The Secret She Kept (7 page)

J
AKE MADE HIS WAY UP
the stairs to Savannah’s place late Sunday afternoon, knowing full well she didn’t want to see him. Several days had passed since he’d learned Allie was his daughter, and he’d been fixated on all the years they’d missed. He shared the blame for that, but only to a certain point. He still thought Savannah had had plenty of opportunity to track him down and tell him he had a daughter. He couldn’t deny that continued to tick him off, and probably would for a while.

He knocked on her hallway door, hearing a TV on inside and sensing movement. But no one answered. He knocked again and heard Savannah’s voice just before she opened the door.

“You need a peephole,” he told her. “What if I happened to be a serial—”

“If I’d had a peephole, I wouldn’t have opened up,” she said in a low voice so the kids didn’t hear.

Logan was watching cartoons in the living room, but Allie was nowhere in sight.

Savannah hesitated, then smiled—a forced one, he would guess—and moved back to allow him to enter. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Her hair was piled sloppily on top of her head and she wore an old sweatshirt and sweatpants with a hole in one knee. Her eyes were weary and had shadows under them, as if she hadn’t slept for a couple of nights. He stepped past her and looked around. “Hey, Logan.”

The boy turned his attention from the TV and smiled when he saw him. “Hey, Jake! How come you’re here?”

“Logan, that’s not polite,” Savannah said to her son. She turned back to Jake. “But I’m dying to know as well….”

Allie emerged from a different room then and her face lit up when she recognized Jake. He couldn’t deny the power her smile had over him. His
daughter
. And she seemed to like him.

“Hi,” she said somewhat shyly, but she moved closer.

“What are you drawing today?” he asked. “More horses?”

“I’ll show you. Wait a minute.” She went back to the bedroom.

Savannah appeared nervous, still hanging near the door. “Why’d you stop by, Jake?”

“I thought maybe we could all go somewhere for dinner.” He glanced toward the kitchen but didn’t smell any food cooking. “Did I catch you in time?”

Allie came out of the bedroom again just as he spoke. She cheered and pulled at her mother’s sleeve. “Can we, Mom?”

Savannah eyed her daughter. “I already have meat thawed.”

“Please?”

“You can save it for tomorrow. It’ll keep,” Jake said.

He studied Savannah’s face and could tell she didn’t want to go. But if she said no, she’d be the bad guy, and she knew it. Jake was sure he’d hear about it later, but he didn’t care. Getting an earful wouldn’t be enough to keep him from spending time with his daughter.

“I’d have to take a shower,” Savannah said. “I smell like kitchen cleaner.”

“We’ll wait.”

Allie jumped up and down and said, “Yay!” Then she held out her drawing to Jake. It was of a saddle propped up against a barn wall.

“You drew this yourself?” he asked with a smile, knowing she had.

“I used a picture from a magazine.”

“I really like it, Allie.”

Savannah leaned in to view the drawing upside down, and Jake was shocked that Allie hadn’t shown her yet. He remembered that when he’d been Allie’s age, he’d always rushed to show his mom his latest work—until she’d died. Now that he thought about it, that was when he’d stopped drawing altogether.

“It’s wonderful, honey,” Savannah said, but Allie didn’t respond.

Jake spotted the hurt that flickered over Savannah’s face. She met his gaze then and he braced himself.

“Why don’t you go put this on your bulletin board, Allie.” As soon as their daughter skipped off, she moved closer and spoke quietly. “You don’t have to manipulate me. I’ve made up my mind to let you get to know her—as long as I’m around, too.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It’ll make things a lot…friendlier.”

“Right. Just remember that. Stop playing games and we’ll all be fine.”

Her eyes shone with fear and he understood she wasn’t happy about any of this. That suited him, because he wasn’t, either. But he’d take what little she was offering. The one thing he knew about Savannah was that giving over any control to him killed her. His point wasn’t to control. He just wanted to get acquainted with Allie. Being with her mother wouldn’t exactly be a hardship, unless they fought nonstop.

Savannah stared at him a long while, those brown eyes piercing his. “I’ll just be a minute.”

