Chapter Nine
Jake looked around the living room and went to straighten the cushions on the sofa. The place looked fine. It always did. He wasn’t exactly a neat freak, but he liked to keep his living space in order.
Fortunately, Josh was the same way. He was maybe a little messier, but mostly he picked up after himself. More importantly, he was a good guy. The two of them had become close since Josh had moved in, and with Josh’s mom, Sadie, being with Jake’s Uncle Dom, they’d come to see each other as family.
He spun around when Josh laughed from the living room doorway.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to pull out the vacuum next. The place looks fine. I keep telling you, Savannah’s hardly likely to notice anyway.”
“I know. I’m just killing time.”
“I hope you guys have a good evening,” said Josh. “I’ll be back by eleven.”
“Don’t feel like you have to stay away,” Jake told him. “I could have taken her out.”
“I know, but it’s not like there are too many options to go out around here.
And you guys are coming to The Boathouse with everyone on Saturday night, so…
” Josh shrugged. “Savannah’s not the kind of girl to be going out every night of the week, and neither are you.
And the thing is, with her, as you discovered on Saturday—wherever you go, people will want to talk to her.
From what you’ve told me, it sounds like the two of you haven’t had a minute to be alone together yet. ”
He made a face and shuddered. “And I don’t even want to think about what being alone together might imply. I just hope you’re not at that stage yet—and I don’t want to know about it when you are. She really is like a little sister to me.”
“I know. And even though part of me wants to tell you it’s none of your damn business, I get it. And I’m glad you’re looking out for her. Just so you know, we’re nowhere near that stage yet anyway.”
“Okay, well, I think we’ll both be happy to leave that subject behind us. Oh, wait, before I go—I left my rent money in the drawer in the kitchen.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Jake wasn’t entirely comfortable with the rent arrangement.
This place was really his dad’s house, but his dad insisted that it was his now.
Since he didn’t have to pay any rent, he felt weird about Josh paying, but Josh insisted that he was happy with the arrangement—and that he’d have to pay a lot more anywhere else.
That wasn’t technically true, since rent in Summer Lake tended to be cheap.
Josh smiled at him. “I wish you’d stop worrying about that. It’s all good, you know? I’m glad we’re house sharing like this. And it’s not as though I can’t afford it, is it?”
That made Jake feel a bit better. It was true—he didn’t really understand what Josh did, only that he worked online doing marketing for people. He was always busy and never short of money.
Josh cocked an eyebrow. “And like I keep telling you, if you want to make yourself some more money, you should set up a YouTube channel—talk people through what you do in the garage. There are guys making five and six figures every month doing just that.”
“I know, you keep telling me that, but I don’t even see how they do it. Who cares enough to pay?”
“People who are trying to fix their own cars love watching that kind of thing. Even people who just scroll YouTube all day—when a subject catches their interest, they’ll watch for hours.
And the thing is, they’re mostly not the ones paying you unless you come up with something you want to sell. I’ve explained it to you before.
“Advertisers pay—companies pay—to have those annoying ads displayed, the ones that always interrupt whatever you’re watching. And the channel owner gets a percentage of the ad revenue. If you ever want to get into it, I’ll explain it to you properly.
“But for now, I’m going to head out. I’ll see you at eleven.” He smiled. “Well, I’ll leave it till quarter past, just to make sure you guys aren’t still saying goodnight when I get back.”
Jake chuckled. “We won’t be. I’ll make sure you’re safe to come home. I feel bad enough that you’re going out.”
“Well, don’t. I’ll see you later. Have fun.”
~ ~ ~
When she arrived at Jake’s place, Savannah pulled up alongside the curb in front of the house. She didn’t like to park the Camaro out on the street, but she didn’t know how he’d feel if she pulled into the driveway.
There was only room for two cars. Jake’s truck was there, and Josh wasn’t home. She looked up when the front door opened, and butterflies took flight in her stomach when Jake came out wearing a big smile.
She started to get out to greet him, but he shook his head and waved for her to pull into the driveway. Once she’d parked there, he offered her his hand when she opened the door.
“You can’t leave your baby out on the street,” he told her.
She smiled as she got to her feet. “Thanks. I’m glad you understand. I didn’t want to leave it there, but it seemed a bit pushy to just automatically assume that I could use your driveway.”
