33. Chapter Thirty-Three | Savannah
Chapter thirty-three
Since my divorce was finalized two months ago, it has felt like I’ve been living in one of my favorite romance novels rather than my actual life. After Theo and I went on our first official date, instead of taking things slow, we both jumped straight off the deep end.
I had no idea something could be this good in real life, instead of only possible in a romance novel written by a woman.
When he looks at me, I feel it in my soul.
Some would say it’s too soon to feel such big feelings, but when you’ve lived life, you understand how precious a gift like this really is, and also, I don’t really care what anyone else thinks about our relationship at this point in my life, other than my daughters and family.
But so far, their only feedback has been positive and supportive.
We both decided to be honest with our daughters and tell them that we are more than friends and we’re exploring things together.
Neither of us wanted to sneak around, and after the blindside my girls dealt with their dad’s disappearing act, we felt like honesty was the best route.
Gigi asked her dad if that meant I was going to be his queen, and he said time would tell, but the gleam in his eyes wasn’t hard to miss.
My own girls handled it well—even better than I was expecting—but it helps they know Gigi from school and like her.
They were quick to point out now they can play board games that require four people, so Emily was especially happy about that.
Lucy was just excited to have someone else that was obsessed with Barbies to play with, and Olivia was indifferent until she heard Gigi has an impressive book collection at her house.
My girls were also very impressed when Theo made sure his brother included them in the pre-release giftbox of his company’s headphones that came out last month.
The package was sent to Gigi, but Van had each girls’ initials engraved on the headphones so even though they are the same color, we can tell them apart.
Theo—and Van—gained an epic amount of cool points with that surprise.
In the few interactions Theo has had with my girls, I’ve appreciated that he doesn’t try to act like a stand-in father.
He addresses them like a friend would, and for now, that’s appropriate for where we are in our exploration of things.
And while I love spending time with our girls all together, I also really enjoy the one-on-one time when we can manage it, like tonight when my children are having a cousin sleepover at Daddy’s with Eloise, and Gigi is spending the night at her Aunt Pippa’s.
Vivian already dropped our girls off before she and Walker headed into Nashville for their own date.
I grab my hairspray and add a light coat to try and fight some of the humidity, but it’s the end of August in Tennessee so it is what it is.
As I quickly add a coat of my cherry lip gloss, I notice the balcony door off my ensuite looks slightly ajar.
I don’t remember the girls being in here, but maybe one of them was out there reading.
I can’t blame them; there is a perfect lounge chair out there to snuggle up with a good book.
I smile as I imagine one of them doing just that, but as I try to shut the door, it doesn’t sound right.
I open the door again and turn the handle, but the latch doesn’t come out of the handle to catch like it should, and with closer examination, I see why.
There’s no longer a latch in the doorknob.
What the hell?
I look around the bathroom like something is going to explain this, or as if I’m going to see the latch lying on the floor, but I know that’s not possible.
A door can’t shut without a latch, but where did it go?
The only way a latch would be removed from a doorknob like this is if someone took the entire doorknob apart, removed the latch, and then reassembled it.
Goosebumps break out over my skin as my heart rate races .
I don’t know why this happened, or who would have done this, but without having something to go on, I don’t even know who to call first.
If I call Vivian, she and Walker will immediately turn around and come back, ruining their date night, and I don’t want to do that.
If I call Finn, he will alert The Cavalry, and that will blow this into a way bigger deal than it needs to be, or maybe it needs to be a big deal?
Or can I just shove a dresser in front of it so the door can’t open?
I don’t know, but as I check the time, I realize Theo will be here soon.
I can wait ten minutes, and that also gives me time to check every other door and window in my house.
There must be a logical explanation for this …
right? I might look like a dumb blonde housewife, but I’m not a fool—I know this is not normal.
The door doesn’t have a deadbolt lock, but I will sure as shit be having one installed as soon as possible.
I start making my way through the house room by room as I text my brother.
Me
Hey, Finn. The lock on the door to my balcony off the primary ensuite is broken. I’ve been meaning to replace the door. Can you order me something that will fit and still look good? I want the door to have a deadbolt too if possible.
Finn
Sure thing, I can stop by tomorrow to get measurements. Did it not have a deadbolt already? All external doors should have a deadbolt, Sav.
Me
It used to, but the original door was broken when that storm hit last summer. Shane had this door put in and it was supposed to be temporary, but of course he never had it fixed properly. I should have replaced it myself.
Finn
Can you secure it for the night?
No, and who knows how long it has been unlocked, but I’m not going to admit that to my brother right now.
Also, I don’t want to think about that too much because not only do I not know why this door is broken, I don’t know how long I basically had a wide-open door to my house while I slept a few feet away.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit! I fill my lungs with air, holding briefly before slowly exhaling to try and slow my racing heart, which does absolutely nothing, but I can’t freak out right now. I have to first make sure the rest of my house is safe, find a solution for this, and then I can lose it.
Me
Theo is going to be here in a minute. I’ll have him take a look to make sure it’s secure.
Finn
Ok, sounds good. Let me know.