She retreated into what he assumed was the master bedroom. Her sweats hid nothing of her shape and he couldn’t help admiring how nice her curves were. He shook his head, determined not to think of her in the same way he had for years and years. He’d had no chance with her in the past, proved by her almost immediate rejection of him after their one night together, and had even less of one now. The only thing he wanted here, he reminded himself, was to form a relationship with his daughter.

S
AVANNAH TOOK
the fastest shower of her life, praying that Allie was still hidden away in her room with her sketch pad. Savannah didn’t think Jake would reveal anything critical but she still didn’t want them together without her there.

She dried her hair, then threw on jeans and a black hoodie. Skipping makeup, she found her tennis shoes and slipped them on. She was
not
going to look good for Jake. The second she was alone with him she was going to wring his neck, as a matter of fact. He’d said he didn’t play games, but that was exactly what he’d done by asking them to dinner when Allie could overhear. Didn’t matter that Savannah had decided to go along with her sisters’ advice. How he’d gone about getting to see Allie was the issue.

Savannah poked her head out of her bedroom to note where everyone was. Both kids lounged on the couch with Jake, watching Batman cartoons, from the sound of it.

“Jake?” She motioned for him to join her.

He followed her into the kitchen, which was walled off from the living room and dining area, so the kids couldn’t see or hear them.

“Where are you planning on eating?”

He shrugged. “Tut’s would work. There aren’t a lot of choices here, right?”

“I don’t want to go where people will recognize us. In Lone Oak, less than a dinner together could start rumors flying.”

“And wouldn’t it be terrible if everyone thought you and I were together?” he said sarcastically.

“No, it would be terrible if anyone ever suspected the real reason you’re with us.”

“You know what, Savannah?”

He advanced on her until they were inches apart and she was backed against the counter. Which didn’t take much in this small space. She could smell him and was annoyed that his scent was so familiar, that it still stirred something deep within her after all these years. Even more annoyed that a part of her had the overpowering desire to have it envelop her.

She shook off the weak moment.

“I didn’t do anything wrong here,” he said. “I’m the one who was kept in the dark and lied to for eleven years.”

“I never lied to you.” She stood her ground even though their closeness was making her lose her concentration.

“You never told me the truth.”

“I’ve told you why.”

“Somehow it’s not making me feel any better.”

“So now it’s all about you, huh?”

He stared at her for a moment and then his lips twitched with the hint of a grin. “I’d almost forgotten what a world-class arguer you are and how much fun arguing with you can be.”

“This is fun?”

“Beats sitting around at book club with a bunch of old women.” Then he did smile, and it made Savannah’s heart catch. She hadn’t seen that genuine Jake smile, the not-trying-to-charm-the-ladies one, since he’d been back. Which was a good thing, because the sparks it sent through her were powerful and dangerous.

“We’ve agreed to dinner, right?” he asked, his eyes penetrating and his body still crowding her, making her want things that she would never take.

“I suppose.”

“Let’s just go with that. Find out if we can get through it without arguing more. For the kids.”

She hesitated briefly, then ducked away from him. “You’re treating?”

“I’ll treat.”

“And we can go where no one will know us?”

She could tell that pained him, but he agreed. She hollered at the kids to get their shoes and jackets on, and practically rushed from the kitchen to escape the close quarters.

“W
HAT’S PERSPECTIVE
?” Allie asked Jake after she’d finished her pizza and pulled out her pad of paper.

Savannah shoved her last bite of salad into her mouth. She was ready to be done and out of here. When the hostess had led them to this booth, Jake had insisted on sitting next to her. Instead of acting as though it was a big deal, Savannah had gone along with it, but ever since, they’d been inches away from each other, their thighs sometimes touching.

She wished she could say she wasn’t affected by his nearness, the warmth of him along her side, but she’d be lying. She kept inching away surreptitiously, but there wasn’t a lot of extra space in the booth.

They’d decided it would be best to get out of Lone Oak if they didn’t want to be recognized, and Jake had suggested a pizza place in the nearby university town that his sister swore was the best. So here they were at Luigi’s, in Manhattan, Kansas. Savannah had to agree with his sister’s assessment. They even had goat cheese for Logan, who was allergic to regular cheese.

