Chapter Four #2
She raised her eyebrows, totally lost. “What’s Troy Landon got to do with anything?”
“Thought you’d have figured that out – he’s Cara’s dad.”
“Oh! I thought she looked familiar, and she talked about coming into the diner, but I didn’t click.”
Harvey shrugged. “If it wasn’t Troy, word would’ve still gotten out somehow.
But go on – get back to work. Neither of us wants to get on the wrong side of Taryn, and I reckon she’s more likely to blame me than you if you’re late getting back.
Just take this thought with you; Jake’s a good lad.
More than that, he’s a decent man, and it’s about time you had one of them in your life. ”
Savannah nodded; she didn’t know what to say.
But then it hit her. “I already have a couple of decent men in my life – I have you. And before you tell me that you’re an old coot and don’t count, you totally do.
And if you say anything about being too old to count, then I’ll remind you that I have Josh, too.
He’s always been in my life, and you can’t tell me that he’s not a good man. ”
“I’d never say it, but you know what I mean. You need a good man of your own, and I reckon Jake could be him. But we’re not arguing about it. I’m going back to my TV, and you’re going back to work. Call me when you know what day you can come for lunch.”
With that, he turned around and went back inside. Savannah smiled to herself as she headed back to her car. She loved that old man to pieces.
~ ~ ~
When Jake arrived at the gym on Saturday morning, he was surprised to find it empty. It might be the weekend, but there were usually a couple of his dad’s friends in here early. He grinned and went to the front desk to turn on the radio.
Guardian Fitness was his favorite gym ever.
The keypad on the door meant he could come in whenever he liked.
He often came late at night when the place was empty, and he enjoyed that.
But whenever there were other people here, they were his kind of people.
Even apart from his dad and all the other former military guys, the younger crowd was good people too.
As time went by, he was getting to know more of them.
They’d invited him and Josh to come out with them a few times – not just the guys but their ladies as well; most of them were coupled up.
Savannah had been there one of the times he and Josh joined everyone.
It turned out that she’d gone to school with a lot of them.
She was kind of close to Abbie and Elle, who’d grown up here, and from what he’d seen, the guys who’d gone to school with her were all pretty protective of her.
He liked that for her. At least he had until Josh explained that she used to get bullied a lot, so Colt, Austin, and Logan had helped him look out for her back then.
Fiddling with the radio, he searched for his favorite country station. There was no point wasting time thinking about Savannah. He needed to get his workout finished, go home, get showered – and then he’d be able to see her. That was way better than just thinking about her.
Last night, he’d texted her to see if she knew her hours for the weekend yet.
It was maybe a bit pushy of him, but she’d said she’d let him know and she hadn’t.
She’d told him that she was working tonight and tomorrow night, but that didn’t worry him.
He was happy to see her whenever she had the time – it didn’t have to be an evening.
He was going to pick her up and take her over to the plaza at Four Mile Creek. He was planning to take her to lunch at the café. They could walk around, look at the stores, just hang out together. Then he’d make sure he got her home with plenty of time to get ready for work later.
She’d told him that she’d promised to spend some time with Tiffany over the weekend. Tiffany was working today, but she was off tomorrow… So, he’d have to wait and see. As much as he hoped to get more time with her, he respected that she wanted time with her girlfriend as well.
Halfway through his workout, the front door finally opened, and he grinned when his dad walked in.
“Hey, bud. I wondered if I’d see you this morning.”
Jake got up from the rowing machine and went to greet him. He closed his eyes for a second when his dad hugged him.
“I wanted to get my workout done early before the day gets away from me. How about you?”
“Same. Jo wanted to sleep in a bit, and we’re going to the mall this afternoon, so it was now or skip it for me today.”
His dad rarely skipped the gym. He was in here most days working with his personal training clients during the week, but he didn’t like to miss out on his own workouts on weekends.
“Is Jo doing okay?” He loved the way his dad smiled – he always looked so happy whenever he talked about her.
“She’s good. She wanted to sleep in because were out with Dom and Sadie last night.”
“Is Uncle Dom coming in this morning?”
“Yeah, he might be a bit later, but he said he’ll be here. How are things at the garage?”
“Going great. Getting busier.”
“Are you thinking about bringing someone in to help yet?”
Jake smiled when he remembered Savannah’s enthusiastic response when he’d asked if she might like to help him.
He felt guilty when his dad laughed.
“What?”
“The way you’re smiling tells me that Harvey was right – you’ve asked Savannah.”
He frowned. “How does he…?”
“He said that she was out in the tow truck with you when you went out to a young girl on the hill the other night.”
Jake chuckled. “He bitches about the rumor mill around here, but he sure stays tapped into it.”
His dad laughed with him. “He does. You’d think he’d be out of the loop, but whenever he comes in to work out with Russ, he catches us all up on the latest news about what’s going on in town.”
“He’s a good guy.”
“And Savannah?”
“Yeah. She came out with me to get Cara because we were about to start our date when Cara’s dad called.”
“Shit. Work messed up your evening?”
“No, it really didn’t. I felt bad that I was going to have to leave her and go out, but she automatically assumed that she’d come with me.” He gave his dad a rueful smile. “And it’s a good thing she did.”
His dad cocked an eyebrow.
“I couldn’t figure out what was going on with Cara’s car. Savannah knew immediately – she just tapped on the dash and got it running again.”
His dad laughed. “Uh oh – how did that feel? That she outsmarted you?”
He knew what his dad meant, but… “It was freaking awesome! I mean, sure, I felt dumb for a second. But it was one of those little fixes that, unless you know, you can’t know. I love that she’s so smart about cars, about fixing them – about pretty much everything.”
His dad grasped his shoulder. “I don’t know her all that well, but Sadie and Harvey think the world of her.
Dom’s gotten to know her as well, and he speaks highly of her.
I know you’ve only been on one date – and by the sound of that, it didn’t turn out like you expected.
All I’m saying is, I know you’ve waited a while for a chance with her. I hope it works out.”
“Me too.”
“Are you seeing her again soon?”
Jake grinned. “This afternoon.”
“Then you’d better finish your workout and get going, huh? Jo’s going to call to see if you want to come over for lunch tomorrow.”
Jake met his gaze. “Mind if I let you know later?”
His dad chuckled. “Not a problem – especially if you’re seeing Savannah again tomorrow.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for.”