shoulders.
“The—the tickets,” she stutters, waving her hand blindly behind her. “I can’t.”
“That’s fine, I can do it, if you want to go—”
Hannah interrupts him by breaking into heart wrenching sobs.
“And if you don’t, that’s fine too.” His hands hold the back of her head steadily as she cries. “Let’s just sit for a bit. Do you want me to put on—?”
Hannah nods, which Garrett must feel, because he reaches for her laptop and soon the familiar tones of Dirty Dancing fill the room.
At some point she relaxes enough to fall into a fitful sleep, shaken awake by Garrett what could be hours later, but by the subtitles running, Hannah knows it’s less than two. She sits up and rubs her eye.
“‘You okay?”
Hannah nods, slowly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise.”
“No, but I—I just wanted to make a decision!”
“You don’t need to make one now—”
“But I do! I do, because otherwise I’ll never be able to decide!” Hannah drags a hand roughly through her hair.
“Okay.” Garrett abides. “We’ll make a plan, then.” He sits up and takes the laptop from where it was balancing on his duvet. He shuts it and puts it on his bedside table. “But not right now. It’s sleep time now.”
Hannah giggles, her eyelids slipping shut. “If you say so.”
“Oh, I do.” Garrett pats his pillow. “Your chateau awaits you, princess.”
When Hannah wakes up, there is no mistaking Garrett is still asleep. She’s never made a big deal about it, but when Garrett’s getting his REM, his snoring is plangent.
She tries to close her eyes, but once her mind goes to yesterday’s breakdown, it’s hard to focus on anything else. She goes through a thousand possible ways everything can go wrong, and once she’s started, she can’t stop. Suddenly everything will go wrong if she stays in Boston too, and then New York, and by the time Garrett gets awoken by her hitching breathing, Hannah is sure the entirety of eastern America will succumb to a sudden death the weekend of thanksgiving.
“Breathe, Hannah.” He tells her, hand moving in slow motions up and down her back. “Shh.”
“I—I—”
“Try to follow mine.” He says, putting her hand over his heart. “In,” he inhales, “and out.”
It takes a minute, but when she feels back to normal, the mortification sets in.
“Are you okay?”
She nods. Then shakes her head. “I can’t go.” She whispers.
“Okay. We don’t then.”
“But I need to go.”
Garrett stays quiet.
“Because if I don’t…” She trails off, not knowing where she's going with it. She shuts her eyes and shivers.
“There’s nothing wrong in not going, Hannah.” Garrett murmurs, removing a piece of rogue hair from her face. “If you want to try, we can try, and if we get halfway there and you don’t want to anymore, we’ll turn around. No one has to know.”
“Well, my parents kind of need to.”
Garrett shakes his head. “We don’t tell them. If we don’t go, they’ll be none the wiser, and if we do, it’ll be a happy surprise. A win-win scenario.”
Hannah turns to look at him. “You don’t get a lot of those in hockey.”
“Nope.” A smile splits his face, white teeth on full display.
Hannah can’t keep her own off her lips. She knocks herself out of her temporary Garrett mandated happiness, with a short shake of her head. “Even you can’t make a plane turn around when it’s mid-air—and don’t you dare say private jet.” She laughs; finger pointed to Garrett’s nose.
“I wouldn’t dare!” He holds his hands up in the air, a perfect picture of innocence. “I was thinking we could drive.”
“Drive? Garrett, that’s—that’s like fifteen hours!”
“Thirteen and a half, without breaks.” Garrett corrects. “What’s not to like? Me, you, the jeep; road trip.” He looks suggestively at her. “And, if you don’t want to go all the way, I know a cottage we can stay in by Lake Erie.”
Hannah feels her eyebrows raise in disbelief. “You’ve already rented a cottage?”
“Nah, a friend of a friend owns it and won’t be using it during break.” He diverts.
Hannah hums. “Seems like you’ve thought of everything.”
“Yep. So, you don’t need to plan anything; it’s already been taken care of.”
Hannah feels heat flare through her.
Garrett misunderstands her silence and quickly backtracks. “Of course, if you don’t want to, we stay here and try to enjoy whatever nightmare the kitchen throws at us this year.”
Hannah giggles. “No, no, your plan sounds perfect.” She leans in and gives him a kiss. “Thank you.”
Garrett huffs a laugh against her lips. “You’re welcome. After the nightmare of a thanksgiving dinner I subjected you to last year, it’s the least I could do.”
Just as Hannah opens her mouth to argue, a soft knock sounds at the door.
“Are everyone decent?” Dean’s voice comes from the other side. “Because, I sure hope so. I’m pretty sure Tuck is burning down the kitchen, help would be appreciated.”
Garrett is out of bed quicker than a lightning strike. “Coming!” He calls. He looks at Hannah and rolls his eyes theatrically. “These boys.” He says.
Hannah giggles and flops her head back down to his pillow, letting his scent engulf her back to rest.
She blinks her eyes open to Garrett back in the room, throwing his gear-bag over his shoulder.
“Hey,” she says to get his attention. “Does road-trip mean I get to drive too?”
“No way in hell.” Garrett grins.
“What? But that’s unfair, I won’t let you drive a day all by yourself.”
“You’re misunderstanding me, Wellsy, it’s for my own wellbeing I’m banning you from driving. I need both of us in one piece.”