He rested his hand on her shoulder and looked down into her eyes. “It’s not pushy, Savannah. Let’s put it out there right now. Whenever you come over, I want you to park in the driveway, okay?”
“Thanks, but it’s only the Camaro that…”
He held her gaze and waited for her to stop talking. She gave him a rueful smile. “I don’t need to park my little Ford there,” she explained.
“Maybe not, but it’s not just about the Camaro. It’s about you. So, will you promise me that you’ll park in the driveway in the future?”
“Okay. Thanks.”
He reached for her hand. “Sorry, that wasn’t the best start, was it? I came out because I was excited to see you, not to give you a lecture about where to park.”
She squeezed his hand as he led her to the front door. “It didn’t feel like a lecture, and it wasn’t one. You’re just looking out for me. I get that. I appreciate it.”
Once they were inside, he led her to the kitchen.
“I know I asked you to come over for dinner, but I should probably warn you now that I’m not the world’s greatest cook.
It’s not that I can’t or won’t feed you well,” he added hurriedly.
“What I’m trying to say is that I got us pizza from Giuseppe’s. Is that all right?”
She tried to hide a smile but mustn’t have managed it too well.
“Are you laughing at me?” he asked.
“No, not really. Yes, it’s absolutely all right. I love pizza—especially Giuseppe’s.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “So why are you laughing at me? Are you thinking that I’m just a typical useless guy and pizza’s the best I can offer?”
“No.” She slapped his arm with a laugh. “I’m not thinking that at all. I was smiling because I love Giuseppe’s pizza. And… oh, what the hell, I’ll just say it—it’s all I’ve eaten this week.”
He gave her a puzzled look, and she shrugged.
“I’m not exactly the best cook in the world either.
And you know how Tiff came over to the plaza to hang out during my break on Sunday?
Well, we had pizza at the sports bar, and since they get them ready-to-bake from Giuseppe’s, we brought another one home with us. ”
Jake smiled through pursed lips. “So, you’re telling me you’ve eaten the same thing Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night, and now that you’ve come here to see me, I’m about to feed you the same damn thing again?”
She laughed. “You make it sound like a bad thing, and it’s really not.”
He shook his head with a smile. “We can order something else for takeout if you like.”
“I don’t want to. Honestly. What part of I love pizza don’t you understand?”
He chuckled. “Okay, I’ll take you at your word. But…”
She loved the smile that spread across his face.
“I’m going to take this as an opportunity to ask if you’ll come over for dinner again soon—so that I can feed you something different.”
She opened her mouth to protest, wanting to tell him he didn’t need to do that, but then she thought better of it.
“You know what? I’m going to take this as an opportunity to say yes. I’d love to come over again soon.”
His smile grew bigger as he came toward her, holding his arms out. She stepped into them, and when he closed them around her, she rested her cheek against his chest.
“It’s good to see you,” he murmured as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a squeeze. “It’s good to see you, too.”
When she looked up into his eyes, he chuckled. “Just tell me you’re not allergic to pepperoni or something.”
That made her laugh. “It’s my favorite. Whether you believe me or not, it is.”
“Okay, good to know. I’ll make note of that.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips before asking, “And what about drinks? I have soda, I have wine, I have beer.” He frowned. “I don’t know what you drink. I feel like I should know.”
“Why should you? And besides, how could you?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like we know each other pretty well, don’t we? So why don’t I know what you drink?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, I’d love a nice cold beer.” She smiled as she added, “And now you know.”
He grinned as he let go of her and went to the fridge to take out two bottles. He popped the lid off one before handing it to her.
“I think I remember now.”
“Remember what?” she asked.
“I think my brain short-circuited when I put together that not only are you the sweetest person, but also a gorgeous girl who knows her way around a motor—restored her own Camaro no less— and to top it all off, you drink beer.” He chuckled.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I’d met my perfect woman.
I figured you had to be too good to be true. ”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You don’t need to lay it on so thick.”
“I’m not. I’m telling you the truth. I love everything about you, Savannah.”
He looked more serious as he added, “At least I love everything I know so far, and I hope we’re going to get the chance to get to know each other better.”