Stone Cold (17 page)

She thought, “It feels like he knew I was going to be there and deliberately came to meet me. So weird!”

Another thought occurred to her.

“
Something else that doesn’t add up was when he saw my name on my jacket and he said, ‘Oh I see your name is Hannah. I thought it was you’.”

She wondered silently
, “What did he mean he thought it was me? He doesn’t know me. I’ve never seen him before in my life. He sounded like he’d seen me before, or met me before or something!”

But t
he most unnerving thing that she heard him say was when she was leaving with her mother.

“He said
, ‘Until next time Hannah’.”

She got goose bumps thinking about it.

“What did he mean by that? What next time?” Hannah’s thoughts were making her anxious.

Try as she might, she was having trouble making any sense of his words
or actions and what his intentions were towards her.

The worst memory of all made her flesh crawl - Jack’s hand on her shoulder.

It was an unwelcome gesture especially coming from a stranger and she couldn’t help but think he was trying to harm her in some way.

The large men who approached them were obviously somehow tied to Jack and she didn’t w
ant to think about what would’ve happened to her if her mom hadn’t shown up when she did.

Hannah wondered if Conall had seen anything that had happened.
If her mom hadn’t shown up maybe he would’ve come to her rescue. It was nice to think about but thankfully she was able to get away safely.

They were almost to the hospital when
Sara spoke for the first time since she’d picked Hannah up.

“We’re here. I hope Aunt Grace is okay. She looked so pale and weak
when I left her with the EMT’s.”

“I’m sure she’s okay mom. She’s lucky you were there to take care of matters when it happened.”

“I hope you’re right. She’s up there in years but I’d still like to have her around for a few more.”

“Me too.”

Hannah and Sara went into the hospital and were directed to Aunt Grace’s room. She was hooked up to a number of tubes and machines but seemed to be resting comfortably. They stayed for a few hours, waiting for her to wake up.

When she finally did, they were able to chat and even shared some laughs before visiting hours were over.

*****

Hannah was glad to get back in the car. She was ready to go home and get some sleep. Her mind had been overtaxed from all of the events of that day and she needed a total break.
She hoped she’d be able to clear her head for a peaceful, deep sleep.

They rode in silence until they made their way across the
George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.

Sara
spoke first.

“Hannah, I really need to know what
happened at the park today.”

Hannah knew she was going to have to talk about this with her mom. She’d been forewarned earlier
but she’d hoped her mom had somehow forgotten about it.

“Okay what do you want to know.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning, from the time I dropped you off.”

Hannah tol
d everything as she remembered it. How she’d arrived at the benches and began taking pictures. How she was nearly the only person at the benches after the ferries boarded their passengers and left. How the businessman who called himself Jack had approached the benches and started talking to her. How she’d ignored him until she started to get uncomfortable and then she panicked and answered his question. How the two large men appeared and started coming towards them as Jack put his hand on her shoulder. How she was never as happy to see anyone in her life as she was to see her mother at the exact time she needed to be there to save her from what she wasn’t exactly sure.

Afterwards,
Sara sat there speechless in stunned disbelief for what seemed to be the longest time.

“Where do I even begin?” she finally questioned.

“Is there anything else to add to that or did you tell me everything?”

Before
Hannah could respond Sara said, “It has to be everything because there couldn’t possibly be anything else to make this story any crazier than it already is.”

“It’s everything mom. I promise.”

Hannah was still not ready to tell her about Conall. She didn’t think there was a need to do so since as far as she knew he technically hadn’t shown up until after they were back at the car.

Call it a miracle, but it was obvious that her mother hadn’t heard Conall yell out Hannah’
s name or the echoes that had bounced off of the surrounding buildings. If she had it would’ve been impossible for her to keep his existence a secret any longer.

“I don’t know what Jack wanted with me
but I got the feeling it wasn’t something good. All I want to do is go home and forget about the whole incident. I’ll never see him again so it doesn’t matter anymore. It was just a fluke and that’s the end of it.”

She was done with talking about it and she hoped her mom would just drop it and never speak of it again.

“I want to make sure you’re okay before we move on.”

“I think I’m fine
.”

“Alright
, if you say so but if you ever want to talk about it or if it starts to bother you please let me know.”

“I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

“And another thing. Let’s not tell your father about this, okay? He’d probably never let you out of the house again if he knew what happened. I don’t think that’s the answer but his instinct as your father is to protect you for life. If he had his way you’d be his little girl forever.”

Hannah knew her mom was right. She was daddy’s little girl and this
would put him over the edge. If she valued her freedom she’d go along with her mom and never tell him about any of this.

