“There is no glee to disguise.”
“Well, you better do better than you did a few minutes ago.”
I furrowed my brow.“How’s that?”
“Perfectly, Savannah.”
I punched her. She punched back. Then the wave punched us both right upside the head.
The water pounded me in the face as I hummed. I loved the feeling of a shower after swimming in the ocean.The cleansing of the water as the salt runs down from the top of your head to your feet. And the way you can feel the sand fall away from your hair and slide between your fingers is purifying.
Afterward, I looked in the mirror to gauge if I had any strap marks. All seemed okay, so I exited my bathroom wrapped in a towel and a smile.
Thomas was waiting outside the bedroom when I came out.
“Ahh!” I screamed.
My brother screamed back.
I slapped him on the arm.“Why are you screaming? You are the one standing outside my door.”
“Because your scream scared me.Why are you humming anyway?”
“I was not humming. And when did you get here?”
“Whatever.” He plopped down on the bed. “So, you didn’t say anything, did you?”
“I told them absolutely nothing. It’s not my story to tell.” I eyed him meaningfully and returned to the bathroom to put on my robe and makeup. “But it is yours. And you need to tell them. The truth too. Not just little tidbits to keep them off of your back.”
“I just need a week to rest. I’ll tell them when we get back home and I can get back to school.”
“You’re a chicken.”
“But I’m a cute chicken.” He smirked.He was right about that.
“Well, cute or not, there is nothing cute about lying,Thomas, and you know that. So you need to decide when you’re going to tell Mother and Dad what’s going on. I think tonight would be the perfect opportunity. It will just be you and Vicky and Dad.”
“Where are you and Paige going?”
“I don’t know.” I hesitated.“We’re just going to grab a bite to eat and relax some.”
“No! Head up! Up! Up! Up!” I heard Mother’s voice from down the hall.
“Who is she talking to?”Thomas asked.
Maggy barked.
“Her latest protégé.”
“What happened to Amber?”
“She’s already got the ‘head up’ part!”
He laughed.“Well, anyway. We’re not telling Mom and Dad our little secret tonight,” he said as he gave me a peck on the cheek.
“Hey,Thomas.” Paige entered as he departed.
“Hey, Paige. Want to come catch a movie with me tonight?”
Paige eyed me. I eyed her harder.“I told you Paige was going to hang out with me tonight,” I said.
“I’d love to,Thomas. Besides, Savannah has been invited out for the evening, and I think she needs to go.”
“What is this?”Thomas walked back in the room.“Savannah has a date?”
“Savannah has no such thing,” I said. “You know, you were right. You two need to go to a movie together. Have a wonderful time. But you do know you’ll have to take Amber.”
Their heads jerked in tandem. I mocked them.“We have to do what?” Only Thomas’s mouth moved. Paige’s was still agape.
I closed it for her. “Yes. Encouraging her was going to be mine and Paige’s responsibility tonight, but since you and Paige are so bent on me going out while you two catch a movie, then you will have to take Amber.”
Paige ran to the window, jerked it open, and hoisted her leg through.“What are you doing?” I screamed.
“Killing myself. There are deaths far worse, I assure you.”
Thomas couldn’t help but laugh from his comfortable position against the door. I grabbed Paige’s arm and pulled her back inside. “Better yet,” she said, “how about I throw you out? Then no one will ever know you told us to take her.”
I jerked my arm free.“She’s not that bad.”
“Your mother would much rather have her company,” Paige said.
Thomas agreed.“And she would much rather have Mother’s, I’m sure. Plus, I’m not sitting around here for a whole four-course dinner to be interrogated about where Mary Francis is. It would be brutal and so nonproductive.”
“Either you will take her, or I will tell everyone that your upcoming nuptials are off.” I dared him to make me prove it.
“I was never getting married.”
“Tell that to your mother.”
“You’re evil.”
“You’re eviler. Now, get.” I pushed them both out the door and closed it in front of them.
