Read Almost Midnight for Free Online Page B

to church altogether. ’Course that boy of yours wants to make his mama come back, and it ain’t gonna happen. He’s sweet on Hannah, and I think the gal might just help him pull out of the past and into the present.”
    Tanner had the same thought about the situation when Jeremy had  rammed into him only minutes ago. The boy hadn’t understood his mom’s death. Hell, Tanner barely had either. One day he had been talking to his wife about adding another baby to the Clearbrook clan and the next day she was dead.
    He had been away on a business trip. Even his brother who was a doctor had been shocked at the way Julie’s pneumonia had set in so swiftly and seized the life from her in less than twenty-four hours. She had always been a fragile little thing, but her death hadn’t seemed real at the time.   
    “All right, fine,” Tanner said, gritting his teeth. “What other qualities does Miss Elliot have besides being a librarian and having a church going mother?” And besides her loving Jeremy and his son loving her. He’d overheard that sobering piece of information when he’d stood in the hall.
    Fritz rose from the chair, his gaze drilling into Tanner’s. “You better put in a word at that new medical company you bought over on the west end of town.”
    Tanner rolled his eyes at the change in subject. Sometimes his father’s mind reminded him of a rat in a maze, shifting directions all the time. “What does the west end and the new company have to do with Miss Elliot?”
    Fritz’s eyes lit up. “Hannah. I’m sure she’d let you call her Hannah, seeing as the two of you will be husband and wife just as soon as I see to a few things.”
    “That’s enough,” Tanner said harshly, glaring at his father. “I don’t want to hear any more about Hannah and me. I’m never getting married again, Dad. Never.” 
    His father frowned, but there was a sparkle in the older man’s eyes that irked Tanner to no end.
    “Now, what about Reach Medicals?” Tanner asked in a reasonable tone, trying to calm down.
    Fritz’s face grew serious. “Little woman’s set her heart on taking a job there in the Fall. That dang library barely keeps Hannah and her mother alive.”
    Tanner raised a scrupulous brow. His father knew how to twist his emotions. Always had. “And how do I fit in here?”
    “You’re going to see to it that Hannah works here for the four hours a day I hired her, then you make sure she gets that job at Peach Medicals at the end of the summer. She’s just finished one of those fancy degrees, you know.”
    “Reach, Dad. Reach Medicals, not Peach.”
    “Yep, she is as pretty as a peach, ain’t she? And smart, too. Jeremy knows his multiplication facts back and forth. I was telling my friends at Bernie’s Bakery this morning, I said boys, that Hannah Elliot is something.”
    Bernies’s Bakery?
    Tanner groaned, waving his hands in the air for his father to stop. “Okay, I get the picture.” 
    He didn’t need to hear any more about Hannah Elliot. Her soft green eyes reflected her emotions like a mirror. He could see she loved his son more than words could say. That alone had attracted him, never mind her beauty. But it was Jeremy he was worried about. The boy seemed too attached to the lady.
    “I’ll give her two weeks, Dad. Two weeks and we’ll see.”
    Fritz smiled and gave Tanner a hearty slap on the shoulder. “Dang it. I knew you’d see it my way, son.” 
    Fritz hurried toward the door, looked over his shoulder, and gave Tanner a mischievous smile. “Yep, two weeks should be enough time for her to decide if she’d like the job of Mrs. John Tanner Clearbrook.”
    The door slammed behind him, and it was all Tanner could do not to call him back. Simmering in disgust, Tanner knew that whatever his father had planned between him and Miss Elliot was not going to happen.
    Marriage was out of bounds, now and forever. He would never put himself at risk of loving a woman and being hurt again.