I Want to Hold Your Hand Read Free Page B

drive himself nuts? If it was, he was well on his way. Since his productivity was positively shot, he decided to break early for lunch.
    He was on his way out the door to grab something to eat at the diner when the phone rang. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve let voicemail pick up the call, but there was nothing normal about circumstances under which Hannah Guthrie might be calling. So he ran back in and grabbed the phone.
    “Nolan’s.”
    “Hey, it’s me. Hannah.”
    Come on. No way. Had he gone straight around the bend into the land of the delusional? Had he wished so hard for her call that he’d made it happen out of sheer will?
    “Nolan? Are you there?”
    It was really her. “Oh yeah, sorry. I’m here. Is everything okay with the car?”
    “That’s why I called. I figured you’d be worried about whether or not I got here, and I did, so I wanted to tell you.”
    Was it his imagination or was she rambling? And did she sound nervous? The calm, cool Hannah he knew and loved never sounded nervous. She was always in perfect control of her emotions, something he admired greatly about her in light of what she’d been through. “That’s good to know. I was hoping it wouldn’t give you any more trouble.”
    “It didn’t.”
    Nolan wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say next. His brain spun with possibilities, each of them rejected.
    “I also wanted to tell you . . .”
    His heart pounded as anticipation beat through him in time with his heart. “What, Hannah? What did you want to tell me?”
    “Ever since I saw you this morning, I can’t stop thinking about enchiladas.”
    Since that had been about the last thing he’d expected her to say, he laughed. “Is that right?”
    “I’m drooling, in fact. So I was thinking, maybe we could check out that place in Stowe later? If you’re not busy. I know it’s last minute—”
    “I’m not busy.” He was but he’d get out of it. The racing team could meet without him. “What time will you be back?”
    “Around six thirty.”
    “How does seven sound?”
    “Sounds good. I’ll see you then?”
    “I’ll be there. I can’t have you drooling all over the place. What will people say?”
    Her laughter made him smile. “See you soon.”
    Nolan put down the phone and let out a very loud, “ Yes! ”
     • • • 
    “See?” Becky said as Hannah hung up the phone. “Was that so hard?”
    “It was excruciating. I sounded like a complete idiot.”
    “You did not! He’s probably dancing for joy around the garage after hearing from you.”
    “Be quiet. He is not. I never should’ve told you any of this.”
    “Yes, you should have, and you told me because you wanted me to force you to do something about it.”
    “That isn’t why I told you!”
    “Yes, Hannah,” Becky said gently, “it is. You needed permission to act on what you feel for Nolan. I’m glad I was the one you confided in and that I was the one who gave you the push you needed to make that call. It’s high time, isn’t it?”
    “I suppose. It’s just that I still feel . . . I don’t know. It’s ridiculous, but it feels disloyal to Caleb.”
    “Aw, honey, Caleb loved you so much. He’d want you to be happy. You know that.”
    “Of course I do, but it’s hard to think about moving on with someone else. I never wanted to move on without him.”
    “You don’t have any choice. You’re a young, beautiful, vibrant woman with so much life left to live and so much love left to give. I can’t even begin to understand what you’ve been through, and you’ve handled it all so gracefully and with such dignity.”
    “Not always,” Hannah said with a laugh, looking to lighten things up a bit. She didn’t allow herself many trips to the maudlin side of town where nothing good ever happened, but once in a while . . .
    “I’m sure you’ve had a lot of rough moments, and you may continue to have them for the rest of your life. But that doesn’t mean you can’t