20
Savannah stood beside her mother as they both peeked around the lace curtains in the upstairs hall.
Well, I’ll be! she thought as the black truck rolled to a stop near her parents’ mailbox. Aunt Sheridan was right!
The old woman had called Savannah’s father in a tizzy, blabbering about a young man and a mission of love.
Savannah hadn’t dared hope it was true—Aunt Sheridan was known for her tall tales—but so many of the details had seemed right that she’d found it harder and harder to breathe as the minutes rolled on.
She didn’t know where Drew had gotten her great-aunt’s phone number or where he’d been when he’d called her, and Savannah couldn’t call him to ask because she’d accidentally driven over her phone the day before and hadn’t yet had it replaced.
So, there’d been nothing to do but wait and see.
She watched as Drew opened his door and slid to the ground, wearing a—
Was that what she thought it was?!
Yes. Drew Tanner was in her parents’ driveway wearing a red University of Alabama hoodie and carrying his guitar.
An uncontrollable grin spread across her face.
She’d been angry the night of their argument and well into the next morning.
Then she’d been disappointed when he hadn’t called through the rest of the weekend.
After that, she’d just been . . . waiting.
She knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn’t going to work.
He loved her. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t said it outright, she knew, and she wasn’t going to walk away without much, much better reasons than the ones he’d tried to give.
All she really needed just then was for him to admit he didn’t actually want her to go; everything else they could work out along the way.
And tracking her across state lines felt like a pretty good start.
Drew’s tall frame disappeared from view as he stepped onto the porch beneath where she stood, and Savannah heard three firm knocks at the door. She turned toward the stairs but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.
“Wait,” her mother said with a smile. “Let your daddy get it.”
Savannah bit her lip and listened hard as her father’s heavy footsteps approached the door. Then she heard the creaking rasp of the old hinges as it opened.
“Yes?” Craig Reynolds asked.
“Hello, sir. My name is Drew Tanner, and I’m looking for Savannah.”
There was a pause, and Savannah and her mother both leaned toward the second-floor railing to hear better.
“Ah, yes. I remember you. You used to make my baby girl cry on a regular basis, and now you’re back doing it again,” Mr. Reynolds said gravely. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t lay you out on this porch like a rag doll.”
Savannah clapped a hand over her mouth, partly in surprise and partly to keep from laughing.
She imagined her daddy standing below with his slight shoulders squared, looking up at Drew with a disapproving frown on his face.
That expression was the closest he ever got to “intimidating,” but bless him, he tried.
Drew said something the women upstairs couldn’t hear, but Mr. Reynolds must have approved because they heard him step aside. “Wait in there, and I’ll get her for you,” he said.
Savannah quickly stepped away from the upstairs railing as a thousand butterflies took flight in her belly. Drew is here, she thought wildly, and it seemed like a novel concept even though she’d known it was true for the last five minutes.
“Savannah?” her father called from the bottom of the stairs. “Could you come down here a minute?”
“Don’t run,” her mother whispered quickly, “and hear him out before you forgive him. Make him say what he came to say.”
Savannah took a long breath and nodded, then she made her way to the top of the stairs.
She went down as slowly as she could, one hand on the rail and her head held high like some kind of Victorian heiress.
Partway down, she caught sight of Drew standing in the small living room, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
She knew the second he saw her because he stilled instantly.
“You have a visitor, honey,” her daddy finally said when she reached the ground floor. “Do you want me to get rid of him?”
Savannah shook her head silently, her throat suddenly too dry for words. This felt like a monumental moment—like a core memory just waiting to be made.
“Alright, then. I’ll give you a minute. Shout if you need anything, and I’ll come running.”
A surge of affection rushed through Savannah’s chest, and she nodded.
Then she went through the arched doorway beside the front door, coming face-to-face with Drew for the first time since their argument.
He looked exhausted, and his eyes tracked her warily as she came closer. “Hey,” she said simply.
He shifted again, looking even more uncomfortable. “Hi,” he replied. “I drove down to find you.”
She worked hard not to smile. “I can see that.”
“You weren’t answering your phone.”
“It’s broken.”
“Oh.” He stopped moving and looked slightly less afraid of her, but he didn’t go on.
Savannah waited, and then finally prompted him. “Did you have something you wanted to say?” she asked.
Drew blinked, like he was just remembering that very point. “Oh, yeah, uh, Savannah,” he started, “well, you know I’m not—”
He faltered, and his eyes locked onto something over her shoulder. Savannah turned and saw both her parents on the upper half of the stairs, peeking down to get a better view. They jerked back out of sight when they realized they’d been caught.
She smothered another smile and turned to face Drew again. His eyes were wide, but after a second, he recovered and took a deep breath. Then he started over.
“You know I’m not so good with words,” he said haltingly, “but I meant what I said on Saturday.”
Savannah pulled her brows together; that wasn’t exactly the sentiment she’d been hoping for.
But he kept talking, letting everything out in a rush, like he was afraid the flow might stop before he got finished.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I can’t do anything without thinking about you and wondering what you’re doing and wishing you were with me.
You’re everywhere, all the time,” he said.
“You came in and changed everything. You turned my life upside down, but I think that might be a good thing. And you were right: I don’t get to decide things for you; and I don’t want space and I don’t want a break. I was stupid, and I’m sorry.”
The butterflies in Savannah’s stomach beat their wings again as his words wound down, and Drew began to blur around the edges.
She couldn’t keep the smile off her face this time, and she would have hugged him right then and there—that was all she’d really needed—but he lifted his guitar from where it leaned against his legs and swung the strap over his head.