I swung the door open after the knock.“What?!”
Amber peeked her head in.
“Oh, sorry,Amber.”
“Are you having dinner with us tonight?”
I tried to keep my eyes from bugging out.“You got a lot of sun,” I said. “How’d you get all of that with the hat and the umbrella and the sunscreen?”
“I soak it up like a sponge. Got this on my trips to the bathroom, I guess.” She looked down to inspect her beautifully elegant arms herself.
“Well, ten trips to tinkle in an afternoon will do that to you.” Paige came back in and plopped on the bed.
Amber walked over to my closet. “So what are you girls doing?”
“Oh . . . nothing really.” I gave Paige that look. “Just inspecting what I brought.” It was a struggle to sound nonchalant.
She pulled out a light-green silk sleeveless blouse with cream lace trim on the top.“Ooh, this is pretty,”
“That is nice. He’d love that—” Paige clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Who’s he?” Amber asked.
I glared at Paige. She was about to die a thousand deaths, and as far as I was concerned, I’d be privileged to administer each one. She would wish she had jumped.
I tried to group my thoughts.“Just a friend I saw who’s here for the week.”
“Savannah has a boyfriend?” Amber chided.
“Well, no, not exactly. Just a friend who, well, who asked me to come by this evening. But I’m not planning to go. I’m planning to sit right here and read my book.” I said, plopping down on my bed and opening Tolstoy to page 1.
She completely ignored me. “Well, in that case, we need to pick out something fabulous for Miss Savannah.” She scanned through my clothes quickly. Then she said, “Okay, that’s nice. Now let’s go check out my closet.” She walked out of the room. I crawled over to Paige’s bed and slapped her.
“I didn’t mean to! It slipped.” She rubbed her arm.
We headed to Amber’s closet, and all three of us stood staring inside. Everything in it was fabulous. “Ooh, this would be great, she said, pulling out a beautiful chocolate silk sleeveless dress. Your mother bought that for me a couple weeks ago. She handed it to me and I held it against myself. It dragged the floor. It was beautiful. A beautiful gift from my mother.“Oh, so maybe we need to just look at top options.”That Amber was a quick study.
For the next thirty minutes, Amber laid every top she had brought across her bed. The last piece she pulled out was a beautiful taupe linen strapless number trimmed with pale pink tulle and a matching rose. It was beautiful and would have been a perfect complement to my Stuart Weitzman wedges and a pair of jeans.
“That’s gorgeous,” I responded.
She held it in her outstretched arm.“Then tonight it is yours.”
“Amber, I can’t take—”
“Savannah. You are like a sister to me. If this man is worthy of you, I’d be honored if you wore my top tonight.”
I felt like dirt. Worse. Dirt below the dirt. Even worse. The minuscule pieces of muck that make up dirt.“Thank you. I really appreciate it. But I won’t be needing it. I really have all intentions of staying home.”
“I’m sure you do.” Amber winked. Paige and I walked out the door. Paige had restrained herself from saying a word for the last thirty minu
tes. At least God wasn’t completely out of miracles. “Oh, what’s his name?” Amber asked, causing us both to stop dead in the doorway. I couldn’t move. Paige moaned. Well, I could face it head-on or spend the rest of my life hiding behind shrubbery.
I turned to stare at this kind woman.“His name is . . . it’s . . . actually, let’s just keep this all a surprise. I’ll introduce him to you at some point. It’s just way too premature. He’s just a friend. It really isn’t anything more than that.”
“Ooh, honey shoo . . . shoo . . . go make yourself beautiful for your man.”
I stood there wearing, I’m sure, an expression of utter confusion. “Would you mind us not telling my mother about this right now?”
She used her perfectly manicured nail to zip her lips and lock them shut. Then she muffled something like “mum’s the word” through her tightly pressed lips.
