We didn’t make any long-term plans at the table that night, but we did figure out everyone’s schedules so Killian and I would never be anywhere alone, at least until we could come up with a more solid plan.
Tuesday morning, Dad called to check on me. “Your mother did much better last night, and she’s hoping you’ll come in today. She’s also very anxious to meet Killian, Savannah. Of course, she was surprised, and she even cried a little, but she’s chomping at the bit to get out of here now. She wants to get home to you both as soon as she can.” He chuckled, and the sound of it was the music of home to my ears. “She doesn’t want her first time meeting her grandson to be in a hospital bed. Her doctor is pleased to see her so motivated.”
My relief surprised me—I’d thought I was more worried about my father’s reaction to Killian than my mother’s—and I had to swipe away the tears that overflowed while I talked to him. I didn’t want him to know I was crying. They were happy tears, and I didn’t want him to worry for no reason.
“Jordan is going to bring me in today so you don’t have to come pick me up.” I told him about Stella keeping Killian. “And Tish is picking me up when she gets out of classes this afternoon. You just worry about being there for Mom, and I’ll figure out how to get there and back as often as I can.”
I got off the phone and had just turned away when it rang again. “Did you forget something?” I asked into the handset, smiling as memories about my father, deep in thought about some Bible passage or sermon he was preparing, forgetting things like where he’d left his glasses—usually on his head—or his coffee cup—sometimes in his hand.
The other end of the line remained quiet. Had he redialed by accident?
“Dad?” I pulled the cordless phone away from my ear and looked at the little digital screen. It still showed the call time running. From an Unknown Caller.
Marek. Terrified beyond measure, I threw the phone away from me. It skittered across the counter and crashed to the floor. A clear plastic piece flew off and bounced against a cabinet door.
At that moment, Jordan pulled open the front screen door and called out, “You two ready to go?”
He found me rooted to the spot, staring at the handset a few feet away. “Savannah? What happened? Where’s Killian?” With each question, his voice tightened with alarm.
“Wi—with Sebastian. In the backyard playing with Pete.”
“Did he call here?” Jordan asked quietly as he bent over and retrieved the phone off the floor. He snapped the screen cover that had popped off back into place, held the phone to his ear, and shook his head. “No one’s there.” But he pushed the End Call button several times before placing it in the dock on the counter.
He turned back to me. Something in my expression, or the bloodless tone of my skin, made him reach for me. “Come here,” he muttered, pulling me to him. My knees buckled a little. “Whoa,” he said, adjusting his footing to keep us both upright. He backed up a few steps, drawing me with him, and leaned against the counter for support. “Breathe, baby. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
We were still standing that way when Sebastian swept into the kitchen with Killian riding piggyback. Pete pranced along behind them, his tongue lolling out one side of his mouth. Sebastian pulled up short when he saw us, and then veered off toward the living room. “We’ll meet you at the Ransome’s,” he called back over his shoulder, and the three of them swept out the front door together, Killian whooping like a giddy cowboy.
I took one last fortifying breath and stepped back, but Jordan kept his hands on my waist, preventing me from putting more distance between us. “I need to get Killian’s bag.” I felt completely disarmed at that moment, wanting his comfort way too much, but knowing I needed to learn to stand on my own two feet just as badly.
“You going to be okay?”
I nodded, and he chuckled. “There you go again, nodding your head. You can tell me the truth, you know.”
I wanted to dive back into his embrace and say, Now that you’re here, yes, yes, yes! But I shrugged one shoulder and tried to smile, my lips feeling a little rubbery. “Honestly? I don’t know. I’m scared, Jordan. I know that was him. He called here and I answered, thinking it was my dad. And now he knows for sure I’m here.”
“Don’t answer the phone anymore.”
“I won’t, but it’s a day late and a dollar short, isn’t it? And aren’t you making light of this whole thing? Just last night you and your posse were trying to stage an intervention. Well? It’s happening, Jordan. That was him!” I put my hands on his chest and tried to push away, but he held on. In frustration, I pushed harder. “Let me go, Jordan. I can’t think straight when you’re standing so close.”
Jordan grinned, tipping his head in a cocky gesture. “Really?”
I closed my eyes in embarrassment, wishing I could take back the words. “Please.” I pushed again, suddenly remembering something. “Or I’ll tickle you.”
“Really?” he asked again, drawing me closer, spreading his feet a little wider so I was standing between his legs. “And do you remember what happened the last time you tickled me?”
“You screamed like a little girl?” But I did remember. We were lying on a blanket in the backyard, his fingers laced behind his head, our bodies close, but not touching, because July nights in Southern California rarely dipped below seventy degrees before midnight, and it was too hot to press up against each other without sticking. We were trying to count the stars in the night sky and making up silly names for each one. When he pointed at Orion’s Belt and dubbed the middle star Savannah Banana, I reached over and tickled his rib cage. He did scream like a little girl.
And after he screamed like a little girl, he rolled over and pinned me to the ground, bracing my hands on either side of my head. And then he kissed me. Sweetly at first, tiny soft nibbles at the corners of my mouth that made my breath come quick and shallow, and then harder, his lips molding to mine, moving slowly, methodically, like he was memorizing the shape of my mouth with his. He lowered himself to his elbows, and I sighed as the length of his body pressed against mine. I started to tug my hands free so I could wrap my arms around him, but he held tight, lifting his head enough so he could look at my face.
“Don’t move,” he whispered, his breath warm on my cheek. “Please… just let me capture this moment in my heart, so I can take it back to school with me when I go.” I stilled, letting him look at me in the glow of the porchlight from across the yard, shy, but reveling in his admiration. “You are so beautiful to me, Savannah Clark.” He lowered his head and kissed me again, deeply, urgently. Then he rolled away, his chest rising and falling like the ebb and flow of the ocean.
“I love you, Jordan,” I whispered in reply, a shy seventeen-year-old girl emboldened by what I’d seen in his eyes when he looked at me.
He reached over and laced his fingers with mine. “Sweet Savannah,” he murmured, a smile spreading across his features. “You are all that is home to me. The center of my universe.” He pointed at the star he’d named for me, the middle one in the row of three that made up the heavenly hunter’s belt. “Whenever I’m missing you, I only have to look up to find my way home again.” It mattered little that he hadn’t said the words I love you back to me that night; I’d read between the lines and heard them anyway.
“I remember,” I said softly now, my head down.
“Best night ever,” Jordan replied, his voice just as soft. I nodded, knowing he wouldn’t reprimand me for doing so in this instance. “Your star got me through some pretty dark nights, Savannah Banana.”
“I’m glad.” I hated to change the subject, but I knew he had to get to work. I also didn’t want Killian to think I’d let him go without saying goodbye. “But Jordan, at some point, you know I’m going to have to deal with him. He’s Killian’s—”
“Father. Yes, I know. Will you do something for me?” He wiggled my hips a little, not suggestively, but more like he wanted to shake me. “Will you please stop reminding me of that? I know Marek is Killian’s father, okay? It doesn’t change the fact that he’s also a monster. Deal?”
“Deal.” I couldn’t argue with any of what he said, and I had to admit, it did sound a little like I was waving it around like a flag.
“Thank you.” He paused, and then one side of his mouth started to hitch, a hint of humor in his eyes. “So will you make me one more?” There was a hint of humor in his eyes now.
I stepped back. This time, he let me go. He crossed his arms and locked eyes with me.
“One more deal?” I asked, wary and flustered. I resisted the urge to hide behind something.
“If I let you tickle me again, will you let me kiss you under the stars again?”
I turned and hurried from the room, my face warm and flushed with something like happiness. I’d almost forgotten about Marek’s call.
Almost.