Stone Cold (16 page)

He hung up the phone as he made his way to the bushes near the benches. He was still
a good distance away so he wasn’t able to see if she was there yet.

As he got closer, Conall could see what appeared to be several figures near the benches.

*****

Hannah put her camera down and sat on the bench next to the one occupied by the businessman. She felt a little uncomfortable at the moment because she could feel his eyes on her.

Her first instinct was to get her things and leave but the desire to wait to see if Conall would show overruled her female intuition that told her something wasn’t right.

“Nice weather don’t you think?” The businessman broke the silence.

From the corner of her eye, Hannah could see that he was looking straight at her now. He had one arm extended out across the top of the bench as he slouched back against it, and he was smiling at her from ear to ear.

When Hannah didn’t respond he said, “Oh I get it. You’re mom always told you never to talk to strangers. Smart lady.”

Not waiting for a response from her he continued, “I’m on my lunch break from the office and thought I’d get out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. I see you have a camera. Are you taking pictures for something in particular or is it just a hobby of yours? My name’s Jack by the way.”

The entire time he was talking, Hann
ah noticed the man had casually moved across the bench closer to the one she was sitting on.

She was seriously contemplating leaving now because Conall was half an hour late at this point and she felt
very unsafe.

She turned her body slightly awa
y from Jack and as she did he could see the back of her tennis jacket.

“Oh
your name’s Hannah. I thought it was you. What a beautiful name, it fits you.”

When she looked at him with questioning eyes as to how he knew her name he explained.

“Your name is printed in big letters on the back of your jacket. What sport is it for?”

She’d forgotten she wore the jacket for Conall to know who she was.

Flustered and feeling overwhelmed, Hannah forgot and went against her mother’s instructions.

“It’s for volleyball. I play volleyball
at my high school.”

Jack
moved from his bench to hers.

Conall had finally reached the bushes
and seconds later Shawn and Bobby joined him. They could see Hannah clearly from this position as well as the man who’d positioned himself beside her.

Bobby
asked, “Is that her, man?”

Conall squinted
at the person in question.

“I think it’s her. We’re still too far away for me to know for sure. I only met her the one time. She’s supposed to be wearing a jacket with her name across the back
. She’s facing us so I haven’t seen the back of it yet.”

“Who’s the dude talking to her?” Shawn inquired.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Jack Barnes but I can’t see his face well enough from here.”

Conall wished he’d thought to bring some binoculars.

The ferries had left the dock and the few straggling picnickers and tourists had vanished.

Hannah
nervously looked around and realized she was alone with this man. As panic started to set in, she looked up toward where her mom had dropped her off. She started to feel a little better when she saw two large men walking her way. At least now she wasn’t alone with him and if she screamed maybe they’d help her.

She r
emembered she was supposed to call her mom every half hour on the hour and it was already past that. The thought occurred to her to reach for her phone to call her mom but she questioned what would happen if she did.

She noticed that
Jack had moved so close to her his pant leg was touching hers.

Hannah kept her eyes focused on the
two men. They looked like they were coming straight toward them. She hoped they would hurry up and get there to create a distraction so she could grab her camera and run toward the street.

“Do you like to travel Hannah?” Jack had put his hand on her shoulder.

Hannah stood and moved away from Jack as she pulled her phone from her pocket. She was about to dial her mom when it rang.

“Hannah where are you? I’ve been waiting for your call but never mind about that. I’m here to pick you up now.
Of all things, Aunt Grace had a heart attack when we were leaving for lunch. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I told you I didn’t want to have to get out of the car to come looking for you but I’m here now so let’s go.”

Hannah turned around just in time to see her mom about ten feet away walking directly toward her.
She ran over to Sara and gave her the biggest hug of her life.

The two large men had arrived and they were talking to Jack who was still sitting on the bench staring at Hannah and smiling.

“Until next time Hannah.”

He smirked and blew her a kiss as he and his body guards watched her
and her mom walk away.

Sara
had been too preoccupied with finding her daughter to notice anyone else who was around until they started walking to the car. It was then that she looked back over her shoulder at the three men.

“Who are those men? Do you know them? Of course you don’t know them. Were you talking to them? I specifically told you not to
talk to strangers. Did they do anything or say anything to you? Hannah, answer me…”

Sara
’s words started to fade as Hannah realized what probably would’ve happened if her mom hadn’t arrived when she did.

It sent her into
shock.

Unbeknownst to her, a
t the same time that her phone rang, Conall, Shawn, and Bobby had sprung into action. They saw the back of Hannah’s jacket when she stood and spun around to face her mother.

They knew instantly that they had the right girl, it was Hannah, and they figured the guy had to be Jack.
The body guards were further proof it was him so without another thought the boys ran toward the benches.

