Life Goes On (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 2 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Nineteen

❝prank (pronounced praŋk or prangk), noun
a practical joke played on someone.❞

It was late evening, and Jon had long since left. Elle was either sleeping or quietly watching Adventure Time and not making too much of a fuss, though Hunter could tell she was starting to get bored. Before he suggested that they read another chapter of The Chamber Of Secrets, there was a knock on the door.

"Ma," muttered Hunter, and went to open the door. But he opened the door to see a woman holding a container full of stew and a ukulele.

"Hi. Sorry, Mrs Hayes was a bit busy, so she asked me to drop these off."

"Hey, Ryan," said Hunter, his brain working overtime. There was no way Lynette would willingly stay away from Elle if she was sick, no matter how busy she was... unless she thought it would benefit Hunter in some way.

Was this her way of setting them up?

"Right, right. Would you like to come in?"

"I can't stay long-"

"That's fine. Come in, sit down. I'll make you something to drink."

She smiled slightly, and walked inside. She looked around at the decorations and the big clock on the wall. Hunter's numerous awards hung off the walls, and there was a picture of Hunter and Elle from a professional photoshoot. There was another one of a woman with red hair, who Hunter was hugging. She was beautiful, with red hair down to the middle of her back, and gorgeous grey eyes. She had never seen Hunter that happy- well, she had, in interviews and shows- but only the ones before Lilly had passed away.

"Have a seat. Would you like tea or coffee?"

"Tea is fine."

"Cream, sugar?"

"Just black with two sugars, please," she said. She felt nervous, though she couldn't figure out why.

He put some water to boil, then looked around at Ryan. "What's the ukulele for?"

"Oh, right. Well, it's my old one. I don't use it much anymore, so I figured Elle would like it. Something to do instead of staring at a screen all day."

"Ryan, I can't accept this-"

"Go on, give it to her. It's fine." She gave him a smile, which made him weak at the knees. He tried to smile a little less, aware that he seemed way too happy while she was in close proximity to him.

"Here," he said, grabbing her mug of tea and handing it to her, along with a plate of biscuits. He sipped at his coffee. Ryan was quietly awkward, and so was he. "So, uh... it's getting cold now." The weather. Of all the conversations you could have with this goddess, you chose the weather.

"Yeah. Christmas. I used to love Christmas."

"What changed?"

She shrugged. "Adulthood, I guess. You just find that you can't do much in the way of celebration anymore."

"Yeah. I just... I celebrate Christmas for Elle's sake. I invite my parents to dinner, and they bring gifts and spoil her. You know, typical grandparent behaviour."

She laughed slightly. "My parents are just waiting for me to have kids."

He smiled. "Well, you may as well. Kids are great."

"I suppose. But I want to be married first, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that."

She checked her watch and cursed silently. "I should go. I don't want to be late back home, I haven't started dinner, my partner will be angry."