I breathed a sigh of relief, nodding.“Yes. Yes, that's wonderful.” I felt something I hadn’t felt in weeks:safe.
“Thank you, Jackson, I appreciate it so much. I’ll get some blankets and I’ll make you breakfast in the morning.”
“It’s my pleasure, Savannah. And don’t forget pillows, okay? Big and fluffy if you’ve got ‘em,” he added with a wink.
I laughed as I walked to the hallway closet, the sound light and freeing. For the first time, I felt like everything might actually be okay.
Chapter Ten
Jackson
I had no idea how I was supposed to hike on so little sleep, but I was determined to keep my plans. After leaving Savannah’s house that morning, I managed three hours of shut-eye before meeting Marcus at eleven at Hanging Rock.
We’d planned this hike for weeks, and while I was already on vacation from work, Marcus had taken a personal day. He was getting paid for it, sure, but that wasn’t the point. I wasn’t about to disappoint him.
Pulling into the empty lot ten minutes late, I spotted Marcus leaning against his Wrangler, arms crossed, sunglasses on, looking like he had all the time in the world. I parked next to him and hopped out, grabbing my gear from the back.
“Look at you, some kind of Snoopy cool dude or somethin’,” I teased.
He laughed, shaking his head. “Haven’t heard that one before, Jackson.”
We clasped hands and bumped shoulders, our usual greeting. “How you doin’ today?”
“Not bad, not bad,” I replied, itching to fill him in on the events of the night before and Roger finally showing his face at Savannah’s house. I wondered if Savannah had mentioned anything to him yet. Maybe she’d texted him before bed or first thing in the morning. “Didn’t get much sleep, did Savvy message you?”
The nickname rolled off my tongue naturally, though it was the first time I’d used it. Savannah had told me last night how much she liked being called that by her friend Mya, so I figured I’d try it out. Marcus’s reaction didn’t disappoint—he froze, eyebrows shooting up.
“I beg your pardon. Did you just call my sisterSavvy?”
Grinning, I shrugged. “Yeah, she said her coworker calls her that and she likes it, so I thought maybe I’d call her that too. You know, since we’re friends.”
Marcus blinked a few times. “Did you just say last night? Are you two texting now?”
I gestured toward the trailhead, loaded my gear, and grabbed my walking stick. “Come on, let me tell you the whole story.”
We started up the wooded path, sunlight dappling the trail as we walked.
“First, guess who showed up at Savannah’s last night around eleven.”
His head snapped toward me. “Roger?”
“Yep. Did she message you, or talk to you at all this morning?”
He shook his head, frowning. “Haven’t heard from her. What happened? What’d he do? What’dyoudo? You don’t look worse for wear, so no punching involved?”
I chuckled. “Nah, no punching. Almost kicked him, though. Just kidding—no violence. But the man shows up late at night, banging on her door, demanding to see Alana. Who does that?You get out of prison, wait nearly a week, and then show up at your ex’s doorstep at eleven to see a three-year-old?”
Marcus shook his head, scowling. “The man’s a nuisance. I never liked him.”
“I told Savannah we’d been talking about the situation and asked her if she minded. Told her we weren’t gossiping about her.”
Marcus looked ahead of us up the trail and then down at his feet to make sure he didn’t trip on roots or loose rocks. It was a beautiful area, a spot he and I liked to hike.
It was about medium grade, not too steep, beautiful foliage nearly year round. Even in the winter there were plenty of pine trees and bushes that never lost their leaves.
“She knows that. I would never do anything to hurt her. And if I talk about her behind her back, it’s not gonna be bad stuff and she knows it.”
“I didn’t want her to think she was the talk of the town.”
