by Addison Cole
“Maybe your father has a hard time with the line between manliness and sensitivity. It’s okay to be a virile man and have feelings.”
Jack shrugged and shook his head. “My father’s not always like that. Maybe I am overreacting. I don’t know. But I know that I didn’t overreact tonight. I kept my cool, and other than that one burst of blame, which I’ll retract the next time I see him, I was pretty calm.”
Savannah sat back and sipped her wine. “So you’ll try again?” Savannah’s family was such a big part of her life. She couldn’t imagine trying to navigate a situation where one parent was not welcoming of their child. She’d deal with anything for Jack, but in her heart she had to believe that he and his father could move past whatever was blocking their path to a happier relationship.
“Yes, but not tonight. Tonight I want to hold you in my arms and just know you’re there.”
Savannah wanted that, too. She rested her cheek on his shoulder, and as her hands slid up the back of his arms, she felt his scar, and she knew that, like everything else with Jack, when he was ready, he’d tell her how it got there.
Chapter Thirty-Five
JACK WOKE UP to an odd ringing noise. He reached for Savannah, and his arm fell on empty sheets. Jack sat up and looked at the clock. Six fifty-eight? It took him a minute to realize that he’d actually slept right through the night. He loved going to sleep next to Savannah just as much as he’d loved being there when she arrived home the night before.
He climbed from the bed and located the ringing as he dug his cell phone from the pocket of the jeans he’d worn the night before. By the time he’d retrieved it, the call had gone to voicemail. He wandered through the apartment looking for Savannah and found a note from her on the counter.
Dear Jack,
You were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t want to wake you. Make yourself at home. I’m leaving you my extra key, so come and go as you please. I’m tied up most of the day in meetings, but call my cell and I’ll pick up if I can. Good luck with whatever you have planned today.
Love,
S
PS: Happy Friday. I can’t believe we met a week ago today! Xox
Jack picked up the key from the counter and rubbed it between his thumb and index finger. They’d moved so fast and so seamlessly into a relationship that it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to be holding a key to Savannah’s apartment while standing alone in her kitchen wearing nothing but his boxers. He hadn’t thought about how things might flesh out with their living arrangements. He’d never ask Savannah to leave the convenience of her apartment and move out to Bedford Corners, and now that Savannah was in his life, he wondered how often he’d make the drive there himself. Or if he’d ever want to again.
He looked at the missed call registered on his cell and recognized his parents’ number. Although he wasn’t awake enough to deal with his father, he didn’t want the call looming over him for the next twenty minutes, inducing anxiety while he drank coffee and showered. He punched in their number while the coffee brewed.
“Hello?”
His mother’s cheerful voice greeted him. “Hi, Mom. It’s Jack.”
“Oh, honey. Do you really think I wouldn’t recognize my own son’s voice? How are you? You sound tired.”
Jack poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. “I’m good. Actually, I slept better last night than I have in forever.” He and Savannah had gone to bed shortly after their talk the evening before, and true to his word, Jack had curled his body around her luscious curves, and instead of making love to her, as his body had craved, he’d held her until she fell asleep. The cadence of her peaceful breathing and the comfort and warmth of her body against his had eased him into a deep sleep.
“I called your house phone,” his mother said.
He knew she was fishing for information, and he also knew his father would have told her what Jack had said the evening before. “I’m not there, Mom.”
“You’re not?”
Her feigned surprise brought a smile to his lips. “Mom. Who told you, Dad or Rush?”
“Your father. I didn’t have a chance to talk to you last night, Jack, and I would like to.”
“I’m happy to talk, Mom. Things were a little uncomfortable last night. I have to do some clothes shopping. Why don’t you come along, maybe have some lunch afterward?” Jack hadn’t spent time with his mother in so long that he missed spending time with her and he hoped she’d agree to meet him. “It might be fun.”
“Your father is out for the day. He had an early meeting in New Haven, so why not? Where are you now?”
She would spend all day fishing for details rather than asking. Jack ran his finger over the edges of the key and decided to ease her mind. “I’m at my girlfriend’s apartment in the city.” Girlfriend. He’d played the word over in his mind only a few times since he’d been with Savannah, and even though it rolled off his tongue smooth and secure, it felt much too light for the emotions he had toward her.
“Oh, Jack. I’m happy for you. You’ll have to tell me all about her. Are you shopping in the city? Other than coming into the city for dinner at Siena’s, I haven’t been there in weeks. This will be an adventure.”
He pictured his mother rising to her feet from her favorite reading chair in the sunroom. The room they both loved most. It was filled with plants and flowers that she tended to daily. He could almost feel the cold tiles beneath his feet and the warm transition to the colorful throw rug that had been there since he was a boy.
“Yes, it will, Mom. Want to meet me at Savannah’s or at the store?” Jack glanced at the clock. He had plenty of time to shower and dress before the stores opened.
“Savannah? Is that your girlfriend’s name? That’s just beautiful. Is she Southern?”
He loved hearing the tenderness in his mother’s voice as she tamped down her excitement. If she were Siena, she’d have whooped into the phone at the thought of a girlfriend.
