Stone Cold (29 page)

At first, Sara
was a little sad. This had always been something she and Hannah had done together. It was their time to bond and she didn’t think she was ready to give that up yet. As she listened to the girls talk however, she realized this might be a great way to find out about things that Hannah may not want to share with her directly. She tried to pretend she was focused on driving and listening to one of her self help CD’s but was tuned into their conversation as well.

“You girls catch up. If you need me I’ll be listening to my CD,” she said as she pretended to put in her earphones.

Gina was the more talkative of the two.

“I’m so glad you asked me to come with you this year Hannah! I’ve never been to NYC but have always wanted to go. I can’t wait to go shopping and maybe we can go to that place, oh what’s it called where they have the yummy des
serts? It’s the name of that movie with Kate Beckinsale where she falls in love with another guy when she’s engaged to someone else.”

“Oh I know
, I love that movie! It’s called Serendipity. Yeah we can definitely try to go there. It’s really good trust me. I’ve gone with my mom a few times.”

“So have you heard from Josh? Whatever happened when he came to visit you for your birthday?”

Sara’s ears perked up.

Hannah looked at her mom to make sure she had her earphones in before she answered.

“Didn’t I tell you about that?

“No because we really haven’t seen each other for more than two minutes since then.”

“Well okay, you were at the party so you knew that Lana somehow arranged for him to get leave. I still have to find out how she did that – but anyway, he only had twenty four hours so we just hung around campus and talked and ate. Nothing amazing or anything.”

“So have you heard from him since?”

“No, but there’s something that came up when he was telling me about what he’s been doing in the army and I could’ve died. I still can’t believe it.”

“Oh my gosh, what did he say?”

Sara was craning her neck so she could hear their whispers.

“He told me that he didn’t want me to worry about him if he got deployed to the
Middle East because he was spending a lot of time training with this amazing army ranger who was also a sniper.”

“Okay, and?”

“You’ll never guess what this ranger’s name is.”

“Geez Hannah, just tell me.”

Hannah’s voice dipped lower into a definite whisper.

“
It’s Conall.”

Gina’s eyes grew wide as she took in his name.

“Are you kidding me? Do you think it’s your Conall? Did you ask Josh anything more about him?”

“Ha, I wish I could’ve but he probably would’ve wondered why I wanted to know about the ranger, who by the way also happens to be a 1
st
lieutenant.”

“Do you think it’s your Conall?”

“Yes I do. I’ve never met anyone else with that name and I’ve never heard it before so as rare as it is, it’s more than a possibility.”

Sara
had heard it all.

She thought
to herself, “Hannah’s never mentioned anyone named Conall, I would’ve definitely remembered that name. Maybe he’s someone she met at college.”

Hannah continued. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since Josh mentioned him.”

“What are you going to do if it’s the same Conall? If he and Josh have become friends, they’re bound to find out that they have you in common.”

“I know. Believe me that’s what’s been the most bothersome. Josh would certainly have shown him my pictures and I have a feeling Conall would stop trying to see me. He wouldn’t want to interfere with a friend’s relationship.”

Sara accidentally jerked the wheel too hard to the left when she heard that comment.

“Mom! Geez! What are you doing? I hit my head on the side window just then.”

“Sorry honey, I didn’t see a pothole and had to swerve at the last minute to avoid it,” Sara lied.

The
distraction was temporary as the girls conversation was back on track.

“So do you think Conall will be
at the ferry landing today to meet you, especially if he’s in the army?”

“That’s just it. If he is in the army then that’s probably why he didn’t meet me last year and I seriously doubt he’ll be there today. He’s probably been deployed too.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Well I’m going to try and meet him again today but if he doesn’t show up I’m just going to assume he’s in the army and that’s what will keep me from being depressed about not seeing him again.”

After a minute or so, Gina responded.

“I hope Jack doesn’t decide to show up again this time. I swear I’ll hurt him again in a heartbeat if he so much as looks in your direction.”

Hannah laughed, “I don’t think he’ll ever show his face again after what you did to him. I owe you big for saving me from him.”

Sara
’s mind was spinning. She was thinking back to last year’s trip and the one before that when she’d found Hannah at the ferry landing talking to that strange man when she’d arrived to pick her up. She remembered seeing two other men talking to him as she’d led Hannah to the car.

The conversation changed to shopping and college talk from that point on.

They arrived at Aunt Grace’s and after visiting with her for awhile, the girls excused themselves to go shopping.

Sara
had never questioned Hannah’s whereabouts before when she’d gone off on her own to explore but after overhearing today’s conversation between her and Gina, it was obvious she’d been too trusting.

There was nothing she could do about the previous trips since they were in the past but maybe she should follow them today to see what was going to happen at the ferry landing.

Her guess was that Hannah was supposed to meet “Conall” whoever he was. It sounded to her like he was someone Hannah was romantically interested in. Sara’s first thought was that he was the strange man she’d seen three years ago.

“That man was way to
o old for Hannah and I can’t imagine she would be interested in him for that reason and more.” Sara shuttered at the thought.

