by Tina Martin
“Mine either.”
He shook his head. “I’ll take love over money any day. If you think about it, once all the money is gone, it’s the relationships you’ve built in your lifetime that will still be there.”
“That’s true.”
Dudley nodded.
“You’re a pretty decent guy,” Savannah said. “I mean, I thought you were decent when I first met you back in law school, but then the rumors started flying and—”
“And like everyone else, you fell for it. So much for being innocent until proven guilty.”
“My bad.” She smiled. “I should know better, huh?”
“Yeah. You should.” He rubbed his hands together and looked down at the steps.
“Anyway, I guess we better get back in there before mom summons us back inside like little kids.”
He stood up and reached down for her hand, helping her stand. “Don’t let your parents blackmail you with money, especially if marriage and a baby is something you don’t want. You’re the only one who can live your life and you don’t want to look back and have nothing but a trail of regrets.”
“Thanks for the words of encouragement, counselor,” she said. “You’re all right to be a product of Toby and Shanice.”
“And you’re pretty normal considering you’re the daughter of the mighty Dorthea Ellsworth. Your pops is kinda cool. Your mom—shoot, I’d be ready to voluntarily check myself into a psych ward trying to deal with her.”
They laughed together.
“I hope we can continue to be cordial with each other given the circumstances,” she said.
“I’m sure we can. We know what the other has to deal with, so anytime you need to talk, you can vent in my ear.”
“Cool,” she said.
“Friends?” he asked with one eyebrow raised.
Savannah smiled. “Yes. Friends.”
He opened his arms wide and said, “All right. Bring it in.”
Savannah graciously accepted his brief hug. Then the two walked back into the house together, gearing up to face their intrusive parents yet again.
Chapter 4
Harding had his fists tightened so hard, he could punch right through the glass of his window. This is not what he expected to see when he rolled up to Savannah’s parent’s house. While he was inching down the road, slowing as he approached the Ellsworth’s mansion, he saw Savannah step out of the house with a man. Saw her conversing with this man. Laughing with him. Hugging him. Then they went back inside of the house together.
He recognized the guy – Dudley Carrington – the man her parents had been determined to set her up with. Now, they were together at her parent’s house. What was going on here? Was he being played?
Harding sat and waited for her to come out, torturously so, talking himself out of barging in several times to break up whatever was going on and make his presence known. But he resisted and continued waiting.
One hour passed.
Then two.
Shortly after, he saw a couple, probably Dudley’s parents coming out of the house. Then Dudley came walking out behind Savannah and followed her to the car. He touched the midpoint of her back as he opened the door for her. When she was securely inside, he closed the door then threw up his hand in a single wave as she drove away.
Harding’s nostrils flared as he started his car and followed Savannah down the highway. He’d never felt anger this potent stir inside of him. He loved this woman, trusted her with everything he had to trust her with and here she was kickin’ it with another man – the man her parents wanted her to marry. Dudley’s parents were there, too, and they were all having dinner like they were one, big happy family.
Maybe they were one big family, he thought. That would explain why Savannah was so hesitant to tell her parents about him. Maybe, when she was in Charleston, Dudley was her man. When she made her monthly trip to Hilton Head, he was her man. Harding forced the thought away from his mind, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was playing him all this time.
He followed her as she turned into the well-lit parking lot of her townhome-style condo and watched her walk to the door, hitting the alarm to secure her Mercedes in the process. All he could do was sit there. His head was too cloudy to think. He leaned forward until his head touched the steering wheel. He had a bad feeling about this. Tonight felt like the end of an era. The end of a two-year relationship with a woman he was looking forward to spending forever with. The end of his marriage. Gosh, he didn’t want it to end this way. He didn’t want it to end at all.
He pushed his car door open and walked up to her door, pressing the doorbell. He couldn’t shake the sour feeling pulling at his gut. He was anxious, ready to push the doorbell again but he heard the click of the lock before he could do so.
Savannah’s eyes grew bigger as she opened the door wider. With her face bawled up, she said, “Harding?” Her eyes flit around the parking lot, making sure no one was outside witnessing this. “Come in,” she said quickly.
He rubbed his hands down his face as he stepped inside as quickly as he felt like she wanted him to. Two weeks had passed since they’d last seen each other and she didn’t reach for a hug or attempt to snag a kiss. Nothing of the sort. She just rushed him inside.
“What are you doing here, Harding?”
“Where were you tonight?” He could barely get the question out through his clenched teeth.
Please don’t lie to me. Please don’t lie, he said to himself. If she did, he didn’t know what he might do.
“I was at my parent’s house for dinner. What are you doing here, Harding?” she asked snippily.
“I came to talk to you…to see if you had time to tell your parents about us. Have you?”
Savannah expelled a breath. “You gave me four weeks.”
“The answer is no, then,” he said frowning, veins bulging and throbbing in his neck.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Why’s that?” he questioned further, crossing his arms. “You had dinner with them tonight, right? Why couldn’t you tell them tonight?”