“She’s from Colorado. She grew up on a ranch. I’ll tell you all about her when I see you. Ten o’clock?” He thought about his cabin in the mountains, and he wondered if Savannah would enjoy it as much as he had. Jack took a drink of his coffee and noticed a picture frame on the bookshelves that he never noticed before. He rose as he gave his mother Savannah’s address and picked up the photograph.
“I’ll see you at ten, Jack.”
“Okay. Love you, Mom. Thanks for calling.” He was distracted by the photograph, and even after his mother hung up the phone, he still held his against his ear. His hand slid down his face, and he held the frame in both hands, then ran his index finger over the image of Savannah’s face. She was nestled between her brothers, who were all big, strikingly handsome men. But it wasn’t the beauty of her family that struck him. His own family was quite attractive. It was the natural closeness between them that had him mesmerized. They weren’t posed. Their smiles did not appear feigned or forced, as evident in the way Savannah was looking at the tallest brother, her head thrown back midlaugh, his eyes laughing right along with her. He imagined the sound of her laughter. The brother to her left was Hugh. Now that she’d told him who he was, he recognized him. He looked rather playful, with one arm around Savannah and the other around another brother who wore his hair much shorter than the rest and who was looking over Savannah’s head at the two brothers on her other side.
Jack remembered when pictures like that were annual events for his own family. His father would pester them to stand up straight and look at the camera, and inevitably they’d have thirty photographs of them laughing and teasing and one photograph with stoic faces caused by a final threat to behave. He could still hear his mother trying to calm his father down during the process. She’d say, Aren’t they cute? Leave them be, James. They’re happy. And his father would clench his jaw and wait another five minutes before trying to regain control.
He set the frame back on the bookshelf and thought about his father. Jack’s gran
dfather had raised his father with an iron hand. That was old news in the Remington household, but even his grandfather wouldn’t turn away his own son for reacting the way Jack had. Not for the first time, Jack wished he understood his father better.
He called Savannah and was surprised when she answered on the second ring.
“Hey there,” he said.
“Hi, sleepyhead. I was so happy to see you sleeping this morning. I couldn’t wake you.” Her consideration of him was just another thing he could add to the growing list of things he loved about her.
“I haven’t slept this late for years. Thank you for letting me sleep, but I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking over your space or becoming an imposition.” He looked at the key in the center of the table.
“Jack, I loved coming home to you last night and waking up to you this morning. You’re anything but an imposition. Did you get the key I left you?” she asked.
“Yes, that was really thoughtful. I promise not to abuse the privilege.” He wanted to tell her that he’d like to be there every day when she came home from work and every morning when she woke up, but Jack knew that they were moving at the speed of light and he had a feeling that the men in the picture he’d just looked at might not take too kindly to his moving in with their sister so quickly.
“Please, abuse it,” she teased. “What’s on your plate today?”
“I’m meeting my mother in a little while. We’re going to shop for clothes for your brother’s award ceremony and then have lunch.”
“Oh, Jack. That’s wonderful. But please don’t buy new clothes on account of my family.”
“I’m not. I’m revamping so much of my life that the idea of putting on dress clothes from two years ago just doesn’t sit well with me.” He didn’t need to tell her that the last time he’d worn dress clothes was to Linda’s funeral, or that he’d burned those particular clothes the minute he’d gotten back home. The past was slowly being pushed to where it rightfully belonged—behind him. And he was excited to move forward. If only he could resolve the issues with his father. He was determined to heal that relationship. He rubbed his scar and realized that he still hadn’t told Savannah about what else had happened the night of Linda’s accident, and he had to face that, too. As soon as he felt strong enough, he would do it, and then he hoped he’d be able to bring Savannah fully into his life, which meant welcoming her into the home he had shared with Linda and to the cabin. Once he was secure enough to do those things, their biggest hurdles would be behind him.
“Well, have fun. I can’t wait to see you tonight. Will you be at the apartment, or are you heading back to your house?”
He heard the hope in her voice that he’d come to love, and he knew the answer to the question he’d asked himself earlier. He had no interest in driving back to Bedford Corners when Savannah was right here in the city.
“I’ll be here when you get home for as many days as you’d like me to be.” He walked into her bedroom and began taking his clothes from his backpack.
“I’m a needy girl, Jack. I never used to be. In fact, I’ve never wanted any man to stay overnight at all. But with you, I want nothing more. So let me know if I smother you.”
“Impossible.” The word flew from his lips.
Chapter Thirty-Six
JACK LOVED SHOWERING in Savannah’s bathroom. Her sweet scent was everywhere. The steam in the shower held the coconut aroma of her shampoo, and when he stepped from the shower, the clean towels smelled like her linens and clothing. As he brushed his teeth, he picked up her perfume bottle and was reminded of their first kiss. The night everything about her became ingrained in his senses.
He rinsed and dried his toothbrush, and as he was putting it back in his toiletry bag, he stopped and instead put it in the toothbrush holder beside hers. For a moment he stood and stared at the plastic handles. How could two three-dollar toothbrushes hold so much meaning? He didn’t want Savannah to feel as though he’d overstepped his bounds, though he assumed she wouldn’t feel that way after the things she’d said to him and having given him a key. Just in case, he tucked the rest of his toiletries in the bag and zipped it up, then put it back in his backpack.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and Jack felt a rush of happiness. He opened the door and found his mother and Siena on the other side.