“Hey!” She swats at him, only succeeding in hitting his ass on his way to pick up a shirt on the floor. “I’ll let you know I passed the driving test on my first try, thank you very much.”
“The instructor probably feared for their own life, making sure they would never have to sit in a car with you behind the wheel ever again.”
“Oh, I’ll make you regret that.” Hannah says and stands up in the bed, pillow in hand. “Yield!”
“Never!”
Hannah, with a big grin on her face, charges.
Classes end and the excitement in every student becomes palpable. Their first days off since term’s beginning, for the freshman the first chance they get to go home, for everyone else a weekend with no homework, and for the people taking over the house—while Hannah and Garrett are away—a constant party.
“See, that’s where I went wrong last year. “Tucker tries to explain. “I tried to make it like how it was for me growing up. But I won’t ever be able to copy that, so I should instead make it like how everything in this fucking house is.” He says, his eyes swaying to the plan he had printed and hung on the fridge. “Chaotic.”
Hannah snorts. “Good luck.”
“We’ll need it.”
“Garrett and I might still stay here; we can help keep them in line.”
“I could kiss you!”
“Are you propositioning my girlfriend, Tuck?”
Hannah turns. Garrett is walking down the stairs, hair still wet from his shower, and, as usual, not wearing a shirt.
“You found a good one, G.” Tucker pats Garrett’s shoulder as he walks by.
“I know.” Garrett leans down and kisses Hannah’s forehead. She closes her eyes and exhales. “Hey, you ready?”
Hannah shrugs and kicks the overnight bag she packed two days ago. “As ready as I can be.”
Garrett nods. “I remember the plan.”
“I remember the plan.” She nods. “Are you ready?”
“Yup.” He pops the p. “Even filled the tank yesterday. We should be good until Buffalo.”
“Fucking Buffalo.” Tucker shakes his head.
Hannah ignores him. “Great!” She says, overly cheery.
Garrett frowns. “If you don’t want to, we stay home.”
“No, we leave. Now.” She adds. “Hurry up!”
Her leg bounces in the passenger seat when Garrett shut the door behind him. He clicks in his seatbelt and turns on the engine but makes no move to drive out of the driveway.
“We’re early, we probably won’t hit any traffic until eight or nine.”
“That’s good.”
“Hannah… we don’t need to drive now; we can wait a couple of hours and still get there before dark. It’s not even five AM.”
“I know. Please just drive.” She folds her arms over her chest and looks out of the window, ignoring the searching look she knows Garrett is giving her.
She said goodbye to Allie yesterday, who had driven with Dean to New York a day early to catch his family before they flew. Hannah almost laughed out loud when she saw Dean’s expression, looking close to shitting himself, sweat running down his brow.
Her head slips from her hand somewhere around forty-five minutes of driving in silence.
“I’m sorry.” Hannah offers, breaking the quiet. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“No, I mean you had this grand plan for the trip and I’ve already ruined it.”
Garrett shakes his head. “Grand plan is an exaggeration, Wellsy. If anything, leaving earlier is a good thing.”
Hannah looks at Garrett’s hands holding the steering wheel and tries to formulate her words. “I think… I think if we didn’t leave this early, we never would’ve left.”
“That makes sense.” He nods. “But if we hadn’t left, that would’ve been fine. And if you want to turn around now, that’s fine too.”
“No. No, I want to—to try.”
Garrett smiles with teeth and reaches for her hand. “Cool.”
Hannah grins, though her heart is still hammering against her chest. She’s afraid it won’t stop until she’s safely back behind the paradise she has built for herself inside the walls of Briar University.
The first couple of hours are—fine. Hannah doesn’t feel like she has really woken up until it’s past seven thirty, and even then, her thoughts get interrupted every couple of seconds by a yawn.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”
Hannah startles, knocking her ankle against the door. She winces. “Nothing. Nervous, I guess.”
Garrett tilts his head. “Got any good road-trip games?”
“Road trip games?” Hannah asks.
“Yeah, you know, like, how many blue cars do you think we’ll see?”
Hannah quirks an eyebrow. “That’s the best you’ve got? I thought you hockey boys had spent hours playing games like these, in overpacked buses.”
Garrett laughs. “True. But most of those were like, fantasy hockey, or something.”
“Fantasy hockey—like fantasy football?”
Garrett nods. “But we would play with our own team. Would try to picture the games and bet on what we thought would happen.”
“So, you would do homework.” Hannah states, bluntly. “Oh my god, you are a nerd!”
“Hey—no, what?”
“Cause Allie and I were talking about it last week. You know, you and I click so well because we’re both obsessed with something, right? You’re just obsessed with something that makes you a jock instead of a nerd.”
“A jock?”
“Oh, come on!” Hannah throws her head back to laugh. “No, but think about it. You made fun of me for taking notes on songs playing on the radio, but you also just admitted imagining hockey games, for fun. What were they others during while you were dreaming away?”
“I don’t know, sleeping?”
Hannah wheezes with laughter.
“What, so if you were as obsessed about hockey as I am, that would make you a jock too?”
“No, that would make me a puck bunny.”
They can’t hold it in anymore, laughter filling the car, banishing the panic slowly building up inside of her.
Hannah hadn’t noticed, but a wall had been building between them during the ride, one they’d successfully managed to break down.
