I clean up the kitchen and try not to think about the fact that she’s upstairs. I try not to think about the fact that I want to see her naked, and that I’ve been thinking about it more and more recently. I try not to think about the fact that I want her here more and more. I try to also talk myself down off the ledge. It takes Grady an hour to text me that they’ve finished at Savannah’s house and then another text from Tony letting me know that it’ll take him three days to get everything replaced and back to normal. Grabbing my laptop, I scan my emails now and make a list of things to follow up on.

Only when I look over and see it’s dark outside do I realize it’s past ten o’clock. I shut down my computer and then walk upstairs. The light is on in the spare room, but when I walk over, nothing could prepare me for what I see. She lies in the middle of the big bed in the fetal position. Her eyes are red and puffy because she has been crying.

“What happened?” I ask, my heart stopping in my chest. I walk to the bed and sit beside her.

“Nothing,” she says, her voice so soft you can barely hear it. “Absolutely nothing.”

I reach out and push her hair away from her face. “Then why the tears?”

“My whole life, all I wanted was to be better. I saw the way they would look at my mother, and all I could do was say I was going to be better than that,” she says, the tears so big they roll over her eyes. “I should have left.” Her voice sounds so broken. “I should have taken the money I had and left.”

I lie down in bed with her on top of the blankets and take her in my arms. “I’m glad you didn’t. I don’t know what I would do without you,” I say, but she doesn’t answer. Instead, she cries in my arms.

I don’t know how long we are both sleeping, but when I hear the sound of glass breaking, my eyes open, and then I hear a car peel off. “What is that?” she mumbles. I get off the bed and walk over to the window that overlooks the front lawn and both of our cars. “What is it?” I hear from beside me, and then she must see what I see. “Oh my God.”

I walk to the side table where I placed my phone and call Grady, who answers after one ring. “Mayor.”

“Hey, no rush,” I start to say and look over to Savannah who stands there with her hand over her mouth, “but someone just smashed my car windows.”

Chapter Twelve

Savannah