by Taylor Hart
“It’s not.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to go to California because of televisions shows.” She scoffed. “That would be absurd.”
“Well, that’s good. Because those aren’t real, ya know?” He asked, wanting to know why she wanted to go.
Hesitating, she smiled. “I realized this past year that I did everything because I thought I should and I’m done living that way.” She shrugged. “After all, I’m a match maker, what better place to match make than California?” She grinned. “All those rich movie stars need love, right?”
It was interesting, to hear this older version of her talk. “Right.” He grinned. “Look at your entrepreneur ways.”
“Exactly.” She agreed.
Cocking his head to the side, he smiled. “Then I think it’s great.”
“You do?” She asked.
He blew out a breath. “I do.” He snorted. “I admire it.” He did want to tell her how high taxes were there. It was not a good state for businesses. But he didn’t.
“Well, good then.”
Not knowing what to do, but feeling like the conversation was over, he started the car. “Okay.” Backing out, he glanced at her and saw her looking out, biting her lip.
Driving back, they were both quiet, but not in a meaningful quiet way. Just in an “everything’s said” kind of way.
When he got to her house, he ran around the car to open her door, but she was already out. It’d been a thing his mother had taught him, to open the door for women.
They stared at each other. The past had passed through him this evening, and now she stood here, in the present. He didn’t know what to do.
She reached up and gently touched his face, tears in her eyes. “You were right.”
The feel of her hand was heavenly and he couldn’t stop himself from covering her hand with his. It was painful and beautiful and chemistry all wrapped into one. “What was I right about?”
She smiled. “You didn’t deserve to be slapped.” She kept her hand against his face.
He smiled back. “Yeah, I kinda did.”
Letting out a light laugh, she agreed. “Yeah, you did.”
Everything inside of him seemed to be … melting at her touch. He grinned. “But I like the idea you want to give people happily ever afters.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Everyone deserves one, right?” And he thought of how, at one time in his life, a long, long, time ago … she had been that for him.
She didn’t answer.
They both stood there for a long time. He looked at her lips and the way the softness of her chin and face had matured. He wondered how the curve of her neck would taste if he bent and kissed it, but he didn’t know what he wanted in this moment. So he took the peace offering she held out. “Thank you, Savannah.”
“For what?” She pulled her hand back.
“For closure.” The lack of her touch made him suddenly feel … cold.
“Well, I guess you have what you need now.”
He frowned. “I guess so.”
She stared into his eyes. “You’ve done well for yourself, Luke. I hope the deal goes through and you have everything you’ve worked so hard for.”
He nodded. “And I hope you make many matches in California.”
She grinned. “Thanks.” She turned to go to the house.
“I’m just grateful to have an old friend back for the summer.” He called after her, surprising himself.
Turning back, she frowned. “What?”
“C’mon, Savannah, we were friends before anything.” But his heart raced and he knew when he thought of her it wouldn’t be quite like the friends he had.
A slow smile spilled onto her face. “Friends?”
He was struck by the vulnerability in her eyes and the beauty that emanated from inside of her.
“I guess I could definitely use one of those.” She said softly. Then she waved. “See ya around, friend.”
He waved, and then moved to get into his car. He sat there for a moment, staring at her house. Then he started his car.
It was interesting that, before this night, he never wanted to see her again. Now, all he could think about was how he could see her again.
Forget closure, what he needed was a plan.
10
It surprised Savannah how well she’d slept. As she sat at Hazel’s Coffee Shop, she ruminated on the events of last night.
Who knew she could ever have Luke Freestone as a friend, again.
She sighed, feeling more content than she’d felt in a long time. She was still digesting how vulnerable he was—the now Luke. She always imagined he wouldn’t even want to talk to her. It had been somehow cleansing to have closure last night. Actually, she felt lighter today. Park City didn’t seem like a place she needed to leave so quickly. Smiling, she turned her attention to the file on her newest client, a man from Salt Lake City. He was in his fifties, and he’d requested a meeting to see if he wanted her services.
Part of her felt bad she had said no to matching for Clark, but she needed to make money, and the whole thing with Clark felt too complicated.
She ran some of his questions into the matchmaking software she used to check all the huge sites like Match, Tinder, OurTime. She’d had it developed last year by a friend on the base who worked on it part time. The software immediately came up with all females matching his profile preferences within a hundred square miles. There were only six who matched age, interests, physical standards.
The part of her job that was tricky was the personal touch of interviewing each of the women. She went to work on contacting the six women and trying to schedule an interview the next day. Most people when contacted by her were somewhat flattered and agreed to the personal interview. She had to make them sign all kinds of paperwork that showed they knew this wasn’t a guarantee, but once they were in her queue, if this match didn’t work out, she would keep them on her list.
In Texas the hardest part about walking away had been the clientele she’d been able to drum up. Even if the people didn’t have a match the first time, many wanted to be put back in the queue, citing they liked who she matched them up with. Though the past year she’d let her business flounder a bit.
But she wouldn’t think about that.
The door on the coffee shop dinged. “Sister, what’s up?”
She looked up and saw Beth standing there in workout clothes of a variety of colors. Shaking her head and chuckling, she waved Beth in.