They stop in Buffalo just before lunch. They’re only a couple of hours away from the cottage Garrett made sure was available for them, Hannah ponders, while chewing her sandwich. In some way she hopes the choice will get taken from her, if they keep driving to their planned destination or turn and go to the cottage, hopes in a morbid way there’s an accident on the highway that forces them another way, or the jeep breaks down or—
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re overthinking it, babe.” Garrett says. “There’s still time to do whatever you want.”
“I know.” She wipes some mayo from her lip. “It’s been nice, hasn’t it? Just driving.”
“What did I say?” Garrett asks. “Us two and the jeep is a perfect match.”
“Maybe we just… keep going.”
“You better not be quoting the movie that ends by them driving off a cliff at me, Wellsy.” He deadpans.
“That’s not what I meant,” she laughs, but it’s stilted. “Just, maybe it could be nice to go further than Indiana, you know? We could go to Chicago, maybe.” She shrugs, avoiding his searching look.
“Let’s keep going.” His eye twitch and he lets out a truly longsuffering sigh. “Damn it, now I’m the one quoting—you know what, Buffalo is making me insane.”
“As it has been known to do.” Hannah nods solemnly, a giggle bursting past her lips, breaking her facade.
“Fuck, Tucker was right. Nothing good happens in Buffalo.”
“‘Let’s get outta here’” Hannah cites. “‘Let’s just drive.’”
She’s giggling all the way back to the car, and with a promise to watch Thelma and Louise once they’re back in Boston, it’s enough to remind her this trip is only that. A trip. And before the week is over, they’ll be back, sleeping in their own beds.
She doesn’t let go of his hand till they reach Cleveland, where they hit the worst wave of holiday traffic.
Garrett sighs, for the third time in ten minutes.
“How far away is the cottage?” Hannah asks him, looking down at maps on her phone.
Garrett’s head swirls towards her. “Erm,” he thinks. “An hour?”
She hums.
“Hannah?”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t want to go to the cottage.” Garrett states.
“What, of course I do—” Hannah argues.
“You don’t. You want to go see your parents.”
Hannah blinks at him.
“We are going to your parents, and nothing will happen, because everything will be fine and this will be the best thanksgiving either of us have had in years. Got it?”
Hannah nods, not trusting her voice.
“Good.” Garrett slides a hand down her cheek. “But you say the word and I’ll turn around, okay?”
Hannah nods again.
Garrett nods once, sharply, and turns his attention back to the road, where they’re driving at snails-pace. Hannah watches him in wonder and just blushes when he catches her.
She really is the luckiest person in the world to get to experience Garrett Graham like this, in the role he was meant for.
The street sign saying Ransom brings the same terror with Garrett in the car, as it does every time Hannah drives past it. A chill sets in her bones, she feels lightheaded and no matter how much she tries, the feeling of wrongness never goes away when she enters the town she once called home, even if it had been a long time since she’d last called it that.
Garrett squeezes her hand where he holds it over the console. “All good?” He asks.
“Not really.” She answers truthfully. “But I want to keep going.”
Garrett nods, his lips tilting upwards.
Hannah cracks her knuckles and tries to breath, in through her nose, out through her mouth.
It’s dark outside, past dinnertime when Garrett turns down the street Hannah has spent most of her life on. He cuts the engine two houses down from Hannah’s parents and turns to her.
“You ready?”
Hannah shrugs then shakes her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
Garrett doesn’t have anything to say to it.
Hannah keeps looking out the car window and to the white picket fence enclosed garden with the house Hannah can never call anything but home, the one place in this town that stayed hers, and hers only.
Garrett lifts her hand to his lips and places a soft kiss on it. “You remember the signal?”
Hannah tilts her head, eyes never straying from his.
“Take my hand,” he says, showing their joined hands. “One squeeze means you’re good, two means get me out of here.”
Her lips quirk. “Good memory.”
“It served us well, don’t you think?”
Hannah feels some of the tension leave her body. “It did. But we’re a bit further away from home than last year.”
“Meh, just means we extend our road-trip, no? It's been a blast so far.”
Hannah tries to force out a laugh, but it comes out wrong. She winces. “I know my parents want me here,” she starts explaining. “But I don’t know if they… I mean, it’s gonna be a surprise. Me, here.”
Garrett nods in understanding and bites the inside of his cheek.
Her eyes squint in suspicion. “What? Do you not think they’ll be surprised?”
He shrugs, aiming for nonchalance but missing by a mile. “I told your parents already.”
“What?” Hannah can’t help the surprise colouring her exclamation, if it’s because Garrett never breaks his promises or something else, she doesn’t know. “When?”
“At our last stop. You didn’t want to disappoint them, I get that. I just…”
Hannah cuts him off by her palms caressing his cheeks and pulling him in for a long kiss. “Thank you,” she whispers against his lips.
His eyes stay closed as she rests her forehead against his. “It’s a good thing you did. Now we can go straight to my bedroom and sleep, no excuses.”
He grins. “You aren’t giving me the big tour?”
Hannah rolls her eyes and unclips her seatbelt. “There’s time tomorrow. I can show you everything Ransom has to offer, if you want, and we’ll still be back here before noon.”
Garrett laughs. “You did promise me an authentic tour of a Christmas tree farm.” He recalls.
“Ah, yes, Christmas at Thanksgiving, every white-woman’s dream.”
