After the session, Hannah felt somewhat confident in things. As she got into the sky blue Molls-Moyse convertible she remembered being on fire only a few hours before, she looked at herself in the mirror. Aside from the hair, she just looked so comfortable. What she’d end up doing was driving to an old gas station that no one went to. Change into her business suit. Hide the clothes. And then drive home. Hannah wouldn’t dare go back to her family’s home without looking presentable. 

She took a moment to look at the french tips. Not to mention the tight bun. She was fitting into the mold she had always been told she had to be in by her husband. By her mother. Even Russett. Beauregard didn’t say anything, claiming fashion wasn’t really his thing. Honestly it wasn’t. Their mother and his wife often picked out his clothing. Thirty one years old and the man’s own mother still picked out what he wore each day.

Meanwhile, Russett was on top of the fashion trends. He was constantly buying new silk suits and ties. She swore that by the time the end of the month came around he had a whole new wardrobe. Even being rich didn’t excuse treating your clothes like used tissues.

Hannah let out a sigh as she pulled out of the parking lot and started driving home. There was a lot to think about. Like how was she going to handle hiding what happened from her mother and brothers. She didn’t remember all the habits she had right now. Hannah needed a reason to be acting differently that wouldn’t cause suspicion. Something that would make some sense… Anything.

Her stomach growled.

Oh, right. Chip had convinced her to starve herself before the wedding. And those potato candies were not exactly filling. Well, the first thing she could do for herself was get an actual lunch, instead of the three candies and two mints she had earlier. Something good and greasy. Like she’d get with her dad when she was little.

Within a moment she was pulling into the Hat Burger drive through. The crackling speaker came to life as Hannah came to a stop. 

“We tip your hat to you, dear customer. How can we help you today?” The young man’s voice came through.

Hannah smiled a bit. “Hi I’d like the number five with a cherry cola. Oh and five extra of the tiny hats from the current series.”

The order slowly came up on the screen as the ancient speaker continued to crackle away. “Yes ma’am. If the order is correct on the screen please pull forward.”

“Thank you so much.” Hannah pulled forward, smiling as she thought about the times with her father.

Her mother hated whenever they’d sneak off to eat at places like this. But Hannah loved it. Even if her mother would become more strict with meals the following days. She and her father would sometimes go out in just plain street clothes and look at places like this.

“It’s important to remember these are the people our company serves. It’s good to walk around and be aware of what they deal with. What they see. It’ll never be completely the same, but it’s better than pretending we know better than they do.”

Advice Hannah had been ignoring the last several years, trying to make her family happy. Allowing herself to be more isolated. To be blinded by everything. But that was going to change. She glanced in her mirror and saw at least five more cars coming up. 

Well. It was a small thing but Hannah could make a lot of people happy. Who didn’t like free food after all?

As she came up to the window the man leaned forward. “Excuse me ma’am. The number five with five hats?”

“Yes and a quick question. Can we add on some gift cards to that order?” Hannah pulled out her Black Eagle credit card. “I wanted to help pay for folks coming in and thought gift cards would be easy.”

The teen gave a smile. “Sure thing, ma’am. Lemme get my manager to ring those up real fast for ya on a different register. How much?”

“Oh um.” Hannah had to think for a moment. She hadn’t looked at the prices. How much did these meals normally cost people? With that many cars maybe… “Would a thousand be enough?”

He froze and ran his fingers through his hair. “I ah… haha. Ma’am. If this is a joke you don’t need to, honest.”

Shit. Too low for the line? It was a nice little fast food place. “Two thousand then.”

“I ah. Just a moment ma’am.” He shouted as loud as he could. Barely turning his head. “Mick! She wants a lot of gift cards!”

“Have her come inside then, and I’ll deal with it!” A voice called out. “Geeze use your head, Jordan.”

“Ah, come around inside miss. I’ll have your order ready there.” He chuckled nervously as he began talking to another customer placing an order.

The manager of Tiny Hat Burger would be better help than the clerk. She turned the corner and parked in the first empty spot she saw before getting out of the car. She smiled walking inside, going to the counter. The manager was talking to Jordan as he turned, looking her over. 

Oh right. She looked like she was in her pajamas still. Minus the sneakers. Although a quick look around showed several people wearing activewear, swears, ripped jeans, and various other casual clothing. Surely she didn’t stand out that much. So why was the manager giving her a look like she was out of dress code?

“Ah Ma’am. You wanted the gift cards? How many again?”

She cleared her throat. “Well I wanted to help pay for some meals today so I was hoping for two thousand dollars. If you think that’s enough.”

The manager looked at her. She’d seen looks like that before when the host was debating throwing out a guest at the nicer restaurants. After a few moments of people softly talking behind her, he spoke up again.

“Just one gift card then?” He pulled out a simple plastic card in the shape of a blue bowler hat. “Not several?”

“Just one. I thought then you could keep swiping it until it ran out.” She felt nervous now. Would it be better if she gave out several individual cards? Probably not. 

He chuckled. “And you feel two thousand dollars is an appropriate amount? Well, I suppose.”

“Wait no!” The manager paused as she cried out. He seemed to be expecting this. “You’re right. It’s the wrong amount for the business you’re going to have.” 

“Very well ma’am we can certainly lo-”

“Five thousand should be enough to cover people. Maybe give some meals to the people I saw on the corner as well right?” Hannah said, her voice soft and wavering slightly. It’d be enough right?

“I… will need to see your card, ma’am. For pre approval.”

Oh right. Smaller businesses like this had to be careful with that sort of thing. It wasn’t like her company where a swipe like that wouldn’t really harm them if it went wrong. Without a second thought she handed over the card and her ID.

“I ah… ma’am your hair is down in this picture? Can I see it down please?” 

Hannah didn’t even hesitate. That bun was giving her a headache anyway. She quickly pulled out the hair tie and pins before ruffling the hair into place. She’d forgotten her id back then… er now… had shown her long wavy hair. It was before she was convinced she needed to look more ‘serious’. And that her hair should only look that good for Chip.

Well. Fuck Chip. 

Wait. No. Kick him in the ass. He didn’t deserve the chance for the other thing. 

As she finished the thought, he had run the card through a check and of course it worked. He carefully rang everything up and looked to her. “Your total is $5016.53. Do… you want to keep the card?”

“Oh no. You need it to help pay for some of those meals right?” She paused. “Wait. What’s the $16.53 for?”

“Your meal and the five hats. Plus tax.”

Oh. That’s why she got the weird looks. As she looked at the menu Hannah realized that most of the meals didn’t exceed ten dollars. Not unless you got the tiny jumbo combos. But really, who could eat that many fries? Or the half gallon of soda? Maybe some people shared it. Or were really thirsty.

In the end, it didn’t matter. A lot of people would get free food today. It was a drop in the bucket for everything she needed to make right. 

But it was a start. 

A quick signature and it was done. Hannah’s card was back in her hand. “Ma’am, please wait over there. Do you still want your order to go?”

“Oh yeah. Sure thing.” She carefully put her card away as she stood there. Her designer purse was the only clue to how much she was worth. As she got her phone out, she noticed a few people taking pictures. Some were maybe taking video too. She didn’t care right now. How many people would realize who she was anyway? It’s not like anyone really knew the name Hannah Kerr anyway. She was still super new to the scene. And really? What was the worst someone could say about this?