Chapter 1
Savannah walked down the street towards her brother’s house. Home from college, she was anxious to see Jay. Life at their parent’s wasn’t the same without him… and Savannah was equally as anxious to get a place of her own. Although she and Jay were four years apart, they’d always been close. He’d helped pull some of their parent’s displeasure from her throughout their childhood.
It wasn’t that their parents hated them. Savannah knew they wanted the best for them, and being a Meridian in this small town meant you were supposed to do things right. Or, at least that was what Savannah always told herself.
Getting dual degrees in marketing and English, however, wasn’t “right” for a Meridian. Savannah had heard nothing but how she’d wasted four years of her life on degrees that would do nothing for her. Her father was disapproving, but her mother could be downright cruel.
Savannah snorted and shook her head, sending strands of strawberry blonde curls tumbling into her face. Another street of tall oaks strung with thick strands of moss passed. Finally, Savannah made it to her destination.
The house was tiny but well maintained. It sat on a street with similar homes of varying colors. Jay’s home was a bright white with green accents – except the shutters. Those were red. Savannah slipped her small frame through the chain-link gate, careful not to open it too far.
The reason for squeezing through came bounding at Savannah with lightning speed. Tail wagging and tongue lolling, the black lab sniffed and whimpered, trying to get pets without sitting still. Savannah laughed. Molly had been her brother’s beloved “daughter” for the last six years. Jay’d found her down a dirt road somewhere near the local mud-hole. She'd been tiny, hairless, and infested with fleas - a far cry from the happy, healthy dog she was today.
Suddenly, an old female pit appeared from the side of the house and came loping towards Savannah. A slow lope was the closest thing the dog did to running these days. Surprised, Savannah exclaimed, “Nanny? What are you doing here, girl?” Savannah was shocked Nanny was still alive. The dog belonged to Jay’s best friend, Gabriel, and by Savannah’s estimation, had to be fifteen years old.
Savannah was thinking back to when Gabriel got the dog, trying to determine how old she was, when a tall, lean form appeared at the screen door. “Jay told me you were back,” Gabriel said. He opened the screen door and stepped outside to the small covered porch.
Grinning, Savannah stood and made her way up the porch steps (with difficulty because of the dogs darting between her legs). When she made it, Gabriel held his arms open and Savannah threw herself into them. “It’s good to see you! It’s been forever!” Savannah exclaimed. Gabriel had always been like a second brother to her, but she hadn’t seen him since she left four years ago.
“It’s good to see you, too, kitten.” Gabriel flashed a grin downwards even as Savannah sighed and rolled her eyes. Glaring in jest, Savannah couldn’t help notice Gabriel seemed different somehow. His deep brown eyes were still kind and sparkling with mischief. He still wore his glossy black hair long. It was to his waist, now.
“Do you have to call me that?” Savannah asked. “I’m grown now, you know. I’m not a kitten. Never was.”
Gabriel grinned crookedly. “You’ll always be my little kitten, Savannah.”
Savannah rolled her eyes again and huffed. Gabriel had called her “kitten” for ages, no matter how many times Savannah begged him to stop. Strange that hearing him say it now would make her heart thump an uneven staccato. Savannah cursed herself for feeling even the slightest bit of her old crush on her brother’s best friend. Chastising herself silently, Savannah remembered the reason Gabriel had started calling her kitten.
She’d been six years old, and Gabriel – a year older than her brother – had been eleven. Savannah’s parents were upset because she’d gotten in trouble at school, so they’d sent her outside. That was one of their favorite punishments. It included not being allowed inside until they deemed it necessary.
It had started raining. Although Savannah knew her mother would have probably let her inside the house, she’d sat under the awning of their shed. Gabriel had come over to see Jay and noticed her outside. When he rushed out to get her, he’d remarked she looked like a very wet, very lost little kitten. When she started to cry, Gabriel had laughed and said it sounded like mewling.
“Is Jay here?” Savannah asked, pulling herself from the memory and Gabriel’s arms simultaneously.
Gabriel shook his head. “No. He’ll be home in about an hour if you want to wait.”
“Wait, what are you doing here, then?” Savannah asked, but the presence of Nanny offered a hint.
Gabriel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. As he did, Savannah noticed a definition in his lean muscles that hadn’t been there four years ago. “Oh, Jay didn’t tell you? Yeah, me and Rio live here now.”
Savannah cocked her head to the side in confusion. “Rio?”
Gabriel chuckled. “My son.”
“Wait… how out of the loop am I? I didn’t know you had a son.” Savannah shook her head. A lot of things had changed while she’d been gone.
Gabriel shrugged. “You never called, I guess. I know you never called me.”
Savannah snorted. “I didn’t phone my parents unless I had to, and I called Jay several times. But, he never mentioned you had a son or you lived with him.” Savannah’s face grew stormy. “And I didn’t call you because Marissa made it very clear she didn’t want me to.”
Gabriel shifted his weight again. He’d done that when nervous since he was a kid. “Yeah, well, Marissa knew you had a crush on me when you were a kid, and she was the jealous type.”
Savannah’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. “Crush on you? On you? Whoever said that?”
Gabriel’s face broke into a huge grin. “Oh, c’mon now, my little kitten. You wrote ‘I love Gabriel’ all over your notebooks in primary.”
Savannah blanched and then she blushed. For some incredible reason, she’d thought her schoolgirl crush on Gabriel had been a secret. Savannah had thought wrong.
When Savannah stayed silent (and red), Gabriel laughed and patted her on the back. “Oh, it’s fine. You were a kid, and all little girls have crushes on their brother’s best friend.” His smile stayed fixed, but his eyes flicked up and down quickly. “Although, I have to say, you’re certainly not a little girl, anymore. My kitten’s all grown up.”
The tone in his voice made Savannah blush again, but Gabriel only laughed. He opened the screen door and waved his arm for her to go inside. Savannah sat on the old but comfortable green couch Jay had kept since moving in here six years ago. It was the only seating in the tiny living room, so Gabriel sat beside her.
Gabriel leaned back into the seat, with his long legs stretched out before him. Savannah felt butterflies in her stomach and chastised herself yet again. She wasn’t a little girl, anymore, and all those years of crushing on Gabriel were plain silly. He'd never (and would never) think of her as anything more than his best friend’s little sister… or a mewling, wet kitten. Or would he? The way he’d looked her over was something Gabriel wouldn't have done before she left.