“It was,” I say, and that night when he makes love to me, it’s slow, and he holds me all night long. When the sun rises the next day, we are sitting on the back stoop while he waits for Jacob to pick him up.
“Have fun,” I say, kissing him goodbye and then waving to him. I slip back into bed, but I toss and turn and finally give up.
I’m making myself some tea when there is a knock on the door. Walking down the hallway to the front door, I see Savannah standing there, looking out. “Hey,” I say to her, and she turns around and smiles at me.
“Sorry for dropping by.” She turns and wipes a tear away. “I didn’t think coming here would make me cry.”
I smile at her. “You don’t ever have to be sorry about stopping by. Come in.” I move aside, and she walks into the house. “This is a nice surprise. I was going to call Jenna to come over and have tea with me, but this might be better.” She smiles at me, and we walk down the hallway. “Would you like some cold tea or coffee?”
“Um, do you have whiskey?” she asks, and my eyes get big. “I need the encouragement.”
“Why does that scare me?” I ask. Walking over, I grab the whiskey and a glass, bringing it to her.
She takes the top off and pours herself a shot and then looks at me, wincing, “Horrible.”
“Not for the faint of heart, I’m told.” I stand here in front of her.
She leans over and grabs her purse, taking out a paper. “Before you say anything, hear me out.” She looks down, tapping the paper in front of her that is folded out. “I got pregnant by accident of course,” she tells me, and I just look at her as she pours another shot, and this time, the wince is less. “Smoother the second time.” She laughs, wiping her mouth. “Ethan’s father is an asshole. I should have seen it then, but I was too swept up in being loved by someone to even notice I was being played.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say, wanting to reach out and hold her.
“After I found out I was pregnant, I was beside myself. I was eighteen, living alone, my mother, at her best day, was barely around. I had no one, and Liam didn’t want anything to do with me, so I went to his father, and, well, that was even worse.” She takes another shot. “He threw two hundred dollars at me and told me to take out the trash.” She wipes the tears from her eyes, and I can’t help the tears that fall out of my eyes. “I was always known as that kid. The one who was not good enough for anyone or anything. No matter how successful I was in school, no one let me forget I was trash.”
“That’s so wrong,” I say, not even imagining how it was.
“So I played a game with the devil,” she says, looking down. “I went to his office and blackmailed him.” She takes another shot. “Fuck, this is harder than I thought.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I say.
“I want to,” she tells me. “I blackmailed him, and with that money, I bought my bar and this house.” She smiles now. “For once, I had a home. A real home. Not just for me but also for Ethan. I was determined for him to have a home. For him to know that he was loved, for him to know that he had a home where he was always going to be safe.” She looks around. “This is his,” she tells me. “It was always supposed to be his. Let me give this to you guys.”
“But I bought it from you,” I say, and she smiles and looks down. “What did you do?”
“I never signed the papers,” she says, and I open my mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but,” she hands me the papers, “your money is all in this account.”
I grab the paper and open it. “You took payments monthly,” I say, looking to see the savings account that was open. “I paid the taxes.”
“You did,” she tells me. “And that is for the kids.” She gives me another paper. “When you have them.”
“I don’t believe this,” I say, shocked. “You knew I wanted this house.”
“I knew that if he came back that he was going to get you back. I knew that, in the end, this would be his.”
“But what if I’d married Drew?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“There was no way that was ever going to happen. Worst case …” She smirks. “And I’m saying worst case, I was going to drag Ethan back.”
“I can’t believe this.” I look down at the paper. “I …”