“Don’t let Dean hear you say that; he’s already got the Christmas decorations down from the attic.”
“Wait, that’s what’s in the overflowing box in the middle of the living room?” Hannah stops to think. “…Dean really is a white woman, huh.”
Garrett throws his head back to laugh. “Haircut and all.” He agrees.
Hannah hits his arm. “Stop it!” She tries to swallow down her giggles.
He waits for their laughter to subside to tilt his head towards the house.
She nods. “I’m ready.”
She inhales deeply before ringing the doorbell. One hand in Garrett’s and the other holding the strap to her purse, Garrett having tasked himself with carrying all their bags by himself.
The door shoots open before she can exhale and she’s pulled into a warm hug by her mother, before either of them can say anything. “Oh, Hannah.” Her mom says, pulling back. “It’s so good to see you, honey.” She turns to Garrett, her arms still raised. “And Garrett…” She gives him the same treatment as Hannah. “This is just wonderful.”
Hannah looks away from her mom’s tear-filled eyes and turns to her dad descending the stairs. “Hi, dad.”
“Hey baby.”
Hannah refuses to cry in her parents’ entrance but being hugged by her dad after months in withdrawal, makes it hard.
When he steps back, he takes a moment to just watch her.
Hannah squirms under his gaze. “I’m fine, I promise.”
“Uh-uh, let me make sure of that myself.”
Hannah feels Garrett step forward behind her.
“Mister Wells,” he says and holds out a hand to be shaken.
“Oh, none of that.” Hannah’s dad says, pulling him into a hug, just as he had his daughter. “Call me Greg, no arguments.” He holds up a pointed finger with a big smile.
“And you call me Carrie, dear.” Hannah’s mom says. “You must be exhausted after a long drive like this, have you eaten yet? I made sure to make enough to be reheated if you want anything. Lasagna, Nana’s recipe.” She raises her brows.
“Well, you know I can never say no to Nana’s lasagna.” Hannah replies, her cheeks hurting with how hard she’s cheesing.
Her mom nods. “Let Greg takes the bags up to your room,”
“Oh, I can do that ma’am.” Garrett tells her.
Her mom gives a look to her husband. “Did you hear that? Ma’am.”
He laughs brightly. “Good manners, we love to see it. But please go eat, Carrie will fuss until both of you are well-fed, might as well let it happen.”
Garrett opens his mouth, but Hannah takes his hand before he can say anything. “Kitchen’s this way.” She says, pulling him along and leaving her parents in the hall.
“It’ll do no good arguing; they will get their way.” She whispers to him, pushing him into a chair. “And now you get to taste the master’s version of lasagna.”
“I thought you were the master?” Garrett asks with a wry grin.
“Shush,” Hannah swats him with a dishtowel and pulls the leftovers out of the fridge.
Her parents enter the kitchen when Hannah is putting it in the microwave.
“Oh, sit down! I’ll do that for you, honey.” Her mother takes the plate out of her hand and gestures to the chair besides Garrett’s.
It’s nice, sitting in her childhood kitchen with Garrett by her side, listening to her parents’ recalling’s of their day, hearing the gossip her aunt will bring once they arrive tomorrow.
It’s been a while since Hannah has seen so much of her family together. Christmas is usually a smaller affair for the Wells, which Hannah is more than grateful for. But getting to see them all, all together, again… Hannah didn’t think she would be this excited.
“And we get to show you off too!” Her mom says to Garrett. “We’ve been bragging for ages; I’m sure Beth from down the street thinks we’ve been lying straight to her face.” She laughs.
Garrett smiles, but Hannah can see the emotions swimming in his eyes.
She can’t imagine how different her family is from his. She still remembers her introduction to his father in stark certainty, the almost sterile way Garrett shook his hand, showing no expectations of any other kind of affection.
Once they finish dessert, a lovely pie her mom had been perfecting for the big feast, Hannah yawns, and they’re promptly shuffled off to bed.
“Wow…”
Hannah’s eyes widen when she sees the cause for Garrett’s wonder.
Her bedroom is exactly as she left it this summer, with posters and all.
Garrett finds himself in a staring contest with Harry Styles.
“I…” She gapes. “You know I’m a fan.” She tries to explain.
“No, I know, I just didn’t expect six-foot-tall Harry Styles. Is this life-size?”
“Yes.”
“Huh,” he walks to it and stands beside, turning to Hannah with a grin. “I’m taller than Harry Styles.”
She rolls her eyes. “I thought you wanted to sleep.” She punches her duvet and winces at the small cloud of dust that shoots up. “I’m exhausted.”
He walks to her, snakes his hands around her waist, and pulls them both down to the bed. Garrett places a soft kiss under her ear as she giggles. She tries to twist out of his embrace, but he just tightens his hold.
“Shh, I’m trying to sleep.”
Hannah snorts and closes her eyes, matching her breathing to the soft puffs of air she can feel against her neck.
After a couple of minutes, Hannah feels Garrett tense. “What?” She asks. “What is it?”
“I didn’t bring a gift.” He says. “Fuck. Not even flowers, or anything.”
She tries to keep her laughter quiet, but her shaking must give her away.
“Don’t—it’s not funny! God, I’m a horrible son-in-law already.”
Hannah feels her face burn. “That’s presumptuous of you.” She manages to get out.
“Is it?” He murmurs. “I have plans, Wellsy.”
