Page 104 of Imperfectly Perfect

How Savannah had missed that look lately. She’d been too bogged down with the custody suit and the pain that it brought up for all of them. Savannah hadn’t ever wanted that for her. She’d wanted to protect her, but it was going to be impossible to protect her from Forrest and not drag them all through the mud a little bit. But she would do as much as she could.

“Did you see me do my spin?” Brinley threw her hands up into the air and immediately showed off the spin that they were supposed to have seen.

“Yeah, baby, I saw you do it. You were amazing.” Savannah held out her arms and Brinley ran into them, giving her a hug.

When she stepped back, she looked at Forrest like she was expecting him to hug her, but he didn’t budge. He’d never been one for physical touch. Savannah had always worried that he’d be disconnected from Brinley because of that. And she still wasn’t sure if she was right or wrong about that.

Or if Brinley was just a pawn to him, a way to manipulate Savannah into doing what he wanted her to do.

Savannah had to pray that Forrest hadn’t always seen Brinley like that, that at one point he’d just loved her for being his child. But she’d been wrong before, and she’d probably be wrong again. Savannah gripped onto Fallon’s hand tightly. She didn’t want Fallon to go more than half an inch from where they were standing. She needed the support, and she knew that Fallon would give it to her.

“Did Aunt Kyla come?”

Savannah shook her head slowly. “She couldn’t because Evie had a concert tonight and it went long. She texted and was so sad that she was going to miss it, but I sent her pictures and a video. I promise.”

Brinley nodded, although Savannah wasn’t sure that she fully understood. It was the problem of being an only child while her aunt had a bunch of kids. She didn’t understand that pull of scheduling conflicts and prioritizing. She’d always been the center of Savannah’s world since the moment she was born.

“I think Brinley should come home with me tonight,” Forrest said, breaking the moment.

Savannah jerked her chin up, her entire body ready for a fight. “What do you mean?”

“It’d be a better place for her, with less…” Forrest stopped talking and dragged his gaze over Fallon, landing on their joined hands “…inappropriate relationships.”

“No,” Savannah stated firmly. “You won’t be taking Brin home. It’s my night, and she’ll be with me.”

Forrest’s face reddened, as she knew it would. He always looked like this when she pushed back with him, and she wasn’t sad about it either. Not this time.Inappropriate relationship?Fuck him. Savannah was going to fight with everything she had in order to win her lawsuit against him. It was going to be a long battle, but she’d make sure it was worth it in the end.

“Brin, give your dad a hug and tell him goodbye. You’ll see him on Monday after school.”

“Bye, Dad!” Brinley, to her credit, simply did as she was told with the energy that she would have done it with anyway.

Turning quickly, Savannah ushered Brinley toward the front doors of the theater and headed out with Fallon right next to her. This was exactly what she’d needed. The courage to put her foot down, and the energy to tell Forrest where to shove it. She hadno doubt that Forrest was behind her still, spluttering, because she’d actually just walked away from the fight for the first time in as long as she could remember.

Power was good.

It felt amazing.

And to know that she could do this without facing uglier consequences—or at least that she was far more willing to fight those consequences—was astounding.

“Do you want to get ice cream?” Fallon asked quietly in Savannah’s ear. “It was a thing Tia used to do after all our recitals growing up. Some way to celebrate it.”

“That sounds like a brilliant idea.” Savannah bent down and smiled at Brinley. “Ice cream to celebrate?”

“Yes!” Brinley fist pumped the air and jumped up and down twice. “I want chocolate chip cookie dough, with rainbow sprinkles and hot fudge.”

“Whoa there, slow down. We have to actually get there first before you just start rattling off your order.” Savannah took hold of Brinley’s hand as they started to walk toward the parking garage. This could turn out to be a good night.

No, scratch that.

Savannah would make this the best night she possibly could.

Brinley deserved it. So did Fallon, and so did she. So she’d do everything in her power to make sure that they were all in.

She was going to stop living in fear of her past from this moment forward, and she was going to fight for the future she wanted. One that had Brinley with her all the time, and one that had Fallon right where she belonged, next to her, partnering with her, hand in hand as they walked through the ups and downs life was going to throw at them from here on out.

She didn’t want it any other way.

thirty-five

---