“Hey there,” one of them says to me, bending his head and raising his cowboy hat. “How you doing, Savannah?”
I swear I can hear a growl from beside me. “I’m doing fine. Thank you, Trent.” I nod at him.
“See,” Beau says when we walk a couple of steps. “He was coming on to you.” I stop walking and look at him.
“Trent?” I ask, and he just nods. “He’s nineteen.” He’s about to say something when we finally walk into the yard. There are two grills that are going, and people are standing around talking to each other. A couple of people turn to look at us. Some stop talking, and some just ignore us.
“Savannah.” I hear my name being called and look over to see Billy, Casey and Kallie’s father, coming toward us. “Mayor.” He nods at Beau.
“Mr. Barnes,” Beau says. “I’m going to be passing a bill that says if you have picked me up when I was drunk and underage, you can call me by my name.”
I throw my head back and laugh at this and so does Billy. “Good to see you two.” He turns to me. “Would you like some sweet tea?” He hands me one of the glasses from his hand. I don’t want to be rude, so I accept it and take a sip.
“This is good.” The sweetness of the tea hits my tongue right away, but then there is a burning. “What’s in this?” I ask, looking at the glass in my hand.
“Just my special recipe,” he says, and I take another shot. “It’s good.”
He just smiles and walks away. “You go easy on that sweet tea,” Beau says while we walk more into the yard. “I can just imagine what his special ingredient in the tea is.”
I roll my eyes, and I’m about to say something to him when I hear Ethan yell my name. “Mom.” I look over and see him running over. “Hey, Uncle Beau,” he says when he gets close enough.
“How you feeling, baby?” I ask, hugging him and kissing his head.
“I’m not a baby, Mom,” he groans. I want to stick my tongue out at him and tell him tough, but instead, I drink a bit more sweet tea. “Come and see what I made.” He pulls me with him and my hand that was holding Beau’s is now hanging by my side. I stop and look over at him.
“I’ll come find you,” he tells me with a smile. “It’s going to be fine,” he says softly.
I follow Ethan through the backyard, and we come to a table that is under a tent. “Gramma,” he says, and I look over at Charlotte, who is preparing something on the plate. “Can I show Mom the pie I made?”
“Of course you can,” she says, wiping her hands on the white apron around her waist. “So good to see you, dear,” she says, grabbing my arms and kissing my cheek. My heart speeds up, and my hands start to get clammy. “You look pretty,” she says, and my tongue gets heavy while a lump forms in my throat. I take another gulp of the tea instead, and Ethan shows me the apple pie that he made with Charlotte. “He even put an E on it so he would know it was his.”
“I did it all by myself,” he says so proud. “I’m going to go play.”
“Not too far,” I say. “I think it might be time to eat soon.” He just turns and runs away.
“You did a good job,” Charlotte says from beside me. “He’s amazing.”
“Thank you,” I say, and she turns and walks away. I walk to a seat and sit down, almost as if I’m hiding.
Billy finds me with my empty glass of sweet tea. “I got you another glass,” he says, taking my empty one.
“Thank you,” I say, and he walks away. I sit in the chair all by myself and just people watch. I scan the crowd for Beau and find him talking to Casey and Jacob with a beer in his hand. I finish another glass of tea when I hear someone call my name and look over to see that it’s Kallie.
“I’ve been looking for you,” she says, sitting down on the empty chair beside me. She’s wearing a tank top and jean shorts, and has left her blond hair loose. “It’s a nice night out.”
“It is,” I say. I go to take another sip of the tea and find it’s empty. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she tells me. “It was harsh. I think it’s the chicken we ate from the rest stop.” Billy comes over and hands us both some sweet tea. “Dad,” Kallie starts. “You are going to have us rolling out of here.”
“I’m celebrating,” Billy says. “My son finally got his head out of his ass and found himself a gem.”