Chapter Twenty-Two
Jake ran up the steps to the lobby and hurried down the hallway toward the restaurant.
He was thrilled that Savannah had called him and said she wanted to come home early.
Even though she’d said she was fine, he was a little concerned that she said Taryn insisted he had to come inside to collect her.
He spotted her straight away when he entered the restaurant. She looked happy enough, sitting on a stool at the bar with Dalton.
Dalton spotted him first and gave him a chin lift. Before he could reach them, he stopped when Taryn caught hold of his arm.
“Hi, Jake. Can I have a word before you take her away?”
“Sure.”
“I’m not going to give you a hard time. It’s not that. More like I want to say well done for helping her figure out what she really wants.”
“I can’t take the credit. All I could do was support her while she figured it out for herself.” He smiled. “It seems to me that you were doing the same thing for her here.”
“I was trying,” said Taryn. “All that matters is that she figured it out for herself. I’ll be sad to see her go, so make sure you bring her around sometimes, will you?
” She gave him a knowing smile. “I get that this place won’t be a regular haunt for you guys, but every girl likes to go out for a special dinner sometimes. ”
She met his gaze and held it. “Especially a very special dinner. Like if someone wanted to do something like… propose. Then I think this is the kind of restaurant a girl might like to be when that happens.” She laughed.
“It seems to me that if a guy were ever thinking about getting down on one knee, it might help if he knew that dinner would be on the house.”
Jake glanced over at Savannah. “Don’t you think it’s too soon?”
Taryn laughed out loud. “Sorry, Jake. I didn’t know if it was even on your mind, but I had to test you.
I figured you’d either freak out and run or tell me to mind my own business.
And let’s be honest, you’d have every right to do that.
” She looked over at Savannah and gave her a little wave.
“The fact that you didn’t do either of those things tells me that you want to ask her but you don’t know if she’ll say yes, is that right? ”
He nodded slowly. “Kind of, but not completely. See, the thing is… you’re right – I do want to ask her.
But it’s not that I don’t think she’ll say yes.
” He smiled, and a rush of warmth filled his chest when the truth hit him.
“I hope this doesn’t sound arrogant, but I really can’t imagine her saying no.
The timing is more about… well, we haven’t been together that long, for one thing.
And for another, until we got together, I wasn’t thinking about marriage.
Not for years, anyway. Not saying that I don’t want to, but… ”
“You guys are young,” said Taryn. “There’s no hurry. And damn, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to get married at all. I just figured you guys would want to. It seems to be what people do around here.”
“Yeah, I want to, but I don’t want to put any pressure on her.”
Taryn pursed her lips. “We should probably get over there. They’re starting to wonder what we’re talking about.”
He glanced over at Savannah and Dalton, who were watching them curiously.
“Before we go, though,” Taryn continued, “we both know I can’t answer the question for you, but I can make a suggestion.”
“What’s that?”
“You could maybe have the best of both worlds. Ask her to marry you, give her the ring, and then take as long as you both need to figure the rest out.”
Jake nodded. “I thought about that, but I didn’t want it to seem like I was only half in.”
“Oh, Jake, you’re so all the way in, it’s obvious – even to me.
Savannah’s the same. You’ve got no worries there.
Seems to me that if you ask her, you’ll take the pressure off of both of you.
And you’ll give Savannah something it seems to me that she’s never had.
She’ll be your fiancée, and if you think about it, since her mom died, she’s never been anyone’s anything. ”
Jake scowled. He hated the way that sounded.
Taryn touched his arm. “There you go. I’d say that’s your answer. Just the look on your face says it all. You hate the idea of her not belonging with anyone, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do. Because it’s not true – she belongs with me. She does have Josh, and Sadie, and Harvey, and now she’ll have my dad and Jo, and Uncle Dom and Sadie and—”
Taryn laughed. “Exactly. When she has your ring on her finger, she’ll be able to claim all of them officially; I think she needs that.”
Seeing her sitting there with Dalton, looking a little uncertain even though she was smiling, Jake had to agree. Going forward, it was his intention to make sure that in the future, whatever Savannah needed, she would get.
~ ~ ~
As they drove back around the lake, Savannah held Jake’s hand and brushed her thumb over his knuckle.
He shot her a quick smile. “I can’t believe I get you back this early.” He squeezed her hand. “Even better, that I get you back for good.”