Paige took advantage of the moment. “Well, I guess you would much rather stay here than go with me and Thomas to a movie, wouldn’t you? I mean, knowing how you love to be with Miss Victoria and all.”
Apparently Amber wasn’t aware that her mouth really wasn’t zippered shut, because she continued to mumble without opening her lips.
“I knew you wouldn’t.” Paige patted her arm even though Amber’s head was shaking up and down yes as hard as it could.
I smiled at her.“You can talk, sweetie.”
“I’d love to—”
Paige went to interrupt.
I didn’t let her.“What, baby? You can say it.”
“I’d love to go, Paige. I haven’t been to a movie in weeks. Could we go see that romantic comedy with Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston? I hear it is such a tearjerker. It might give me some pointers on how to win Joshua’s heart . . . you know, completely.” She batted her four-inch eyelashes, and we could feel the breeze across the room.
“Oh, I’m sorry, honey, we’re going to see Die Hard, Part Sixteen. I knew you’d hate it. Maybe later in the week we’ll take you to see that.”
Amber’s eyes began to squint. They narrowed in on us in a strange way like something out of Poltergeist.“Ooh, I love Bruce Willis. And I love how he shoots them and strangles them.” She played it out in front of us like Jackie Chan. We backed up toward the door.“And then, he—”
“Alrighty then. Be back in a few.”And Paige jerked me back into our bedroom.
“I am going to hell,” I announced.
“Yes, you are. For what you just did to me, I’m sure there is a special area of torture reserved for wicked people like you.”
She was unbelievable. “I mean for the lie you made me tell.”
“Me? I didn’t make you lie. Anyway, you didn’t lie.”
“I didn’t expound.”
“It’s not the right time. There will be a right time, and this isn’t it. Now, get dressed and leave before I kill you myself.” She kissed me on the cheek.“And have an absolutely wonderful time.”
“I really have no intentions of—”
“I’ll expect to hear every detail.”
“If you utter a word, I’ll—”
She duplicated Amber’s recent lip-locking mime and then slammed the door in my face. She slammed it with the utmost respect, I’m certain.
Dad was stretched out on the back porch in an Adirondack chair, veritably floating in the aroma of steaks being grilled on the patio below. This chair had been a constant in Seaside gardens, patios, and porches for years and years. Thomas Lee designed the very first chair in 1903. He needed some comfy lawn furniture for his summer home in upstate New York. He shared the idea with a friend. The friend patented it and made a fortune. But that was in no way any relation to what I was doing to Amber. I think.
“Good book, huh?”
Dad lowered his reading glasses and looked up at me from his reclining position.“Very.”
“Where’s Mom?”
“Where do you think?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Yes, in the bathroom.”
“What’s she doing? Primping?”
“Actually, no. She’s soaking in a bath, because she’s got highly sunburned legs from the calves down.”
“Sounds attractive.”
“Let’s just say it cut her wardrobe options in half.”
“A perfect excuse for a new one.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
I sat down and tucked my robe up under me. I eyed him head-on.“So I guess you’re all staying around here tonight, huh?”
“Smells that way.” He sniffed the delightful aroma.
“You saw Thomas?”
“Yeah, he’s avoiding us though. I have a feeling it has something to do with Mary Francis.”
This man was amazing. “I think I might go walk around for a little while. Enjoy the evening. Maybe stop and see if Lucy and Manuel are out. I really need to talk to them and start my story. I’ve got to get something in by Tuesday.”
“Don’t you want a steak first?” He opened his book back up.
“Nah. Too many Cokes.” I patted my stomach.
He laid his book across his chest and slowly removed his glasses, folding them neatly and placing them on top of his book. This man knew how to torture a soul.“Have a wonderful time.”
“I will.” I gave a quick peck and tried to scurry out.
“Oh, Savannah. Did you know Joshua North was in town?”
I felt my saliva dry up immediately. I tried to be nonchalant as I turned around slowly. Wish that defibrillator was hanging around nearby.“Um, I . . . How did you know that?”