She wanted to forget about this for the time being so sh
e could have a nice visit with Aunt Grace but her mind wouldn’t let it go.

While she and A
unt Grace were eating lunch, Sara suddenly remembered what Hannah had told her on their trip home last year. She’d said she knew Josh wasn’t the one for her but she’d never mentioned how she knew that. Maybe Conall was the reason that Josh had never really had a chance.

*****

Hannah and Gina waited at the ferry landing for an hour. It was a gorgeous spring day and as usual there were tons of people everywhere but Conall wasn’t one of them. Fortunately, neither was Jack.

This time when she left, Hannah wasn’t in complete depression. Gina was there to lift her spirits and they were headed off to shop and eat and enjoy the rest of their day in the city.

She was more certain than ever that Conall was overseas and would wait yet another year to meet him.

Gina overindulged at Serendipity and Hannah wasn’t far behind. They were both too tired and full to do much talking on the ride home.

Sara was glad for the silence. She had much to think about and the drive helped her to stay calm as she went through every possible scenario to explain what Hannah had been doing on these trips for the past who knows how many years.

There had to be a way to find out who Conall was without her having to ask Hannah directly. It could take some time but she was willing to wait in order to keep from ruining the great relationship she’d been building with her daughter.

*****

When Sara
dropped them off at the college, Hannah was glad to see Lana and to get back into her routine. Her first year would be done in a matter of weeks and she was going to enjoy every last minute of it before she had to go back to Wilmington for the summer.

Two men in her life were in combat, possibly together, and there was no way for her to know how they were doing or what they were thinking.

Chapter 23

He was here and she was there. That seemed to be the
story of his life for the past four years. Conall knew for certain that he wasn’t going to be able to meet Hannah again this April.

It was the end of March 2003 and he was on his way to
somewhere in the Middle East. As an army ranger sniper, his orders would be handed out when he arrived at his destination.

Chances were
good that it would be in Iraq or Afghanistan but his missions were almost always going to be covert. Even he wouldn’t know where or when until the last minute. His mind began to recall everything that had happened over the past five months.

After he
’d missed being able to meet Hannah at the ferry landing because of sniper training, he’d fulfilled his army obligations until he was finally given a leave in the fall. It coincided perfectly with his 20th birthday and Carter and Max planned a surprise party at the spur of the moment.

He didn’t feel much like celebrating but after all the trouble they went to, Conall didn’t want to let his friends down. At some point during the night, Carter introduced him to a girl he went to college with named Addison
Star.

She was
a pretty blonde with a very outgoing, almost pushy personality. She wasn’t his type at all. She was the complete opposite of Conall in fact, but there was something about her spunk that caught his eye.

Addison
had taken an immediate liking to Conall as most people did. Before he knew it, she had him lassoed and tied. She made all the moves and decisions. He was at her mercy.

Conall wasn’t looking for anyone to date but he had to admit he enjoyed having someone in his life other than men to share his time with. He was still in love with Hannah but he was lonely and
Addison was not taking no for an answer.

By the end of the night,
Addison told Conall they were dating and so it began. He spent the rest of his leave hanging out with her and her friends. They were carbon copies of her. This wasn’t something he entirely wanted, but having no experience with relationships he didn’t know quite how to navigate his way to singlehood again, especially from a girl like Addison.

So while on
leave, Conall ended up with a girlfriend despite his love for Hannah. The only thing that made him feel okay with this was that he would probably never see Addison very often and when he did he would always know that in the back of his mind, he’d be with Hannah someday, hopefully sooner than later.

*****

After sniper training and when he returned from his leave, he was assigned to help whip some new recruits into shape. They’d been through basic training and AIT and while everyone was waiting for their assignment, more training was in order.

Conall
had been working with a platoon on his specialties which were stealth, infiltration, and observation to name a few.

Several of the soldiers stood out to him as being the best in the platoon. He decided to push them the hardest because they seemed to have the most potential and would be the most likely
to become leaders in the field.

One of these men reminded him of himself even
though he was a year older than Conall. His name was Josh Moore.

He was more athletic than most, like Conall. His demeanor was similar but he was more outspoken and nowhere near as shy if at all. Conall could tell he was dedicated and focused and had a never say never attitude. The only thing he worried about that could be a potentially costly trait was Josh’s
tendency to take poorly calculated risks.

He’d been lucky in life so far after having taken those risks but Conall feared that in combat, unless he harnessed those tendencies, it could needlessly risk his life and the lives of others.

Conall took it upon himself to try and break Josh of this behavior and replace it with a more controlled and calculated approach to risk taking.

After many months, he felt like he’d accomplished this goal and was confident Josh would
be prepared and safer when in real combat situations. He’d hoped he would never have to experience real combat but if he did, he was more prepared than ever.

During the training, Conall spent a great deal of time with the men, and it was nearly impossible not to learn about them personally. They had a lot of time on their hands and would share things about their home life, relationships, and the like. They also shared pictures of girlfriends and wives as expected.