Chapter 29
Bailey
I can’t believe I forgot Savannah was coming, although my reason for being distracted this morning is completely reasonable.
“What’s new with me?” Savannah repeats, eyeballing me more than usual after Rhett’s left the kitchen to grab the tools from her trunk. “Absolutely nothing. More importantly, what’s new with you?”
She turns the pie tin on the kitchen counter while studying the grin on my face, amused.
I point to the frosted metal canister by her elbow, looking for any distraction. “And this is . . .?”
“Oh, sorry, did you not hear me telling Rhett when I came in?” she asks, tapping the lid.
“My mom churned some ice cream to go with the pie. The chickens. I’m supposed to tell you that this ice cream was made with fresh eggs.
” She eyes me, looking downright suspicious while nudging the canister to a spot near the pie.
“Your mom’s ice cream was incredible back before it was made with fresh eggs,” I tell her. “This combo right here is the real reason we came back.”
“Riiight.”
She chuckles while I glance outside just in time to see Rhett hop over the side of the boat.
He lifts the cover off the motor and begins inspecting whatever he sees underneath.
But he must feel me watching because he rears back and makes eye contact.
A half-grin rolls across his face before he ducks down to inspect it closer.
I’m smiling to myself when I turn around and see Savannah studying me with her mouth slightly open.
Startling, I grab the ice cream and open the freezer to toss it in, but I’ve already been caught.
“What?” I ask.
“Oh, sweetie, please. It’s written all over your face. And even if it wasn’t, I felt it when I just walked in.”
“Felt what?” I ask, pushing a grin away with a frown.
“The air has definitely shifted in here.” She grabs one of the mugs hanging off a hook and fills it using the pot of coffee Rhett’s just made. Then she slides it over to me before filling up a second.
I glance around at the imaginary shifted air around us.
“This air has definitely not shifted,” I say.
“Oh, it has,” she says proudly. “It’s you two. You’re the air.”
I squint. “We’re the air?”
“You’re sleeping together, aren’t you?” she asks, proud to have felt whatever changed between us.
I nearly choke on my coffee. “What made you think that?”
She sets her mug down. “If not, you both have some wicked self-control, because you two just eye-fucked the daylights out of each other through that window.”
My cheeks burn, and I laugh. I’m hesitant to tell her, but I need someone to talk to about this, since there’s no way I’m ready to tell Hollis or my mom.
“Is it that obvious?” I grimace, covering my eyes like it’ll help hide the facts.
“I knew it!” She pumps her fists up in the air. “Screw it. We’re eating this now. Spill everything.”
Savannah spins around to grab two plates out of the cupboard and a few forks out of the drawer, but she must feel my eyes on her because she twirls around with it all in hand.
“What? It’s no worse than eating a donut for breakfast.” She points at the old clock above the stove. “It’s practically noon. Brunch time. Think of it as French toast. With ice cream. Or a Danish.”
“It’s pie.” I laugh, but figure what the hell. I grab the canister back out of the freezer.
She takes a knife and cuts us two pieces while I top it off with a dollop of the ice cream.
Savannah leans against one counter while I lean against the other, and we both take our first bite. It’s heaven.
“Okay, so what’s the deal with you two? I can tell something has happened between you that hadn’t happened as of the last time I popped in.”
“He kissed me. And that led into . . . well, you already guessed that part.”
“Yesssss!” she yells toward the ceiling, hands raised over her head. “Thank God someone is getting some around here.”
I laugh and look out the window. Rhett must have heard her cheering because he paused the work he’s doing to watch me through the glass. I give him a thumbs up, then shoo him away. He raises his own thumb, but more like a question.
Savannah laughs at the exchange.
“We’re fine!” I yell through the window. Then, I turn back to watch her crumbling against the countertop.
“Were you two in the shower just now?” she asks, raising a brow. “Together?”
“Kind of. I’d just lured him in.” My face twists into a bigger grin.
“Oh my God, I’m the worst.” She covers her eyes, but I can see she’s still grinning beneath her hand.
“No, seriously, you’re fine. I’m the one that forgot we’d set this coffee date up.”
“And the bullet wounds he got a few years back . . .” she trails off, glancing outside.
I raise my brows while she figures out how to phrase this.
“Those were all . . . above the belt, yes?”
I throw a dish towel at her.
“Savannah! Yes!”
She giggles. “Okay, that’s what I thought. I mean, you’re both super hot. You’re both adults. And you’ve known each other your entire lives. I don’t see any reason to be embarrassed about it. Oh, and we do weddings at the lodge now. Not that it’s related. Just popped into my mind.”
My jaw drops. “You are ridiculous.”
She takes another bite of pie to give her mouth something to do other than that goofy grin she’s had since walking in here, then she shrugs.
“Ridiculously spot on,” she corrects.
“He only kissed me last night,” I remind her, looking around for a second dish towel to throw at her.
She holds up the one I already threw. “Need this again?” She tosses it on the counter beside me. “Throw all the towels you want, but this breakfast pie is now a full-on celebration pie.”
We both laugh. She knows she’s being ridiculous, but I grab the towel anyway and pretend to throw it, but instead, hang it back over the stove handle where it belongs.
“So, how was it?” she asks, leaning a hip against the counter.
Her eyes soften when I sigh and take a bite, trying to figure out the right way to put this.
“It was everything I needed to make me miserable,” I tell her.
She looks surprised, then leans in. “Oh my God. Why?”
“Because I already know that it was too incredible to forget as long as I live.” I bite down on my lip, reliving the whole thing inside my head. “I’m in trouble. I already know it. There will never be another Rhett.”
Her hand holding the spoon drops to the counter, and she grins as if I’ve just said the cutest thing.