“I ran into him this morning when I went to get my paper. We chatted over a cup of coffee.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that interesting. Small world, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”A smile slowly crept across his face. “So you didn’t know he was here?”
“Actually, I saw him this afternoon. But I haven’t given it much thought since. Well, I’ll see you later this evening.”
I stared at the top of his head. He even resembled John Grisham from the back. Let’s hope the man didn’t feel the need to take up investigative law. At least not tonight.
The taupe linen top leered at me from my bed as I entered my room. Amber must have brought it in for me. I turned to my closet and pulled out a black lace top with small capped sleeves, a ribboned waistband, and small pearl buttons. I pulled out my jeans and a pair of black wedges that laced up my calves and studied myself in the mirror. I put on some makeup and pale pink lip gloss. Once I dried my hair, I let it lay neatly across my shoulders. I could hear voices on the back porch and knew that they would never hear me leave. As I went to close the door, I looked back at Amber’s beautiful top lying across the bed. It was such a kind gesture. But just in case I did see Joshua, I didn’t want Amber thinking I had worn her own clothes to see “her” man. I picked it up and walked it back into her room and stowed it safely inside her closet. I only hoped I could be as gentle with her heart.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The gray-headed gentleman slapped his partner’s bum. I hoped it was his wife’s. Then he pulled her to him and planted a juicy one on her orange lipstick. Maybe it was the saltiness in the air or the sound of my humming—who could be certain?—but romance had broken loose over this haven in the South.
The stickiness of the air brushed against my face as I passed the couple, now both wearing orange lipstick and huge smiles, and continued my walk through the perfect evening that had settled in.
Wonder if I had looked equally happy this afternoon?
This afternoon. This afternoon had changed everything. I think.
I glanced at the bricks that were intricately laid in the street and laughed at how unintricately my own life had laid itself out. Less than a year ago I was about to enter the literary world by becoming an author. It never happened. I unwittingly threw that chance away because I thought my mother had rigged my success. Come to find out that was actually one thing she hadn’t felt the need to
control. I found out a little too late.
So I returned to Savannah, a place I never thought I’d end up, and found out my man had ended up with a long, gangly looking redhead named Eliza, or Elizabeth, or something that starts with an E. I began writing for the newspaper. Took over the human-interest column of my deceased mentor, whom I never actually met in person. My first few offerings left me flat on my face. But over the past ten months, I’ve gained some footing and my sense of voice. Don’t always know when to keep that voice quiet, but I’m slowly learning when it matters.
Thrown into the middle of this entire whirlwind was getting my own apartment and meeting this man I had come face-to-face with this afternoon.
On our first encounter, he had almost run me over with his bicycle. I do believe I noticed almost every detail about him that day. The curly dark hair. The penetrating black irises. The perfectly white smile. The immersing grin. And those beautiful legs and tightly honed arms. And with each encounter,my heart had fallen for him harder and harder. And with each smile, and each word and each brush of the arm, he had driven me sufficiently insane.
When he finally confronted me about six months ago, declaring that my attempts to regain Grant’s love had absolutely nothing to do with love at all and everything to do with not wanting to lose, I knew then that he thought he knew a little too much about me.
“Manuel, I would say Miss Savannah looks beautiful this evening, wouldn’t you?”
I looked up at the two sitting on their porch, playing a game of cards. Their smiles washed over me. I returned them. “Beautiful? You think?” I asked, opening their gate.
Manuel laid his card down.“I’d say extraordinary.”
“Well,” I said, placing my hand daintily across my chest,“I do believe you just made me blush.”
“The tall stranger?” Lucy asked.
I walked to the top of the stairs and pulled a chair out from their small table. “The tall stranger?”
“Well, surely that’s where you’re headed looking like that?”
“Actually, I was coming to see you.”
Lucy turned to look at Manuel, then back at me. “Coming to see us, huh?”
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