“I wanted to, but it wasn’t a good time tonight. Why are you here, Harding? We agreed that you wouldn’t come here and we would meet in Hilton Head whenever we were to see each other.”
“Forget our agreement!” he erupted. “Why didn’t you tell your parents about us tonight?”
Her frown deepened. “I just told you. It wasn’t a good time.”
“Why? Because you were too busy entertaining your boyfriend? Dudley? Is that why it wasn’t a good time?”
“I wasn’t entertaining anyone.”
“So, you’re a liar now?” he asked, sending her a bone-chilling glare.
“I’m not a—”
“That’s what you’re going to do right now, Savannah? Lie to my face?”
She blew a breath, held her beating temples and said, “I’m not lying.”
“Was he there?”
“He was,” Savannah admitted.
“Why?”
“Because my parents invited him. It’s their house. He was there and his parents were there, but only because my parents wanted them there.”
Harding closed his eyes in an attempt to control his escalating temper. “Did your mother also make you put your arms around him and hug the man? Did she make you sit out on the front steps with him and carry on a conversation, looking him in the eyes like he’s your man instead of me?”
Her voice was shaky when she replied, “First of all, I don’t know why you’re spying on me.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “Spying on you?”
“Yeah! Sneaking up here like you’re going to catch me up to no good when I’m pulling my hair out, trying to come up with a way to satisfy you and my parents at the same time. I’m trying here, Harding!”
“You’re trying?” he repeated. He was so disgusted, he shook his head and turned his back to her. “For two years, I’ve let this go on. Two years of my life—living this s
ecret because you are too afraid to tell your parents about us. This is absurd, Savannah. But you know what’s even more messed up? While I’m in Wilmington struggling with this, trying my hardest to see through this situation and give you the benefit of the doubt, you’re down here having dinner with the man your parents want you to marry. The man who can provide you with the lifestyle you’re accustomed to.”
“I told you I didn’t know he was coming over, Harding. I thought—”
His jaw twitched. “I don’t care what you thought,” he yelled. He turned back around to look at her. “I should’ve followed my first mind and ended this when we last saw each other.”
“Harding—”
“I don’t want to hear any more of it.” He slid his wedding band off the length of his finger. “You know what’s really sad?” he asked. “I show up here out of the blue and you don’t even attempt to hug me, kiss me…nothing. Instead, you rush me inside of your condo and question me as to why I’m here.”
Her eyes teared.
“We already meet the qualifications for divorce,” he told her, fiddling around with his ring. “In the state of North Carolina, you have to be living in different residences for a year in order to seek a divorce. We live in different states. We’ve never shared the same address. I’m filing as soon as I get back home.”
“Harding, no. You said you’d give me more time. Please don’t do this.”
His frown sharpened. “It’s already done. It’s been done in my…” he swallowed the knot in his throat to collect himself. “It’s been done in my heart. Now, I’m taking steps to move on with my life. You do the same, Savannah.” He lowered his wedding band to the coffee table in her living room. “Goodbye.”
He walked towards the front door and exited as quickly as he’d entered, closing the door forcefully and continued on to the car where he sat for a moment, thinking about what he’d done – ended a marriage. Ended a two-year relationship. He hadn’t intended on things going this badly, but once he saw Savannah and Dudley together, he knew he couldn’t keep up the charades any longer. Enough was enough.
He started the car and sped out of the parking lot. It would be a long drive back home with this on his mind. Savannah. Dudley. Her controlling parents, but most of all her failure to put an end to the nonsense. From his standpoint, she had every opportunity to tell her parents she was married, so why didn’t she? Did she think they wouldn’t have accepted him? That he wouldn’t be good enough? Maybe he wouldn’t be in their eyes, but he wasn’t concerned about what they thought. His only concern was Savannah, and it didn’t dawn on him until now that maybe she thought the same way as her parents. Had she really intended on things working out between them?
Chapter 5
He’d driven for two hours, trying to block Savannah from his mind. She’d called several times and left a few voicemail messages he hadn’t intended on checking. If he was going to purge the woman from his heart, he certainly didn’t want to hear her voice, especially not immediately following their breakup.
Sitting in his car at a rest stop, he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the steering wheel, thinking about how they’d met that day at her father’s firm. She had been out to lunch the day he made it to her office, ready to upgrade her computer, and she was shocked to find him sitting at her desk when she returned:
“Um, who are you and how’d you get into my office?” Savannah asked, shocked to see some strange man sitting behind her desk.
Harding glanced up and was immediately startled by the beautiful woman. He’d been working in the law office of Ellsworth and Associates for a few days and hadn’t seen her before. By the name on the door – Savannah Ellsworth – he knew she was probably related to Alistair, the man who’d hired him to upgrade the computer systems.
“Sorry about the intrusion,” Harding said. “I thought you’d be out to lunch.”