When they got within earshot of the group, Conall realized the woma
n who Hannah was hugging must’ve been her mom. They looked similar and he heard her telling Hannah about her aunt.

He signaled Bobby
and Shawn to slow up and they watched as Hannah and her mom continued to walk toward the street away from Jack and his thugs. She was safe for the moment at least but he and his friends had bigger trouble now.

Jack had spotted them and his body guards starte
d to chase them yet again. He’d taken out a restraining order against them and if they were caught, the punishment would be more than just community service. They’d certainly be arrested and put in jail.

There was little Conall could do at the moment to
salvage his meeting with Hannah. Everything had been ruined by Jack.

He thought about running up to her as she was walking away with her mother but he was afraid of what her mother might do.

The last thing he wanted was for her mom to have a bad first impression of him. That would certainly make her want to keep Hannah from ever seeing him again.

Frustrated by everything that had just happened and being so close yet so far from the girl he’d been dying to see, Conall stopped running
. While trying to catch his breath, he let out the loudest sound he’d ever made.

“HA
AAANNAAAAH!”

His voice echoed off of several buildings and some birds flew from the trees as he wait
ed to see if she’d heard him yell her name.

With her mother’s ar
m still around her, he saw Hannah look back over her shoulder in the direction of where the sound of her name had come from.

He raised his arm in the air and made big waves so she could she that it was him, that he’d made it
there after all.

Much to his surprise, Conall saw Hannah
stop and turn all the way around and she returned his wave with one of her own. She kept looking back and stumbling over her own feet as her mother kept moving her toward the car. When she was in the car she rolled the window down and was leaning out of it as her mother slowly drove away.

As much as he hated to do it, Conall
had to break his gaze away from the car. He had to start running fast because Jack’s body guards were closing in on him.  He could tell that playing football during the past two weeks had started to pay off in his conditioning. He was able to sprint away from them with ease and this time so were Bobby and Shawn.

The boys
spent the rest of the afternoon together, celebrating the fact that Hannah was saved from Jack Barnes even though Conall wasn’t able to talk to her again.

Soon he’
d meet Eden for the ride home and she’d want to know all about it.

As he thought about what he wanted to tell his sister and what he wanted to keep to himself, he remembered something that Jack said that bothered him.

“Until next time Hannah.” Jack’s words echoed over and over again in Conall’s mind.

“This could only mean one thing. He remembered the part of her email where she said she would keep returning to the ferry landing year after year on
April 16 at 1:00 P.M., until they finally met.” Conall whispered.

“Guess I know where I’ll be at that exact moment in time
next year unless I somehow meet her before then.”

Chapter 13

Hannah was still in shock. She was leaning out of the car window trying to keep who she thought was Conall in her sights for as long as possible.

Within seconds, he was gone.

S
he thought, “Did I really seen him or did I dream the whole thing?”

“Hannah, please close the window now so I c
an put the air conditioning on. We really need to get to the hospital to be with Aunt Grace so we won’t discuss what just happened until later, but we will be discussing it you can count on that,” Sara said sternly.

Hannah barely heard her mother’s words a
s she stared out the passenger side window.

“Okay mom, I get it.”

She was deep in thought.

“What just happened?”

Her mind was reeling. She was in a daze and the images of the day were flooding her head. The passing scenery she was viewing while riding in the car was making it worse so she closed her eyes and took a number of slow, deep breaths.

Finally, after a few minutes, things started to slow down and came into focus.

She knew it was real and Conall had been there. That meant he had to have gotten the email. He must’ve gotten there late otherwise he would’ve met her as planned. She was certain it was him who had yelled her name and waved – he was trying to let her know he’d come to meet her.

Hannah couldn’t help but smile. She was elated that he was there but sad because they were still unable to
spend any time together. If he had the email he should know how to get in touch with her. She wondered why he hadn’t done so before today.

She placed her hands over her heart thinking about how much she cared for Conall, even without knowing anything about him.
Somehow she knew they were meant to be together. She didn’t understand the feeling. All she knew was that there was something between them that couldn’t be explained and it didn’t need to be. No matter how hard she tried, the draw was too great to fight it. Nothing else in her life had ever given her the peace and calm she’d experienced from this connection with Conall. It’s the one thing she never had to question.  It just was.

Sara
had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision with a pedestrian and the jolt brought Hannah back to reality.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to give you whiplash.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think you did.”

She was
still thinking about what had happened at the benches. She was more than confused by Jack the businessman.

“
What was he doing there and talking to me like he knew me?”

She was mentally reviewing ever
ything she’d done at the park, in particular when she was waiting near the benches when suddenly a disturbing thought came to her.

Jack had arrived
and began to use small talk; he’d introduced himself and complemented her appearance. As he’d moved closer to her he was trying to find out her name.