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“Okay, and what happens if she finds out her father did hurt this girl?”
Wade hisses, deciding to get right up in Savannah’s face, and I move faster than my brain can catch up.
“Don’t fuckin’ speak to her like that.” I shove him away from her, making the refrigerator rattle when I pin him against it.
Wade shakes his head and laughs at me, so I slam him back a little harder.
“I mean it, Wade. Speak to her like that again and I’ll—”
“Whoa now. Don’t be turning on each other.” Garrett steps in between us to force us apart, and the wise assed look Wade wears makes me want to knock his head off his shoulders.
“Now I agree, this is a terrible idea. But this ain’t Savannah’s fault. She’s just trying to help. We all know Leia’s been struggling, maybe thisiswhat she needs.”
“That's the dumbest thing I ever heard.” Wade shakes his head. “Can you honestly say that you don’t think the Mayor would have been capable of killing her too? The man had no soul. He killed our sister and then he killed Aubrey because she knew the reason why.” Just hearing him say her name feels like another punch to the gut. “Hell, if he didn’t have that solid alibi I’d say he killed Cora as well, we all know he was fuckin’ her.” Wade makes a solid point.
“With Bree and Aubrey, he had a reason, this happened four years ago to a girl who was just passing through, what would his motive been with her?” Garrett questions.
“How about the fact that he was a perverted fucking narcissist. That reason enough for ya?” Wade snarls. He always gets real touchy when we talk about Leia’s dad.
Garrett’s right when he says she’s been affected by the truth she uncovered. Leia loved her father; she even married a man she didn’t love to protect him. Killing him must have left a mark on her soul. But he gave her little choice. I hate to admit it, but I can see where Savannah is coming from.
“Just cool it, Wade. Let your girl help with this. Sounds to me like it’s a cold case. People go missing all the time, especially hikers,” Garrett points out, steadily releasing the grip he has on both our shirts.
“Am I free to leave now?” Savannah gets up from her chair. “I promised I’d help Mother Teresa with the babies while Maisie does some work in the studio.” She smiles at Wade sarcastically before she leaves the room and Wade waits for her to be gone before he speaks up again.
“I’m telling you now, Walker did it. Girls don’t just vanish without a trace, not pretty ones like that. She would have been on his radar.”
“Walker wasn’t a serial killer, Wade, he was a desperate man. He didn’t just have us to fear after he…” Garrett can’t even finish his sentence, which is just as well, because I don’t wanna fuckin’ hear it.
“He had Harvey to fear too. Harvey likes his puppets to be well-behaved, and since I’m one of those puppets, right now, this whole family has to watch how they act. That includes you beating up Masons for fun,” Garrett points his finger at me.
“They were goading you, you would have snapped eventually.”
“Not when my family are in jeopardy, Cole. I gotta hold back way more than my nerve right now, at least until we find a way out of this.
“You heard what Uncle Jimmer said at Thanksgiving. This is gonna be a long game, but we are gonna win it. Just don’t make it any harder for me to be a player.” He storms out the kitchen like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and leaves me and Wade alone.
“You really think he did it?” I pick up the photo of the girl from the table and stare into her eyes. It was brave for a girl her age to travel alone and says a lot about her character. It’s the kinda thing I can imagine Savannah doing. She don’t seem to fear much about the world either.
“You really think he didn’t?” Wade looks back at me.
“In this town, I don’t rule out a damn thing.” I place the poster back on the table before I head outside.
As I pass through the living room I hear Savannah talking to the baby whose diaper she’s changing, she’s softened her voice for him and is pulling stupid faces. Seeing it puts the most ridiculous thought in my head, one that I have to quickly shake away.
There was a time once when I thought about being a father, that all changed when the only woman I imagined being my kids' mother married another man. Aubrey was soft and gentle. The kind of woman that made a man like me think that maybe he could settle down and be a Father.
Savannah’s so different from her, she’s fiery and unpredictable. She’s bursting with fucking energy and she irritates the hell outta me. So the fact seeing her playing with my nephew is making me wonder if I could be that man again is beyond fuckin’ stupid.
I don’t know how long I stand and watch her, but Savannah notices me when she lifts the baby up into her arms, and she stares right back at me until it becomes so tense I have to turn and walk away.
“You weren’t at dinner?” I hear her voice come from behind me as I’m chopping through some logs.
“I ate at the bunkhouse.” I don’t stop swinging the ax and smashing it through the wood because I don’t want a conversation with her right now.
“I wanted to thank you. For standing up for me earlier.” She creeps up a little closer behind me and I focus on the log, clutching the ax even tighter.
“Wade was being an asshole.” I shrug like it ain’t a big deal, before taking another swing.
