Hannah frowned and she spoke gently, addressing him seriously this time. ‘Ward, I suspect somewhere along the line somebody convinced you that you’re less than, for whatever reason. They’re wrong. The fact is – that guy in that picture, that one split second at the shelter when you dropped the macho mask – is exactly who you are. Yes, you’re a pro athlete and you’re tough and you’re strong, and all the rest of it. No one is denying that. At the same time, there’s a tender more vulnerable side to you, too. One that you were kind enough to reveal to me on occasion. But you need to lower the deflector shield,’ she said gently, deliberately using a Star Trek reference to help hammer the message home. ‘People respond better to the real you.’

Ward stared directly at her then and after a beat, asked, ‘Do you?’

The huskiness in his voice sent sparks shooting through her and she looked away, no longer able to withstand those penetrating eyes. She laughed nervously, well and truly discombobulated now.

‘Who wouldn’t?’ Then tucking the phone back into her pocket, Hannah swallowed hard and pasted on a bright smile. ‘Now, come on, let’s get in there and keep up the good work.’

Chapter 35

‘Block him,’ Zoe commanded sternly.

That afternoon, Hannah managed to bring her friend up to speed about her ex’s messages.

You were always my lucky charm, after all

Because she’d accessed the last one covertly on her laptop, as far as Rob was concerned she wouldn’t have seen it ’til this morning, rather than spending half the night awake and ruminating over every word.

A million alternate responses still jostled around her brain, all conflicting, but as much as she wanted to be honest in her response, deep down Hannah knew the easy-breezy ‘gimme a call when you get here’ reply was the safest choice. And after that, come what may.

‘Did you hear what I said?’ demanded Zoe, who had a scary knack for reading Hannah’s mind. ‘Don’t even reply. Block him. That’s the only option. He’s trying to get under your skin again. Remember what happened last time. You haven’t forgotten, have you?’

‘Of course not. It’s just … ’ She bit her lip.

‘No. No “it’s just” … Aw, please tell me that you haven’t responded.’

Hannah cringed afresh at the wine-infused essay-length confessional still sitting in iMessage. ‘I haven’t responded,’ she admitted truthfully.

Yet.

‘Good. Don’t. Rob Kendrick is no good for you. You are better than that.’

In her heart, Hannah knew her friend was right. She wanted to follow her advice – she truly did. What did they say the definition of insanity was again? Making the same bad decision over again and expecting different results.