“Yeah,” she nodded. “But I sold it the last time they wanted to put her on some therapy that Medicare wouldn’t cover.”
“How do you get to work?”
“I walk – it’s not far.”
“In this neighborhood? Hannah!”
“I’m fine, Jonah. I Uber back from the club after dark or if the weather is bad.”
“Unacceptable. We need to get you safe wheels.”
“Protective, much?” she chuckled.
“You have no idea,” I said, pulling on to Nellis Boulevard and heading toward the coordinates she’d plugged into the GPS.
We arrived at the gas station far too quickly for Hannah’s nerves. Fingernails dug into the dash, she’d pretty much yelled at me the entire way.
“What?” I said with a shrug as I stomped on the parking brake.
“Do you always fly that low, Major Jones?” She narrowed her beautiful eyes at me.
“You do realize, Miss Green, that I operate a fifty-million dollar fighter plane within three feet of another multi-million dollar jet at over five-hundred miles per hour at six miles high in the sky? I think I can handle whipping around Grandpa in his minivan.”
“Okay, point taken, but I’m not sure I can handle the G-force from your turns, Jonah.”
I leaned in and kissed her. “I could try to take it easy, but it would be far more fun to just swipe you a G-suit and mask from Life Support.”
“Thank you,” she laughed, the most effervescent sound I could imagine. “Now let’s go see what this jerk-face facility director has to say.”
“Jerk-face,” I teased, pressing my forehead into hers. “Such strong language from a lady.”
The day only got worse for Hannah. After four hours of searching, hand in hand, the call came from the director of the hospice center. Hannah’s beloved mother-in-law, her last and only link to Levi, was found in a drainage ditch less than a hundred feet away.
Later Las Vegas police determined from an eyewitness that Rachel had wandered out the rear entrance to follow a stray cat. She lost her footing and slid down the steep, concrete grade. It was over a hundred and ten degrees that afternoon and she’d quickly succumbed to heat exhaustion.
Hannah was inconsolable that night.
“I have nothing left,” she said into the darkness of her bedroom.
Pulling her close, my heart broke for her. “You have me.”
“What is this, Jonah? With us? I barely know you; you barely know me.”
“No one’s ever known me the way you do.”
“She did.”
“No, she didn’t. I loved her deeply, but she didn’t know me. That’s why it was always so very turbulent. It’s why she came back – to point me in the right direction. Your direction.”
“I’ve never felt anything this strong,” she said with a sniffle. “It can’t be real.”
“It’s the realest thing, Hannah.”
5
She was calm throughout the cremation and the settling of her mother-in-law’s small estate. We were closer than ever, and within weeks I’d pretty much moved into to her tiny apartment. For the first time in years, I was happy.
Even at work, my star was once again rising. Danno seemed to have bigger things on his mind and was pretty much leaving me alone. Without my nightly whisky binges, the others in the squadron respected me again. I’d love to say it was happily ever after, but of course, that would be too easy.