AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This is not going at all how I pictured it would. I lick my lips and shove my hand through my short hair.
“Listen, Sav. About the other day…”
She puts up her hand to stop me.
“No need.” A determined smile hugs her lips. “I get it. Breaking up with your employee is awkward.”
Her words hit me like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head. I’m in utter shock.
“What??” I manage.
“Isn’t that what you were about to say?” Sav asks. She seems a bit wobbly.
I surge forward and grab her hands. She seizes up, looking at me with wide eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Savannah. The last thing in the world I want is to not see you anymore.”
The words come out in a rush. They aren’t particularly well thought out or perfectly put. But I have never meant anything more.
She squints at me. “Okay…”
“I’m sorry I was a dick. It’s… complicated.”
“You ducked out and took a call during Charlie’s play. Unless it was his mom, I don’t see what could possibly be complicated enough to make that okay?”
I blink. “You’re worried about Holly?”
She should be worried. She should feel like I’m being purposefully evasive. She should think that I’m an awful partner and dad.
I’m lying to Sav. Or at least not telling her the whole truth. I’m giving her vague answers instead of being honest about going to London. But I just can’t bring myself to do what I’ll have to do.
I have a choice to make between being with Sav or starting the new life I have planned for myself. One way or the other, I’ll have to give up something that I cherish.
Just not yet.
I slide my hands to her waist, and pull her flush against my body. She makes a soft sound and peers up at me as if I’m an enigma that she can’t quite figure out. Telling her the real reason why I’m being shady would only hurt her more in the long run. And I would deserve it if she decided to never speak to me again. So I’m lying… but it’s kind of for a good reason.
…right?
I push out a breath. “I’m sorry that I was a dick to you. I honestly didn’t mean to upset you.”
Sav licks her teeth. Anyone else would be scowling or maybe shouting at me. But instead, her body just remains stiff in my arms.
“Are you going to tell me what you were so upset about?”
I wince. “Yeah. Uh… it was a few things. Something with work. And my ex called me and said she’s coming to visit later this week.”
That’s a quarter of the truth at best. The fact that Holly called weeks ago was just another thing I was keeping from Sav.
“Wait… your ex as in, Charlie’s mom?”
Sav blinks. She seems to latch on to the bit about Holly. She must think Holly’s visit is the reason for my behavior, but that’s only partially true.
Holly will be here at the end of the week, after all. I allow Sav to be misled. I’m a giant douchebag for letting her believe what she’s glommed together from the breadcrumbs I have been feeding her.
It feels a lot like lying. I wince even as I tell Sav the morsel of truth.
