45- Lincoln

Mom, Robin, and Jacques all stood staring over my shoulder at my phone, which lay silent and cold in my hand.

“She’s not going to say yes,” I told them, my heart hammering in my throat. “She’s already made up her mind. She’s leaving. I saw the moving truck.”

“I’m telling you,” Robin said, “you don’t have a clue what you saw. I talked to the girl myself.”

By the time we’d finished hashing out what Robin and Hannah had talked about and Robin had insisted I give her ‘my side,’ so she could play Judge Judy and pass judgment on the fate of my non-existent relationship with Hannah, the woman had imbibed at least one full bottle of Mom’s chardonnay on her own. And that was in addition to whatever had been in that flask. I wasn’t certain she was the person I wanted to rely on to save my relationship with a woman I was fairly sure I was in love with.

Mom’s hand was on my shoulder, and I could feel her tension. I didn’t have children, but I knew enough from having my parents in my life that

mot