“Don’t even think that man doesn’t want you, because he does. It shows in how he watches your every move.”
She wasn’t sure if Chrissie’s observation disappointed her or thrilled her. Maybe a little of both. She might be physically recovering from her wreck, but she wasn’t dead. Her body reacted every time Charlie was near. “So you think this is still just about sex?”
“I didn’t say
that.”
“Then what?” she asked in exasperation.
“I think you need to set aside your pride for the remainder of time you are here and remind Charlie what he lost.”
“You think I should seduce him? Hello, even if I wanted to, which I don’t,” she quickly added, “look at me.”
Chrissie ignored her protest. “Pride, or whatever it is keeping you two apart, needs to be set aside to give whatever feelings are there a chance to flourish.”
“We had a year to flourish,” Savannah reminded her. They had flourished. Then he’d killed them. “I don’t need him, Chrissie. I’m better off without him.”
“You have the rest of your life to regret not opening yourself up to the possibility that maybe Charlie was more torn about his decision than you give him credit for. Maybe his taking the job was a test to see if you’d go with him. Or maybe it was a test to see if he’d get over you. Or maybe—”
“Or maybe he did exactly what he wanted and my being pregnant threw a big ole wrench in his plans to move on with his life and he feels guilty that he knocked me up.”
“Maybe.” Chrissie kissed Joss’s forehead, then was the recipient of a very wet smack to her lips, smushed together between his little hands.
“Again, that’s a lot of maybes.”
Chrissie nodded. “All I’m saying is that I think you need to set the chip on your shoulder aside and just remember this is the man you are in love with and this may be your last opportunity to show him the error of his ways.”
“Apparently you aren’t hearing a thing I’m saying. I’m not in love with him, and you mean I should fight for him, but why shouldn’t he be the one fighting for me?”
“Maybe in his own way he is,” Chrissie suggested.
“He left me.” Did she sound as whiny as she felt?
Chrissie didn’t look sympathetic. “You let him.”
“I couldn’t have stopped him.”
Chrissie just gave her an expectant look that said she didn’t believe her.
“I couldn’t have,” she repeated, knowing it was true. She hadn’t mattered enough for Charlie to stay. Besides, even if she could have, Charlie had wanted to go, to pursue his dreams. “I wouldn’t have.”
“Because you love him,” Chrissie said matter-of-factly. “When he comes home, remind yourself of that, remind him of that.”
Savannah frowned. “I’m not telling him anything of the sort.” She sure wasn’t reminding herself of something that wasn’t even true. She didn’t still love him. She didn’t. She couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
“Don’t tell him,” Chrissie smugly suggested. “Show him.”
CHAPTER TEN
CHARLIE’S DAY HAD been busy. He liked busy days. Normally. Today, he’d just wanted to go to the apartment he called home.
Not that the place had felt much like home. It hadn’t. Maybe because he’d bought the place in Chattanooga and grown so comfortable there. It had been a great house, a great yard, a great neighborhood. A place for settling down and staying forever.
Not that he’d ever meant to do that. He hadn’t. He’d bought it as an investment. The place had been marked way below market value for a quick sale due to a bank foreclosure.
The house would be a home, would have love and happiness inside it. With Savannah and their son or daughter.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine him in the house with them and couldn’t. He wasn’t destined for such happiness.