All eyes turn to her, and I shake my head. Her hands shake, and she walks over to the chair and sits down. “I just need a minute.” My father rushes to her side. Squatting down in front of her, he grabs her hands in his and kisses them. “I’m fine.”
“You are running yourself to the ground,” he says, and she looks at him. She takes one of her hands and cups his cheek. “I can’t do this without you.”
“That’s so romantic,” Olivia says and then looks at me. “I need me a Southern man.”
I try not to laugh as I look over at Casey. “I think you already got one.”
Chapter Eleven
Jacob
I know I should just go get Ethan and go home. I know I should turn back and go to the rock. I know deep in my bones it’s a bad idea. My head is spinning. I don’t know what the fuck she did or how she did it, but she is in danger, and she is fighting me.
I make my way to the rock that Casey wants off his property, walking with my head down. My head is bringing me back to when I used to walk with her by my side. Her hand was always in mine, even if it was just her pinky. The sounds of the stream fill the silence of the day with some birds chirping. I’m not expecting anyone to be here, least of all her. And she’s all alone after we just had the conversation that someone is after her.
The minute I ask her a question, I see her sass come out, and I almost want to smile. I want to ask her to sit on the rock with me. I want to know what she has been up to. I want to know if she found someone to love her.
“You should be at home with your wife and child and not worry about where I am.” The minute she says that, I want to take a step back. I want to tell her that I don’t have a wife, that I would never take a wife who wasn’t her. How does she not know that I’m not married? How did no one tell her that I never was with Savannah especially after she left?
I walk away from her, wanting to take her in my arms and see if her kisses are the same. To see if she melts in my arms the same way, to see if the kiss is just as good as I remember. Is it as good as in my dreams? I get in my truck and call Casey. I expect him to send me to voice mail, but he answers right away.
“What part of she might be in danger does she not understand?” I say, not even bothering to say hello.
“What the heck are you talking about?” he asks.
“I just found Kallie by herself at the creek,” I say. “I could have been anyone.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he says. “It won’t happen again.”
“Tomorrow morning at ten a.m., my office. It’s time to get a game plan going to make sure no one gets injured in the crossfire.”
“This doesn’t change anything,” Casey says, and he hangs up. I toss my phone to the side and make my way to my mother’s house.
“There he is,” my mother says. I watch as Ethan gets up and runs to me.
“Dad,” he says, jumping into my arms, “you took forever.”
“Sorry, kiddo,” I say, leaning and kissing his neck. I’m about to ask him about his day when the front door opens, and Savannah walks in wearing white jeans and a tank top. Her black hair is curled like normal.
“There they are,” she says with a smile and comes over to us. “How was your day?” she asks Ethan, leaning and kissing his neck.
I put him down, and he runs back to the kitchen. “Mom is here, Grandma.”
“I didn’t know you were going to be here?” I say, and it’s almost as if I step away from her in case someone is watching, which is ridiculous.
“Yeah, your mom called and thought it would be good to drop by for dinner,” she says. Looking in the kitchen, she then turns to me. “I heard about the grocery store.”
“Shocking,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s only been three hours.” Taking off the hat on my head, I toss it on the coffee table and go sit on the couch.
“How bad was it?” she asks, and I just shake my head.
“She thinks we’re married,” I say, and she takes a step back. “I know. That’s what I thought, too.”
“Why would she think we’re married?” she asks, sitting down on the couch and facing me. “Who told her that?”
“I haven’t spoken or seen her in eight years, so I have no idea why she would think or say that.”
“It’s safe to say every person knows that I’ve had a child out of wedlock,” Savannah says, laughing. “I almost had the ‘A’ tattooed on my chest to make sure if you didn’t know, you know now.”
“I don’t know.” I pull my hair on the top of my head. I keep it longer than I did when she left. I want to say it’s because it’s easier to style, but the fact is, she loved my hair long.
I look at Savannah, and I’m brought back to the day I went to see her.
I knocked on her door. I wanted to pound on it and break it down, but she answered right away. Her face was pale, her eyes almost sunken in, and her lips were white. “What’s wrong?”
“I have morning sickness,” she said and turned to walk back into her little apartment. She was the only eighteen-year-old I knew living on her own. Her mother took off as soon as everyone found out she was pregnant.
I closed the door behind me, and she sat on her worn couch. “I’m so sorry, Jacob.”
“Whose is it?” I asked, not moving from the door.
She looked down and then looked up at me. “Liam’s.” She said his name, and I just looked at her. “Don’t even go there. I know. I know. He’s a horrible person.”
“How the fuck did that ever happen?” I asked her, and she sobbed.
“He said he loved me,” she said, and I wanted to tell her that he didn’t love anyone but himself. “You can’t tell Beau.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I finally shouted at her, “do you know what you’ve done?” I know I shouldn’t lash out at her, but I do anyway.
“Um, hello.” I hear Savannah, and I blink when the front door opens, and I look over to see Beau coming in.
He sees us both sitting here. He looks at me and then at Savannah, and I’m wondering how the fuck she can’t see that he’s in love with her. I swear he walks around with hearts in his eyes when she’s around. The smile on her face is even bigger than it was when I walked into the room when he walks to her and bends down in front of her.
“Hey, there.” He kisses her cheek, and I swear if she sighs, I’m going to throw up.
“Dinner is ready,” Ethan says, and I get up. “Hey, Uncle Beau,” he says, walking to him, and they high-five each other. Well, at least out of all the lies Savannah has told, calling him Uncle is the truth.
Savannah gets up and goes into the kitchen and helps set the table. Beau’s eyes follow her the whole time, and he turns. “I heard something.”
“I can imagine,” I say, getting up.
“Did you really tell her to go to hell?” he asks me quietly, and I look over at him.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Word on the street is you saw her in the grocery store and told her to go to hell and get out of your town,” he says, looking down. I just stand here in shock. “I take it that somewhere along the line, the story changed.”