She smiled when she saw Logan’s fiancée, Roxy, waving at her from the reception desk.
“Hi, Roxy.I’m doing great, thanks.How are you?”
Roxy checked her watch.“I’m good, but I’ll be even better when I get out of here.I haven’t worked the front desk in a while, and with it being Friday, it’s been busy.I’m ready to go home.What about you?Are you just on your break; do you have to come back again later?”
“Not tonight.I’m happy to report that I have Friday night off.”She smiled as she added, “And Saturday, too.”
“Wow, two in a row,” said Roxy.“Good for you.And I have to say, it was so good to see you and Jake out together last Saturday night.I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for you.I thought it was going to happen months ago.”She frowned.“But then you left for the city.Why…” She shook her head.“Oh, you know what?Never mind.I shouldn’t be so damn nosy, should I?All I’ll say is that I’m glad you came back, and I hope things work out with you and Jake.He seems like a really good guy.”
“He is,” Savannah said with a smile.She really liked Roxy and wouldn’t have minded sharing more with her, but not right now.All she wanted to do was get home — not only because she was tired, but also because she was seeing Jake later.
They both turned when Angel, who ran the lodge, came hurrying toward them.“Sorry, Roxy,” she said.“Maren called to say she’s going to be a few minutes late.I can hold the fort till she arrives.You get going.It’s been a long week for you.”
Roxy grinned at her.“You know what?I’m not going to argue.I know you’re going to be here for hours anyway, and I really do want to go home.”She grabbed her bag from under the desk and came around it to join Savannah.“I’d say I’ll walk out with you, but I’m parked around back.”
“That works,” said Savannah.“So am I.”
Roxy slipped her arm through hers with a laugh.“Then what are we waiting for?Let’s get out of here.”
She grinned at Angel.“I’ll talk to you later.Give me a call when you finish, okay?”
“I will,” said Angel.“It’s good to see you, Savannah,” she called.“You should come with us next time we have dinner over here.”
Roxy squeezed her arm.“You should.It’d be great.A bunch of us girls come over to have dinner at the café when we can work it out.It’s a good time.But I’ll warn you now, the first time you come, they’ll all want to interrogate you about Jake.”
Savannah nodded happily.That didn’t put her off — not at all.She’d never been in a position where she had a bunch of girlfriends who wanted her to come and hang out, or at least not ones who were around here in town.She glanced at Roxy.Even that wasn’t true, though.She’d known her, Angel, and the others for a while, but not well.
It didn’t matter, though.However things used to be, what mattered was that now she was in a position where she had a group of girls she liked and trusted — and a boyfriend they were curious about.Not that it mattered that they were curious, only that he was such a good guy that they wanted to know about him rather than warn her off.
As they walked around to the parking lot, Roxy chattered away about Logan and what he was up to at work.She showed Savannah her nails, claiming that Tiffany was an absolute genius — not just an artist.And looking at Roxy’s nails, Savannah had to agree.
Just before they reached her car, she looked down at her own nails and smiled.She couldn’t wear them too long at work in the restaurant.And besides, they’d only break off when she got to work at the garage with Jake again.
“This is me,” she told Roxy when they reached her car.
Roxy gave her a puzzled look.“I thought you drove that red sports car?”
“I do,” said Savannah with a laugh, “but not back and forth around the lake every day.It’s too thirsty to do that.”
“Makes sense to me,” said Roxy.“I’ll see you soon.Give me a call, okay?”
“I will.”Savannah opened the door and slid behind the wheel, giving a little shudder as she pressed the button to lock all the doors.
Roxy had kept her distracted while they walked out here – she hadn’t been on the lookout for Rick.But remembering the way he’d thumped on her window as she drove away from him last weekend — how lucky she’d been to manage to get into her car and lock the door before he got to her — made her shudder.
She was going to have to do something about him.He wasn’t going to leave her alone.She knew that.And she really did intend to tell Jake.She hadn’t deliberately hidden it from him all week; it was just that they’d both been busy with work.She hadn’t even seen him since Monday.They texted and talked on the phone when they could, but even though she’d promised she’d tell him, it hadn’t felt right to bring it up.
She pulled out of the parking lot and waved at Roxy in her rearview mirror.She didn’t want to let talk — or even thoughts — of Rick spoil this evening.Not when she finally got to hang out with Jake again.But she knew she was kicking too many cans too far down the road, and she was going to have to face things soon.She needed to make a decision and let Taryn know if she wanted to become assistant manager.And she needed to tell Jake about Rick.
But all she really wanted to do was enjoy an evening with him — and forget the rest of the world for a while.
Was that too much to ask?
~ ~ ~
Jake wandered around the house, making sure that everything looked okay for when Savannah got here.It did, of course.It always did.It was just habit for him to keep his living space orderly.Any mess in the house was usually down to Josh, and he wasn’t a slob or anything — it was just that sometimes when he was working, he left a trail behind him — coffee mugs and folders, nothing more than that.And he picked up after himself whenever he came back to the real world from being lost in his work.
Tonight, though, Jake didn’t even have to worry about Josh’s things lying around.He’d tidied up before he left earlier.He’d gone to San Francisco for the weekend to meet up with some of his old friends from Atlanta who were visiting.
