Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
SAVANNA
When Nate pulls into a parking lot, I lean forward to look out the windshield. The building in front of us has a main level where I’m guessing the diner is. There’s another part of the building that rises above it with a few windows placed here and there throughout. But what really captures my attention is the windmill sticking out of the roof on the higher part of the structure. It’s white, just like the rest of the building, but given that it’s so close to the roof, which is black, it stands out very distinctly.
I’m immediately charmed by this place. With trees, shrubs, and a multitude of different flowers surrounding the building, it feels like it’s being hidden, adding to the magic.
“This is adorable,” I tell him as we both open our doors and get out.
“Wait until you see the inside. It’s even better,” he says as I meet him around the front of the truck before he leads me to the door.
He wasn’t kidding. The inside is just as cute and quaint as the outside. The walls are painted bright, cheerful oranges and yellows, fun knick-knacks and pictures cover every available space, and fairy lights decorate the windows and the ceiling. There are tables and chairs spread around the space, and double French doors lead to a patio that features more tables and umbrellas.
My favorite part may be the counter at the front filled with all kinds of delicious looking treats. Muffins, cakes, cookies, pies… my mouth waters at all the things I see in front of me, and I’m licking my lips, grateful that Nate brought me here and won’t let me just watch him eat.
“Nathan!” A cheery voice to my right says, and I turn to find a woman, who must be in her fifties, with an apron around her waist lighting up at the sight of Nate beside me. She has blonde, shaggy hair that stops at her chin, and warm, affectionate blue eyes that are bouncing between Nate and me.
“Hi, mom,” Nate greets her, arms spread wide for her to step into. Once they part, Nate turns to me and introduces us. “Savanna, this is Elizabeth. Mom, this is Savanna, a friend of mine.”
“A friend, huh?” she asks with a wink at Nate before turning to me, hand extended. “Lovely to meet you.”
I’m a tad surprised that Nate took me somewhere his mom works, but then I remind myself this isn’t a date.
Shaking Elizabeth’s hand, I smile. “Likewise, but don’t let him fool you. I’m just some girl he picked up on the side of the road.”
Nate snorts because he knows it’s true, but Elizabeth laughs with delight. “Well, that would be like Nathan. This boy would help everyone in need if he could.”
I glance at Nate, wondering if he’s ever done this before, but before I can ask, or allude to such a thing, he’s holding his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. No need to divulge all my secrets.”
“It’s not a secret,” Elizabeth interrupts, and I can’t help but giggle at Nate’s expense.
He ignores her. “Do you happen to have a table, or should I take Savanna elsewhere?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she chides, grabbing two menus before leading us to a table outside.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Nate enjoys sitting out here because she didn’t bother asking if we wanted to sit inside or out, and I’m okay with that. I’d much rather sit outside and enjoy the heat of the late morning sun, even if I don’t have sunglasses to shield my eyes.
“You want your usual, honey?”
“You know it,” Nate says to her, then looks to me. “A chocolate milkshake is my usual. You haven’t had a milkshake until you’ve had a milkshake made by my mom. Best milkshake I’ve ever had in my life.”
“That sounds hard to resist. I love all things ice cream,” I tell them. “I’ll have a vanilla milkshake.”
“I’ll be right back with those,” she tells us, and then she’s gone with a twinkle in her eye.
“Can I ask you a question?” Nate asks, and I look up from the menu, catching him as he runs his fingers through his hair. His menu is still to the side, making me guess he doesn’t need to look in order to know what he wants. When I nod, he leans forward, and with quiet intensity says, “The other day you seemed to have a considerable dislike towards men, and someone must have made you feel that way. Today no one showed up at the hospital. Did you call the disgusting, filthy pig to pick you up?”
I bark out a surprised laugh and slap a hand to my mouth. That’s the second time he’s brought that up, and I have a feeling it’s not the last time I’ll hear about it.
“No,” I tell him, shaking my head as my smile dies away. I breathe out a sigh and look down at my menu again, not wanting to look at him as I confess. “I didn’t actually call anyone. I don’t really know anyone in Santa Rosé.”
He’s silent for a moment, and I think he’s either contemplating whether to let the subject go or not. I hope he does, but I’m not that lucky.
“Why didn’t you just say that?”
Looking at him, I shake my head in bewilderment. A guy like this wouldn’t get it. A guy like a firefighter, a lieutenant, someone who I’m told helps all kinds of people because that’s who he is, wouldn’t understand. I hate that I have to explain it, my cheeks heating underneath his stare. “Because it sounds pathetic. Would you want it to be public knowledge that you have no one to call, and nowhere to go?”
