"Jeez, girl" Vicky said. "You say Lamar is uptight. But sometimes, you are too. Learn to loosen up a bit, girl. Since you got back, you seem different. I let you have your one year... One year of doing God knows what in God knows where. But you're back now, and I want my friend back"
"Yeah I'm back" Savannah said. "But it doesn't mean I want to watch you shack up with your boyfriend"
Victoria laughed. "Jealous much?" she asked.
"Nope I'm not jealous" Savannah replied. "I'm happy for you actually. Not easy finding true, undying love" She remembered hers which had ended a year ago and shook her head to get the thought of her head. She had promised herself she was finally going to move on.
"Just don't rub your happiness in my face" she said jokingly, grinning at Victoria. "And definitely not in here where Lamar can just walk in anytime. You will get me in trouble too, you know?"
"Fine, fine" Victoria said. "enough with the lecture"
Savannah smiled and picked up the plates she had dropped earlier and went to drop them in the kitchen.
"By the way" she said to Victoria when she returned to the room. "Are you coming home today?"
Savannah and Victoria were best friends and roommates and Victoria had thankfully not found another roommate when Savannah left, so when she returned a week ago, she had just returned back to her old life and with Victoria's help, they had convinced Lamar to give Savannah her job back. Which Lamar had done reluctantly, and that was one of the reasons why Savannah did everything possible to avoid getting on his bad side.
"No I'm not" Vicky replied. "I will be spending the night at Bruce's place"
"Wow" Savannah said, rolling her eyes playfully. "You hardly come home nowadays. You are practically living with him. Maybe you should just move in with him and get the whole thing over with"
"Hey" Vicky said. "Don't you dare start with me. You did worse when you were with Matt"
Savannah picked up her towel and faced Vicky. "I thought I told you that I didn't want to hear that name ever again" she said.
"Oh please. It's just the plain truth" Victoria said. "And please, screw this 'don't ever mention his name' shit you are going through. I know he hurt you and accused you falsely. But you will never be able to move on completely from him if you don't face it. Stop living in denial. Jeez, babe, when was the last time you... You know.... Got laid "
Savannah gave her a look." Ewwww. Mind your business " she said.
" Just asking babe " Victoria said, not caring about the look on Savannah's face. She continued."And judging by the way you are uptight all the time, it seems like it's been a really long time. I don't need a fortune teller to tell me that"
"Screw you. I'm not having this conversation with you" Savannah said as she grabbed a tray and walked out of the room. She could hear Vicky giggling.
But that was just how her friend Vicky was. She teased a lot and it sucked most times... Especially when she she knew that Vicky was right.
She didn't want any reminders of Matt Bradford. Her brief relationship with him was her best but it had also ended horribly. The relationship had just lasted five months, but she felt they had known each other well enough to trust each other. Clearly she had been wrong... Because the moment a test of that trust came, he had accused her of sleeping with his brother. He wouldn't even listen to her explanations no matter how much she tried. But instead he had jumped into conclusions, ended their relationship and asked her to leave. He had even gone to extent of insulting her even more by writing a check. The audacity! The nerve of the man.
She had taken the check, but she never cashed it. It lay in her drawer now. And she didn't even know why she was keeping it. She couldn't stand the break up, couldn't stand running into him, so she had left town... Went to live with a cousin for a year.
She had returned because she thought she was finally in a good place. She definitely didn't want to see Matt, but at least she was sure she could face him now without wanting to burst into tears. But sometimes she doubted that too, because merely hearing someone mention his name brought back memories, memories she had sworn to put behind her.
And Vicky was right, because she hadn't been able to devolop any romantic interest in any other man since Matt Bradford.
She shook her head, willing the thoughts to go away. She was a little tired after her shift and she couldn't wait to go home, take a shower and climb into bed with a good novel before getting some rest.
Savannah loved reading novels, romantic ones to be precise. Books that made her wish love that true could actually happen. And she had believed it could at a time, but now she knew that would never happen. At least for her. She knew better now.
For just a moment, Savannah had wondered if her resolution was foolish—if swearing off frivolous dating was simply a masochistic exercise that would do nothing more than keep her frustrated.
No it wasn't. She reminded herself. She was just being careful this time. She wasn’t swearing off men, just foolish dating of the wrong sort of man. Her door was wide open to Mr. Right. Maybe later... But not now though. And Mr right seemed to be nowhere to be found. So definitely no need trying to force herself to feel something for someone.
And if she met a guy with Mr. Right potential, they’d just have to take it slow and steady. She wasn't going to rush into a relationship like she did with Matt. That was a mistake she wasn't going to repeat.
