My shoulders snap up, and my neck gets tingly. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
“Listen, I don’t want to be put in the middle,” Tony says.
“In the middle of what?” I ask, and somehow what he tells me isn’t a surprise.
“Got a call from your father about twenty minutes ago,” he starts. His voice goes even lower, and I have to wonder if he doesn’t want people to know he’s on the phone with me. “If I so much as step foot on that property, my contract bid for the rec center is going to be passed to someone else.”
“Motherfucker,” I hiss. “Listen to me and listen to me good, Tony. My father has no say anymore. He has zero say in how I run my office.”
“I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
“Your bid has already been approved for the rec center. It’s been approved and has been recorded in the minutes at the last meeting.” I shake my head.
“Minutes can be altered,” he says. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“You have my word,” I say, “that nothing will happen to your contract.”
He huffs. “Fine,” he says. “I’ll bring a couple of guys with me.”
“Thank you.” I close my eyes. “I appreciate that. Also, I want you to bill me personally.”
“You bet your ass I’m going to bill you personally and also as an emergency case. If the contract still stands, I’ll adjust my invoice.” His voice goes lower. “FYI, he’s made other calls.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“Let’s just say, it’s going to be hard for her to get anything to open that place again,” he says. The bathroom door opens, and I see Savannah coming out with a brown paper in her hands.
“Thanks for letting me know,” I say and hang up the phone. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She shakes her head and looks at me, her blue eyes so bright you can get lost in them. “But it is what it is, and I’ll deal with whatever I have to.”
“There’s my girl,” I say, smiling at her. I grab her around her neck and bring her to me, kissing her forehead. The two of us have always been touchy-feely around each other, and I never make it seem that I love it more than I do. I just shrug it off and leave her after I either hold her hand or kiss her head. “Now what do you want to eat?”
She shakes her head. “Anything. I just don’t want to see anyone.”
“Got it,” I say. We walk out of the bar, and she locks it and gets into the truck. When she pulls up in front of my house, I wait for her to turn off the truck before getting out, and she follows me up the front steps of the old Victorian house I inherited from my grandfather when he passed away ten years go. I’ve only just renovated it and made it more mine and less antique. I walk in, tossing my keys on the table in the foyer, and then head down the hallway past the stairs and into the kitchen.
“I forget how pretty it is in here,” Savannah says, walking toward the back wall of windows as it faces out to two old willow trees with a hammock hanging between them. Something I put in for Savannah but never told her. She once told me when we were walking how her perfect date would be sitting in a hammock together and just listening to the birds or the crickets.
She turns around now and comes into the kitchen with me and opens the fridge. “Oh my God. What is that smell?” she asks, putting her hand in front of her nose.
“I have no idea,” I say, and I cringe when I see all sort of food gone bad. “I don’t usually eat here.” She walks over to grab the garbage and starts tossing shit in the bin. “I usually crash at your house for dinner, or we go out.”
“Yeah, we should definitely be eating here more.” She shakes her head, and I want to tell her that she can come and eat here every single day if she wants to.
“The door is always open.” I smile at her, and I want to bend my head and kiss her, but the doorbell rings. She looks at me, and I shake my head, turning and walking out of the kitchen and past the dining room and formal living room toward the big brown doors. I open the door and groan inwardly.
“Well, hello there, Mayor,” Melody says, pushing her way in and leaning up to kiss my lips. It happens so fast that I don’t have time to step back. I made the mistake of agreeing to go out with her on a date, and the minute I sat down, I knew that it was a one-and-done sort of date.