“Robyn is coming over around eight to help finish up my baking,” Hannah concedes, standing with her and walking her to the door.

As she slips on her jacket, Hannah watches her from where she’s leaning against the opposite wall. “I wish I had something for you.”

“You’ve done more than enough, seriously. Don’t even think about it.”

Hannah ignores her, sheer contemplation written all over her face. “When I was younger, my mom used to give me one thing on my birthday. Anything that was within her power to give me, I could have it. I’m not prepared for your birthday this year,” Hannah pauses to give her a look. “But seriously. Whatever you want, within my power, is yours.”

Hannah looks so earnest as she offers, Caroline’s heart skips a beat. If only that were really true, she thinks, a wistful sigh escaping her. “I’ll have to think –”

She cuts herself off, thinking about the words Hannah had said to her on Halloween. The ones that loop in Caroline’s mind during her limited downtime. The ones that she just can’t completely drop.

“This is just what I was afraid of! As soon as you knew –”

“What about the answer to a question?” She arches her eyebrow, her hands stilling on the zipper of her jacket.

Hannah’s eyebrows crinkle in confusion in that ridiculously cute way. “A question?”

Caroline shrugs, but her gaze is trained to Hannah’s face.

“On Halloween, you said that my not showing up to Abbie’s party was what you were afraid of and that as soon as I knew… but you didn’t finish.”

She makes herself stop speaking, feeling uncharacteristically sheepish, as Hannah doesn’t say anything. Caroline clears her throat. “I mean, maybe it’s silly, but I…”

She trails off when she actually looks at Hannah. Whose hands are in front of her now, and she’s toying with her fingers.

Oh.

As she stares at Hannah steadfastly looking anywhere but her, cheeks bright red, she can clearly see that – no. It wasn’t silly.

Her stomach twists unpleasantly, frowning at the idea that there really is something that Hannah thinks has somehow come between them.

Caroline leans forward, trying to catch Hannah’s gaze. And she keeps the nerves out of her voice, keeping her tone as low and soothing as she can, trying to coax out the answer. “What is it that you think I know? What are you afraid of?”

“Nothing. It was just – I was angry and my mind was going in a hundred different directions and that just slipped out.” Hannah lies. It’s so clearly a lie that Caroline feels more than offended.

She narrows her eyes, stepping closer as she once again tries to duck her head to catch Hannah’s eyes. “It’s obviously not nothing.”