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And then I’d decided I was being an idiot.
Trust wasn’t something you couldn’t flip on and off like a light switch. I’d hurt her years earlier without meaning to. And she knew my history with women.
So did Sean.
Our relationship was still new. And Sav had been a virgin before me.
I realized I was expecting a lot from someone who’d always been insecure about herself, at least when it came to men. I needed to be more patient than that.
She’d trust me completely one day, and it took her some time to get there, I’d just have to deal with that. And I’d keep proving how much I loved her, and how safe it was to trust me, every day until then.
Sav was worth the effort.
It was going to be damned hard to romance her and teach her to trust me if she broke things off, though.
My phone rang. Jackson Sparks. I had the dark thought that maybe he wanted to buy back the second floor, save Sav from having to see me all the time. I wouldn’t blame him if he tried.
“I’ll give it to you straight,” Jackson said, when I answered.
“Okay.”
“You were a damn fool for going to that hotel with a woman.”
“Jackson, it was a business—”
“I know it, son. And I believe you that it was completely innocent. But you’ve spent too many years with too many women, doing whatever you wanted without a care, and I guess you don’t understand how things will have to change if you’re going to be with Sav.”
I almost told him that it didn’t look like I was going to be, but I couldn’t make myself say the words.
“Chris, when you’re in a serious relationship, you can’t go to a hotel with another woman, especially not without telling the person you’re in the relationship with. I don’t care if she’s a business associate or the damn queen of Sheba. You don’t want to even give the appearance you’re doing something wrong, because people talk, and where love’s concerned, people don’t always think clearly. Do you follow me?”
I’d been so intent on surprising Sav, I hadn’t even considered any of that. “You’re right, Jackson. I guess Ihavespent too long as a bachelor that I didn’t even think.”
“You could have at least toldmewho she was. And at least some of this could have been avoided.”
I remembered him being behind the register when I left with Melanie. “You never asked me about her.”
“Wasn’t any of my business. And I had no reason to think you were up to anything. Only a complete moron would bring a woman he was sneaking around with to the bookstore where his girlfriend works.”
“Then—”
“Before you ask why Sav didn’t see it that way, I’m on the outside. I can be objective. She’s so tied in knots over you it’s a wonder she can’t get her shoes on the right feet.”
I chuckled at that, and I felt a little warmed that Jackson was trying hard to help.
“Okay, I’ve been an idiot. But I told her what happened, and I don’t think she wants to see me anymore. We just talked, and . . . I think I upset her when I left.”
“She was upset, but it wasn’t just because of that. Sav messed up too, and she knew it.”
“What if she can’t get past everything, Jackson,” I asked. “What if—”
“I’ll tell you something Sav’s grandmother said to me when we first got married and I stayed out too long with a couple of friends one Friday night, leaving her to worry I was crashed in a ditch somewhere. Boy, I had some making up to do for that, and I thought she’d be upset with me for months about it. She wasn’t. And it wasn’t the last time I screwed up during our marriage, either. But we were as much in love the day she passed as we were the day I asked her to be my wife.”
His voice had gotten thick, so he cleared his throat. “She used to say, ‘Love forgives.’ And Sav’s more like her than she realizes. If she loves you, and I think she does, she’ll forgive you.”
I couldn’t speak, Jackson’s story moving me almost to the point of tears.
“You going to give up on her, Christopher?”