Hannah shuts him off by turning and smashing her lips against his. “You can buy flowers tomorrow, show them off to the whole family. Mum would love that, bragging privileges and all.”
Garrett smiles against her lips. “Your parents are great.”
“You say that now, but just you wait till you see the chaos. They’ll probably drag us all over the place to get everything under control.”
“I look forward to it.” He says, truthfully.
Hannah rubs at her eyes, but the image is still the same. “Erm… good morning?”
“Hannah!” Her mom turns, a hand over her heart. “You scared me, honey.”
“What’s… going on?”
Garrett and her mom share a quick glance.
“Well, I wanted to get up bright and early to surprise you with pancakes, but Garrett was already puttering around, and he offered to help.” Her mom waves to the stove. “And what excellent help you’ve been.”
“Oh no, Mrs. Wells, it’s all you.”
“Carrie,” she corrects him with a smile. To Hannah she says, “Sit down, honey, we’re almost done. And you too Garrett, you’ve been up so early.”
They both do as told, Hannah hiding a yawn behind her palm.
“So,” her mother fishes once the table is set. “Do you have any plans before the big dinner?”
Hannah shrugs, while Garrett nods. “Yup,” he says, “Hannah has promised me the big Ransom tour. VIP and all.”
Her mom laughs, charmed. “I’m afraid there’s not much to see this time of year.”
Hannah nods. “It’s a ghost town. But I’m sure we can run some errands for you, for whatever you’ve forgotten.”
“Blasphemy, I never forget anything!”
Hannah and Garrett’s first trip to the supermarket is for cream. And she says first because she more than doubts it will be their last, not unless a miracle occurs. With two more guests her mom felt she had to double the recipe, which to Hannah sounded clever enough. And cream was easy to find, barely five minutes in the store and they were out again, both in one peace.
Hannah dropped off the cream to her mom and then took Garrett on the big tour, his words.
Hannah really hadn’t been lying when she said there was nothing in Ranson this time of year.
He oohs and ahs and she rolls her eyes at him every single time.
“There’s a nice hiking area not too far from here,” she tells him. “Dad and I used to do the big hike every year when school let out. He always said it was his favourite part of summer, because it was the furthest he could get away from his smelly classroom.” She laughs.
“And because it was with you.”
Hannah smiles.
They’ve been driving in one big circle and are now back to where they started. Well, almost back to where they started.
Hannah averts her boyfriend's gaze when they drive past the ice-rink.
A couple of boys are leaving, all laughing and punching each other, roughhousing in the way only hockey players can make look natural.
Hannah’s afraid Garrett is going to say something, when her phone chimes with a text. It’s her mother.
“We need to pick up more butter, onions, garlic powder, and jam.” Hannah tells him, with a snort. “And my family is arriving soon.”
Garrett nods. “Where is the best flower shop?”
Hannah raises an eyebrow.
“I need to give only the best to my girlfriend’s parents. I need them to show me off, remember?”
She rolls her eyes. “Do you really think there are more than one flower shop here? And you’ll be lucky if they’re open on a holiday. I’m afraid you have to get by on supermarket flowers.”
Hannah laughs loudly at his expression and doesn’t really stop until they’re out of the car.
Her parents gawk at the ginormous bouquet Garrett presents them with, her mom already planning to make it the centrepiece. Garret looks very pleased with himself.
Hannah feels butterflies in her stomach every time she sees him interact with her parents. Growing up she had dreamed of a boyfriend like him, one that was sweet and considerate, and that knew her better than herself and one her parents liked. That dream had been crushed, demolished, she had spent years hitting herself for ever being so naïve as to think such a man existed.
But standing in her childhood kitchen, watching her mom kiss Garrett’s cheek in thank you, she realises that her dream-man is not just a fragment of her imagination, but real and already attained.
She smiles at him and just shakes her head when he asks if he’s done something.
Wells family members start pouring through the door just past three.
Hannah feels her smile widening with every person seeing her, hugging her, telling her how much they’ve missed her at thanksgiving. She hadn’t had any doubts about going to Ransom since they’d arrived, but if she had, all of them would have evaporated by now.
Her aunt is the first one to ask about the hockey player sized elephant in the room.
She puts a hand up to her face, shielding her face from Hannah’s boyfriend, and then mouths; who? while pointing towards Garrett.
Hannah grins. “Garrett!” She calls, relishing in the way his eyes single in on her. “Come meet Aunt Nicole properly.”
Her aunt watches with vigilant eyes as Garrett comes to stand beside her, putting a hand around Hannah’s waist.
“Garrett, this is my aunt Nicole. Nic, this is Garrett, my boyfriend.” Hannah introduces.
“Oh?” Her aunt sounds, giving her a wide-eyed look. “Well, Garrett, just you know you have one of the most wonderful people under your arm there, and you’d be stupid to let her go.”
Hannah’s jaw drops at her harsh words, but Garrett simply smiles.
“I know,” he says. “I’m not planning to, ever.”
Hannah’s parents weren’t joking when they’d said they had been bragging. Her aunts and uncles seem sceptical at first, until her tiny cousin asks Garrett to join their game and he wholeheartedly does. Hannah isn’t afraid to admit she spends more time staring at Garrett than playing the game, being the obvious loser.
