by Lily Zante
“What makes you think that?” Tobias knelt down on one knee, his hand on the other.
“’Cos you didn’t even ask me what day it was.”
“That’s because I’ll be there, whenever it is, if I’m in the country.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Tobias assured him.
“It’s next week.”
“I’ll be there.”
Chapter 5
It was around 11 o’clock that evening and Tobias was sprawled out on Savannah’s couch, not wanting to go home, but aware that he needed to, at some point.
The problem was that Savannah had opened a bottle of champagne. “I’m hardly going to drink this alone,” she told him. Apparently it was from the gift basket that he’d given her for Christmas.
“You won’t be able to drive home,” she’d whispered as she’d handed him his glass. But staying over wasn’t an option, and he would get a cab home later.
They held hands, and talked, and drank champagne. The TV was switched off and Jacob had gone to bed hours ago. Savannah had switched on the lamp and the light in the room was soft. He felt relaxed and at home with her, so much so that he was loathe to leave. At the end of every day he spent with her and Jacob, he felt more a part of their life. These two people, complete strangers until a few months ago, were becoming more precious each day.
His empty apartment had no appeal, it never had—which was why he’d spent so much time working and being away on business trips. Being with Savannah and Jacob had given him a taste of the kind of life he could have. Something fuller, meaningful and complete.
“What do you usually do on a Saturday night?” she asked.
“I usually spend it with you, now,” he replied.
“But what did you do before?”
“Good question,” he replied, and tried to remember what life had been like pre-Savannah. “I often wonder that myself.”
“I imagine you went out a lot, ate at a lot of fancy restaurants, met fashionable friends at fancy bars and nightclubs. Traveled a lot…”
“Is that what you think I did?” It was so far from the truth.
“Yes,” she exclaimed, settling her head against his chest. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“You have no idea how much I hated weekends before.”
She held his hand firmly. “Not anymore, I hope.”
Not anymore.
It had been difficult to overcome the emptiness of his days in the beginning. His business consumed his life but on weekends it seemed pointless going to an empty office building. He had been able to work from home which was what he’d done most of the time, and there was always lots of reading to do in his spare time, lots of financial papers to keep up with. But it still left countless hours where his mind would drift and he would remember. When the void Ivy had left behind had become too raw to bear, he had taken to drink. Later, he had sought out Naomi. He still had friends, some his, some through Xavier, but back then, during the dark days, drink and Naomi had been his salvation.
She lifted her head and kissed him. “Your loss is heavy,” she said, running her finger across his cheek. “But with time comes acceptance.” She kissed him again as if to remind him.
New life, new love, new beginnings had come along and were helping him to heal. He loved this, what he had with her and Jacob. His heart already had a permanent place for them both, working on Savannah though, would take more time. She was hurting too, and she had to let that go. If only she would open up to him. “What did you do?” she asked, just as he’d been about to ask her something.
“I worked out, I ran, I boxed, I read and sometimes I went out to eat—”
“Alone?”
“Not always.”
“With Naomi?”
“When we were together, yes. Or I’d meet some business associates, or my brother or, occasionally, my parents.”
“What about Matthias?”
“Not so much.”
“I thought you were good friends?”
“We were, we are but we tend not to meet socially, unless we have to.”
“Unless you have to?” She seemed surprised.
“He’s a good friend, don’t get me wrong. He’s been there for me when I needed him but after a while, when you see each other all day at work, you don’t need to socialize together. He has his own life.”
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
Tobias laughed. “He has many girlfriends. Matthias doesn’t want to settle down now, or ever, as far as I can see.”
Something flashed behind her eyes; an unasked question, the one that seemed like a natural follow up to what he’d said. And do you? He waited, but she said nothing.
“I always wondered if he and Candace ever…”
“They’re friends who might flirt now and then,” Tobias said. “But I can’t see them together. What about you? What did you do on weekends?”
“Clean the house, do some grocery shopping, go to the park, sometimes. Watch films, play board games. Do nothing. Come the weekend, I’d be so tired that it was great to do nothing.” Seeing at firsthand how full on it was looking after a child, even one as well behaved as Jacob, had shown him how much time he had on his hands, as well as the luxury, and bleakness of looking after nobody but himself. “Do you see Briony much?” He wanted to know. She shook her head. “We go out to lunch every so often, and she’s always up for going out in the evenings but I can’t fit her in all the time. She has Max but they have no kids, or pets that I’m aware of, whereas I have Jacob and …and now I have you.”
“Is it that much of a drag?” He made a sorry face.
“I never said it was a drag,” she replied, grinning. “I never realized it before but you’re what I’ve needed all along.”
He liked the idea that he was needed by her. “Needed?”
She nodded. “I need someone to be good to me, for a change.”
“I’ll always be good to you, Savannah.”
