Chapter 17
We barely make it out of the car before my sister comes barreling out of Mom’s house. She sweeps Savannah into a tight embrace and says, “John hasn’t shut up about you from the moment he met you.”
“Oh, really?” My girlfriend’s brow raises in question, glancing my way.
“Well, a month or so later, I guess. You know he used to be a bit of—”
“Okay, that’s enough gossip,” I say, breaking them up and giving Ari a warning glare.
But she doesn’t care. She threads their arms together and sticks her tongue out at me over her shoulder, guiding Savannah toward the house.
I shouldn’t be surprised—I’m not, in fact—I had just hoped I’d have some more time to prepare myself before Ari outed me.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to the man I was on the second day of 2011 and tell him all the things he had to look forward to just by waiting a little bit longer for the woman Ari just dragged inside.
I wouldn’t want to ruin it for him, though, because nothing could accurately relay the way I’ve felt the last two months.
We’ve kept the truth about us quiet for no other reason than to enjoy the beginnings of our relationship without being under a microscope.
The only people who know the truth are Amos and Xander, because we thought it was only right to inform them, and Brody and Raelynn.
No one else has batted an eye at us spending almost every day together, thanks to the storyline.
It’s made it easy to ignore the scrutinizing eye of Drake.
Little does he know, his bet only hurried along the inevitable, and I don’t plan on ruining this good thing to keep a couple of hundred dollars in my bank account.
He could offer me triple, and I still wouldn’t risk this.
And after this weekend, there’s nothing that could ever make me want to walk away from this woman.
“You don’t need to book a hotel room so you can sleep in the same bed as your girlfriend. You’re adults, Brooks,” my mother says the moment I walk through the front door.
Well, hello to you, too.
Her words are sharp, matching the color of her steely blue eyes.
The comforting presence that once emanated from her was lost a long time ago, replaced by the shell of the person she once was.
I used to long for that woman, to hear her laugh and sing the way she once did, to feel her warm embrace comfort me in the hard times.
However, I was forced to watch her disappear before my eyes, and I’m not sure I’ll ever have the pleasure of knowing her again.
Her words halt the conversation between Ari and Savannah, who stand just inside the foyer.
My girlfriend looks between us, waiting to see what will happen next.
I warned her about this. Warned her that Mom would either have some snarky comments the moment we arrived or ignore us altogether.
I could never be sure which version I would get.
“Now go get your bags and cancel that hotel room. You might own this house, but I’m still your mother.”
And she never lets me forget it.
Do I own the house we currently stand in?
Yes. Do I hold that fact over my mother’s head?
No. I bought the house after Dad left because I wanted to know that while I was on the road over three hundred days a year, she and my sister had somewhere safe and secure to live.
After Ari moved out two years ago, we begged Mom to move my grandmother into the house with her, to make it easier on both of them, but she refused.
“Your grandmother likes her independence,” she said.
While that might be true, Grandma Aggie wasn’t getting any younger, and letting her live alone on the farm was less than ideal.
“That’s nice of you to offer, Mom, but I think we’ll be more comfortable in town,” I say.
“You are the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen,” my cousin Tommy says.
Savannah stifles a laugh behind her hand, staring down at my youngest cousin as he lifts her other hand to his lips.
She somehow maintains the elegant smile I’ve seen her give many people in her tenure with EWE—mostly fans who got a little too close for comfort.
Seeing that discomfort roll off her now, I excuse myself from my conversation with a few other cousins.
“Tommy, give it a rest, would you?” my sister says, pushing him away before I can make it there. “Besides, she’s taken.”
“Taken?” Tommy scoffs. “Well, I sure don’t see a ring on her hand.
” I roll my eyes, coming up behind my girlfriend.
Tommy’s pupils dilate further than they already are from his extracurriculars, which made him late today in the first place.
“Oh shit, John-boy! I didn’t know you were coming this weekend. ”
“Tommy, good to see you’re still you,” I say, and Savannah leans back even further into my embrace. I hear Ari chuckle at my side, hands on her hips. “I see you’ve met Savannah.”
“Savan—Your girlfriend? This is your girlfriend?”
“I told you to leave her alone,” Ari says, rolling her eyes.
