Last Chance Book Club(17)
Author: Hope Ramsay

“Hettie, do you want the theater renovated or not? Because if you want it renovated and you want me to pay for it, then it’s got to be done on the QT. I’m only trying to do what you asked me to do, you realize that, don’t you?”

Hettie’s gaze didn’t soften one iota. He’d come in here with all his flags flying, determined to be all she wanted in a man, and here she was arguing with him.

“Half a million dollars? You think she’ll need that much?” Hettie asked.

Dash shrugged to hide the disappointment that almost overwhelmed him. What the hell did he have to do to please Hettie, anyway? “The structure needs work,” he said through his clenched teeth. “I want Savannah to have enough money to hire an architect who could preserve the history of the building. I don’t want to lowball this. I want her to have the means to do it right.”

“That’s really nice, Dash, doing this for your cousin, even though you don’t get along,” Sarah said.

“I’m not doing it for my cousin.” He glanced at Hettie, whose expression remained utterly neutral.

He was a fool. He couldn’t buy her love for any price. And he couldn’t earn it either. Hettie was never going to love him the way he loved her.

The truth should have devastated him, but it didn’t. It was just one more truth he had to soberly face as a part of his recovery.

He couldn’t win her love, but he could make atonement, especially for his failure to live up to the expectations of Aunt Mim and Uncle Earnest. The kink in his gut eased, and a sense of purpose replaced it.

There were other, better reasons for him to help Savannah revive The Kismet.

“I cared a lot about Earnest Brooks,” he said. “And I know he would appreciate it if I helped his granddaughter. I’m doing this for him. You could say this is sort of like one of my twelve steps.”

Chapter 9

Four days later, Savannah and Todd sat at the kitchen table, doing their homework together. Todd was working on social studies. Savannah was working on her business plan.

Todd let go of a big sigh. “I don’t know why I need to learn about South Carolina history. It’s not like I’m going to live here for that long. Dad is going to come any day now, and Champ and I will be out of here.”

Savannah didn’t rise to the bait. Todd had made it abundantly clear that he hated almost everything about Last Chance, except for the dog. He hated his new teachers at the middle school. He hated having to do chores around the house. He whined incessantly about everything, especially the fact that Bill Ellis was coming to dinner every other night.

Savannah felt like whining about that, too. But Miriam kept inviting the preacher. And Bill kept coming even though Savannah had done everything in her power to discourage him. Maybe she should switch shifts at the doughnut shop so she wouldn’t be available for supper.

Of course, then she wouldn’t be able to cook for the family either. She didn’t like that idea. Not one bit. She loved having a crowd to cook for.

Todd turned back to his textbook, and she continued to work on putting together an estimated profit and loss statement. As she punched numbers into her cell phone’s calculator, she remembered why she had flunked math so many times.

She was just no good at this stuff.

Just then the phone buzzed to life. The caller ID screen flashed, and Todd saw it before Savannah could send the call to her voice mail.

“It’s Grandmother.” He squinted at her. His look was a dare that Savannah couldn’t pass up. No way she was showing Todd how much his paternal grandmother scared her.

So she sucked it up and answered the call. “Hey.”

“My God, you’ve been there for two weeks and already you sound like a hick.” Claire White’s clipped voice came over the line. Claire would never sound like a hick. She had proper diction. Claire had gone to the best finishing schools and then to Barnard College. She had married Daniel White, a Harvard grad and a high-powered attorney.

Savannah’s defensiveness climbed like the mercury on the porch thermometer on a hot day. The Whites had always looked down on her. They had challenged her abilities as a wife, a mother, and a human being. She wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans. “Hello, Claire. What can I do for you today?”

“You can come back where you belong.”

She cast her gaze over Granny’s wonderful kitchen. She felt more at home in this room than she had ever felt anywhere.

“I’ve decided to stay here to look after my aunt. She’s getting up in years. You and Daniel are welcome to visit anytime.” There, she had spoken in a cool and calm voice even though Todd was staring at her as if she were the worst mommy in the entire universe.

“Now, Savannah, you can’t be serious. We’re expecting you home next week. Remember, Todd has an interview with the Gilman School. You don’t want to deprive your son of something like that, now, do you?”

Savannah gripped the phone a little tighter and counted to three. “Todd isn’t going to the Gilman School next year.”

“But it’s the best school in Baltimore.”

“Todd won’t be living in Baltimore.”

Todd slammed his book closed and stood up, knocking over the kitchen chair in the process. He gave Savannah one of those dramatic preteen looks and then marched out of the room. A moment later she heard the screen door slam.

“Now, Savannah, see here. Greg went to Gilman. Daniel went to Gilman. Your son is going to go to Gilman. There is no debate on this topic.”

“Well, he can’t go to Gilman if he’s living in South Carolina.”

“Greg is not going to be pleased about this.”

Ha! Greg wouldn’t give a rat’s behind about any of this. Greg had hated every minute at Gilman and had rebelled when his father wanted him to go to Harvard. Greg had wanted to play football, and he’d eventually ended up at University of Maryland on a football scholarship, thereby depriving his parents of the ability to control him.

When Savannah had first met him, he’d been a barrel of fun. But that hadn’t lasted, had it? He’d gotten sullen when he didn’t make it all the way to the NFL. He’d eventually gone to law school, and now her ex was too busy screwing his twenty-two-year-old paralegal to care about anything his parents or his ex-wife wanted.

“Savannah, are you listening to me?” Claire said after several beats of silence. “You cannot be seriously thinking of enrolling Todd in public school.”

“I’ve already done it.”

“In rural South Carolina?”

“Well, that’s the general idea, Claire. I’m going to settle here, and Todd is going to live with me and go to school. You tell Greg that, if he wants a relationship with Todd, I’m more than willing to speak with him. But Claire, your son has not even spoken to Todd in more than three months.” Savannah’s heart rate spiked, and every muscle tensed. She was suddenly very angry, and she hated the way it felt.

The silence stretched into what seemed like an eternity. “There is no need to be tart with me, young lady. Your mother and I are in total agreement. You can’t deny Todd this opportunity. He’s a bright boy. Just think of the connections he will make. Gilman is one of the best schools in the nation.”

Savannah’s stomach churned as the anger turned to anxiety. She looked down at the legal pad where she was struggling to put together a business plan. She had to be crazy. Maybe she was being selfish for no reason at all. Gilman was a great school. Todd would be accepted regardless of his grades because he had a family tree filled with alums. Maybe she should reconsider.

She stood up, righted the overturned chair, and then moved to the window. She pulled aside the curtain. What met her gaze changed everything in an instant.

Todd was in the back yard throwing a Frisbee for Champ to chase. He didn’t look angry anymore. He was smiling. He was happy. And then to her surprise, the Frisbee came flying back at Todd. He had to jump up to catch it. His cheeks were red, but there was a spark in his eye that hadn’t been there before.

A second later, Dash came into view. He was carrying a football under his arm.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Claire said. It was amazing that the woman had remained so quiet for so many moments. No doubt Claire thought she’d scored a bunch of points.

“Yes, Claire, I do have something to say. There are more important things than getting my son into the best school in the mid-Atlantic. There are lessons he can learn here that are just as important.” Her heart dropped back into its proper place, and a deep sense of rightness settled over her.

“Savannah, don’t be stupid. You know good and well that you and Greg have a custody arrangement. He could demand that you bring Todd back.”

Boy, that would be the day. Savannah refrained from saying that out loud. Instead she took a big breath and spoke in the calmest voice she could muster. “Claire, I have no desire to keep you away from your grandson. You’re welcome to visit him here if you like. But I’m not coming back to Baltimore. If Greg wants time with Todd, he needs to call me and we can work something out.”

“Well,” came Claire’s clipped voice on the other end of the line, “we’ll see about this. Savannah, you don’t want to cross me.”

“You can’t scare me, Claire. I’ve made up my mind.”

“You’ll be sorry.” The line clicked dead.

Claire wasn’t finished making threats and stirring up trouble, but Savannah refused to worry about it.

Because right now Savannah’s kissing cousin was doing something Todd’s father had never, ever, done for him.

He was playing catch in the backyard.

Dash leaned back against the porch rocker and glanced at his watch. It was just after nine o’clock. Before Dottie had banished him, this was the time he usually headed down to The Spot to drown his sorrows. Of course, a man could hardly drown much in a glass of Coca-Cola, but hanging out at Dot’s and listening to the Wild Horses on a Friday night seemed safer than hanging out here where he was likely to bump into Savannah and her long-stemmed legs.

He’d been noticing those legs a whole lot more these last few days, since his meeting with the girls on Monday at the Pig Place. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but he’d burned a bridge that night. He’d even talked about it yesterday at the AA meeting. He’d sworn off Hettie like he’d sworn off booze. And he felt much better. Hettie had been an addiction, too.

This realization should have underscored the danger of feeling any kind of attraction for any woman. It should have made him comfortable with the advice they always gave newly recovered alcoholics—to stay away from romantic entanglements.

It was good advice because Dash was starting to feel as if he might have swapped one addiction for another.

The warning signs were clear. He had carefully timed Savannah’s morning routine and rearranged his own to ensure that he’d meet her at the bathroom door every morning.

And then he would race through his shower and shave so he could have a few minutes alone with Savannah drinking the magic elixir she made in Aunt Mim’s coffeemaker.