She said nothing, so he squeezed her hand. “Hey,” he said, lowering his voice. “I mean that. I’ll try to, and if I say or do something and don’t realize it, I expect you to tell me.” She was quiet and after a few moments he asked her. “What was Colt like?” her hands tensed up in his. “Savannah?”
“He wasn’t the nicest of people,” she replied. After a few seconds, she said, “As for Briony, we barely got together before you came onto the scene and now there aren’t enough hours in the day.”
She obviously wasn’t ready to tell him and he reconciled himself to playing the waiting game. She reached over and picked up their champagne glasses. She gave him his before taking a sip from her glass.
“You like that, don’t you?” Tobias asked, moving off the couch to refill their glasses.
“It’s good,” she nodded and took another sip. He settled back against her again. “I have a trip to San Diego later next month. We’re planning to visit a company you did research on. Dextronics. Do you remember the name?”
“It rings a bell.”
“We’re meeting with the co-founders and probably a few other startups, if I can line up meetings.”
“Oh?” She took another sip of champagne.
“And so,” he placed his glass on the table. “I was thinking of going away for a few days after that and taking a bit of a vacation.”
“That’s nice…” She murmured, “You should.” She set her glass back down on the table.
“I was hoping you’d be able to come along.”
“Come along where?”
“Have you even listened to a word I’ve been saying?” He asked, messing up her hair playfully. She fended him off by grabbing his wrists then twisting her body to face him.
“You’re going to see Dextronics next month and you want to take a vacation after that.” She parroted him almost word for word.
“You were listening,” he remarked, smiling. “It would be great if you could come along.”
“What about Matthias?”
>
“He could sit this one out.”
“Won’t that annoy him?” She asked.
“I’ll send him somewhere else.” And before she accused him of planning things to suit his needs again, he added, “We’ve got a lot of business to build up this year.”
“Won’t people talk even more if we go away together?”
“It’s next month.” How much longer did she need to keep their romance under wraps for? “Won’t you be ready by next month, Savannah? Think about it, going away somewhere where nobody can interrupt us.” She stared back at him and her eyes widened as the seed he had planted—days and nights together, just him and her alone—took hold. He embellished it further. “We could wake up together.”
“And be together for the whole night,” she murmured.
“We could walk around completely naked.”
“We could do a lot of fun things completely naked.” She giggled and her cheeks flushed.
“Think about it,” he said, and moved so that he was lying down on the couch, fully outstretched. He pulled her on top of him and rested his hands on the curve of her lower back.
“Hmmmmm.” She pondered the thought out aloud.
“A few nights?” She asked.
“Or as many as you want.”
“My parents are staying for a few weeks. I’m not sure how long, but we could snatch a few days then. I’d feel comfortable knowing they were looking after Jacob.”
“Think about it,” he told her, and clutched a fistful of her hair in his hands.
“What would I do when you’re in your meetings?”
“You can do whatever you want. Go shopping, take a spa day, whatever.”
She laughed. “I don’t do things like that. I’d get bored.”
“How do you know when you haven’t tried?”
“I’m not like Naomi. I’m too used to being busy and juggling life and Jacob and work.”
“Then why don’t you give serious thought to the single moms’ initiative you told me about?”
“What single moms’ initiative?”
“If money were no object and you could do whatever you wanted to make things better, you said it would be good to set something up to help working single moms with childcare difficulties.”
“We were only talking about it. You’re not serious are you?”
“What if you actually made it happen, Savannah?”
“But there are already places like that set up.”
“So what? What’s to stop you from setting up something similar?”
“How?”
“Don’t worry about the ‘how’. Concentrate on the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ will work itself out later.” There was no reason why she couldn’t. He’d help her. He’d fund it and get her the contacts, if she’d accept his help. He knew how stubborn and independent minded she could be.
“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head slowly. He wondered what it was, whether the scale of the idea overwhelmed her or the funding. “I hardly have enough time as it is and I already have a job.”
Would she always want to work at Stone Enterprises? If things went the way he hoped they would…one day, if he was lucky enough, she might not want to be there.
If…
But the idea hadn’t taken on form yet. He’d only known her for a few months, even though it felt like much longer. As much as Savannah hated his strategizing and planning, it was the way Tobias was built. He didn’t leave life to chance, he planned for it. It was how he’d ended up running the successful business he had today.
He didn’t see her working an admin job at his company forever. He saw another possibility; her by his side, with Jacob and more children. But if he told her this, she would back away.
“Think about it,” he said. “Let the idea simmer.”
Chapter 6
“You’ve moved tomorrow’s morning meeting to after lunch?” Matthias asked. Probing again, thought Tobias. “Candace said your calendar was clear. Why? Is there a problem?”
“No,” his colleague replied, coughing lightly. If he was waiting for an explanation, he wasn’t going to get one. Tobias had cleared tomorrow morning’s schedule for Jacob’s awards ceremony and it was none of Matthias’s business.
“Candace says you have a plus one down for the Gala,” his colleague continued.
