together a business plan. She had to be crazy. Maybe she was being selfish for no reason at all. Gilman was a great school. Todd would be accepted regardless of his grades because he had a family tree filled with alums. Maybe she should reconsider.
She stood up, righted the overturned chair, and then moved to the window. She pulled aside the curtain. What met her gaze changed everything in an instant.
Todd was in the back yard throwing a Frisbee for Champ to chase. He didn’t look angry anymore. He was smiling. He was happy. And then to her surprise, the Frisbee came flying back at Todd. He had to jump up to catch it. His cheeks were red, but there was a spark in his eye that hadn’t been there before.
A second later, Dash came into view. He was carrying a football under his arm.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Claire said. It was amazing that the woman had remained so quiet for so many moments. No doubt Claire thought she’d scored a bunch of points.
“Yes, Claire, I do have something to say. There are more important things than getting my son into the best school in the mid-Atlantic. There are lessons he can learn here that are just as important.” Her heart dropped back into its proper place, and a deep sense of rightness settled over her.
“Savannah, don’t be stupid. You know good and well that you and Greg have a custody arrangement. He could demand that you bring Todd back.”
Boy, that would be the day. Savannah refrained from saying that out loud. Instead she took a big breath and spoke in the calmest voice she could muster. “Claire, I have no desire to keep you away from your grandson. You’re welcome to visit him here if you like. But I’m not coming back to Baltimore. If Greg wants time with Todd, he needs to call me and we can work something out.”
“Well,” came Claire’s clipped voice on the other end of the line, “we’ll see about this. Savannah, you don’t want to cross me.”
“You can’t scare me, Claire. I’ve made up my mind.”
“You’ll be sorry.” The line clicked dead.
Claire wasn’t finished making threats and stirring up trouble, but Savannah refused to worry about it.
Because right now Savannah’s kissing cousin was doing something Todd’s father had never, ever, done for him.
He was playing catch in the backyard.
Dash leaned back against the porch rocker and glanced at his watch. It was just after nine o’clock. Before Dottie had banished him, this was the time he usually headed down to The Spot to drown his sorrows. Of course, a man could hardly drown much in a glass of Coca-Cola, but hanging out at Dot’s and listening to the Wild Horses on a Friday night seemed safer than hanging out here where he was likely to bump into Savannah and her long-stemmed legs.
He’d been noticing those legs a whole lot more these last few days, since his meeting with the girls on Monday at the Pig Place. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he’d burned a bridge that night. He’d even talked about it yesterday at the AA meeting. He’d sworn off Hettie like he’d sworn off booze. And he felt much better. Hettie had been an addiction, too.
This realization should have underscored the danger of feeling any kind of attraction for any woman. It should have made him comfortable with the advice they always gave newly recovered alcoholics—to stay away from romantic entanglements.
It was good advice because Dash was starting to feel as if he might have swapped one addiction for another.
The warning signs were clear. He had carefully timed Savannah’s morning routine and rearranged his own to ensure that he’d meet her at the bathroom door every morning.
And then he would race through his shower and shave so he could have a few minutes alone with Savannah drinking the magic elixir she made in Aunt Mim’s coffeemaker.
Boy howdy, she could make a good cup of coffee. Every morning, she filled up a thermos for him to take up to the stable.
Savannah wasn’t supposed to be nice like that. She wasn’t supposed to be thoughtful or take care of people. She was supposed to be a spoiled and self-centered brat of a princess.
The fact that she was genuinely sweet and could also cook like nobody’s business explained why Bill Ellis showed up for supper on alternate weekdays. And that made Dash grumpy as hell. Especially since Aunt Mim insisted that Bill