Page 35 of Ruined

Wow.

At the same time I was glad she wasn’t saying no, I had to admit that it bothered me how surprised she seemed to be.

For a woman who was so shy, I didn’t think she would have been so receptive to me joining her. In fact, I was surprised she even had her movie nights at all, since it meant that she’d be around other people.

Me: Absolutely. When is it?

Hanna: There’s one this coming Friday, but I understand if you already have plans for the weekend. I’ll be having one again next Wednesday night.

I had no plans for Friday evening, and if Hanna was willing to have me over, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to see her again.

Me: I can make Friday work. Do I need to be a guest there? Will you have a vacancy?

Hanna:You don’t need to stay here. You can just come and watch if you’d like.

Me: It’s up to you. I’m happy to stay. Considering I’ve never spent the night in a tiny home… it could be fun.

Hanna: Maybe I should give you a tour of them first, so you can decide if it’s something you really want to do.

Now I felt like we were getting somewhere. I’d offered to come over and watch a movie, because I simply wanted to spend time with her and get to know her better. The fact that she was urging me to come and take a tour of the place was an indication to me that perhaps I’d done the right thing by not pushing her. Maybe this was working.

Me: I’m getting ready to head out the door to go to work now. But let me know when would be a good time for you. I’ll make the time to stop by.

Hanna: I’m free all the time, so whenever is convenient for you works for me. You can stop by at any time. Have a good day at work.

After reading her text, I stared at the phone for a few seconds before I slid it into my pocket. Then I moved toward the living room, so I could turn off the television and head to work.

An hour after I’d gotten there and sat down at my desk, I decided to do something I rarely ever did.

I was going to leave early.

The truth was, I’d been spending a lot of time in my office. My sole focus for quite some time now had all been on the case for the Steel Ridge PD, and I hadn’t been successful in getting any answers yet.

In my line of work, I’d generally made it a habit to break up the monotony of working on a single case when I wasn’t having any luck with it. I’d usually just shift my attention to another one for a bit, and somehow, when I came back to the one that I was getting stuck on, I’d always seem to wind up finding something that I hadn’t noticed the first time around.

So, while it wasn’t uncommon for me to find a way to take a break from a case for the sake of clearing my head to be able to come back with a set of fresh eyes, leaving work to do it hadn’t ever really been my style.

Today, I decided to switch things up.

Since there weren’t any other pressing cases that the rest of the guys in the private investigation unit couldn’t handle, I got up and walked out of my office.

The next thing I knew, I was in my car and on my way to see Hanna. She’d indicated I could stop at any time that was convenient for me, so I figured there was no time like the present.

Plus, I didn’t have a single doubt in my mind that she’d be able to offer precisely the distraction that I needed from my work for a little while.

I pulled up outside Short and Sweet and gave myself a moment to take the whole area in. Hanna had really done a phenomenal job with the place. The homes had enough space to offer some privacy from the next, and the land was utilized well. Since she’d made mention of it, I had a pretty good idea as to where she planned to do her expansion with the additional homes when the time came.

I locked my car, moved toward the registration house, and walked through the door. No sooner had I stepped inside when I saw Hanna pop out from behind the wall and look in my direction.

“Leo,” she said, the surprise evident in her tone.

“Hey, Hanna,” I returned.

As she moved out from behind that wall and up toward the counter, she asked, “What’s going on? I thought you were heading into work this morning.”

I nodded and replied, “Yeah. I was. I did. But I needed to get out and clear my head for a bit, so I thought I’d stop over here to see you.”

A small smile spread across her face. “Oh, I’d be happy to give you a tour now,” she said.