“She told you?” Tobias asked, imagining the conversation between these two, rife with rumors and innuendo.
“She might have mentioned it.”
Tobias nodded, knowingly. Many people thought he was too focused on his work to be aware of what went on around him. It was a good cover, and he was secretly pleased that many people fell for it. He knew that Candace and Matthias were good workers and even better friends, and he was all too aware of his PA’s affinity and loyalty to Matthias. He guessed that his colleague, with his roving eye and appreciation for a pretty woman, was certainly taken by Candace’s efficiency and business-like manner. It wouldn’t surprise Tobias to know that his friend probably harbored fantasies when it came to her. But he sensed that his PA had other goals in mind.
Him.
She was in for a big disappointment.
“She’d make a good reporter for the National Enquirer,” he commented, drily.
“She’s looking out for you.” Matthias lifted his hands up to the ceiling and stretched out as he sat in his executive chair.
“You got back over the weekend and you’re still not over the jet lag?”
“Who says it’s jetlag I’m recovering from?” Matthias replied, his eyes glinting mischievously.
“Did you ever leave the hotel?” Tobias asked, wondering what else his colleague had been up to during his time in Hong Kong alone, apart from the obvious.
“I had to give housekeeping a chance to clean the apartment,” replied Matthias, the big grin on his face growing. Ever since his return from Hong Kong a few days ago, Matthias had been busy catching up on matters and the two men hadn’t had a chance to talk. But clearly Candace had passed on some of her suspicions to Matthias and he was clearly up to date with recent events.
“You’re still not going to tell me who your plus one is?”
“We’re still discussing you,” replied Tobias, anxious to move the conversation away from the topic of who he was bringing to the dinner. “You haven’t finished updating me on what you did once I left Hong Kong. You must have spent some time out of bed, surely?”
“Obviously…” His friend rested his clasped hands on the desk in front and twiddled his fingers. “I’m not totally debauched, even if that’s the image I like to create.”
“You’re not?”
“It’s a carefully cultivated image,” Matthias replied, shrugging. “It’s not only that I have an appreciative eye for the ladies. I’m a shrewd businessman as well. Remember, I was number one in Schwartz’s eyes until a certain child prodigy came along.” Mathias’s gentle poke about their past surprised Tobias.
“Of course, and you still are. Stone Enterprises wouldn’t be where it is today without your input, Matthias. You know that.”
His friend looked somewhat appeased. “But then again, I’m not a saint either.” Tobias stood up and smiled, anxious to get away. Now that they had caught up on matters, he wanted to leave the office on time. Lately, he stopped working until eight or nine in the evenings, and had started to go home a few hours earlier, on evenings like today when he had another meeting to prepare for.
“Are you leaving already?” Matthias asked, sounding somewhat dismayed. Tobias tapped his foot on the ground. Savannah was coming over to his apartment tonight and he didn’t want to waste any time at the office. “I’m trying to get more of a work life balance,” he replied.
“I noticed.”
“You noticed?” Tobias asked. “You’ve barely been here.”
“I’ve noticed in the last few days. No more late nights for you, huh?”
“How was Yanling?” Tobias asked, diverting the topic smoothly
again. “Did the great man offer to take you around or show you his hometown?”
“He offered both of those.”
Tobias lifted his head. “I trust you had a good time.”
“Strangely enough he invited me to his house and showed me his Japanese garden. I swear to god it was the most peaceful place on earth.”
“Interesting,” commented Tobias. He’d never even seen the inside of Yanling’s house.
Chapter 7
Savannah waited anxiously, hovering outside the school gates a good fifteen minutes before the awards ceremony started.
She pressed a hand to her throat and her fingers settled on the necklace that Tobias had given her. Her insides knotted and she didn’t know what she was more nervous about: Jacob going up to collect his award, or of Tobias turning up and walking into the school alongside her.
What had she been thinking? He was doing it for Jacob, and Jacob knew no better, but she did. Lenny’s mother would have a million more questions for her than Rosalee ever had. Her heart lurched as she saw the Carsons walking towards her.
Damn.
She tried hard to turn her wince into a smile as they walked past her, and once they were out of sight, she looked around again for Tobias. She’d told him to park on the road and walk up through the school gates. He had assured her that he wasn’t a well-known figure, not a pop star or movie star and that she need not worry about this making it into the papers. That’s when she’d become nervous. She’d been so anxious worrying about the other moms and teachers that she hadn’t given any thought to this incident leaking out into the press.
But last night hadn’t been the time to tell him not to come. She turned around, glanced at her watch, looked at the doors of the main entrance to the school and placed her hand over her stomach, as if trying to calm her insides down.
“Hey,” Tobias tapped her on the shoulder from behind.
She spun around. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up.”
“Relax, Savannah.” His smile, soft, and wide and full-lipped, made her worries vanish, as he took her hand. She grasped it firmly, squeezing it for sheer comfort before releasing it.