“Two beautiful women? I am a lucky guy.” He hugged them both as they came into the apartment.
“You didn’t think I’d let you guys go shopping without me, did you?” Siena breezed past him in her jeans, T-shirt, and very fashionable cropped jacket. She scanned every inch of the living room. “Or that I’d pass up the opportunity to see who’s rocked my big brother’s world?” In the next breath, she zeroed in on the photograph that Jack had only just discovered.
“She called when I was on my way over. I hope you don’t mind.” His mother’s hair was pulled off her face with a large leather clip. She wore dangling green earrings and a flowing white blouse atop a pair of linen pants and looked as stylishly casual as she always had. In each of Jack’s memories of his mother, she was smiling. Siena got her natural beauty from their mother, though their mother put more effort into her children and her art than she did her looks. Sage was blessed with their mother’s artistic talent. As Jack looked at his mother, who was trying hard not to nose around Savannah’s apartment, he was thankful for the loving and stable home she’d given them, and while his father may have been too harsh at times, his mother had probably been too soft. His parents complemented each other well. Even with the trouble he and his father were currently experiencing, Jack had to admit that his father’s strength was what made him a strong man to begin with—and his mother’s gentleness was what allowed him to love so deeply.
“Jack, is this Savannah?” Siena held up the picture frame. “She is gorgeous.”
“That’s her and her brothers,” he said.
“Do you mind if I take a look?” his mother asked before reaching for the picture.
She was always so considerate, and it struck Jack how she and Savannah were alike in that way. “Not at all, Mom. Go ahead.”
“What a lovely family. Look, Siena, she has a big family like ours.”
“They’re really close,” he said.
His mother set the picture down on the shelves and patted his hand. “We will be again, too.”
“I’M NOT SURE why I’m even here,” Jack teased. They’d gone to three different clothing stores, and Siena and his mother wouldn’t let him buy anything he picked out. Jack held up a white dress shirt.
Siena scrunched her face. “You’re not an old man, Jack.”
“I’m thirty-seven. That’s pretty old,” he said.
“When you get to sixty-seven, then you can say you’re old. Until then, you’re approaching middle age.” His mother winked.
Siena pulled out a black dress shirt with white embellishments. Something Jack could see Dex wearing. Her eyes lit up as she showed it to him. “Now, this is cool, Jack. You’d look so hot in it. Try it on.”
Jack shook his head. “I’m not twenty-five, Siena. I’d look ridiculous.”
“He’s right. That’d be good for Dexy but not Jack.” His mother sifted through the fitted shirts and came away with one that was light blue and another that was dark blue. She held them against Jack’s chest. “Siena?”
Siena turned around and her eyes grew wide. “Oh, perfect. Either one. He has those magnificent dark blue eyes, so he could wear the dark one with a light tie, or go light and spruce that one up with a dark tie, or a Jerry Garcia tie. Those are always fun.”
Jack shook his head, enjoying every second of his mother’s and sister’s smothering and realizing how much he’d missed it.
With shirts, slacks, belts, and even boxers purchased, because his mother insisted, When you turn over a new leaf in life, you should have new things to solidify the path, they headed back out to find a restaurant for lunch.
Jack was enjoying sp
ending time with Siena again. Her energy was contagious, and she appeared oblivious to the gawks from men they passed on the street. Jack found himself walking closer to her just to keep the ogling to a minimum.
“Why are you practically on top of me?” she asked as they entered a little café and waited to be seated.
“I’m trying to dissuade the oglers,” Jack said.
His mother laughed. “You haven’t changed one bit.”
“Jack, I’m a big girl. I can manage my own safety.” She looked around the café. “Besides, no one here is ogling besides that woman over there, and she’s not ogling me.”
Jack shook his head. He’d built so many walls around himself that he’d grown immune to glances from women. He looked over, and Siena was right; the pretty brunette in the corner of the café was definitely undressing him with her eyes. Jack turned away. He had eyes only for Savannah.
The waitress sat them on the other side of the café, and after they ordered lunch, his mother folded her hands on the table and narrowed her eyes at Jack. She had fine lines around her lips, which were pressed tightly together, but her eyes held the bright light Jack had always admired.
“So, do you want to talk about your father?” she asked.
“Mom, don’t ruin his day,” Siena said.
“It’s okay, honey,” he said to Siena. “Actually, I would, Mom. I’ve been racking my brain over this, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why he’s still so angry with me. I apologized. I told him I handled things poorly. I took responsibility. What am I missing?”
His mother reached across the table and put her hand on his. “Jack, have you ever heard of Esther Loone?”
Jack shook his head.
“Who’s that?” Siena asked.
“We’ve never told any of you about this because it really had nothing to do with our family. But then again, nothing ever does…until it does.” She smiled. “What I’m going to tell you cannot go to your brothers.” She looked at Siena and narrowed her eyes. “Not even Dex, Siena.”