“Isn’t it great?” she agreed. “I feel so much better now. I didn’t think it’d all work out this quickly, but…
I just had to talk to Taryn as soon as I got there.
It was one thing kicking the can down the road when I didn’t know what I wanted or what I could do, but as soon as we figured it out, I just had to tell her. I didn’t want to string her along.”
She loved the way Jake smiled. “She’s good people. I like her. She’s in your corner no matter what.”
“I know. If nothing else, I’m glad that I got to work there for a while, just to get to know her. You know…” She stopped abruptly when the sound of Jake’s phone ringing filled the cab of his truck.
“You should take it,” she told him when Josh’s name came up on the screen. “I feel bad now. Did you guys have plans for this evening? He’s probably cursing me.”
“No way. He’s more likely wanting to see if you’ve eaten and if you’re going to need anything.” He hit the button to answer the call. “Hey, Josh, we’re just—”
“Jake—” Savannah’s heart started to pound. Something was wrong. She could tell just from the tone of Josh’s voice before he even said another word.
Jake looked as worried as she felt. “Yeah, I’m here, bud. What’s wrong? What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine. But you need to get your ass over to Savannah’s apartment right now.”
Savannah gripped Jake’s hand tight. “Why? What’s wrong? Is Tiffany okay?”
Her heart leaped into her mouth when he said, “She will be. But you guys need to get over here.”
“We’re on the way,” said Jake, sounding amazingly calm. “Tell us what’s going on, Josh. Talk us through what’s happened.”
“Someone broke in,” said Josh.
“Oh my God. Is she okay?” Savannah asked.
“Like I said, she’s going to be fine. She’s a bit shaken up, that’s all.”
They heard Tiffany speak behind him. “Is that Savannah? Put it on speaker, Josh.”
“I’m here, Tiff, are you okay?” Savannah asked.
“I’m fine, but your friend isn’t. I keep telling this deputy he’d be better off out there searching for a guy with gouges down his face than sitting here asking me a million questions.”
Savannah’s hands were shaking. “What do you mean, my friend?”
“Some guy talking about you owing him money.”
Savannah clung tighter to Jake’s hand. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Savvie – honestly. I’m a bit shook up if you want to know the truth. But I got that sucker. I couldn’t believe that he got in here somehow.”
“Not just any old how,” Josh interrupted. “It looks like he somehow picked the lock on the downstairs door. Then up here – the door into the apartment, he kicked it in.”
“And I didn’t hear a damn thing because I was in my bedroom with my hair dryer going,” Tiffany grumbled. “I just wish I’d been in the kitchen. I could have grabbed a knife then.”
Savannah’s hand came up to cover her mouth.
“It’s probably best that you didn’t have a knife, Tiff,” said Josh. “If the blood under your nails is anything to go by, you got him good enough with those things.”
Savannah was relieved to hear Tiffany laugh. It was harsh and a little shaky, but it was still a laugh.
“Who’s there with you now?” Jake asked. His voice didn’t sound like him. There was an edge to it—hard and cold—that Savannah didn’t recognize.
“A couple of the deputies are here,” said Josh. “Colt isn’t working tonight, so not him.”
“No, just the ones who won’t listen to me,” Tiffany grumbled. “They should be out there searching for him.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Savannah. “This is all my fault. He broke in and attacked you because he was looking for me.”
Tiffany laughed again, and it sounded a little more genuine this time.
“Oh, babe. He didn’t attack me. I attacked him.
I came out of my bedroom and there’s this slimy old guy going through my purse.
So I picked up my shoe and whacked him on the back of the head.
And that’s when he started ranting about you—saying that you owed him money and he’s only here to collect, all this weird shit.
I told him you didn’t even live here, but he didn’t believe me.
Said he was waiting because your car’s outside. ”
Savannah’s heart sank. If she hadn’t left her car there. If she hadn’t taken the Camaro this afternoon…
Jake squeezed her hand. They were almost to the apartment now.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes.” His voice still had that hard edge to it. “And thanks, Tiffany.”
“Not a problem. I can honestly say it was my pleasure.”
~ ~ ~
Jake stood just inside the door to the apartment, hands clasped behind his back, jaw clenched.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what might have happened to Savannah if she’d been here alone.
He hated that Tiff had been, but she was okay.
Even as she sat on the sofa with Savannah, she was the one doing the reassuring.
She wasn’t traumatized; she was good and mad.