“I can build another home,” she says, looking up at me, and my hand goes to her cheek. “I can buy another bar.” Her voice goes lower now. “But I can’t buy another you.”

“I told them I was going to marry you,” I say, omitting the nasty things my father said. “Tomorrow, we have to go get you a ring.”

“You really are going to go through with this?” she asks, confused. “This is a mess, and you don’t need this. You just got elected mayor.”

“We,” I say, rubbing my thumb across her cheek. “We are going to go through with this.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she says, and all I can do is pull her to me and hold her. I hold her in the family room for as long as she lets me.

“How about we talk about it in the morning?” she suggests, and I just nod. “I’m going to go to bed.”

“I’ll be right up,” I say. “I’m going to lock up down here.” She walks out of the room, and I turn off the lights after I put the glass in the sink. When I walk upstairs and peek in on her, she is already asleep. I take another shower, trying to let the tension go, but when I slide into bed, all I can do is look up at the ceiling.

The phone on the side table buzzes, and I reach for it, seeing it’s Jacob. I sit up now, knowing that nothing good is going to come at two a.m. in the morning. “Hello?”

“Is Savannah with you?” he shouts, and I get up now.

“She’s sleeping,” I say and hear shouting in the background, then a car door slam. “Where are you?”

“I’m on my way to the bar,” he says, and I wait for the other shoe to drop. “Someone just set fire to Savannah’s bar.”

Chapter Twenty

Savannah

I hear the buzzing coming from somewhere, but I think it’s a dream until it starts again. This time, my eyes fly open, and I jump up, seeing the unknown number on the screen. “Hello?” I grumble.

“You need to get gone, bitch.” The sound of the male voice is muffled.