When the dads come and ask Garrett if he wants to join them watching the game, Garrett declines to instead play ball outside in the garden, Hannah ending up as the referee.
She spies, out of the corner of her eye, her mom and aunt talking, pointing to the kids, to Garrett. Her mom gestures around with a big smile and Hannah doesn’t have to be able to hear what she’s saying to know her mom is bragging.
The dinner was amazing too. Hannah didn’t know you can miss a meal so dearly until she taste her mom’s turkey again. Cold turkey is good, but her mom’s homemade turkey for the first time in years is exceptional.
After dinner but before dessert, Hannah steps away to facetime Allie. She’s not surprised to see Dean’s pale face in the corner of her screen.
“All well?” She asks lightly.
“Yup.” Comes Dean’s strangled reply. “Everything is just super-duper all-right.”
“Hmm.” Hannah swallows down a laugh. “Where’s Allie?”
“Dude, I don’t even know. I went away for two seconds, I swear, and its carnage. I grabbed a phone, I thought it was mine, and booked it to our room. I’ve been playing candy-crush for fifteen minutes, I think I’m gonna dream of candy.” He whispers, hushed, into the phone.
“Better candy than the story Allie’s aunt is going to tell you. Hey, is she still speaking with a British accent?”
Dean’s pained expression is answer enough.
“Go get Allie, can you?” Hannah asks.
“I can’t go back down there!”
Hannah snorts.
“Wellsy! I thought you were on my side.”
“What? Her entire family was more than lovely the times I went with her.”
Dean breaths soundly through his nose.
They’re interrupted by a knock on Hannah’s door. Garrett pops his head inside, hair flopping down his forehead. “Dessert is ready,” he tells her.
She nods. “I just wanted to call Allie, see how everything is going with—you know.”
Garrett grimaces. “Is Dean behaving?”
There’s an insulted noise on the other side of the line. “Betrayal, betrayal by those closest, I can’t believe it.”
Garrett raises an eyebrow.
“Dean is hiding from Allie’s family.” Hannah fills him in. “To various successes.”
“What do you mean by that?” Dean cuts in. “Hello? What does that mean?!”
Hannah ends the call rather than answering. “You said dessert is ready?”
Garrett shakes his head with a smile. “You’re an evil woman, Hannah Wells, leaving him to the wolves like that.”
“What? Allie’s family is so nice, whatever he’s done, he’s on his own.”
Garrett just keeps shaking his head, grinning.
After dessert, when everyone is full and satisfied, Hannah relaxes into Garrett’s side and closes her eyes, for just a moment.
When she opens them again half the guests are saying their goodbyes. She says her goodbyes half-asleep, a zombie following after her parents and Garrett following her. This thanksgiving has been better than she’s ever dreamed of imagining.
Hannah is beat once she makes it to her bed.
“Thank you.” She mumbles, when Garrett cuddles up behind her.
“For what?”
Hannah tries to shrug, which is surprisingly hard when you have a six-foot-something 200 pounds athlete glued to your entire body. “Being here. Being you.”
Garrett chuckles and presses a kiss to her neck. “Don’t thank me for that. Thank you for inviting me. Your family is… they’re great. I can’t remember the last time I was happy at a thing like this.”
Hannah frowns and turns to face him, kissing him once, twice, three times before closing her eyes. “‘M tired.”
“Sleep, then.”
Hannah can hear the smile in his voice. She hums.
Hannah takes Garrett into the town’s small shopping area the next day, where the flower shop is. Because Garrett wants to give her parents yet another bouquet of flowers, as a departure gift.
Hannah shakes her head.
Garrett had decided that while they were out there, they needed to go to the café Hannah had mentioned once, when reminiscing about the places she used to enjoy back in Ransom, during a particularly boring shift at Malone’s.
Which then turns into Garrett wanting the tour around town when everything isn’t closed due to the holiday, and there are actually people around, instead of Ransom looking like a ghost town. Hannah had been sceptical; it has been years since she’s been around Ransom without one or both of her parents acting as a shield around her, but Garrett is also a better bodyguard than her dad.
Hannah didn’t tell Garrett this would be her first time here alone—if you can call it that—in years.
He takes her hand when she starts fidgeting.
“Everything good?”
Hannah hums, nodding her head.
The slight furrow in his brow doesn’t disappear, but he doesn’t call her out on her lie, only squeezes her hand tighter.
In a way, it’s nice to be able to play tourist in her hometown, even nicer when Garrett sells the fact. Multiple times they’re stopped and asked how they find the town, if they just moved here or are only staying for the holidays.
It almost makes Hannah forget all the reasons why she’d stayed away. Almost.
At Briar she perfected staying in the background her freshmen year, terrified someone would find out who she was and make all the foul rumours about her follow her halfway across the country. It was only after two terms and meeting the best friend she could’ve ever imagined that Hannah started to let loose. She went to her first party, went to see Allie’s plays, felt comfortable enough to get a job that entailed her serving alcohol.
She felt free from all the whispers she thought would follow her for the rest of her life.
And in Ransom, she wasn’t, and she knew she never could be.
She could tolerate being here for small periods of time for her parents, but they also knew better than anyone why it was best for her to stay as far away as possible.
Hannah knows she wouldn’t be able to be here if she hadn’t made Garrett check Delaney’s game plan and seen with her own two eyes that he had a game back on the east coast the day before and after thanksgiving.
