“Well, I hope he does,” she muttered, tongue sticking out as she concentrated on staying within the dotted lines.
My chest squeezed with love for her. It was moments like this that reminded me just how much I cherished being her mom. I resisted the urge to rush over and hug her, aware of the sticky mess covering my hands. Soon, I promised myself.
The timer on the oven beeped. I slid the sausage balls onto the baking sheet, arranging them with precision before popping them into the oven. Setting the timer for 20 minutes. A little more than usual because I wanted them just a bit crispy.
“Okay, sweetie, what do you want to—” My phone buzzed on the table, cutting me off. Its vibration sent it skittering across the surface. I grabbed it before Alana could, freezing when I saw the wordUnknown.
My stomach dropped. I stood there for a moment, staring at that word. No one I wanted to talk to would call from an unknown number! I simply didn’t answer unknown calls.
“Who is it, Mommy?” I looked down. Alana’s curious eyes met mine as I stood frozen. I had cleaned my hands and figured that was the best time to give her a hug. I wrapped my arms around her from the back and pressed my cheek against hers. She giggled and scrunched her shoulders up.
“It’s nobody, honey,” I murmured. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“I love you too, Mommy,” she giggled, leaning into my embrace.
The phone vibrated again—a voicemail. My heart sank. I dreaded listening but couldn’t avoid it forever, so I tapped the screen.
It was him. Roger.
“You need to talk to me, Savannah. She’s my daughter too, and I want to see her. I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen. Do you understand me? You can use this voicemail in court if you want, but I’ll make sure everyone knows how you’ve kept her from me, when I have rights to see her. You aren’t going to get away with this. So answer the next time I call, or I’ll bring down a world of hurt on you.”
His voice was laced with menace. Was he threatening me? That had to be a parole violation. But what if something happened before I could report it?
My instincts screamed to call Marcus—or Jackson. Both cared about my safety, but I couldn’t rely on Jackson for everything. We weren’t even dating. Did I want him to see me as needy and scared? I didn’t want to scare him off before we’d even started.
Still, I lingered over my phone’sFavoriteslist, Marcus and Jackson’s icons side by side.
Before I could decide, the phone buzzed again.Unknown. Should I answer? My heart slammed hard in my chest, making me feel a bit sick and dizzy.
“Stay right here, honey,” I told Alana, my voice steady despite the pounding in my chest. “I’m going to take this call in the living room.”
“K, Mommy,” she replied, not looking up from her book.
I walked out of the kitchen and down the short hall to the living room, praying hard that I would hold my temper and not be hurt by anything he had to say.
I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear as soon as I got in the living room. I stood in front of the large bay window and looked out at the neighborhood.
I loved my cottage with the big rooms. I’d found it when the market was booming so I got lucky with a low mortgage interest rate. Just another one of the blessings that had come from the dissolution of my marriage.
“What do you want?” My tone was colder than I intended, but I didn’t care.
“I want to see my daughter, Sav, you shouldn’t keep her from me.” Roger said, his voice disarmingly smooth.
“You can see her when you go through the proper channels,” I countered.
“She’s my daughter too. You shouldn’t keep her from me.” His voice softened, and I braced myself for what was coming next. The charm. The same charm that had once reeled me in.
“Sav, you remember how we were, don’t you? How good were we together? You loved me. We could try again, couldn’t we?” His words dripped with nostalgia. “I know you miss me. I was never rough with you, was I?”
I thought back to right before they’d taken Roger away. I definitely hadn’t expected it. I thought he was the best man Ihad ever met in my life. That he was a charming, invincible, completely trustworthy, kind, generous...
Tears came to my eyes.
I clenched my jaw, fighting the emotions threatening to bubble over. “You aren’t who I thought you were,” I said, voice trembling. “You lied to me for years.” I hardened my tone. “You’ve done some horrible things to people. I don’t even know half of it, I’m sure. I didn’t ask and didn’t want to know.”
“But you’re not getting the truth if you don’t get both sides of the story.”
This was something I knew was true. But the shock of finding out the man I loved was a violent criminal was almost too much for me to bear. I pressed a hand against my heart in an attempt to block it from the pain. As if in answer to my feelings, the alarm on the oven went off. I hurried back, not wanting to talk in front of my little girl. But I couldn’t leave them there to burn either.