After getting a cup of some tea, Beth sank to her table. “So how come I didn’t even see you at Damon’s wedding?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Did you see Jordan Hicks? Oh my gosh, he was so hot last night and I couldn’t believe we made an actual connection for the first time ever. I didn’t realize what a fun guy he was. We danced all night, and then … well, needless to say it was a good night.”
“Don’t even start with me about how come we didn’t see each other, because you promised you would be there at the beginning. And, do we need to have another chat about how you shouldn’t be giving it up so easily?” Savannah wasn’t shocked, but it was part of her sisterly role to act shocked. She didn’t agree with Beth’s behavior.
“Don’t lecture me.” Beth shook her head. “No, you don’t get to do that anymore.”
The look on her face said checkmate and Savannah wanted to knock some sense into her. “I can lecture you if I want.” And she would continue to lecture her. “Did you know most men want a woman with standards? If you want a lasting relationship, you have to value yourself.”
Beth sighed and smiled widely. “Don’t do it, sis. It was a good night. I think I might see him again.”
Savannah shook her head, but relented. Now that Beth knew the truth about her past it felt too hypocritical to lecture her.
Beth waved a hand into the air, like she could just wave away Savannah’s anger. “So spill it. I just came from the house and Mom said Luke brought
you home last night. And she was disappointed by the way. She really likes the idea of you and Clark.”
Savannah’s mind flashed to what her mother and father probably thought by her coming back from the wedding with Luke. “It wasn’t like that with Luke. We’re friends now.”
“Really?” Beth put the cup to her lips and sipped gently.
Savannah sighed, not wanting to forgive Beth so easily, but what choice did she have? She really needed someone to process it all with. “We had a ‘closure talk.’” She emphasized with air quotes. “Now we’re friends.”
“Ah.” Beth nodded. “You want to be friends?”
“It’s not—I mean, it’s not like we’re going to hang out or anything. It’s just over. It kinda feels good. I don’t have to worry about running into him and it being weird.”
Beth hesitated.
The silence felt oppressive. “What?” She finally asked.
Beth stuck her chin out. “I still think he deserves to know.”
Savannah did NOT need this right now.
“I’m serious.”
She glared at Beth, feeling the angst that had left her quickly return. “Why? Why does it matter? It’s done. Nothing can be changed. It’s the past.”
Beth shrugged. “I just … I would want to know.”
“No.” Savannah shook her head. “I promised Sean I would never tell him.”
“Why?”
“It … was one of those things we promised each other after it happened.” Savannah defended.
“He was insecure about it?”
It was the truth, but Savannah felt like it somehow disgraced Sean. “No. Yes. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Beth crossed her arms, looking doubtful. “You should talk about this crap. I think it would help you.”
“I don’t need help,” she asserted.
“Are you kidding me? Have you seen yourself this past year?”
“My husband died,” she protested, feeling unsettled by her sister’s anxious look. Had she been that bad?
Beth frowned and touched her hand. “Sis, you’ve always had this sadness, it’s …”
“Shut up.” She tugged her hand back, feeling annoyed. “Plus, I’m moving at the end of the summer. Do you need it in triplicate? Moving. Gone. To California. I’ll never see Luke Freestone again, so none of it matters.”
Beth waved a hand into the air. “Yeah, yeah, you keep saying that. But, it kinda keeps coming up.”
Leave it to Beth to bring up the exact thing she didn’t want to talk about.
Beth rolled her eyes. “You guys are … I don’t know, it feels like inevitable or something.”
This was ridiculous. Savannah exhaled loudly. “I promise you Luke and I will never be together.”
Beth shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Luke and I are friends.” She broke off, feeling exhausted trying to explain this to her sister.
Beth stood, pulling out her phone and glancing at it. “Hey, I have to run. Jordan just texted me.” She smiled in that silly schoolgirl way. “I have a shift later, but I’ll see you tomorrow at Mom and Dad’s for Sunday dinner, right?”
Savannah watched her go. “Whatever,” she mumbled, not liking the talk of her and Luke being inevitable.
The memory of putting her hand against his cheek last night and the way he’d covered her hand with his flooded her mind. For a brief moment, those intense feelings all came rushing back.
She found as she tried to re-focus on the computer that those feelings made her feel crazy inside. Purposefully, she shook off the crazy and emailed her client.
Before she had even logged off, she got an email from him asking if she could meet tonight so they could talk about working together and he would buy her dinner.
She frowned. She didn’t like her clients to buy her dinner. But she thought of sitting at her parents’ house and listening to her mother talk about the finer qualities of Clark. Clark wasn’t a bad guy, but she didn’t want to be set up with anyone. She wanted to get the money she needed so she could leave and get to California. She emailed the client back and agreed to dinner.
She needed to focus.
11
Luke stood lost in his thoughts in his kitchen, looking down at Park City.
“I want to go to Antonio’s,” Nick declared.
Luke jerked, as if woken from a dream. He’d been, of course, thinking about Savannah. It had been all he could think of, even though he’d slept much easier last night. Somehow, closure had not been quite what he’d thought it would be. “What? No.”