She’d hoped that would be enough to put her nerves at bay, and it was, but she had forgotten Delaney was only the perpetrator and that it was everyone else who made her life a living nightmare.
Hannah doesn’t look up when the bell at the door of the café rings, just keeps listening to the story Garrett is animatedly telling, trying to keep the besotted smile off her lips.
They’re sharing their cakes so they each could taste what the others chose, and Hannah is drinking a cup of tea instead of her usual latté, because of course the café wouldn’t have started offering almond milk in the three years she’s been away.
It’s nice.
She doesn’t notice the sudden silence taking over the table behind her, the one that has been taken by the group just entering the café.
She finishes her tea and cake, waiting for Garrett to do the same, before they both leave the café in search of a bouquet good enough for Garrett’s high Graham standards.
She lets Garrett take her hand and drag her all over the petit shop, agreeing blindly to his comments. He knows more about flowers than she ever will, probably.
When he finally finds what he’s looking for, and they can finally leave the shop, Hannah is beaming and exhausted beyond words. She takes Garrett’s free hand in hers and drags him towards where they parked his jeep. They don’t get far.
“Hannah?” A voice asks them.
Garrett turns before she does, so instead of seeing who the voice belongs to, Hannah sees Garrett’s stormy expression first.
Hannah can feel the frown pulling on her lips before she even matches the voice to the face. “…Oh, Jen. Hi.”
“Oh my god, I thought it might be you!” She exclaims, stepping forward, and if Hannah didn’t know better, she would think Jen is about to pull her into a hug. “Gosh, it’s been so long, I almost couldn’t believe it when I thought I saw you at the café.”
Hannah nods, not trusting her voice.
Jen’s attention jumps from Hannah to Garrett in a heartbeat. Hannah doesn’t like the look in Jen’s eyes as her eyes sweep over Hannah’s boyfriend. “And hello to you too. Are you one of Hannah’s… cousins?” She asks. Hannah is sure the backhandedness isn’t on purpose, but she feels herself bristling, nonetheless.
“Boyfriend.” Garrett corrects, shortly.
“Oh! I never would’ve guessed!” She says. “Hannah probably already told you about me, but we used to be in the same class.”
“Did you?” Garrett catches Hannah’s eyes, a silent question burning in his gaze.
Hannah avoids his look and instead focuses on the duo standing behind Jen. She unconsciously leans into Garrett.
“Yeah! We took music together, I mean, real music, not the band her dad worked with. You know, I still make music sometimes, I live down in LA now.” She tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m hoping to make it big, I always dreamt of it, unlike Hannah, who just wanted to,” she snorts instead of finishing her sentence. “I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“I don’t.” Garrett frowns.
Hannah tucks on his arm, trying to pull him away.
“Oh, well, Hannah is known to be, well.” Jen shrugs, showing her teeth.
Garrett stares ahead unblinking.
Jen seems to realise she’s crossed a line and backtracks. “No that I—not that I meant anything bad. Anyways, a couple of us are back for thanksgiving, as you are, I assume.” She waves the two standing behind her closer. “We were just enjoying the weather before we fly home.”
They stand beside her like two lackeys, complete with all three wearing the same scarf in three different colours.
And then Hannah is face to face with who she once considered her best friend—the one who should’ve been in her corner, always—for the first time in five years.
“Hey, Han. Mom said you were home.”
Hannah nods. “This is, erm… Laura.” She tells Garrett several volumes quieter than Jen’s.
Garrett’s grip on her hand turns bruising. “Garrett.”
“I know.” Laura says. To Hannah she says, “I still follow your Insta.”
Hannah knows, always has a small aneurysm when she sees Laura’s profile has watched her story.
“It’s good to see you,” she follows up when it becomes obvious Hannah isn’t gonna say anything.
Hannah doesn’t want to lie, so she simply doesn’t say anything.
It’s awkward, and even more so when Jen tries to break it with an exaggerated laugh. “Yeah, so good! It’s always nice to see all kinds of people can succeed in the world.”
“Excuse me?” Garrett’s tone is deadly, his eyes laser-focused on his target.
“Well, I don’t think someone’s past should map their future? I believe in second chances.”
“Garrett,” Hannah tries to pull him away, before he does something she knows he’ll regret.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Jen shares a glance with the pair flouncing her. “I don’t know how much Hannah has told you, and I really don’t want to be the one to ruin this,” she waves a hand over the two, “fantasy you have going on, but Hannah has a past here. I’m not surprised this is the first time I’ve seen her here since graduation, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t.” Garrett says, for the second time. “We really should go back before these flowers wilt.”
“Right, of course.” Jen laughs. Before Garrett and Hannah can turn and leave, Jen reaches down her pocket and pulls up a small card. “If you ever want to learn a few more truths about Hannah, give me a call. I shiver at the thought of what lies she’s tried convincing you.” She does so, theatrically, and Hannah can’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. Jen doesn’t see. “You can also call if you want to…” she trails off, intentions clear.
“I’m good.” Garrett doesn’t take the card, instead grips Hannah even tighter and turns. Hannah follows him, but she’s not the only one.
“Hey!”
They’re almost at the parking lot when Laura catches up. She’s out of breath and red in the face, but it’s doing nothing to mask the anger seeping out of her pores.