He fiddled nervously with the strings before catching her eye again. “You said once that you used to learn songs for me,” he went on, “so I finally learned one for you.”
He cleared his throat and looked away from her, and Savannah felt her heart squeeze tight all over again as he started to play.
She knew how hard it was for him to perform in front of anyone, and yet there he was, singing in her living room.
She knew he’d rather die than dishonor the orange and white, and yet there he was, wearing crimson red.
He was there, when he hated to be anywhere but home, and he was there, even when they’d been fighting.
All the roads they’d been down alone had led them here to this, and he was a fool if he thought he could ever get rid of her.
He started the first verse, stumbling once, but he kept going.
The lyrics asked if she’d go with him, no matter what came—through streets of fire and fields of clover, even if he didn’t always know the way.
He asked if she’d take his hand and make him happy.
Then he sang the three words she’d wanted to hear so badly.
Savannah didn’t wait to hear the rest. She didn’t care, because it didn’t matter. Instead, she launched herself forward and threw her arms around his neck.
Drew stopped playing in surprise, and in an instant, he’d yanked the strap over his head and tossed his guitar onto the couch beside them.
Savannah pulled him down and kissed him the way she intended to kiss him for the rest of their lives—like she’d been drowning and he was her last breath of air.
His arms came around her and nearly lifted her off her feet in response, but it was only moments before a shout from beyond the living room window startled them apart.
Savannah turned and spotted Jonah standing in the front yard with his arms in the air like he was announcing a touchdown. “Yes!” he shouted again, and Savannah couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Drew groaned. “I told him to stay in the truck,” he muttered.
“Yeah, that was never going to happen,” she replied. Then she took his face in her hands and ran her thumbs along his jaw. “Did you say what I think you said?” she asked softly.
Color rushed into the tops of his cheeks, but he kept his eyes on hers.
“Yeah, I did,” he admitted, a trace of nerves returning to his face.
“I do, you know. I think I always have.” Then his hand came up to cradle the back of her head.
“So, I know you might get this big fancy opportunity, but would you ever consider staying in Cypress Valley? With me?”
Savannah felt like she was glowing from the inside out. “Andrew, there’s no place I’d rather be.”
“Oh, Andrew, I love it!” Savannah breathed, touching her fingertips to the rose-gold necklace where it lay nestled in its box.
She looked up at him with soft eyes. “It’s beautiful.
Here, help me put it on!” She handed the box to him and then turned around before gathering her hair into one hand and holding it out of the way.
Drew carefully unhooked the delicate chain from the box and unfastened the clasp.
It seemed impossibly small in his rough hands, but he knew it would look perfect on her.
He looped it gently around her neck and secured the ends before letting the chain rest against her skin.
He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck before she could drop her hair back into place.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
Savannah turned back to him, but she was looking down at the charm resting against her collarbone.
It winked in the white lights of the Christmas tree she’d insisted Drew put up, and he was immensely glad his house was ready for this first holiday they’d spent together. He hoped it was the first of many.
“Okay, now your turn!” Savannah said happily. She reached behind herself and pulled a flat rectangular box out into the open before handing it to Drew.
It was surprisingly heavy. He’d been expecting one of those department store boxes with maybe a dress shirt or something inside, but this felt like a box of rocks. “Good grief!” he said in surprise. “I could kill somebody with this!”
She rolled her eyes. “It almost killed me to have it in my house. Just open it!”
Drew ripped the paper at one end and then across the top, revealing not a white clothing box but a massive coffee table book with a bright orange cover.
“The University of Tennessee Volunteers: From the Beginning,” he read aloud.
Then he laughed. “You had this in your apartment, and it didn’t spontaneously combust? ”
“Thankfully not, but I’m glad you have it now,” she joked. “Do you like it?”
“Yes!” he assured her. He flipped through the first few pages, skimming photo captions like Neyland during construction and Smokey IV takes the field. “This is awesome. Thank you!”
Her cheeks colored in pleasure. “Good! Okay, now it’s Ryker’s turn.”
Drew paused and furrowed his brow. “You got something for Ryker?”
“Of course! I couldn’t leave him out, could I?
” she cooed directly to the dog. Ryker’s tail thumped, and he panted from his place beside her.
“Look, boy. This is for you,” Savannah told him, and she began unwrapping another rectangular package.
This one did turn out to be a white department store box, but Drew could never have guessed what was in it.
“No,” he said sharply, eyeing the Ryker-sized Crimson Tide jersey Savannah lifted from the tissue paper.
“Why not?” she asked, holding the garment up to the dog where he sat obediently on the carpet. “He’s my dog, and I say he’s an Alabama fan!”
“No, he’s my dog, and I say he’s a Tennessee fan!” Drew argued back.
Savannah pulled a face and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Then she gave a great, exasperated sigh and put the jersey down. “Fine. Then, I guess it’s a good thing I got this one too,” she said, raising an orange Volunteers jersey from the box as well.
Ryker barked this time, and Drew pointed to him. “See? He knows what’s up.”
Savannah laughed musically, and Drew shook his head—but then something occurred to him.
“Wait, what’s he going to wear in October when we play each other?” he demanded.
Savannah gave a sly sort of look and winked. Then she pulled a third dog-shaped T-shirt from the box. This one was divided straight down the middle, orange on one side and red on the other, with white letters that read “my parents only get along 364 days a year.”
Drew laughed out loud, and a new sort of feeling washed over him—one of being complete, for maybe the first time ever. He was right where he belonged, and he had everything he’d never known he needed.