Chapter 14 Savannah
Savannah
Two days. That’s how long I lasted after breaking down to Weston in the barn before I stood in front of my big sister needing help for the first time in years.
I watched as she paraded a colt around the paddock, holding the lead loose, but just tight enough to correct him. She was so sure, so strong. I needed that now, needed to feel that strength I thought I’d grown into in recent years. But confessing to Weston had stripped me of it.
“Claire,” I said softly when it looked like she’d reached a stopping point.
She turned with a smile on her face that fell when she saw me. “What’s wrong?” She tied the horse up and came to the railing. She always dropped everything for the rest of us whenever we needed her, and I hated feeling like a burden, but I didn’t know who else to turn to.
“I don’t know what to do,” I confessed, my voice trembling.
She frowned, her face full of worry and looking like Mom. It only shattered my heart more. “About what? Weston?” A soft sob left me, and I nodded. “Oh, Savvy.”
She climbed over the railing and hugged me tight while I cried. “I think I still love him,” I wept. “But I’m so scared.”
“What are you scared of?”
“Everything.” It was the easiest explanation I could give. And the most true.
My sister wrapped her arm around my shoulder, guiding me to the porch steps. “I know how you feel, but you can’t let fear stop you from something that has the potential to be great.”
That was easy for her to say. She hadn’t laid awake, staring at her ceiling the last two nights, thinking of every horrible thing that could happen like I had.
“Beau doesn’t have a job that could kill him,” I reminded her. “Weston does.” I buried my face in my hands, remembering how distraught he looked when I collapsed in front of him.
“Have you talked to him about it?” I nodded. “What did he say?”
“Does it matter? I can’t ask him to give up riding for me. I’d hate myself for making him choose.”
“I don’t think you’d be making him choose, Savannah,” she said. “He loves you. It’s obvious to everyone just how much.”
I brushed her arm off my shoulder and wiped my cheeks. “You don’t get it. You don’t know him like I do. Riding is his life.”
“Maybe not, but I know him well enough, and I think he’d do anything to make you happy and have you in his life again.”
I looked over at Claire, and she gave me a gentle smile. “What if he did, and he ends up resenting me for it? Or what if he doesn’t and I lose him all over again?”
“Then we’ll figure it out, but don’t go borrowing trouble.”
I didn’t respond, just stared at the ground.
It wasn’t borrowing trouble; it was bracing myself for the inevitable so that it didn’t hurt as much.
But I knew if I said that, she wouldn’t understand.
Her mind didn’t ruminate over things endlessly or immediately jump to the worst-case scenario like mine.
Claire stood, yanking me up with her. “Come on. We’re going to the diner.”
I frowned, pulling my arm out of her grasp. “I don’t have on any makeup.”
“Who cares? It’s just the diner, Savvy, not one of those fancy galas you go to.”
I guess she had a point. I grew up here. Everyone knew what I looked like, knew I didn’t have flawless skin, and that my hair wasn’t natural. “Fine.”
The diner was relatively slow with just a few patrons, but Louise and Gran were parked in their booth like usual. Gran was crocheting what looked like a baby blanket for Hattie while Louise scribbled in a journal.
“Looky here, Kelly,” Louise said, shutting the journal. “Two of your pretty girls.”
Gran looked up and grinned at us, her eyes crinkling. “Oh, hi, girls.” Claire sat down next to Gran while I slid into the booth next to Louise. “What are you two doing here?”
I glanced at Claire. “Savvy needs some advice.”
“About what?” Louise asked. “Don’t tell me you need advice about that fine specimen you were caught swapping spit with.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, mortified. Claire laughed.
“You should’ve heard the things she’d say about Beau,” Claire said.
Louise smirked. “What? About bouncing a quarter off his ass?” Claire blushed.
“Louise!” Gran chided, shaking her head. “You’re embarrassing them.”
Louise shrugged a shoulder. “They’ll live.”
“What do you need advice about, sweet pea?” Gran asked, putting her crocheting away.