“Stooop,” she says, fanning her face. “God, that’s romantic.
And I see no problems with that. I only wish I’d brought champagne.
” She takes a sip of her coffee, like it’ll have to do instead.
Then she grabs the ice cream tin off the counter.
“I hate coming out uneven,” she mutters, plopping another scoop of it on her pie so she can have some of both in each bite.
“Now, tell me why you’re worried about all of this making you miserable.
I might not be as good as Gran when it comes to giving advice, but I’ll see if I can give it a whirl. ”
Savannah’s gran is known for penning the Dear Darling advice column in the small town newspaper.
We all used to giggle and swoon over the things people would write in for advice about when we were younger, and her letters back to them were always spot on.
As far as I’m concerned, Gran Price is a local legend, and I’d happily take advice from her granddaughter right about now.
“I’m a little afraid that the fantasy won’t measure up to the real thing,’ I tell her. “We’ve put each other on this pedestal our whole lives. What if I’m not as good as he thinks?”
“Good at what?” she asks.
“Everything,” I groan.
She nods, thinking it through.
“I really don’t think Rhett would play games with someone he cares about,” she tells me. “He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy that lives in the clouds, or gives up easy. I think when he’s in, he’s in. No games allowed.”
“He did spend our entire teenage years tossing me in the lake,” I remind her.
“I mean emotional games,” she answers, taking another bite of pie, thinking it through.
“If he said he wants to give this a try, then I would take that as his full truth.” She glances out the window and watches him tinker with something else on the boat.
“I know I’ve said this before, but I’m not kidding when I say I have a sixth sense about these things.
Don’t let this scare you, but you two were always going to be a thing one day. ”
I lower my eyes. “Really?”
“Now, I’m not saying you’re going to wind up together forever with six babies, two girls and four boys, all christened with some variation on your two names or anything.
I can’t see that far down anyone’s future.
” She grins, and her voice softens. “But I am saying that this was always in the cards for you two. I thought you might have already tested these waters with him when we were younger. You never did?”
“Never.”
She glows and snatches up another bite of ice cream with pie, grinning as she rolls it around. “Perfect.”
I steal a glance out the window. Just looking at him right now makes my insides auto-twist. Nothing about kissing that man was a mistake.
Or anything else that we did. But I can’t shake the fact that we’re here, getting to know each other in a whole new way.
And part of me is terrified that he might not like me as much as he thinks in the end.
“What makes that perfect?” I ask, curious about this sixth sense she has.
“You two would have totally messed this up as teenagers. No offense, but like, teenagers. Right? This is way better. You’ve both lived a little life, you both know what you want.
You’re both able to handle the fallout if it goes sideways and stay cool about it for your families. What does Hollis think?”
I sigh. “Well—”
She grimaces. “Okay, she doesn’t know you’ve caught feelings? It’s still early, right? Mmm, kay. How about your brother?”
My half-smile turns into a half-frown.
“Mmmm kay!” She brightens and grabs my arm. “You know what? That’s okay. It’s for the best that Axel doesn’t know.”
“Why? You think they’re going to be pissed?”
“No, I just think you’re already running from one crazed maniac. You don’t need to add another two more to your plate before you guys figure this out.”
I set my pie down and drop my head into my hands, laughing.
“God, Savannah, I really don’t want to mess this up.”
“Then don’t.” She pops her last bite into her mouth.
“Then don’t,” I repeat back to myself.
She shrugs, as if it could really be that simple.
My gaze shifts outside. He’s hopped into the driver’s seat to check a few knobs and gears while he tries again to get it running.
Seeing him back in that old captain’s chair reminds me of all the times I watched him steer it around the lake.
Aviators on, hair whipping in the wind, a smile spreading across his face as if the whole world was on his side. I miss that feeling.
I miss all of it.
Savannah eyes the boat with Rhett sitting at the wheel. “If I were you, as soon as he’s got that thing running, the first place I’d go is the grotto.”
“The grotto?” I repeat, snapping my eyes back to her. “Oh my God, I used to dream about going there with him when I was younger.”
“I know. It’s in your last book.”
I cover my eyes, again, laughing. “My books are fiction,” I remind her, but I can’t stop another smile from totally ruining my credibility.
“Most of your books are, honey boo. But this last one was a thinly veiled love song to that guy right out there.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, keeping my eyes covered. “I was hoping it wasn’t that obvious to the rest of the world. Hollis questioned me about it, but I think she was happy to accept my answer as a no.”
“I mean, if your brother hasn’t read it yet, I might burn the rest of the copies that have made it out into the world.” She clears her throat through a laugh. “Unless you’re ready to pop that I’m-sleeping-with-your-best-friend announcement wide open with him when he picks one up.”
“Oh God,” I mutter. “Between my brother and his sister, the history we have here together, the chance of losing each other when we go back to normal life in two different cities, and a creepy guy on the loose, there are so many ways for this to go off the rails before we can even get ourselves going in a solid direction. It’s like I’m already holding my breath inside a bubble, waiting for which thing is going to come and pop it wide open. ”
“You’ll figure it out.” She sticks her last bite in her mouth, then grins. “But please stop overthinking it. No one has forever,” she adds ominously.
“That sounds pretty dark,” I tell her, narrowing my eyes, wondering just how far Savannah’s sixth sense can go.
“It’s good to remember sometimes. For all of us.
Just make sure that whatever happens, you don’t regret wasting the time you have here.
Together. The way he’s looking at you?” She points out the window.
“Scratch that. The way he’s always looked at you?
You’d be crazy to let this go without throwing some caution to the wind and having yourself a really good time.
And who knows?” She nods with a big grin on her face, “Maybe that good time can last a lot longer than you think.”