“Well, I was going to ask you if you had a spot for lessons for Gracie. Annie wants to come too, and you’d definitely let me pay you.”
“That’s an idea,” Lizzy said. “Maybe you could offset the costs of a new place by giving lessons.”
“Maybe, but no amount of lessons would add up to what I’d need to buy the land outright.”
“You could fight it,” Mia offered.
She could try. But lawyers cost money and what the man said made sense. It hadn’t been left to her, not legally. The truth hurt.
The server appeared with their lunch and they paused to comment on one another’s orders. Lizzy sipped her tea, a thoughtful expression on her pretty face. “What if you could somehow persuade the city not to take it?”
“And just let me use it for free? I don’t know. I showed him letters, pictures. He barely looked.”
“Maybe he’s not the one who needs to see,” Lizzy said.
“You mean take it to someone else?”
“No, I mean, what if everyone saw? Public opinion can be a powerful motivator for politicians. I mean, what is the government doing? Just sitting around waiting for people to die so that they can snatch up property?”
Abby paused with her fork in the air. “What if you did something like, I don’t know…an awareness day or something?”
“Yes!” Mia pointed at Abby. “Make it big. Show off the horses and your patients, open it up to the public for the day. It’s not a piece of property just sitting there. It’s vital, providing a service to this area.”
A bit of hope niggled in.
“Everything’s political, right?” Lizzy said, picking up steam. “They definitely don’t want to look bad.”
“That’s true,” Abby added. “What if we got the media out there, really got the city to rally? People love kid causes. I actually know a local reporter, a friend from college.”
Hannah didn’t miss the we. That alone made her feel like smiling.
Lizzy cocked her head. “You know who we should be asking about this stuff? Stephen. He knows all there is to know about property laws and whatever.” She gestured with her hand.
The air backed up in her lungs at his name.
“And maybe Matt could help,” Abby added. “He knows real estate, but Lizzy’s right, Stephen is the one who knows the value of having undeveloped land. I’m sure he’d talk to some people for you.”
She worked to swallow the bite already in her mouth. Yeah. He’d offered and she’d said no. Stephen with his carved face and heart-stopping brown eyes. She’d felt something. Thought he did too. She pushed chicken salad around her plate. “How is he?”
“Stephen? Oh, he’s good, I guess. I haven’t seen him much.” Lizzy grinned, and stabbed a piece of fruit. “I thought you would have seen him. He seemed pretty hot to take you home Sunday.”
“No. I haven’t seen him since then.”
Mia’s eyes caught hers, full of sympathy. They’d already spoken about Stephen seeing her scars and everything that happened after. As usual, Mia had tried to put a positive spin on it. Look at it as personal growth instead of a stumble back. She’d also been the one to point out that Hannah didn’t actually know what Stephen had been thinking when she’d made him leave.
Lizzy let out an exasperated huff. “What’s my idiot brother done now?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head and pretended to drink.
“You know men don’t always say what they mean. Sometimes even say the opposite in addition to acting really stupid. Especially my idiot brothers. No offense, Abby.”
“None taken,” Abby said with a smile.
“It’s nothing, really. I just wondered how he was, that’s all.” After she’d told him her gory tale and then screamed at him to get out. Mia hadn’t held back on pointing that out too.
They finished eating, tossed around more ideas about building public support. Twenty minutes passed and the women had practically the entire thing planned. It just might work, and she wasn’t in it alone. She’d wanted to handle it herself but this felt different. Felt like friends helping friends, not family obligated to deal with her issues.
Lizzy walked with her since they were parked near each other. “That was fun. It’s good for my brain to talk to people over five.”
Hannah smiled and unlocked her doors, but instead of continuing to her own car, Lizzy paused.
“I probably shouldn’t say anything, though my brothers all expect me to butt in anyway, so I might as well. Stephen’s been…” She stared across the parking lot like she was debating what to say. “He’s been through a lot. He’s had some really tough years, but I’ve seen a change in him in the last few weeks.” She brought her brown eyes back to Hannah’s. “Since you. So if you care about him at all, give him a chance.”
If she cared about him? She was way past caring. But she nodded, mumbled, “Okay,” and got in her car. And give him a chance to what? She’d been broken by a man physically. Stephen could crush her heart into a million pieces.
Chapter 24
Stephen raised his foot, then lowered it and took a step back. Indecisive was not his middle name. Not a word even remotely associated with him. But in this moment, standing at the bottom of the steps leading to Hannah’s front door, that’s all he was.