I glanced at the three of them, not really knowing where to start. “I just don’t know if being with him is a good idea,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t think I’d survive it if he got hurt again. Or what if we just don’t work out for any number of reasons?”
“You and Weston remind me of my second husband, Arthur, and me,” Louise said, stirring her coffee.
“It was hot and heavy. Intense. And he was easy on the eyes, too. Arthur had this way of making me feel alive. It was as if static from the TV was in my skin, and I had been switched off for the first thirty-three years of my life. I’d always been shy—”
“I don’t believe that for a single second,” Claire interrupted, baffled.
“It's true,” Gran confirmed, nodding. “Worse than our Tess.”
Louise shot them a glare before looking at me. “Arthur woke me up, brought me out of my shell. I think Weston does that for you, too.” Was she right? Was Weston my Arthur? I felt the TV static, felt the switch come on, but that didn’t get rid of the fear that kept me paralyzed.
“And the sex was phenomenal,” she added. I blushed, thinking about the other night at the Bull Pen. It had only made me wonder more what it’d be like with him now.
“We were only married fifteen years before he passed, but I wouldn’t trade those years with him for anything in the world.” Louise brushed my cheek, being tender for once. “Take it from me, honey, don’t waste time wondering what could happen. Just go for it.”
She reached into her bag. “And if you really don’t know,”—she slapped a quarter on the table—“flip it.”
I frowned. “Flip a quarter?”
I looked over at Claire. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But it works.”
“No, I’m not flipping a quarter to make a major life decision. That’s ridiculous.” I came to Claire desperate for advice, and she brings me here to flip a coin? Was she serious?
“I think you already made your decision anyway,” Gran said smugly, shooting me a knowing look. “You’re just waiting for someone to give you permission.”
“You don’t need permission, Savvy,” Claire said. “Nobody is going to stop you or disapprove like when you dated the first time. We just want you to be happy, and Weston will make you happy.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “I’m just so scared,” I whispered.
“The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward,” Louise said. Claire and Gran nodded in agreement.
My phone buzzed on the table. “Don’t tell me it’s that lawyer guy again.” Louise frowned.
“Different lawyer guy,” I said, chuckling. “It’s Levi. I got rid of the other one.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Now that would’ve been worth being scared over.”
“Levi Hollis?” Gran asked, and I nodded. “He’s sweet. Nothing like those other Hollises.”
I smiled. “I know. He’s a good friend.”
“We think Tess is crushing on him,” Claire said, grinning.
“Oh Lord, help us,” Louise groaned. “Next thing, all three of you will be crammed into this booth, crying over damn boys.”
“I didn’t cry!”
“You did earlier,” Claire countered with a teasing smile. I scowled at her.
“I have to go to the firm,” I announced, and turned to Claire.
“Can you drive me?” I thanked Louise and Gran for their advice.
It was definitely something I’d have to think about.
But I wasn’t the kind of person who could just jump off a cliff without a care.
I needed to know what was at the bottom.
And there was no telling when it came to Weston.
Levi was pacing in his office once Claire had dropped me off, and I was instantly on edge.
In the few weeks I’d known him, I figured out he was the calmest person I’d ever met.
Nothing rattled him, nothing pissed him off.
So to see him doing laps around the office, his usually styled hair mussed and his glasses tossed onto his desk, told me something was very wrong.
“I think Preston knows I’m feeding you information,” he blurted the second he saw me.
My stomach sank. “What? How?”
“I’m probably just being paranoid, but I went over to our dad’s for dinner last night, and he made a comment about how fast you filed that appeal from the zoning case.
” He raked a hand through his hair, a few of the short strands sticking straight up from his pomade.
“And he started asking all these questions.”
I sat down slowly. “What kind of questions?”
“Personal ones. About you, Claire, Beau. If you and I talked about anything related to the zoning lawsuit.” He sat down at his desk and put his glasses back on. “I told him nothing, obviously, but I think he saw right through me. Preston can read people with frightening accuracy.”
