Hello wonderful people,

Wednesday = excerpt day! Hope you enjoy this week’s preview of the next episode…

Greetings from sunny Belgium,

Sigrid

Hannah sipped from her coffee and stared at the clock of her microwave oven. She was counting back the days. Had it been ten or eleven days since she had last seen Milly?

“Eleven long days,” she told Charles.

He looked up from his food on the counter. Hannah smiled sadly.

“You don’t seem upset about it, but I sure am,” she said and scratched his chin affectionately. “If Milly ever comes back here, you should be nicer to her, you know.”

Charles pushed his head against Hannah’s hand, purring loudly.

“She could have died,” Hannah said softly.

A notification sound on her phone interrupted her thoughts. Hannah glanced back at the clock.

“That’s probably my car.”

She quickly finished her coffee and put the mug in the sink.

“I’ll be home late tonight. I have an important meeting.”

She turned around to see Charles had already hopped off the counter and taken his favourite spot by the window.

She smiled. Almost everything felt different these days, but some things had stayed exactly the same. Charles was still predictable in his ways. The grumpy cat and his routines had been a comfort to Hannah these last two weeks.

She had thought she would feel better after a few days, but she didn’t. Waiting for Milly had not become easier, it had only gotten harder. Every morning, Hannah wondered if she would hear from Milly today.

Milly’s text messages had arrived every other day or so. They had given Hannah hope that not all was lost. Sometimes, the messages had also infuriated her. Milly shared the most ridiculous things without ever addressing what mattered most.

But Hannah had still replied. What else could she do? She was happy to hear from Milly. She was grateful to have at least some idea of what Milly was doing. But she had never sent a message first.

Until last night. She had spotted the article about what the press was referring to as the ‘Parking Lot Predator’ while aimlessly clicking around the internet.

The news had chilled her to the bone. There had been no doubt in her mind this had been the same guy who had attacked Milly. An hour after Hannah had shared the article, Milly had sent a short reply. “It’s him.”

Hannah blew out a breath and focused on the closet in front of her. “Do I want to look businesslike tonight or just like … myself?” she wondered. She selected a more casual coat and a green, wool scarf. It would have to do.

A minute later, Hannah pulled the front door shut behind her. The sound of the door closing, reminded her of her last conversation with Milly. She couldn’t help it. She replayed their discussion in her mind again.

She now knew where things had started to go off the rails. “Long before I arrived with those pizzas,” she mumbled and pushed the button to call the elevator. She should have opened up to Milly much sooner.

All she could do now was learn from her mistakes. Even if Milly broke up with her, Hannah would still try to be different from now on. She wanted to break free from her past. Too many things were holding her back. She would confront them one at a time.

Tonight would be a big step. Hannah clenched her jaw as she stepped into the elevator. She hadn’t told her mother what she was up to. She felt a bit bad about it, since her mother had been incredibly supportive lately.

Actually, the only one who knew how Hannah was feeling was Lucile. Hannah had called her mom to warn her about mister Cole the day after Milly had kicked her out. Lucile had picked up on Hannah’s sadness within seconds, of course.

She had insisted Hannah stop by her apartment that night. Hannah’s first response had been to refuse. In the end, she did visit her mother after work. Lucile had been waiting for her with a bottle of Hannah’s favorite single malt.

Hannah had started crying as soon as she sat down on her mother’s couch. Lucile had wrapped her arms around her and then had cried too. Hannah still wasn’t sure what exactly had happened between them that night. But it was something good.

The elevator arrived on the ground floor. Hannah was relieved to see the building’s hallway was empty. If she got lucky, she would get to the car without having to chat with anyone.

There were only so many smiles she could manage in a single day. She would act normal as soon as she arrived at the office, she told herself. That’s what she had been doing for the past two weeks after all.

Hannah buttoned up her coat and stepped onto the street. Her car was waiting for her as expected.

“Morning,” she said as she lowered herself to get in.

Hannah impatiently waited for the driver to take his seat behind the wheel.

“Peter, don’t forget I’ll be leaving the office early tonight,” she said. She quickly added “Please” once she realised she sounded a bit harsh.

“Yes, ma’am. 4PM sharp.”

“You have the address?”

“Yup, it should take us about fifteen minutes to get there.”

That’s it! What is Hannah up to? Find out on Saturday in the full audio episode of Part 41 😉