“I would have offered to take you out for breakfast if you’d just told me the truth,” he says, his eyes narrowed with disapproval that I lied to him.
It makes me feel a little defensive, and my tone is sharper than I intend when I fire back with, “You set your sister straight, remember?”
He has the sense to look abashed, but that doesn’t stop him from saying, “You made it pretty clear the first time we met that I wasn’t supposed to hit on you.”
I close my menu, my temper spiking marginally. “Is that what you’re doing now? Is that why you stopped and picked me up? You wanted to hit on me?”
“No. Yes. I mean—Jesus, I don’t know what I mean,” he says, scrubbing his hands over his face. I can see the telltale sign of his neck turning red. He’s flustered, and I almost laugh. Almost.
“No, I’m not trying to hit on you, and no, it’s not why I picked you up. Did I want to hit on you?” His eyes roll. “That’s a dumb question, of course I want to hit on you, but I’m not going to because you’ve had a few really shitty days from what I can tell, and I don’t want you thinking I’m some disgusting, filthy pig.”
I knew I hadn’t heard the last of that.
I also think that’s one of the sweetest things a guy has ever said to me. If that doesn’t say something about the quality of men I’ve been around, I’m not sure what does.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth,” I say quietly, and despite wanting to look down, I keep my gaze trained on his. I may not owe Nate an apology for trying to protect myself, but his kindness and earnestness make me want to give it to him.
“Apology accepted,” he says, and smiles at me. “I think I’m just relieved you didn’t call whoever that douche is.”
After a moment of hesitation to decide how much I want to embarrass myself, and how much information I should give a man I don’t know, I sigh and lean back in my chair.
“That douche would be my ex-boss,” I tell him, picking at the corner of my menu, refusing to look up at Nate. “I foolishly went out with him a couple of times, and just before our elevator encounter, I caught him screwing an intern in one of the boardrooms.”
Nate whistles low, shaking his head. “No wonder you quit.”
“Here we go,” Elizabeth says, appearing beside the table with two shakes. She sets them down in front of us. “Have you two decided what you’d like to eat?”
“Oh dear, I haven’t even looked. Nate keeps interrupting me each time I start,” I tell her with a laugh. “What’s good?”
“California Burger,” they say in unison, causing me to look between the two with a grin.
“Well then,” I laugh. “I’ll have that.”
Nate orders the same, and when Elizabeth is gone, I tell him about Preston. He sits there, listening attentively, watching me with those blue eyes so intent that it makes my stomach flutter in ways that Preston never did. I have to admit to myself that I’m a little dazzled by Nate. I know I’m still lacking in the human interactions, but I think if I had a full social calendar, I would still be dazzled by this man sitting across from me. That’s a little scary because I’ve been in that situation once before and it ended with me leaving the only home I’d ever known.
“How’s that milkshake?” Elizabeth asks as she stops by to check on us, her eyes keen and full of interest as they dart between the two of us before staying on me.
“Delicious!” I reply, having just taken a sip of the thick and creamy drink, notes of true vanilla flavor coming through, none of the fake stuff. “Honestly the best I think I’ve ever had. Nate was right.”
She laughs. “Don’t tell him that. The man will get a big head.” She glances at Nate with affection, and he looks back at her with a smirk. “So,” she turns her attention back to me. “Do you work at the hospital?”
I’m a little confused until she looks at my shirt pointedly and I clue in as to why she would think that. The scrubs.
“Oh, heavens no! These aren’t mine, they’re Jordan’s. She let me borrow them because all I had was my underwear.” Nate, who is in the middle of taking a sip from his milkshake, chokes and starts coughing, making me realize how that must have sounded, so I try to explain further. “Because that’s how Nate found me! I had to take my clothes off—”
“I pulled her out of the burning building on Birch last night,” Nate interrupts, talking over me. “She’d been using her clothes to keep the smoke from getting in.”
Elizabeth, who looked half concerned and half delighted, gasps and presses a hand over her chest. “I heard about that. It sounded awful.”
“It was, but Nate jumped in and saved my life.”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down,” he says, gesturing in a calm down fashion. “Let’s not be dramatic.”
I raise an eyebrow at him then rephrase. “Nate is my hero and rescued me?”
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, clearly not liking the whole hero idea.
It must be something he shies away from regularly because Elizabeth gives him a knowing look. “Always so humble, Nathan. We all know you’re just doing your job, but you have the job of a hero, and you might as well accept that.”
