Chapter Ten

 

 

The weekend before Christmas was supposed to be fun. Instead, Savannah felt as though she were going through the motions. She did go to the play with Mom and Dad. It was awesome, and all the people who put so much work into putting it together did a fabulous job. Granny Mary directed it with style as always. But it just wasn’t the same without Baxter. The entire time, she kept replaying their conversation in her head. Was there something she should’ve said differently? Had she missed a cue somewhere along the way that might’ve prepared her for what was happening now? She only wished she knew.

Now it was Christmas Eve. Savannah stared at the countertop as she held her phone to her ear.

“You haven’t heard from him at all?” Katrina asked in disbelief.

“Not a word. He came by and finished the front deck at some point last week while I was at work. He was gone before I got home.” Savannah sighed. “It’s like he was a ghost that just appeared one day and then disappeared the next.” A ghost who’d managed to worm his way into her heart. “Was this all a game? Find the girl who used to hate him and see if he could get her to change her mind?” Even she was surprised by the sarcasm and resentment that dripped from her words. She sighed. “I wish I knew what I did wrong.”

“I don’t think you did anything wrong, Savannah. Whatever happened was all him, or at least partially him. It really doesn’t make any sense. I know you were looking forward to bringing him to Mom and Dad’s house tonight. Are you still coming?”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Savannah forced herself to smile even if her sister couldn’t really see it. “I’ve got cookies baking in the oven as we speak.” She glanced at the timer and noted that she had only a few minutes left. That would finish up the chocolate chip cookie batter. Next would be apricot.

“Oh! Did you hear?” Katrina’s voice rose in excitement. “They’re saying we should get snow today.”

“Really?” Savannah sat up straighter and glanced at the clock. It was almost eleven in the morning. “Oh, I hope so!” See? This only proved that she needed to dig herself out of her pity party and focus on the fact that it’s Christmas. She enjoyed the holiday before Baxter came back to Romance. He might have made her crazy over this last week, but she wasn’t about to let him take Christmas from her, too.

A whine at the back door had her up and looking around the corner to find Nellie staring at the yard, her nose pressed against the glass. “Hold on, I need to let the dogs out real fast.”

The moment she opened the sliding glass door, Nessie magically appeared from somewhere else in the house. Both dogs ran across the newly stained porch and into the grass to do their thing.

Savannah swallowed hard. Everything reminded her of Baxter now. Working on the porch together. Even the fact she could now go back to sitting in the kitchen and not have to worry about the dogs escaping through a hole in the fence.

“You still there, Savannah?”

Katrina’s voice pulled Savannah from her thoughts. “Yeah, I’m here. Is it silly to hope for enough snow that we get stuck at Mom and Dad’s house?” Since it was only next door, she could easily walk over to take care of the dogs. The extra work would be worth it for enough snow to cushion them from the rest of the world.

Suddenly something dawned on her. “Oh no! Is Don going to be able to make it today? When is he supposed to get into Portland?” Her brother-in-law normally got home for the weekend but had opted to work Saturday and Sunday so he could be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his family. If it snowed, driving into Romance could be a problem. It didn’t snow frequently enough around there for people to really know what they’re supposed to do with it. In general, snow meant the majority of the town shut down until it melted again.

“His plane is supposed to land just after two. He said he was going to try to be at Mom and Dad’s in time for dinner.” There was a little doubt in her voice. “Kyle’s so stoked about having him home.”

“He’ll get here, Katrina. You’ll see.” The oven timer went off. She pulled the pan out and closed the oven door again. “I’d better go and mix up the next batch of cookies. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Okay. Hang in there, huh?”

“I will, you too.” She ended the call and slid her phone onto the counter. Twenty minutes later, she’d mixed up the newest batch of cookies and had a pan of them baking in the oven.

It was only then that she realized she’d left the dogs outside for so long. Poor things, they were probably freezing.

She expected to find them staring through the glass waiting for her, but there was no sign of their furry bodies. They didn’t come when she opened the door, either.

Savannah stepped onto the deck. “Nellie! Nessie! Come on, girls.” She whistled and patted her leg. Nothing. Her stomach turned as she rushed inside to pull on some shoes. As soon as she stepped into the yard, she noticed that one of the side gates was partially open.

“No, no, no!” How did that happen? She never used the side gate. Because of that, she never would’ve thought to check if it’d been latched securely. She ran around the side of the house, through the gate, calling the dogs’ names as she went.

“Savannah?” Mom was standing on the front porch. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“The gate came open, and the dogs ran out.” Savannah put her hands on her head and tried to think. “They might’ve gotten out a half hour ago. Maybe even longer. I had no idea.” Frustration welled up inside her. At herself. At the stupid gate. Even at the annoying canines that couldn’t be content with their own backyard. “I have to find them. I won’t lose the Potters’ dogs on Christmas Eve.” Mrs. Potter, especially, would be just devastated. “I’ll go looking for them. Will you keep an eye out? If you see them come back, call me, okay?”

“I will. Your dad ran to the store. I’ll call him and have him watch for them on his way home, too.”

“Thanks!” She waved over her shoulder. Inside, she turned the oven off and pulled the half-baked cookies out so they wouldn’t burn. After throwing on a coat, scarf, and grabbing mittens off the side table, she put the dogs’ leashes in her pocket and set out to comb the street for them.