Nick had slept most of the day, but now he was all showered and standing there like he hadn’t been shot a few days ago. He stepped into the kitchen and limped to the cupboard, opening it and pulling out a glass.
“You’ve been in bed all day. We’re not going to Antonio’s.”
Nick filled it with the special filtered water tap and then guzzled it back. “Technically, I have pretty much been in bed since Monday.”
“No, you attended a wedding yesterday.” He put his hand lightly on his brother’s shoulder. “You need to rest. Get back to bed. I’ll order pizza from Antonio’s and have it delivered.”
His brother shrugged him off, using more strength than Luke would have thought. “No, either you take me, or I’m driving myself.”
“Brother, you’d still be in the hospital if I hadn’t brought you back to my house.”
A big grin lit up Nick’s face. “Don’t you remember what Mom used to say when we got hurt?”
Luke smiled. It was one of the brothers’ jokes now about their mother. “Freestones are quick healers.” He pointed at Nick as if to head off an argument. “She only said that because we were beating the tar out of each other all the time and she didn’t want to take us to the emergency room constantly.”
Nick grinned. “Well, if her words were a study in telling yourself something enough to make it true, then I’m proof of it.” To prove his point, he nodded to the pain pills on the counter. “I don’t even need a pain pill, bro.”
“Well, good, I’m glad you’re sane, because we need to talk about suing the jerk who did this.” Luke had been on the phone with an attorney from his office earlier who Samantha had given the case to.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Bro, he didn’t mean to shoot me.”
“I don’t care. He did shoot you, and you’re my brother, so we’re going to take him for all he’s worth!”
Nick sputtered out a laugh. “Yeah, he’s a ski bum. Pretty sure he hasn’t got much.”
Luke shook his head. “Oh no, I checked into him. His parents have money. We’ll sue.”
Giving him a flabbergasted look, Nick threw up his hands. “No.”
“Yes. He needs to hurt. He needs to pay. It’s justice.” Luke punched the air in emphasis.
Nick pounded the counter with his hand. “This isn’t about you. This is my choice. I mean it: don’t sue. We have enough money.” He sighed. “Let the judge give him what he’s going to give him, but I don’t want you pushing this.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Nick lifted his eyebrows. “Sometimes it’s about forgiving people.”
Luke glared at him. “The guy shot you. Could have killed you.”
“But he didn’t.”
Luke let out an exasperated breath. “Well, I don’t forgive him.”
Nick gently put his hand on his hip, right above where he was shot. “I know you struggle with faith, but I believe things always happen for a reason.”
Luke rolled his eyes.
“You don’t believe and that’s okay, but I do. So leave this alone.”
This argument with his brother was pointless. “Fine.” He pointed to his butt. “Let me check your wound or I’m not taking you to Antonio’s.” He had to win something.
Nick looked mortified. “What? No. There are pretty nurses for that. You’re not looking at my butt.”
Luke
gave him a disgusted face. “You know that the nurse told me to check the bandage for signs of infection. If I look at it and it looks okay, then we’ll go.”
Nick grumbled, then theatrically shoved himself over the counter, tugging down the side of his stretch pants.
With a snort, Luke shook his head. “I was thinking in your room, bro. But I guess the kitchen works. I’ll just have to Clorox it down later.” Gingerly, Luke pulled off the tape and looked at the wound. It actually looked pretty good.
“What do you think? All good, right?” Nick insisted.
It showed no signs of problems. “Hold on.” Luke pulled off the bandage and went to the kitchen counter to the supplies needed for a new one. “Might as well do the new one now.”
“So we’re going to Antonio’s?” Nick yipped at him.
Luke sighed, knowing Nick wouldn’t quit. “Fine, we’ll go to Antonio’s.”
Two hours later, Luke sat surrounded by a bunch of Park City PD guys. Nick kept reliving the story of getting shot, each time getting more and more heroic.
“And I heard the lady screaming, ya know?” He was talking to two guys who had just shown up. “And I was worried that he’d gotten to her, so I took off to save her, and bam! Right in the keister.”
The cops around him laughed. “Are you sure you weren’t running away from him, Nick, because you heard him say ‘boo’?” one of the guys asked.
“Ah, shut it.” Nick swigged back a drink of water.
There was a baseball game on. Luke wasn’t paying attention—baseball didn’t interest him—but he did like being here with Nick, seeing him laughing and making jokes and being teased.
It felt normal, which was a nice change of pace. The past couple of days had been anything except normal.
Thinking he might lose Nick, for even fifteen minutes on the way to the hospital had shaken him, made him think differently. Coupled with Savannah and the deal on hold and Damon getting married, it all felt loose, like something was shaking free inside of him. Closure clearly hadn’t worked.
A plan, a plan, a plan. What was his plan?
He couldn’t get Savannah out of his head. Her scent in particular lingered. Growing up, she’d worn some perfume. Exclamation, something teeny-boppery … he didn’t know. But now her scent was light and smelled like sunshine. Lemony. Closing his eyes, he squeezed the water bottle in his hand. Had he really just thought she smelled like sunshine? Trying to shake himself free of her, he opened his eyes and stood. “Nick, let’s go.”
