"She took me off to wait while his father took him to get the money," Hannah replied, her eyes not meeting Cho's.
"She can be a bit intimidating," Cho said, the little boy asleep in her arms. "You're lucky she wasn't at the store. She's more frightening behind that desk with all that power. And I like her."
Hannah bit her lip. "Yeah. I can imagine..." Something twisted in her gut. "No, that's...that's not entirely true," she confessed, and then sighed. "I know how bad she is behind that desk. She's frightening."
"Really? It must not have been a Monday or a Wednesday evening," Cho said. "Why were you in her office?"
"No, it was on a Monday, but at lunchtime," Hannah said, finally looking up. Now that she'd said that much, she had to keep going. "The day before Grandpa's ball. I was nervous about meeting Quinn's parents--really nervous--so Ernie suggested that we go by the shop at lunch and meet his mother under less stressful circumstances." She shook her head, letting out a quiet laugh. "I'm pretty sure we were wrong about that. It started off terribly, and then she took me back into her office and went on to completely confuse me. She was almost nice to me at times, or at least not mean, even though I kept giving exactly the wrong answers to the questions she asked, and when I left she had me pick out a pair of earrings to wear to the ball. So when she came up and said what she said about me to Quinn, I...I was even more shocked."
Cho frowned. "Maybe she was feeling pressured by Mr. Chambers? I'm sorry she said that to you, though."
Hannah's eyes widened. Maybe it wasn't Quinn's presence that made the difference; maybe it was Mr. Chambers'. After all, he'd been there at the times that Mrs. Chambers had been mean to her, and not when she'd been nice. That could explain the apology. And if she really did have some sort of strategy, why would she have revealed it to Hannah without making it clear? "That actually would explain a lot," Hannah said, unsure whether or not she should be relieved by this new theory. "Well, at least I only have to see them once a month, barring any social occasions like the ball."
"Yeah, that's true. Maybe I can come with you sometime? Probably not. I don't know what I could do, anyway."
"Thanks for the offer anyway," Hannah said, smiling a little. "Just...don't tell Quinn, please? I don't want him to think that I went there to talk to his mother. I mean, I did, but I just wanted...I don't know. To be a customer, and meet her briefly, and not be so nervous about the next day. It wasn't supposed to be more than that."
"Your secret is safe. They all are," Cho said.
Hannah's smile warmed. "I figured. I just had to sure that you knew that he didn't know."