Free Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) by Joanne Fluke

didn’t.”
    “No, but that wasn’t my decision. Linda wanted to wait. She wanted to try to make it as an actress. And she did. And then she fell in love with Tom Larchmont and married him.”
    “How did you feel about that?”
    “I was hurt . . .” Ross stopped and took a deep breath. “And I was relieved at the same time. I knew by then that it wouldn’t have worked. I was grateful to Tom for coming along and asking Linda to marry him. He kept me from the worst mistake of my life.”
    “But Linda loved you.”
    “She did, way back then. But we were kids. And when we grew up, our feelings for each other changed. We didn’t know much about love and commitment back then. We were discovering things, living in the moment. You did the same, Hannah. You were living in the moment with Bradford.”
    Hannah took a sip of her tequila sunrise. It was good, but then she pushed it aside. “It’s true. Some of it was good, and some of it was bad, but I guess all of it helped us to grow up.”
    There was a silence between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Hannah finally broke it by squeezing Ross’s hands. “I’m glad we talked about all this.”
    “So am I. The politicians are always talking about transparency. I want everything to be transparent between us, Hannah. No secrets, no lies, just us.”
    “Just us,” Hannah repeated. And then she leaned forward to meet him across the small table to share a kiss to seal their promise.

Chapter Six
     
    “W e didn’t see you at the Beatles Retrospective last night,” Andrea said when Ross and Hannah met them for breakfast.
    “That’s because we decided not to go.” Hannah picked up the jelly and put some on her toast.
    “What did you do?” Andrea asked.
    “We went to the pool instead,” Ross answered.
    “But we went to the pool afterwards and we didn’t see you,” Andrea said.
    It was obvious that Andrea wasn’t willing to stop quizzing them and Hannah felt her temper rise again. “I guess we weren’t there at the same time.”
    “What time were you there?” Andrea asked.
    “What time were you there?” Hannah countered. “I don’t appreciate being grilled, Andrea, especially because I know you’re going to tell Mother exactly what I said.”
    That comment made Andrea’s face turn pink. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I just don’t want you to . . . to . . .”
    “Get hurt,” Michelle finished her sentence. “We like Ross. It’s not that. We practically pushed you together. But we just want to make sure you’re okay.”
    “I understand.” Ross entered the conversation again. “And I don’t want Hannah to get hurt, either. But you really have to cut us some slack here. Hannah and I haven’t seen each other for a while and we’ve got some catching up to do.”
    “That’s right,” Hannah backed him up. “If you two are monitoring our every move, it’s going to get irritating in a hurry. Don’t try to chaperone us. Is that clear?”
    There was a moment of silence and then Andrea and Michelle nodded.
    “It’s clear,” Andrea said.
    “We’re sorry if we’ve been too intrusive,” Michelle followed up. “Maybe we’re more protective than we should be.”
    “No kidding!” Hannah said sarcastically, and then she wished she hadn’t. Her family was intrusive. There was no doubt about that. But they were only trying to protect her.
    “Let’s just forget it then,” Ross suggested. “It’s pretty clear that we all want the same thing. Instead of sniping at each other, let’s make plans for tonight. It’s our last night in Vegas and we should do something special together, at least for part of the night.”
    “Cirque Du Soleil,” Michelle suggested, remembering the tickets that Norman had given Hannah. “I’ve seen it on television, but everyone says it’s much more impressive if you see it in person.”
    “Fine with me,” Ross agreed. “Shall I pick up four tickets?”
    “All we need is one,” Hannah told him. “Norman