“It’s a deal. I have no intention of spending my last few years of high school under lock and key.”

The remainder of the ride home was quiet. It was dark and the scattered lights around the highway were lulling Hannah to sleep as they passed by.

Her mind began to drift, and without warning, the thought occurred to her that Conall had probably read her joke about returning to the ferry landing each year on April 16 until they met, if they missed each other
today.

Counting on her fingers
, she figured out that it was nine and a half months until that date rolled around again.

Her mind had become more alert
and she thought to herself, “What if I really do have to wait that long to see him again?”

Her imagination started to run wild.

“So many things could happen in that amount of time. He could decide he didn’t want to wait any longer and start to date other girls. The same thing could happen to me. We’re both so young and mostly everyone we know are single and actively seeking the opposite sex. Why would we be any different?”

Sitting there in the dark, Hannah began to see there was nothing she could do about it if it happened to either of them or both.
She could try to send another email to his school but that wouldn’t happen until the next school year began.

The only thing she could hope to happen was that by the time
April 16 rolled around they’d each go to the ferry landing to finish what they’d started even if they were in relationships with other people at that time.

With that thought in mind
, nothing else bothered her that night.

They’d made it home and Hannah went to bed, clothes
and all. She slept so soundly she didn’t even remember any of her dreams.

Chapter
14

Eden
was with her friends when Conall called for her to pick him up. They were still in the car with her when she arrived.

When she stopped the car, one of the girls got out of the front seat and got in the back with the other tw
o girls so that he could ride in front.

“Hey Conall, you re
member my friends Courtney, Alison, and Kristen?” Eden gestured toward the back seat with her eyes and a nod of her head.

He gave a halfhearted glance their way.

The three girls were giggling and preening themselves with all eyes on him as he lowered himself into the seat.

“
Yeah I remember them. Hey. How’s it going?”

The girls replied in unison, “Hey Conall.”

More giggling was followed by individual comments from each girl.

Courtney asked,
“Wow Conall. I haven’t seen you in so long. How’ve you been?”

“You
’re such a cutie,” cooed Alison.

“Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Wanna go out sometime?” Kristen flirted.

Conall had zero interest in any of these girls or for any other girls at the moment besides Hannah.

Unnerved, he took a drink of his soda, and
looked at Eden for support.

She
sensed how uncomfortable Kristen’s comment had made him feel and came to his rescue.

“Come on you guys, this is my brother. Leave him alone.
Besides, he’s into some mystery girl right now anyway.”

“Oh come on
Eden,” Kristen replied.

“The least you could do is help us out a little bit. Your brother’s a hottie and we’re so jealous of this mystery girl, whoever she is. So lucky.”

Kristen was running her hand up and down the side of Conall’s neck and touching his hair.

“Kristen
, give it a rest and stop speaking for Alison and Courtney. They have minds of their own.”

When he heard
Eden’s last comment, Conall couldn’t contain his laughter and spewed his mouthful of soda all over the dashboard.

He found it funny that
Eden actually thought her friends, who were known as three of the biggest airheads, had minds of their own.

He doubted they had one functioning brain cell between them.

“Thanks a lot little bro! You’re cleaning that up tomorrow or I’m telling mom and dad about your little excursion today.”

Eden
sounded like a ten year old.

Before he could respond she teased, “Speaking of that, how did your little rendezvous turn out? Is she everything you hoped she’d be?”

Courtney, Alison, and Kristen had gone silent for the first time since he’d gotten in the car.

“I really don’t want to discuss that with you at the moment.”

There was no way Conall was going to say anything about Hannah in front of the tart trio. It was bad enough that Eden knew let alone anyone else. He was trying to keep it to himself as much as possible.

Eden
gave him an apologetic look when she realized he didn’t want to talk about Hannah in front of her friends.

“Sorry Conall. I wasn’t thinking. I’m about to drop them off and
then we can head home.”

Two blocks later,
Eden pulled the car over and after saying their goodbyes, Alison, Kristen, and Courtney went into their apartment but not without blowing a few kisses Conall’s way.

Kristen even went so far as to kiss his passenger
side window which left a red lipstick mark behind.

“If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me,” she propositioned
him as Eden drove away.

“Your friends are ridiculous! No way would I ever be into any of them. Especially Kristen!”

Conall was completely put off by their forwardness.

“The
y’re just messing around with you. Don’t be so sensitive.”

“I mean it
Eden. I hate girls like that. Next time, drop them off before you pick me up.”

“Okay. I get it. So tell me about what happened today. Did you get to meet up with her?”