Nate swirls his straw in his milkshake, evidently not entertaining this conversation any longer. It seems to be clear to Elizabeth that he isn’t going to budge an inch on this because she changes the subject. “You’re still off next Sunday?”
“Of course,” he smiles warmly at his mom, the indifference vanishing. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good.” Elizabeth looks from Nate to me and then back again. “You should bring Savanna.” Her eyes land on me once more. “It’s my birthday and I would be delighted if you joined Nathan at my birthday barbecue. You can tell me more about how he rescued you. I love hearing firsthand stories about my boy.”
My mouth is unattractively hanging open, unsure of what to say. I don’t even know Nate, not well anyway, and his mom is inviting me over for a barbecue. This isn’t weird at all. “I, uh… I mean…”
“Mom,” Nate says, and I hear a warning in his tone. “Savanna and I don’t know each other that well. Let’s not make her uncomfortable.”
“What better way to get to know someone than to bring her to a barbecue?” Elizabeth says, paying no attention to the warning. “In fact, if you don’t bring her, maybe you shouldn’t show up. I would be sorely disappointed, as would your aunts.” The woman beams at the two of us as if she didn’t just utter a threat to her son. “Now let me go check on your burgers, I’ll bet they’re ready.”
I stare at Nate, my eyes wide, unsure of what to say. He just sighs and shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. “If you hadn’t picked up on it, my family likes to meddle, and their favorite thing to meddle in is my love life. Ignore them.”
“Was she serious about you not showing up without me?” I ask, stunned that the woman who seemed so sweet and nice would say such a thing. Nate shrugs and my eyes grow larger. That’s definitely not a no, and he won’t meet my eyes which makes me believe he’s not entirely sure. “But… but… she seemed so normal!”
At this, Nate laughs, but what he finds amusing is beyond me. “My mom is amazing, and I love her, but she’s definitely meddlesome like the rest of the women in my family.”
I know I look a little freaked out because he leans forward and waves a hand. “The older generation of females in our family tend to harp on the younger, single generation. What my mom is telling me, without telling you, is that she’s going to blab about you and me being here together, and if I don’t show up with you, I’m going to be met with a lot of questions.”
Oh. I see. His laughter wasn’t amusement, it was resignation. Something I hear clearly in his voice now.
“Why would you bring me here then?” I implore, eyebrows furrowed until my face smooths out, my eyes widening. “Unless… Was this part of your not hitting on me plan?”
This time his laughter is genuine. “Not at all. I stop here most days when I get off shift and have a bite to eat before I go home and crash. I wasn’t really thinking about my mom, and what she might think about you and me being here, until I saw her. By then it was too late to do anything about it.”
“And now you’re going to be subjected to the third degree if I don’t come with you?” I ask hesitantly, and he nods. “Why do they meddle?”
He shrugs through a long, low sigh. “What can I say? They love love . They think happiness means having a partner, a family, all that stuff. So considering I’ve been single for a while, that must mean I’m miserable.”
“Are you?” I question before I can think better of it.
Nate chuckles, flashing me a wide grin. “Far from it. I’m too busy to be miserable.”
“Is that why you’re single?” I ask, and when he shrugs noncommittally, I raise an eyebrow. Maybe I shouldn’t be curious, but I am.
“Lately it’s definitely been because I’m busy, but it’s a combination of that and not finding the right woman,” he explains, making me wonder what’s been happening lately.
Twirling my straw in the thick milkshake, I eye it for a moment while chewing on my lip. Nate seemed serious that he would be bombarded with questions, and based on his reaction, it doesn’t sound like a pleasant time. I hate to think that I’d be the reason for that. “I don’t like knowing I’m going to be the cause of grief for you after you’ve been nothing but generous with me.”
“It’s okay. Honestly. I’ll explain the situation, and while they might be disappointed, they’ll understand,” he tells me with a confident nod of his head.
When I give him a dubious look, he smiles sincerely and reaches over, laying his hand on mine, creating that same electricity that ran through me before. I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows hard, obviously feeling the same thing I am.
I don’t think it’s my imagination that his voice is an octave deeper when he says, “Let’s just worry about getting through today before we start talking about barbecues, okay?”
Right. Today. I’ve been enjoying Nate’s company so much that I haven’t given another thought to the rest of the day, and while it was a nice break, I need to think about where I go from here.
I chew on my bottom lip for a moment before asking, “Do you think I’ll be able to get into my apartment today?”