Her son frowned at Allie’s question. “Can’t we go play foosball again, Jake?”

“Logan, we’re done with foosball for the night,” Savannah said. “Let Jake sit and relax.”

“Relaxing is boring.”

“Sometimes boring is okay,” Jake told him. “I don’t think I can handle getting beaten again tonight.”

That put a smile on her son’s face. She opened her purse and pulled out the small plastic bag of Lego blocks that she always toted around.

“Smart,” Jake said.

“Coping mechanism. Little boys don’t do sitting still very well.”

Allie pushed her tablet toward Jake expectantly. He turned to a blank page and started sketching something, trying to explain what perspective was. He spoke in terms an eleven-year-old could understand, and Savannah remembered he’d taken care of his little sister after their mom had died. He’d always been pretty close-mouthed about it, but keeping things private in a town the size of Lone Oak was hard.

She had to give him credit for being attentive to
both
her children. He’d played foosball with Logan and paid just as much attention to him as to Allie. That endeared him to Savannah more than she cared to have him endeared.

Between that and the attraction that wouldn’t quit, she would have to be doubly on guard whenever they were together.

As Jake finished his sketch, a woman approached their table, someone who’d just come in from the street. She wore black leather pants, a colorful tank top beneath a transparent black shirt, and had multiple earrings and studs in her ears and an emerald stud on the side of her nose.

“Emily,” Jake said, standing and putting his arm around her. “You’re supposed to be working.”

“I’m on break. Called in an order for takeout.”

Jake stood back and motioned to Savannah and the kids, introducing them. “This is my little sister.”

Oh, yes, his sister. Savannah should have remembered her name. She would never admit to the flutter of jealousy she’d felt before realizing who the woman was. Savannah held out a hand to Emily and greeted her.

“I have to grab my food and get back. No one’s there to answer the phone in case it happens to ring for the first time all afternoon.” She rolled her eyes. “Stop by the shop when you’re done if you want.”

“We might do that. See you,” Jake said, and sat back down.

“What kind of shop? A toy shop?” Logan asked.

Jake chuckled. “Nothing quite so interesting. Just tattoos.”

“Cool!”

“You can have one when you’re thirty,” Savannah told her son.

“What kind of tattoos does she make?” Allie inquired, suddenly interested.

“Whatever you want,” Jake said.

“Same rule of thirty applies to you.”

“Do you have any tattoos, Jake?” Allie’s eyes skimmed his arms and neck.

“I have one on my back,” he told her. “Maybe sometime you can have a peek.”

“What’s it like?”

“It’s a design. Kind of tribal.” Jake borrowed her pencil and a napkin and sketched it.

Allie found a blank page in her pad and began drawing something. Logan asked Jake questions about having a sister, apparently thinking having sisters gave them lots in common. While Jake chatted with him and polished off a final piece of pizza, Savannah longed to be back home, safe from the thoughts this man made go through her head.

Several minutes later, Allie held up her notebook. “How do you like it?”

“What is it?” Logan asked.

“A tattoo, dummy.”

“It doesn’t look like anything,” her brother said.

“Tattoos don’t have to be objects,” Jake told him. “Sometimes a design is so neat it doesn’t have to be anything. That’s really cool, Allie.”

“Thank you,” she said, her shyness disappearing.

“I believe you have talent at more than just drawing horses.”

“She does,” Savannah confirmed. “Horses just happen to be the thing right now.”

“At my school art show, I’ll have lots of stuff on display. You could come, Jake. It’s on Thursday.”

“What time does it start?” he asked promptly.

“Six-thirty.”

“Sounds like fun. Maybe I’ll show up.”

Savannah didn’t like the idea. Michael was supposed to be at the art fair, and just thinking about how awkward that would be made her squirm. “It’ll mostly be just family.”

“My teacher said we could invite anybody we want to,” Allie announced.

“Jake probably has things to do, honey. It’s during dinnertime.”

“We’ll see,” he said in a tone that, to Savannah, held the trace of a threat.

She eyed him sideways, shooting a silent warning his way, but all Jake did was smile smugly and announce it was time to go.