An hour in, there was no sign of the furballs. A single snowflake drifted down to land on Savannah’s nose. Just perfect. The snow she so desperately wanted was going to make finding the dogs even harder, not to mention the night colder if they were stuck outside somewhere.

“Come on, you guys. Where did you go?”

 

~*~

 

Baxter enjoyed the early Christmas celebration with his parents and most of his siblings. There’d been great food, gifts, and lots of laughs. There were several times he’d even managed to forget about Romance and Savannah for a while.

Okay, for a very short period of time, and it’d only happened once. Then everything came crashing back. The truth was, he missed Savannah like crazy. He missed her laugh and the way she always smelled like vanilla. He missed the way she felt in his arms.

He thought he’d hidden it all well until Dad had confronted him about it earlier that morning. They’d been sitting on the front porch in the crisp air sipping cups of coffee.

Dad looked over at Baxter. “Who put the bee in your bonnet?”

The phrase would’ve had Baxter laughing in his coffee if he was in a better mood. “Do you ever wonder why some things can’t just come easily?”

“Sometimes.” Dad was silent for several moments. “You know, they say anything worth having is worth fighting for. I really think that’s true. After all, if it came too easily, then we might not appreciate it as much.”

Those words kept replaying themselves in Baxter’s mind all morning. When he finally announced that he’d decided to head back to Romance for the rest of Christmas Eve and Christmas, none of his family had seemed surprised, least of all Dad.

Now Baxter was driving down the highway with the windshield wipers going to keep the steady snowfall from obscuring his view of the road. He’d heard on the radio they were getting snow in Romance, too. He imagined Savannah’s smile once she saw it for herself. A white Christmas was exactly what she’d been hoping for.

The unfairness of it all washed over him for the hundredth time. Why did he keep falling for women that ended up leaving and traveling the world? Or maybe he should wonder what it was about him that attracted them in the first place. Was there something about him that made it easy for them to leave?

With his last girlfriend, he’d simply let her go. It’d been hard, but he’d never second-guessed his decision. Not like he was doing now with Savannah. The truth was, he’d never considered fighting then.

Savannah was different. As he drove, he weighed the pros and cons of their situation. It didn’t take long to realize that, as much as he hated the idea of her traveling during the week, at least she was staying in Oregon. Worst-case scenario, he’d drive to see her at the end of every week, and they’d spend the majority of the weekend together. No, it wouldn’t be easy. But for her, it would be worth it. They could make it work. He could make it work.

Assuming, of course, that he hadn’t messed everything up when he started to pull away. It’d been a miracle that she’d given him a second chance at all. Had he already ruined that?

The drive to Romance felt like an eternity. By the time he got into town around three, there was enough snow on the ground to make the streets slippery. It was difficult to discern where the grass and pavement began and ended.

With his heart in his throat, Baxter pulled to a stop in front of his grandparents’ house, relieved to see that Savannah’s car was still in the driveway. He knocked on the door several times. When no one answered, he walked next door to her parents’ place.

Mrs. Miller answered with a worried look on her face. “Oh, Baxter. I didn’t expect to see you. I was hoping it was Savannah.”

“She isn’t here?”

Mrs. Miller shook her head. “No. The dogs got out through the gate, and she’s been wandering around the neighborhood trying to find them for the last couple of hours. I told her she needed to get home and warm up for a while, but she’s so worried about those dogs.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Miller. I’ll go see if I can find her and help out.”

“I appreciate it. Tell her to call me and update me when she can, okay?”

“I will.” He waved as he jogged back to his vehicle and started driving up and down the streets of the neighborhood. He finally spotted Savannah several blocks over. She had her hands to her mouth, and he could barely hear her calling the dogs’ names as she walked.

He pulled up beside her on the street, reached across the cab, and opened the passenger door. “Are you crazy, woman? You’re going to freeze out there.”

“I’ve got to find these blasted dogs, Baxter.”

“I know you do. And we will. But we’ll search while you’re getting warmed up for a while.” He waved her in.

She only hesitated a moment before she climbed in and closed the door behind her. Baxter took in her red cheeks and nose and knew she had to be miserable. He turned the heater on full blast then took her hands in his, removed the gloves, and winced at how cold and red they were. “Here, hold them over the heater vents for a few minutes.”

Savannah complied. “I really need to get back out there.”

“And we’ll roll the windows down and keep looking after you warm up a little.”

She shot him a look that dared him to boss her around again. “What are you doing back? I didn’t figure I’d see you again for another eight years.”

Yeah, he deserved that. “I did kinda pull a disappearing act, didn’t I?”

“Yep.” She rubbed her hands together and put them back in front of the vents. That one word spoke of the hurt and confusion she felt. He more than understood where she was coming from.

“Look, I came back to Romance hoping to make it my home again. Eventually meet someone and raise a family here.” He swallowed hard. It wasn’t easy to just put it all out on the table for her. “I thought I might have found that when we reconnected.” Her gaze swung to his and gave him the courage he needed to continue. “Then, when I found out you were going to take that job and be moving all the time… I guess I started wondering whether I’d been fooling myself. I know I seem like a rock-solid kind of guy, but I freaked out, Savannah.”

She stared at him as though she weren’t sure what to think. “Why didn’t you say something? You never even gave me a chance to think about Jay’s offer. If you had, you’d have found out I turned it down.”