Chapter 7
The morning sun snuck between the blinds and shined brightly upon Hannah’s face as she lay sleeping. Earlier that morning Hannah returned from the beach still feeling the loss of her father, but somehow rejuvenated. As she had laid in bed her thoughts drifted to Nick. His warm embrace, kind words, and open heart had touched her in more ways than he knew. When Hannah learned of her father’s death no one reached out to her. She was left to grieve with no one because her mom was too scared to open up. ‘It felt so good to be held again. To feel like someone cared.’ But too tired to think about it, Hannah turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
Shuffling in her sheets, Hannah’s eyes fluttered open. It was 10:36, the latest she had slept in months. Even when her mother and father were away, she could not sleep past eight. Her feet touched the floor and she walked across the room to the door. Downstairs Hannah searched for her mother, she must have gone to run errands. After making a pot of coffee Hannah decided to take advantage of her morning off, and new found understanding with her father’s death, and go through his things.
She opened the closet and was faced with shelves, racks, and drawers of his old clothes. Different textures ran under her hand as she paced down the rack. On the dresser was the watch Hannah had given him for his 45th birthday. ‘I wish I’d remembered to have this burried with him. He never took it off, at least not until the last few days.’ Hannah searched through his drawers, as she scanned the closet she felt so close to him, as if he was with her. Out of the corner of her eye Hannah spotted a box on the very top shelf. After grabbing the desk chair from her father’s office she climbed up to retrieve it.
Sitting in the middle of the floor Hannah gasped at the box’s contents. There lay all the paintings, drawings, and cards she had made as a child. Puzzled, Hannah remembered her mother throwing them out a months before. He must have taken them out of the trash.
“Hannah? Hannah? Are you up there? I brought you some breakfast,” her mother called from the bottom of the steps.
“Great! I’ll be right down.” Quickly she returned the contents to the box. As she was about to place it back on the shelf Hannah changed her mind. She grabbed the watch and wooden box and hid them under her bed. After placing the chair back at the desk Hannah went downstairs.
“What were you doing up there hon? You were making a lot of noise. Were you searching for something?” her mother questioned.
“Oh, yes, I was looking for my purple dress. I can’t find it anywhere.”
Chapter 8
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