I finish checking the upstairs and main floors before heading down to check the basement windows, and thankfully, every other door and window is properly latched and locked. As I walk back upstairs, I see Theo’s car pull in my driveway and go to let him in.
“Hey baby,” he calls as he gets out of his car.
He pulls carry out bags from the backseat and what looks like two dozen red roses in a beautiful arrangement.
“I promise these aren’t apology flowers.
” He winks, not one to be outdone by my ex-husband.
“These are I get to see my girl tonight and she’s hot roses.
” His schoolboy-like grin makes me laugh as I stand on my tip toes to kiss him hello.
I take the flowers and lead him inside. Simply being near him is helping calm my nerves, even though I’m dreading explaining what we need to do before we can enjoy dinner.
“What did you bring for dinner? It smells good.” He smells good too, maybe I’ll just have him for dinner.
“I got that angel hair pasta you liked from Luigi’s.”
“Aw, I got that on our first date.” I grin at him.
“I know, that’s why I knew you’d like it.
” He winks as he sets the carry out bags on the kitchen island.
Turning to me, he pulls me into his arms for a proper hug and kiss hello.
His arms wrapped around me ground me in a way I needed after the last twenty minutes.
As we separate, I exhale a sigh I didn’t know I was holding.
He tilts his head at me and examines my face. “What was that about? What’s wrong?”
Goodness gracious, nothing gets past this guy. “I had a little situation, and uh ... I actually, I was hoping you could help.” I explain how I found the missing latch, and we walk up to the ensuite so he can inspect it.
“When did this happen?” he asks as he opens and closes the door to inspect it.
“Um. Well, that’s the thing, I’m not quite sure. I noticed it when I was getting ready tonight because it was slightly ajar, but then I realized I can’t actually properly close it. What do you think happened?”
Theo hums at me but doesn’t say anything. “I already called Finn and he’s going to come by tomorrow to measure for a new door, but I don’t know that there’s a way to secure it until then.”
Unfortunately, Theo agrees, and next I know, Finn is at my house to secure the rogue door and our dinner date night is delayed while he and Theo board up my balcony door.
“This seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?
Can’t I just put a chair or a dresser in front of it so it can’t open?
” I ask them and they both look at each other like I suggested using scotch tape.
Give me some credit, I would have picked a heavy dresser.
“Baby, it’s extreme that someone took an essential part of your doorknob to make it impossible for you to shut the door, let alone lock it.
And especially without knowing when it happened, and why or who is responsible, I think we’re being mild in just boarding this up.
I’m half tempted to call the police and file a report,” Theo says as Finn secures the final board.
“I’ll patch those holes when we install the new door, but I will get it ordered tonight with a rush order,” Finn explains as he packs away his tools. “And I don’t disagree with Theo at all. You should at least consider filing a report.”
“I took photos before we boarded it up, and we can go to the station in the morning to do just that,” Theo responds.
I nod but don’t say anything. I know they’re both right, but I also know this is going to become an even bigger thing than just a simple broken doorknob.
If the police ask who I think is responsible, what do I even say?
I don’t honestly think one of my daughters was messing around with the mechanics of a doorknob, but I also have no explanation other than the most terrifying one: I don’t know who did this.
“The douche doesn’t have a mechanical bone in his body, but do you think Shane is behind this?” Finn asks as Theo watches me intently.
I shake my head. “To what end? He has house keys and the code to get into the keypad locks. There’s no reason for him to do this, he has full access to the house.
” Liam would’ve notified me if there was something strange with Shane accessing the house.
My brother has all kinds of safety precautions set up at our houses, most I don’t even understand.
“Unless he’s doing it to mess with you somehow,” Theo suggests.
Finn nods in agreement, and I can’t dismiss the suggestion.
Historically, I never would have considered Shane to do something so insane, but this year, I’ve seen sides to him that I never knew were there, and I hate to admit it, but anything is possible at this point.
I never would have imagined him yelling at me in public or aggressively cornering me either.
“Finn, do you think you can please wait to alert The Cavalry about this until tomorrow? Please? I don’t want to ruin Walker and Vivian’s date night, she was so excited to have an evening alone with Walker in Nashville,” I ask my brother .
“I can hold off on the full Cavalry alert, but you should know Liam already knows because I talked to him on my way over here. But, lucky you, he was about to go dark for twenty-four hours so he won’t alert anyone before the morning.”
“Your brother leads an interesting life,” Theo says, referencing our elusive brother Liam.
“You don’t know the half of it. And honestly, none of us do,” Finn jokes, but he’s right.
Whatever Liam does, I know he travels a lot and works with all the alphabet federal agencies, and probably some groups I don’t even know exist for my own safety.
Sometimes his job requires him to go dark for periods of time, but thankfully, that’s less common than it was five or six years ago when it felt like he was out of touch more than not.
Finn loads up his tools and takes off, promising to let me know as soon as the new door arrives.
One of the things I love about the Callahan men, is when they say they are going to do something, I don’t have to follow up or bug them about it.
I don’t want to even think about how many times I mentioned that door to my ex, and I refuse to let him dampen my mood—especially when I have special plans for tonight.