“Thanks for letting me know.” It was the only thing I could think of to say, while my mind raced with ways this could rear its head.
“He even asked me about Tess. He somehow figured out I’m representing her in her custody case. You know she asked me for a DVRO?”
My heart stopped, and suddenly nothing about Preston, the merger, Weston, or my own problems mattered.
My sister. My sweet, tender-hearted baby sister asked for a Domestic Violence Restraining Order.
And what broke my heart even more was that she felt like she had to hide it from me. From all of us.
Levi went still. “I take it by the look on your face, you didn’t know.”
“No,” I whispered. “I didn’t.” I sank into the chair at his desk, pressing a shaking hand to my mouth. “She hasn’t told us anything. Won’t.” He handed me a tissue, and I realized then I was crying.
“That’s common with victims,” he said softly. I winced hearing the word victim in reference to Tess, but if what he was saying was true, then she was.
“She’s a strong woman. Resilient,” Levi added, obviously knowing far more about her than I did.
He leaned forward, clasping his hands on his desk.
His eyes, usually so kind and friendly, were dark with determination when he said, “I’m going to ruin that piece of shit’s life, Savannah, he’ll never be able to see her or Luke ever again. I promise.”
I nodded. “I know you will,” I rasped, pulling myself together. “Do you mind giving me a ride home?” I wanted to see my sister.
He nodded and grabbed his blazer off the back of his chair. The sun was low in the sky when we hopped in his car, and the ride was silent. Nothing but the hum of the car and Levi’s hard stare on the road.
I stared out the window, watching our small town fade to trees and open hills as we got closer to Golden Circle.
My mind raced as always, bouncing from the merger to Sterling and Preston to Weston, but it stuck on Tess.
God, sweet Tess. My heart ached. I couldn’t even imagine what she’d gone through.
Levi broke the silence. “I shouldn’t have told you about the DVRO,” he said, voice tense like he was beating himself up about it.
“It’s okay. I’m glad you did.” I shifted in my seat. “Well, glad isn’t the right word, but thankful, I guess.”
“I just…I remember now her saying she wanted to keep it under wraps as much as possible, was worried how people would look at her when they found out.”
“Nothing could change the way I look at her. She’s my sister. I love her more than anything.”
“That’s what I told her,” he said. “Not the loving her more than anything part,” he added with an adorably awkward chuckle. “But the having a family who supported her part.”
“It seems we aren’t the only ones who support her,” I pointed out.
His grip tightened on the wheel, but he didn’t deny it. “She’s a good person,” was all he said.
“I’m glad she has you in her corner.” And I truly meant it. Levi might’ve been related to the people trying to tear Golden Circle apart, but only in name. He was nothing like his family, and knowing how much he clearly cared for Tess only made me believe it more.
Later that night, I sat with Claire, Emmett, and Tess in our living room. “Don’t be mad at Levi,” I said. “He thought I knew.”
“I’m not mad,” Tess said softly. “If anything, I’m relieved that I didn’t have to be the one to say it.”
She let out a shaky breath, her eyes welling with tears. “I didn’t know how to tell you that I was with a man who terrorized me for years. Who manipulated me into alienating myself from my family, who made me miss saying bye to Mama, who—”
Claire pulled her into her side, and Tess shattered. “It’s okay, bug,” she said, her voice shaking. “You don’t have to say anything else.”
“You’re home now, that’s what’s important,” Emmett said, voice tight. He had his hands clasped together so hard they shook, his knuckles white. “You’re safe with your family where you belong.”
Tess wiped her face and sat up, sniffling. “I’m just so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I told her. “There’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about.” I took her hand in mine. “You’re so strong. The strongest person I know, and I’m so proud of you for getting you and Luke out.”
“Not fast enough,” she whispered.
Claire brushed her hair back. “Well, like Em said, you’re home now, and we aren’t going to let anything happen to you or Luke, okay?”
She nodded, resting her head on Claire’s shoulder. I glanced at Claire and Emmett, the three of us all on the same page: this wasn’t the end of this story.