“Your bid has already been approved for the rec center. It’s been approved and has been recorded in the minutes at the last meeting.” I shake my head.

“Minutes can be altered,” he says. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“You have my word,” I say, “that nothing will happen to your contract.”

He huffs. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll bring a couple of guys with me.”

“Thank you.” I close my eyes. “I appreciate that. Also, I want you to bill me personally.”

“You bet your ass I’m going to bill you personally and also as an emergency case. If the contract still stands, I’ll adjust my invoice.” His voice goes lower. “FYI, he’s made other calls.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“Let’s just say, it’s going to be hard for her to get anything to open that place again,” he says. The bathroom door opens, and I see Savannah coming out with a brown paper in her hands.

“Thanks for letting me know,” I say and hang up the phone. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She shakes her head and looks at me, her blue eyes so bright you can get lost in them. “But it is what it is, and I’ll deal with whatever I have to.”

“There’s my girl,” I say, smiling at her. I grab her around her neck and bring her to me, kissing her forehead. The two of us have always been touchy-feely around each other, and I never make it seem that I love it more than I do. I just shrug it off and leave her after I either hold her hand or kiss her head. “Now what do you want to eat?”

She shakes her head. “Anything. I just don’t want to see anyone.”

“Got it,” I say. We walk out of the bar, and she locks it and gets into the truck. When she pulls up in front of my house, I wait for her to turn off the truck before getting out, and she follows me up the front steps of the old Victorian house I inherited from my grandfather when he passed away ten years go. I’ve only just renovated it and made it more mine and less antique. I walk in, tossing my keys on the table in the foyer, and then head down the hallway past the stairs and into the kitchen.

“I forget how pretty it is in here,” Savannah says, walking toward the back wall of windows as it faces out to two old willow trees with a hammock hanging between them. Something I put in for Savannah but never told her. She once told me when we were walking how her perfect date would be sitting in a hammock together and just listening to the birds or the crickets.