That might leave her frustrated, but that was a state of being Savannah could take care of on her own.She shivered, and then, pulling herself together, out of her day dream and began to clear the tables on the side of the diner assigned to her.-------------------Matt drove through town in the blinding rain. His destination was Logan's diner where Savannah was waitressing. It shouldn’t surprise him. It was the place she was working before she had left. She’d been waitressing there when they’d met. And during their relationship, he had offered to get her a job in his company but she had refused, insisting that she would be uncomfortable working for him while they were sleeping together.He had insisted but had given up when he realized that he couldn't change her mind about her decision. But he had tried
The honey blond hair was longer and pulled into a ponytail, but it was her. He felt, more than visualized her, and his body quickened in response even after all these months.Then she turned and presented her profile, and he felt every ounce of blood drain from his face.What the everloving hell?She was beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful than she was when they were together. Okay, maybe it was because he hadn't seen her for so damn long. But hell, she was stunning.She looked simple, as she always liked to look, but somehow that simplicity made her stand out always. She was wearing her uniform, a short blue skirt and fitted white shirt, with a white apron tied around her waist.He had always hated that skirt. Not because she didn't look good in it. It was actually because she
Tears pricked her eyelids and it only made her more furious that she was actually upset over seeing Matt Bradford again. So much for getting over him.No, she didn’t want to face him. She never wanted to see him again. Never did she want anyone to have the kind of power he had to hurt her. Never again.She buried her head in her hands, trying to comfort herself.“I was a fool to love him,” she whispered. “I was a fool to think I could ever fit in and that his family would accept me. I was so wrong and so stupid.”She jumped when the door behind her vibrated with a knock. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she put a shaky hand to her chest. She stared at the door as if she could see through it.“Savvie, open the damn door. I know you’re in there.”
He didn’t move. “Why are you living this way, Savvie?" he asked. "I can’t wrap my head around why you did what you did. I would have given you everything. Hell, I still gave you a hefty amount of money when we broke up because I didn’t like to think of you being without. But now I find you still living in squalor working a job that is far beneath your abilities.” he said.A wave of hatred hit her hard. In this moment she realized that she truly loved and hated him in equal measure. Her chest hurt so bad that she couldn’t breathe. Her mind went back to the day when she’d stood in front of him, devastated, completely and utterly broken, while he scribbled his signature on a bank draft and disdainfully shoved it toward her.The look in his eyes had told her that he didn’t love her, had never loved her. He didn’t trust her. He didn’t have faith in her.When she’d needed him the absolute
What the hell? He scolded himself. You’re not some horny teenager. He reminded himself. No staring down her blouse."What would you like me to get for you?" she repeated in that sexy voice of hers.Damn, that mouth.He dragged his fascinated gaze away from it with a strength that deserved a gold medal. But nothing, not even God Himself, could cleanse his mind of the acts those curves and lips elicited. Acts that left him throbbing and greedy."The usual" he said stupidly."Oh ermmm... I'm kinda new here." she said. "So I don't really know what your usual is""I know" he said, and grinned at her. He didn't know exactly what he expected from her, but he certainly wasn't prepared for her shy smile.
"Okay," Matt said. "Let me start over then. Hi, my name is Matt Bradford, and I didn't really want to go to the bathroom" He said it like he was in one of those "talk about your feelings classes" and Savannah smiled."Yeah I figured" Savannah said, the laughter had reached her eyes now, it shone and all Matt could think about was how beautiful her smile was. She laughed again, a rich, throaty, uninhibited sound.He smiled. Screw it. He thought..When was the last time he'd had sex? Jeez, he couldn't remember. It had been a while. While women threw themselves at him, especially because of his financial status, it would be really easy to pick up any woman he wanted. But that just wasn't the way he was wired. But right now, as he stared at this woman, he was having thoughts. Really wild thoughts. When was the last time he m
When she had come to his table, Savannah was conscious of her pulse leaping into a gallop as she met his steady gaze when he looked up from his phone.There was a riveting quality about his dark eyes, giving her the weird sensation of a laser probe straight to her heart.Her skin tingled as though hit by an electric charge. She’d met a lot of different men in her waitressing, career. Not one of them had made this kind of impact on her. She wanted to say, "Don’t walk out of my life," but such a plea seemed too embarrassingly presumptuous. Given that she didn't know the guy and he wasn't even in her life. They were simply passersby, not occupying the same world, only this bit of serving him on a cool evening.He smiled a lot, she observed, showing off the flash of perfect white teeth. He was just trying to be friendly with the waitress. Some people were like
“Ah!” He said. The sound of satisfaction. "It's okay. I understand how work can be. There must be a lot to tell me about yourself and I do want to know all of it. Would you join me for dinner, Savvie? I’ve been with been really busy with work myself and a think spending the evening with a beautiful woman like yourself would be amazing.”“Dinner…” she repeated dazedly. The invitation had come so fast her head was spinning.“Yes... Dinner. Regardless of what you might think I promise I’m not a big bad wolf, and you don’t have to fear my gobbling you up on the spot,” he assured her with dry mockery.“Right!” she said, though the idea of being gobbled up by Matt Bradford had actually sent her pulse-rate zooming. "Where and when?” she asked, trying to sound efficient and not too eager.“Whatever suits you, Savvie.”