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“Am I not doing my job well?” Savannah pursed her adorable lips.
“You’re doing a magnificent job.” He hadn’t intended to upset her. “I doubt anyone could do it better.”
She tipped up her chin slightly, as if vindicated by his statement. “Has anyone accused me of being rude or unprofessional?”
“No, nor did I mean to imply that.” He leaned forward. “All I’m saying is…you’re new to town. So you probably don’t have many friends here. But maybe if you’d—”
“I didn’t come to Magnolia Lake to make friends, Blake. And I already have a family.”
Savannah had given him a clear signal that she didn’t want to discuss the topic any further, but she hadn’t shut the conversation down completely. There was something deep inside him that needed to know more about her.
“So tell me about your family.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
They’d talked so much about his family. Savannah shouldn’t be surprised he’d want to know about hers.
Not in a getting-to-know-you, we’re-on-a-date kind of way. In the way that was customary in Magnolia Lake. One part Southern hospitality. One part nosy-as-hell.
Had she not been determined to keep her personal life under wraps, she might’ve appreciated their interest.
She didn’t want to discuss her family with Blake or any Abbott. But she hadn’t gotten anywhere in her investigation. If she didn’t want to spend the rest of her natural life in this one-horse town, she needed to change her approach.
If the quickest route to getting answers was charming the handsome Blake Abbott, she’d have to swallow her pride, put on her biggest smile and do it. At the very least, that meant opening up about her life.
“I have a sister that’s a few years younger than me.”
“That your only sibling?”
“Yes.”
“What’s she like?”
“Laney’s brilliant. She’s been accepted as a PhD candidate at two different Ivy League schools. All of that despite being the mother of a rambunctious two-year-old.” A smile tightened Savannah’s cheeks whenever she talked about Laney or Harper. “Someday my sister is going to change the world. I just know it.”
“Sounds like Parker.” Blake grinned. “While the rest of us were outside running amok, he had his nose in a book. For him, being forced to go outside was his punishment.”
“Seems like his book obsession paid off.”
“A fact he doesn’t let any of us forget. Especially my mother.” Blake chuckled. “You and your sister…”
“Delaney.” No point in lying about her sister’s name. He could find that out easily enough.
“Are you close?”
“Very. Though with our age difference and the fact that we lost our parents when we were young, I sometimes act more like her mother than her sister. Something she doesn’t appreciate much these days.”
“Sorry to hear about your parents. How’d you lose them, if you don’t mind me asking?”
She did mind. But this wasn’t about what she wanted. She needed Blake to trust her.
“The crappy little tenement we lived in burned down to the ground. Lightning hit the building and the whole thing went up in no time.” She could feel the heat and smell the smoke. That night forever etched in her brain. “A lot of the families we knew growing up lost their lives that night.”
“How’d you and your sister get out?” There was a pained expression on Blake’s face. It was more empathy than pity.
A distinction she appreciated.
“My dad worked second shift. When he arrived home the building was in flames. He saved me and my sister and a bunch of our neighbors, but he went back to save my mother and…” A tightness gripped her chest and tears stung her eyes. She inhaled deeply and refused to let them fall. “He didn’t make it back out.”
“Savannah.” Blake’s large hand covered her smaller one. “I’m sorry.”
The small gesture consoled her. Yet if not for what Blake’s grandfather had done, her life would be very different.
She couldn’t know for sure if her parents would still be with her. But they wouldn’t have been living in a run-down housing project that had been cited for countless violations. And they wouldn’t have lost their lives that stormy night.
“Thank you.” Savannah slipped her hand from beneath his. “But it was such a long time ago. I was only nine. My sister was barely four. She hardly remembers our parents.”
“Who raised you two?”
“My grandfather.” She couldn’t help smiling. “I didn’t want to go live with him. When my parents were alive he’d always seemed so grumpy. He didn’t approve of my dad. He’d hoped my mother would marry someone who had more to offer financially. But after my dad gave his life trying to save my mom… He realized too late what a good guy my father was.” She shoved the last of her food around her plate. “He’s been trying to make it up to them ever since.”
