Page 84 of Imperfectly Perfect

“I served Forrest. I’m taking him back to court, fighting for full custody.” Savannah shook as she reached for Fallon’s hand.For some reason, she needed touch. “I had to drop her off with him.”

“That’s why you were so scared the other night.”

Nodding, Savannah held onto Fallon. “I served him that night. Kevin Brock—he’s my lawyer. Athena gave me his name. But we were worried that Forrest would try something.”

Fallon sighed heavily. “And did he?”

“Just harassing phone calls and texts. That's why my phone was off.”

“Ah.” Fallon pressed her lips hard into a line. She led Savannah to the couch and sat down, lowering the volume on the television until it was next to impossible to hear it. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I didn’t think you wanted to know.” Savannah hated it, but it was the truth. They were at such an odd place in their relationship, having talked but still not really come to a resolution. Not that much had changed in the last week other than Fallon’s heroic nature showing its face.

“And now you think I do?” Fallon raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not trying to pry, Savannah, but you have to admit, this is quite a change.”

“Yeah, I know.” Savannah worried her hands together. She wished she’d sat closer to Fallon, once again needing that physical contact to center herself. “Tell me I didn’t make a mistake.”

“Which decision are you talking about?” Fallon plucked invisible lint off her pants.

“Letting Brinley go with him.”

“I don’t imagine you had much of a choice on that one.” Fallon stretched her legs out, resting her feet on the small table next to the couch. “Court orders and all that.”

“I could have fought harder for a protection order.”

“If you’re going to doubt every decision that you make, and if you’re going to backpedal and worry about them, this is going to be an even longer lawsuit than you anticipate, and I’m not sure that you’ll come out whole on the other side.” Fallon’s cheeks hollowed.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Savannah wasn’t sure why she was pushing for this so hard. She already knew what Fallon thought—that she wasn’t doing enough to protect Brinley from everything, from him.

Fallon sighed heavily and rubbed her temples before letting her hands fall into her lap. Savannah had never seen her this frustrated before, but surely that’s what this was. Exasperation. Frustration. Annoyance. All bundled into one whopping feeling. Maybe even a little pity in the mix.

“I think you’re making the best decisions that you can with the information you have and the resources you have.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’m not the person to ask these questions to. You should be asking Kevin.”

“I don’t trust him. Not like I trust you,” Savannah whispered the last bit, scared to admit those words out loud.

“I don’t know anything about custody cases.” Fallon pointed her toes toward the wall before she ran her fingers through her hair. Savannah was entranced by movement, by the way that even in a moment like this Fallon seemed to have everything together even though Savannah knew she didn’t. They were both traumatized individuals just struggling to take life one day at a time. “Kevin’s very good at his job.”

“What ifhewins?”

“He won’t.” Fallon reached over and snagged Savannah’s hand. “If Kevin thought Forrest had a chance in hell, he wouldn’t have taken your case.”

“Really?”

“Really, really.” Fallon squeezed Savannah’s fingers. “You’re making the right choice, Savannah. You need to do something different than before.”

Savannah nodded and stared down at their joined fingers. She wanted Fallon to hold her, cradle her, whisper sweet nothings that made the big bad world outside vanish. But what was most shocking about that revelation was that Savannah trusted that Fallon could do that.

“I wanted to tell you the other night, I really did.” Savannah kept her hand in Fallon’s, scared that if she were to let go that Fallon would never touch her again.

“Why didn’t you?”

Savannah shrugged slightly. “Call it fear.”

“Was it only fear?” Fallon pulled her closer. “Or was it something else?”

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