“Holy shit, cous’.” Tommy chuckles, looking Savannah up and down once more.
His tongue pokes out the corner of his mouth, wetting his dry lips, before he swipes his thumb over the cracked skin.
I give Savannah’s hip a gentle squeeze when he meets my narrowed gaze.
“I had no idea you were able to pull such a hottie.”
“Leave that poor girl alone, Thomas!” Grandma Aggie shouts across the yard when she walks out the back door, followed by my mother. “Don’t run her off before we even get the chance to know her. Lord knows, two seconds talkin’ to you and John’ll never be able to convince her to come back.”
My cousin scoffs, ignoring our grandmother. “Listen, Sweetheart, when you’re ready to have a good time, give me a holler.” With a final glance my way, Tommy stalks off to bother someone else, and probably ask them for money.
“I thought you said he wasn’t coming, Ariana,” I say when he’s gone, and this time she rolls her eyes at me.
“Don’t you Ariana me, John.” Ari points her finger at me.
No one in my family calls me John except my grandmother—and Tommy when he’s trying to get under my skin. Everyone has always called me by my middle name: Brooks.
“Keep in mind, I have a million stories about you just waiting to be shared.” That earns a laugh from Savannah. “I can almost guarantee you haven’t told her about that time you set yourself on fire in chem lab and they had to—”
“Okay, time to go.” I wrap my arm around Savannah’s shoulders, trying to guide her away, but she slips out of my grasp.
“Actually, I’d love to hear more about this,” she says, looping her arm with Ari, and without a second glance, they walk away in a chorus of giggles.
“I like her,” a voice dripping with honey comments before a thin hand wraps around my arm and squeezes. Grandma Aggie. “She handles this family well. Better than your last girlfriend.”
“The last time I brought a girl to one of these was in high school.”
“And she hated every second of it,” Grandma Aggie says, looking up at me. “She was ready to leave the second you pulled up the drive. And when she realized we’d be eating outside, she ’bout had a coronary. But this one, she didn’t even bat an eye.”
“Savannah was raised on a farm.”
“So I heard.” She smiles. “Your sister hasn’t stopped talking about it since you told her you finally asked her out. Savannah said her family owns a big ol’ piece of property down in Texas. We were trading stories of life on the farm earlier. Your mother seems fond of her, too.”
“I wouldn’t know. She’s barely said anything to me unless it was giving me shit for booking a hotel or reminding me that my name is on the house.”
“Oh, John. You have to ignore her,” she says, waving her hand through the air. “She’ll always have something to say about that because of how things went with your father. It just is what it is.”
“That was six years ago.”
“And for many years before that. She put up with a lot from that man, including holding that house and the food on the table over her head.”
“I would never do that,” I say.
Grandma Aggie pats my hand. “I know, Sweets, but unfortunately, I think it’s going to take a lot more than a few simple words to undo the years of conditioning she endured under your father.”
Savannah’s laughter draws our attention her way. She’s doubled over as Ari continues to tell her whatever outrageous story she’s pulled from the depths of her memory. The sight makes me smile. This is all I’ve ever wanted, but for a long time, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it happen.
“She loves you, y’know,” my grandmother says. “And you love her, too. Don’t you?” Her smile grows when I nod. “Have you told her?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, you better.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of early for that?”
Grandma Aggie shrugs. “Your grandfather told me two weeks after he met me, and I was head over heels for that man from the first day I laid eyes on him. If you ask me, what’s the point in waiting? If you know you feel that way, you should tell her.”
It’s been a week since I introduced Savannah to my family, and we’ve been so busy with all things Wrestlefest that we haven’t had a chance to catch up on everything that happened last weekend.
This is the first time we’ve shared a hotel room since we started dating two months ago, and word spread like wildfire once someone caught wind of it.
I don’t know for sure, but I can guess who it was.
(Harper.) While we might be sleeping in the same bed this weekend, Savannah and I have barely spoken outside of Goodnight and Good morning, and sometimes that’s only through text message because one of us has to be up before the other—usually me.
Today hasn’t been any different, filled with a fresh round of joint media first thing this morning, separate signings and photo sessions, then more media, followed by a charity function, and now Legends Night.