Nate frowns, and I see the answer in his eyes before he says it out loud while giving my hand a squeeze. “Unfortunately not. It might be a while before you can get back in there. Do you have renter’s insurance?”
I pride myself in being a smart woman, but I’ll admit that not getting insurance was not one of my smarter choices. I sigh, shaking my head as I look down at my milkshake.
“The last time I thought about it was when I moved in, and I didn’t have a single thing to my name besides my clothes, an air mattress, and some bedding.” I lean forward, my head dropping into my free hand. “It didn’t seem important at the time.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” he says, his voice warm and soft, gently caressing over me like a cozy blanket.
He continues to hold my hand and the comfort I find in that is immeasurable. After trying to survive for so long, looking after myself and ensuring I’m safe, having this man ease my worries, even if just with words, is a lifeline I didn’t know I needed.
“We’ll figure it out.”
My head pops up, shaking at him. “You’ve done plenty. Taking me out and buying me a meal is more than you needed to do. If you could just drop me off at the beach after this, I’ll figure it out.”
“There’s a difference between need and want, Sav,” Nate says gently, and I can’t help the warmth that spreads through me when he shortens my name. “I can’t in good conscience drop you off at the beach and have you fend for yourself. You don’t have anything with you. No phone, no ID, no money, no clothes.”
I want to snap, “thanks for the reminder”, but I refrain, instead pulling my hand out from under his, severing the connection. I miss it instantly and my gut says to grab on and hold tight until he’s the one to let go, but I ignore it.
“What would you propose I do then? Find a bench and sleep on it?”
I can tell he wants to laugh, but he has the good sense to keep it hidden as he slides his hand back to his side of the table and grabs his milkshake, giving it a stir with the spoon in it.
“I suppose that’s one option, but it’s not what I was thinking,” he says, amusement dancing in his eyes before the blue depths turn serious. “Hear me out before you say no. I have a guest bedroom—”
“Nate, no,” I cut him off, my hand coming up to silence him. “You don’t even know me, I don’t know—”
He grabs my hand, and talks louder, overpowering my voice. “Hear me out. Just hear me out, that’s all I’m asking.”
His eyes are pleading with me, and honestly I’m defenseless against them. The way they look at me with such hope, imploring me to just listen and not shut him down right away. Releasing a sigh, I nod in agreement, pulling our hands back down to the table.
“Thank you,” he says, giving me a smile that lights up his eyes. “I know we don’t know each other, apart from today, but you wouldn’t know anyone at the beach if you slept there, either. Jordan and I live together, so she would be there as well. It wouldn’t just be the two of us. You can get a good sleep, and in the meantime, I’ll try to reach out and see if I can get you into your apartment to at least get some of your things.”
Well shit. I know I’m staring at him skeptically, but inside I think he makes a solid case. If I slept on the beach, we both know it wouldn’t be pleasant. It would probably be downright terrifying, if I’m being honest, and I wouldn’t get much sleep. That he lives with Jordan, another woman that I’ve already met in a professional setting, does help ease some of the fear I have about staying with a man I don’t know. Even if I feel deep in my bones that Nate is a good man.
But what really does it for me is his willingness to try and help me get into my place for some of my things if I can’t stay there. I would at least have some money and I could stay in a hotel while figuring out my next move. Staying with Nate eases a weight from my shoulders, knowing the rest of the day and evening, I’m taken care of. That I don’t have to figure out what to do before I figure out what to do.
Plus, I think I’m going to crash the second we’re finished eating, if not before. It’s been a whirlwind twenty-four hours, and I haven’t slept in what feels like forever.
“What do you think?” Nate asks hesitantly, running his free hand through his hair.
Taking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. If Nate weren’t holding my hand, I’d be picking at a cuticle right now, a nervous habit I’ve had since I was a little girl. “I think… even though I love the beach, maybe a bed does sound better than the sand.”
Triumph erupts on his face, and he looks so jubilant I’ve said yes that I laugh, sharing in his happiness. “I knew I could win you over. You realize how much better I’ll sleep tonight knowing you’re not on the streets, right?”
“Oh, so this was all for your benefit, then?” I ask, laughing.
“Yep. You just happen to be getting something out of it as well,” he tells me with a wink.
Elizabeth shows up then with our lunch, and eyes the two of us, pointedly looking at our hands still joined on the table.
“Just friends my ass,” she mumbles, and Nate and I look at each other with grins.
I can only imagine what will be said if his family finds out I’m spending the night at his place.