“I was out to lunch,” she said with a little attitude, minus the neck-snapping, but she did throw a hand up on her hip. “Now, I’m back. Who are you, and why are you in my office?”
“I’m Harding Champion of Champion Computer and Web Security Services, installing your system’s new firewall. I personally check every computer for security weaknesses after installing the firewalls. I was just checking yours.”
Savannah lowered her Michael Kors bag in one of the black, leather chairs in her office. She recalled seeing the email from her father’s secretary about the security upgrade, but what was she supposed to do in the meantime? Sit here and stare at the man?
She hated this. There was nothing more irritating than someone sitting at her personal desk, crowding her space and seeing all her work-related notes and such that she’d left scattered on her desk. She had an obsession with Post-It notes and now Mr. Champion knew it.
“I should be done in a half hour.”
Savannah’s brows shot up. “A half hour?”
He looked up at her. “Yes. A half hour.”
“And what am I supposed to do for thirty minutes while you work on my computer?”
Was she serious? Harding looked at her again. He smiled, then returned his attention to her computer screen. “I don’t know. I saw some cake and doughnuts in the break room in case you wanted a little after-lunch dessert.”
“Cake and doughnuts?”
“Yeah,” he said, typing.
Savannah didn’t know why his typing skills impressed her. Wait, she knew. Men had big hands and fingers and most of them couldn’t type worth a lick. He, on the other hand, was working her keyboard over with those large hands of his and not even looking down at his fingers to make sure he was hitting the right keys. His eyes were fixed on the screen.
“Well, Mr. Champion—”
“I prefer Harding,” he interrupted to say.
“Well, Harding, I won’t be going to the break room for cake and doughnuts, so if you can hurry it along,” she said snapping her fingers, “I would be forever grateful.”
Hurry it along…
The woman was a spoiled brat as far as he was concerned. Still, he persisted with doing his job. “Ms. Ellsworth, security can’t be rushed. Mr. Ellsworth wants to make sure his office files are well-protected.”
“They are protected. We already have some anti-virus crap installed on there and—”
“And it’s not enough to secure your client’s personal information from hackers. Can you imagine the repercussions that would result if hackers were to infiltrate your system?”
No, she couldn’t. She wasn’t a computer expert. She just came to do her job, represent her clients in court and get out of there.
He stopped typing and looked up at her. “Have you?”
She crossed her legs and rolled her eyes. “No.”
He smirked. “That’s what I thought. Now, relax for a minute. Let me do my job. This thirty or so minutes will pay off in the long run.”
“Okay. Fine.” She stood up.
Harding couldn’t help but notice her toned legs in the royal blue skirt that stopped a few inches above her knees. She had on a long sleeved, white blouse, her brown hair rolled up in a bun. Some studded pearl earrings were in her ears. She wore a pair of six-inch, nude red bottoms to complete her outfit. Made her appear taller.
“Going to get some cake after all, huh?” he asked, watching her as she flipped through her cell phone.
“No. One bite of cake and I’ll bust the seam right out of this skirt. It’s tight enough as it is.”
He grinned. He didn’t think it was tight. It fit well, hugged and gripped her body. Okay, so maybe it was tight. He wasn’t complaining. She definitely had the body to pull it off.
“I’m going to take a walk,” she told him. “When I come back, you’re going to be gone, right?”
“I’ll certainly try to be. No promises.”
_________
Harding sat up and blinked back to reality. He opened the door and got out of the car, heading inside of the building to use the bathro
om. Then he was back outside again, fighting the urge to check his voicemail. He paced the sidewalk in front of his car. Everything in him told him to go back to Charleston, confront Savannah’s parents and let them know who he was and that he was a part of their daughter’s life. But something achingly disappointing inside of him warned him against it. It’s not what Savannah wanted.
He got back inside of his car, too upset to start it. He sat there and remembered more about the first time he and Savannah had met:
“You’re still here,” Savannah said as she stepped back inside of her office an hour later. She didn’t expect to see Harding still there after he told her he only needed thirty minutes. She’d given him a full hour for goodness sakes!
“I am,” Harding said, standing. “And you’ll be pleased to know I’m done. I was just writing you a note to that effect. I see you like those.”
She smiled. “Don’t joke on my notes. Those are valuable pieces of information, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, like this one,” Harding said picking it up, reading, “Pedicure on Friday.”
She laughed. “Yes, I need a reminder to get a pedicure. I’m busy these days.”
“You could type a reminder on your personal calendar and sync it with the calendar on your cell phone.”
“I could, but ain’t nobody got time for all of that.”
“It’s very simple, Ms. Ellsworth. If you give me a minute, I’ll show you how.”
“Nope.”
He laughed.
“Your minute will end up being thirty minutes. Again…”
“I promise you, it won’t take that long,” he said.
“Well, I tell you what. Why don’t you come back tomorrow around noon? You can show me how to operate my calendar and as a thank you, I’ll buy you lunch afterward. Deal?” She extended her hand to him.