“Jen tried to be kind about this, but I really think he deserves the truth, doesn’t he Hannah? I can’t believe you’re spun even more boys into your web of lies, do you have a disorder or something? And another hockey player at that, can you be more predictable!”
Hannah takes a step back, twisting her ancle and almost falling face first, if not for Garrett’s sacrifice of his bouquet to catch her with both arms.
Her eyes and throat burns, but she refuses to cry at Jen’s harsh words, refuses to cry once again.
It’s hard for Hannah to remember that Laura was once upon a time one of the few, if not only, students at their high school who believed her. She comforted her on the hard days, was in her corner when the school turned against her, was in her corner when the whole town did too. But then, one day, she walked past Hannah without a single glance back, and Hannah knew everything had changed.
Hannah can’t imagine what it was that convinced Laura, like the rest of the town, that Hannah was lying. She moved to ransom during middle school, her family wasn’t entangled in the town like Hannah’s, she was an outsider and Hannah was her only friend.
Maybe that’s why she left Hannah behind, because she knew she would be an outsider forever if she didn’t choose a side, and being on the sinking ship, well. Sometimes Hannah is afraid that she would’ve done the same in Laura’s position, that with a whole school’s—a whole town’s—pressure on her shoulders, she would’ve had no choice.
It’s when she’s met with accusations like these, she knows her fears are unfounded. She would never act like this, if she believed the rumours or not, it wouldn’t matter.
Because Hannah has something Laura doesn’t have—hell, something she doubts most residents of Ransom doesn’t have—and that’s a backbone. She stands her ground, has learned too much, been through too much, to let something like this waiver her.
But it does waiver her. “I—” she stutters.
Garrett jumps in, her knight in white armour, as always. “I know the truth.” He says, calmly. Too calmly, Hannah thinks.
Laura blanches.
Hannah had forgotten exactly how much about Laura and their friendship she had told him, forgot the childhood pictures he for sure has seen of her with Laura littered all over her parents’ house. But it doesn’t seem like Garrett has forgotten, no, far from it, in fact.
“You—you do?”
“Yes.” Garrett pulls Hannah into his arms, letting her head rest against his arm. She closes her eyes and tries to match his breathing. “I think we’re done here, don’t you?”
“But—”
Garrett leans down to pick up his dropped flowers and shuffle Hannah into the car successfully before Laura has gathered her wits enough to give them one last comment as a goodbye.
“Lying slut!”
Garrett’s door slams with a bang and he’s out of the parking lot before even putting his seatbelt on. When they’ve driven far enough, by his standards, he stops the car and wordlessly pulls Hannah into his side, smooshing her face against his neck.
He tilts back and forth as sobs wreck through her body. It’s only then she lets the tears in her eyes fall.
“It’s—it’s—nothing’s changed!” She manages to force out through gasps of air. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Shh,” Garrett brushes her hair out of her face gently. “We can drive back to Boston now, if that’s what you want. Get you away from here as fast as possible.”
His words just make Hannah cry even harder. “My parents,” she says, “they’re so happy I’m here, we were supposed to make them dinner, I—”
“I promise you your parents are only gonna want you to be safe and happy. And if you aren’t that here, then here is not where you’re meant to be. If they have shown me one thing, it’s that they want the best for you, always.”
Hannah shakes her head. “Everything was going so well, I should’ve just turned around and ignored them. Laura isn’t—she wasn’t like this.” Hannah doesn’t want to defend her, but Hannah’s the only person who was at her tenth birthday party, the only person who signed her cast when she broke her wrist, the only person who—who—
“Maybe,” Garrett says. “But would Allie ever say something like that to you? Would Grace, Jules, Dean, me?”
Hannah hesitantly shakes her head. She wants to believe what he’s trying to say, she does, but Laura isn’t anyone at Briar, Laura was her first best friend.
Hannah doesn’t want her first best friend to be someone who could ever act like so, say stuff like that, refuse to believe it even now.
“Laura isn’t the person you knew back then, and neither are you. If anyone said those words to you back home, do you know what you would do?”
Hannah removes her face from the crook of his neck to tilt her head, confused. “No?” She hiccups.
“You would fight back, and you would do it clean, which makes you so much more dangerous. You wouldn’t ever say or do anything to put you in the penalty box, you don’t need that, because you’re above it. You're better than all the names you’ve been called, better than all of the people calling you them. You’re the best. Period.”
Hannah snorts wetly. “That’s a shitty peptalk.”
Garrett gasps, affronted, a hand over his heart. “Erm, excuse me? That’s a grade A Captain Graham speech right there, the best of the best.”
“If that’s the best of the best, I’m surprised you’ve won a single match this season.”
Garrett’s jaw drops, while his eyes show his smile. “You take that back. Y’know, as my teacher of peptalks, you’re kinda dissing yourself.”
“I taught you peptalks?” Hannah laughs. “When?”
“Somewhere between Kant and Kirkegaard it came up.”
“Oh, did it?”
Garrett hums. “Yeah, something about, bla-bla-bla, believing in your own existence and capabilities.”
“You’re full of shit, Graham.”
“Made you calm down, didn’t I though, Wellsy?”
Hannah rolls her, squishing down the new wave of panic washing over her. “You always do.” She smiles, even if it doesn’t fully reach her eyes. After a beat, she says, “I think I want to go home now.”
Garrett turns on the engine. “Your wish is my command, princess. Always.”