“Exactly!” Greg exclaims. “Now we’re on the same page.”
Savannah makes a move, her mouth pursed like she’s about to protest, but I hold up a hand to pause both of them.
“I understand that,” I say. “It’s reasonable for you to have that fear. You don’t know what my intentions are, so you have to assume they aren’t good. But that’s not how it is. I intend to look after her, to make her part of my life in every way. I want her to move in with me here, immediately.”
Greg blinks just a little. I know he must remember how particular I’ve always been about my own space. I wasn’t lying when I told Savannah I’ve never invited another woman to move in with me. Even in college, I had a private room. When I was first starting out, I worked two jobs so I could afford to have my own apartment instead of having to share it with someone else.
“This isn’t some kind of… puppy love,” I insist. “Not for me. If anything, I’m the one that stands the most at risk. I’m willing to bring Savannah into my life, to make her completely and utterly part of it. To take on the financial responsibility of looking after her, knowing she has no job or accommodation out here. I’ve already bought her a whole new wardrobe so she can stay here in comfort. And if she tires of me – or I’m too old for her after all – I will lose all of that.” I find my voice cracking a little as I say the words. I don’t think I could ever contemplate being apart from her, not now that I’ve tasted what it’s like to be together.
Even after such a short time, the thought of ever losing her makes me despair. It’s almost impossible to contemplate. Given how strongly I love her now, I can only imagine the hole that it would leave in my heart. I would probably never be whole again.
Savannah gives me a tender look much like the one I gave her earlier, taking my hand. “That won’t happen,” she says. I know she feels just the same way that I do. If we separated, ever, it would destroy us both. We’re two halves of the same whole. We didn’t know it until we were reunited. And now that we have, to tear us apart again would be messy and painful. Both of us would lose a lot in the process.
Greg makes a dismissive noise. “And so what?” he says. “Men have mid-life crises and leave their whole lives behind for some model. Who’s to say you won’t change your mind?”
It doesn’t sound like a victory, but it is. A small one, a step on the path to a wider victory, but a small one all the same.
Because I know Greg, and I’ve known him for a long time. I know his moods, his body language. I know that he’s starting to melt just a little.
He knows I’m not that kind of man. I’m not the type to have my head turned by a model, and I never have been. I’m all about the substance, not just the form, and it’s only absolute luck that Savannah has both in on perfect package. He knows I’m not the type to make rash decisions, and if I was going to have some kind of personality crisis, I probably would have had it by now. Uprooting my whole life to move to the flashiest city probably in the world would have been a pretty good trigger for that.
So, what he says isn’t serious. It’s more a shock objection like he went through the script of what parents are supposed to say in these situations and pulled this one out. I don’t even need to be too serious about setting him straight, because he already knows I would never do that. I just have to push him a little further – to the point that he’s going to stop thinking about bringing up any objections at all.
I’m on the right track here. I thought I could understand his doubts, and I clearly do. He isn’t sure whether I’m serious about treating his daughter right, and of course, it makes sense for a father to feel that way. I just have to make sure that I prove it to him – that I show him beyond any shadow of a doubt that I’m in this for real.
And it’s just luck that I have exactly the thing up my sleeve that I think is going to do that.
“I’m not going to change my mind,” I say. “And I’m willing to show you exactly how far I will go to make sure that Savannah is happy and secure in our relationship.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight