Chapter 27

twenty-seven

“What’s wrong?” Fallon’s heart was in her throat, but Savannah stood in front of her like she’d been smacked in the face by a wombat on Mars.

“N-nothing’s wrong. Why are you here?”

Fallon narrowed her eyes in confusion. When she’d gotten the text, which had been odd in and of itself, she’d texted back. When she’d heard nothing, she’d called, and now she was standing in front of Savannah after hearing nothing for the last forty minutes and fearing the worst.

“Is he here?” Fallon said, wanting to force her way inside if Savannah and Brinley were in some type of danger. She might have been the only person that Savannah could reach to help her with whatever situation she was stuck in.

“Who? Forrest?”

“Yes. Who else would I be asking about?” She really wanted to push her way inside, check out the place, and make sure that Savannah and Brinley were safe, but she was stuck outside the door and unable to see inside. Was Forrest holding them hostage?

“Fallon, what’s going on?” Savannah opened the door a little wider, and finally Fallon was able to see clearly inside.

No one was there.

The hall was empty. What she could see of the living room was empty. If Forrest was there, surely he would have come out by now, right? Fallon canted her head and held her stance. “You texted, and when I tried to get hold of you, you didn’t answer.”

“I had my phone on silent.” Savannah lifted her phone up to show Fallon, as if that would prove why she didn’t answer. And while it did, that didn’t exactly put Fallon in the best mindset.

“But you texted.”

“I didn’t text you.” Savannah furrowed her brow. “I thought after the other day that whatever was between us was done.”

“It’s not…” Fallon bit her lip and clenched her jaw. Had she really left Savannah with that impression? She hadn’t meant to do that. She’d simply meant that she needed a bit more time to come to a decision. “You scared me when you didn’t text me back.”

“I didn’t text you to begin with.”

The elevator dinged behind Fallon, and she watched as Savannah visibly tensed and stepped back from the door.

“Come inside already.”

Fallon moved into the apartment, surprised when Savannah’s first reaction was to shut and lock the door—every lock she had. Normally she’d leave it, especially if Fallon wasn’t going to be there very long, but this time felt different. Savannah seemed off.

Gripping Savannah’s upper arm, Fallon pulled her close. There was fear in her eyes—Fallon hadn’t mistaken that. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you in this or not?” Savannah asked, exhaustion clutching at the edges of her tone.

“What?” Fallon’s heart shuddered like she’d been stabbed. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“But why are you here?”

“You texted me.”

“Fallon, I didn’t text you.” Savannah scoffed and started toward the living room. Fallon followed her, watching every step she took, the way her hips moved side to side and her feet dragged a little more than normal. “I don’t know why you keep saying that.”

“Because you did.” Fallon pulled her phone out of her purse and unlocked it. She shoved the screen in front of Savannah’s face. There, right on it, was a text from Savannah.

Savannah: Come over now.

Savannah’s eyes widened, and she took the phone, pushing her thumb against it so that she could see what time it was sent. “I didn’t text you.”

“I did.” Brinley’s small voice echoed from the edge of the hallway where she peeked around the corner.

“Brin!” Savannah scolded. “You weren’t supposed to come out until I came to get you.”

Brinley shrugged and dragged her feet as she walked closer to where they were. She leaned against Fallon’s side and wrapped her arm around Fallon’s waist in a side-hug. Fallon flicked her gaze from mother to daughter, trying desperately to figure out what to say and do. She’d been duped by a nine-year-old, which she really didn’t appreciate. But at the same time, there was something else going on here that she didn’t know about, something that was setting off warning bells—one after the other.

Savannah not texting back.

The way Savannah had opened the door.

The fear at the sound of the elevator.

Sliding the locks as soon as possible.

Brinley banished to her room.

“Brinley,” Fallon said, her voice dropping to as calm a register as she could manage. “Would you give your mother and me a few minutes to talk?”

“But you just got here.”

“I promise I’ll come sit with you for a bit when we’re done talking.” Fallon squeezed Brinley’s shoulders in another side-hug. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Brinley frowned, but she did start to walk back toward her room.

Fallon waited until she heard the click of the door before she sat down next to Savannah. She moved slowly, scared to frighten Savannah any more than she already was. “What’s going on, Savannah?”

“Nothing’s going on.” Savannah grabbed her plate of food and started shoving bite after bite in her mouth.

Fallon knew she was going to have to take this one step by step. “Why aren’t you telling me?”

“Because it’s none of your business.”

The cold shoulder was unexpected, though it probably shouldn’t have been. Fallon had essentially told her they were over and done, hadn’t she? She’d just meant that she needed more time, and perhaps she needed more information.

“You’re afraid,” Fallon tried again, needing to push for some kind of answer before she would leave here knowing that Savannah would be all right.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m afraid.” Savannah looked Fallon directly in the eye. “It doesn’t affect you.”

“If you think that your life and your feelings don’t affect me, then I’ve been going about this all wrong.” Fallon clenched her fists before purposely relaxing them. She leaned back into the couch and crossed her ankle over her knee. “Because I care, more than I should.”

Savannah paused. “You don’t care.”

“Don’t tell me what I do and don’t feel.” Fallon reached over and touched Savannah’s arm. “I came over because you texted me—or so I thought—and you didn’t answer when I called. You scared me, Savannah.”

“I don’t want to believe you.” Tears were in Savannah’s eyes, and Fallon had no doubt that she was struggling to keep herself under control.

“Then that’s your choice.” Fallon relaxed, determined that she wasn’t going to leave just yet. Savannah was out of sorts, and until she was much calmer, Fallon wasn’t going to abandon her. Still, she wasn’t sure what to say or do if she didn’t know the details. “Want me to entertain Brinley for a bit?”

“If you would.” Savannah wiped the tears from her cheeks. “She needs to do her homework.”

“Please tell me it’s not history. Anything but that.”

Savannah’s look told her it was exactly that.

“Wonderful,” Fallon muttered as she pushed herself to stand. She said nothing else as she left Savannah alone to collect herself.

Brinley was sitting on her bed, scrolling through something on her phone. Fallon prepared herself to be the entertainer of the year tonight. It was what she had to do to make sure that Brinley stayed out of Savannah’s hair for a little while.

Slipping onto the edge of the bed, Fallon glanced at the phone. “Doom scrolling isn’t good for your soul.”

Brinley flicked her gaze to Fallon’s. “What?”

“Get off the videos.” Fallon held out her hand for the phone and put it on the nightstand.

“Dad said Mom won’t call him back.”

“She might not want to talk to him right now.” Fallon looked around the room, hoping that Brinley’s backpack was somewhere close by. “Your mom said you have homework?”

Brinley groaned and rolled her eyes, turning on her side and curling into a ball. “I don’t wanna do my homework.”

“Tough luck, kid. That’s not something you can get out of.”

Brinley pouted and took her sweet time pulling her body from the bed and stomping her way toward her backpack. Normally Fallon would have told her to lighten her feet, but tonight didn’t seem like the night for that.

They spent an hour doing Brinley’s homework together and working through the frustration that stemmed from the fact that they were doing the homework when neither of them really wanted to. Finally they closed the last reading book, and Fallon stretched her back, putting her hands on the small of her back as she added pressure to make the ache go away.

“Why don’t you have any kids?” Brinley asked.

Fallon tensed instantly. “I didn’t want kids.”

“What?” Brinley squinted at her.

“I didn’t want kids, not kids of my own anyway.”

“Why?”

Fallon cringed. This was not a conversation she wanted to have with an inquisitive nine-year-old. Sighing, she tried to think of the best and easiest way to explain it, and then she gave up. “Not everyone wants the same things in life, and I didn’t want to have a baby of my own.”

“But if you married someone who had a kid? Would you want them then?”

“I don’t plan on getting married.” Fallon stood up and stretched again, more uncomfortable than ever with this line of questioning.

“What? Why?”

“Not everyone wants to get married.”

“Just like not everyone wants kids,” Brinley surmised.

“Exactly. We should probably go check on your mom.” Fallon glanced toward the door, but she didn’t move toward it. She wasn’t sure what she’d be walking into when she went out there, and she was already thrown off enough by what had happened so far. She didn’t have any more answers than she’d arrived with. In fact, everything she’d suspected from the moment she’d left her apartment had been true. Savannah was hurting, and she was scared. Brinley had been worried, which was why she’d texted.

“Mom doesn’t want to talk.”

“I didn’t say she had to talk.” Fallon held her hand out for Brinley, hoping that she’d take it so Fallon could lead her out of the room they’d been confined in for hours. “I said let’s check on her.”

“Fallon…” Brinley looked nervous. She couldn’t raise her gaze to meet Fallon’s, and she stared at her toes. “Will you help me surprise my mom?”

“Surprise her?”

“For Mother’s Day.”

Fallon’s shoulders ached from the tension in them. She’d forgotten that was in a few weeks. She hadn’t celebrated since she was a kid, and she hated every moment at school when they’d do something for their mothers. It had gotten to the point that Tia had come down to the school year after year to yell at them and finally forced enough of an argument that Fallon had been removed from class during those activities.

“W-what did you have in mind?” Fallon’s heart fluttered hard. She couldn’t do this. It would be too hard. It wasn’t that Savannah didn’t deserve it, it was that Fallon couldn’t be that kind of support for her.

“Will you help me cook her dinner? A fancy dinner,” Brinley added.

“Fancy?” Fallon nearly choked.

“Yeah, so she doesn’t have to do anything that night.” Excitement poured off Brinley now, her energy returning to that of a normal kid. “I want to clean the whole house for her and cook her dinner.”

“All right.” Fallon blew out a breath. “I think I can help with that.”

But she really didn’t. Still, the way Brinley was looking at her, Fallon was going to have a really hard time telling her no.

“Thank you!” Brinley was back to hugging her.

Fallon finally extricated herself from Brinley’s grasp and made her way back to the living room. Savannah was staring at the screen in a daze with an empty bowl of ice cream on the table.

“I did my homework!” Brinley shouted excitedly as she came into the room and launched herself on top of Savannah for a hug.

“Good job, baby.” Savannah looked at Fallon.

“She did great,” Fallon added. She glanced at her watch and checked the time. “I should probably be leaving.”

“Do you have to?” Brinley whined.

“I do. But I keep my promises, Brin. So don’t worry about that.”

Savannah looked confused, as she should. Fallon was going to have to figure out a good meal for Savannah, one that she would enjoy and was complicated but easy to make. And she’d probably have to plan to come over early to help clean the house as well. And hopefully Brinley had a plan for keeping Savannah out of their hair.

“Good.” Brinley waved at Fallon.

“See you around, Savannah.” Fallon picked up her purse and prepared to leave.

Savannah didn’t move, staying as still as possible on the couch as she watched Fallon with rapt attention.

“Please call me if you need something—anything, Savannah. I mean that.”

“I’ll call you!” Brinley chimed.

Fallon hummed a laugh. “I think you’re going to be told to stay away from your mom’s phone for a while.”

“Agreed,” Savannah said, running her hand up and down Brinley’s back.

Fallon said nothing else as she started toward the front door. She didn’t want to know what Savannah was thinking or why everyone had been frightened when she showed up, yet seemed far calmer now.

She reached the door and turned sharply when Savannah’s hand was on her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” Fallon bit out the words. But her racing heart and tense muscles told her Savannah had been right. “Fine, you did. I’m not used to unexpected touches. Even from Brinley.”

“I can tell her not to hug you, if you’d prefer.”

Fallon shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll probably be seeing a lot less of her now.”

“Probably,” Savannah chimed. “I wanted to say thank you for coming tonight. Even if you didn’t know what was going on.”

“Right, that.” Fallon held her ground, waiting for Savannah to explain more, but she didn’t. She stayed silent, holding firm to the fact that she wasn’t going to share anything beyond what she’d already shared. Fallon shook her head and reached for the doorknob again. “Well, if you ever decide to tell me, let me know.”

“It’s not that simple, Fallon, and you know it.”

“I don’t know it.” Fallon pursed her lips. “I’ve never seen you so scared, Savannah.”

Savannah nodded. “Yeah. I was.”

“And now?”

“Not so much.” Savannah reached for Fallon’s hand. “Thanks for that.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You were here.” Savannah gave her a weak smile. “And for tonight, that was enough.”

“I don’t like it.” Fallon squeezed Savannah’s hand tightly. “I really don’t.”

“Tough luck.” Savannah gave a half-hearted wink and a true smile this time.

Just her lips curving upward, the way they were supposed to, the way that lit her up from the inside out, was exactly what Fallon needed. “All right, then.”

Fallon stepped away. She had to leave now. They weren’t on the other side of this. In fact, they were no closer than they had been before. They were probably farther from it. Savannah didn’t trust her anymore, and that said more than Fallon could imagine with words.

“I’ll see you around, Savannah.”

“See you, Fallon.” Savannah smiled again, and that was the memory that Fallon would take away as she left. “Thank you.”

If only Fallon hadn’t ruined the one good thing she had going for her. If only she’d been able to overcome her fear faster. Then maybe she wouldn’t have lost Savannah in the process. But at least now she knew. There would be no going back to what they were. Not ever again.