She’s shaking her head again.“No, you don’t get it,” she sobs.“It was awful, Leo.Fucking awful.”
Easing her back, I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me.“Idoget it, babe,” I tell her.“Why do you think I don’t work with him?Why do you think I changed my last name?”
It’s the first time I’ve actually said these words out loud to anyone, not wanting to admit that as much as I love my dad, I could never work with him.I never wanted to skew anyone else’s view of him either, never bad mouthing him to anyone or listening to the gossip I’ve heard.
But obviously here, everything is different and maybe if I’d known he was her former boss, I would have been more honest from the start.
Hannah blinks at me, a couple more tears falling from her eyes that I brush away.“Why is your last name Marsh?”she asks.
I give her a small smile.“It’s my middle name,” I admit.“Legally, my last name is still Langston, but yeah, I use Marsh for work reasons.It should actually be Marshall.”
“Marshall?”she asks, confused.
Chuckling a little, I shake my head.“Yeah, my real middle name is Marshall.Remember I told you my mom named me after her favorite movie star?”I pause as Hannah nods.“Yeah well, my dad gave me the middle name after his favorite rapper.”
“What?”Hannah blurts out.
I roll my eyes, brushing my thumbs across her cheeks again.“Marshall Mathers, Eminem?My dad thinks he’s all gangster and shit.”
Hannah’s eyes widen a little as she shakes her head.“Wow, that’s not…not what I would have expected.”
“Yeah, it’s a bit ridiculous to be honest, but that’s my dad,” I add with a shrug.
Hannah nods, glancing away from me now.Needing to figure this out, to let her know that we can get through this, I tip her face up to mine, brushing a gentle kiss against her lips before whispering, “If we just talk to him, we can make things right.I promise it’s not as bad as you think.”
Hannah lets out a long breath, shaking her head before I’ve even finished speaking.“It’s not just bad, Leo, it’s humiliating!”she shouts.“He was awful to me and I…well, I wasn’t exactly diplomatic when I left either.”
I can’t help but laugh, remembering the story my dad told me, even as Hannah hits me with a hard look.“Babe, I know about the double bird and the fuck you,” I say, smiling.“And just for the record, I think it’s awesome.Word is your resignation is pretty legendary in his kitchen.”
Hannah groans.“All the more reason that this is never going to work,” she says.
“What?”
“This,” she repeats, moving her hand between us.
“What the hell are you talking about, Hannah?”I ask as a spike of fear lances through me.Her head falls and once again, I tip her face back so she’s looking at me.“Talk to me, babe,” I add softly.
She swallows hard, her eyes still filled with sadness as they search my face.“Think about it, Leo,” she whispers.“How could you and I possibly work together when your dad and I hate each other?”
“He doesn’t hate you,” I say, my heart pounding in my chest at just what she’s implying now.“We can talk to him.Tomorrow,” I add.“We can figure this out, Hannah, I promise.”
“And what,” she continues.“At Christmas or Thanksgiving, he and I just act like that whole me working for him, him being awful, and me quitting in an epic rage never happened?”
I suck in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I seriously wonder if Hannah is legit thinking about ending things with me because of my dad.“I don’t know, okay,” I eventually admit.“But that’s why we have to talk to him.”
“He’s your dad, Leo,” she says, shaking her head again.“You love him, you’re never—”
“I loveyoutoo, Hannah,” I say, cutting her off.“I’m not giving you up, you know.Not giving up on us.”
Hannah’s eyes close as her body deflates a little.“Look, it’s late, you should probably go.We both have to work tomorrow.”
“I’m not fucking going anywhere,” I say, standing from the couch, holding her against me.“The sooner you understand that, the better.So yeah, we are gonna go to bed and tomorrow we’re going to make things right.Talk to my dad, so we can go back to doing what we do best.”
Hannah’s head falls against my shoulder, but she doesn’t say anything or acknowledge my words.But she also doesn’t ask me to leave again, which I take as a good sign as I walk us into her bedroom where we both wordlessly undress before crawling into bed.
I feel physically and emotionally exhausted as I pull her close, wrapping my arms around her as she rests her head on my shoulder.
“I love you,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
