Page 15 of Critical Doubt

"Should we go to Abby's now?" Savannah asked, as they got into the vehicle.

"My rental car is in the church lot. I should get it."

"Okay." As Savannah drove him up the hill, he said, "I couldn't help noticing there was no love lost between you and the chief. Is that just him being territorial?"

"Partly. But he's also friends with my dad, and he thinks I'm a major screwup."

"Why would he think that?"

"He apparently can't forget I was a rebellious teenager. I wound up in his jail one night when I was sixteen."

"What happened?"

She pulled up next to his car, which was one of only three left in the lot. "It's a long story."

"So, give me the short version."

"You're not in a hurry to get to Abby's?"

"I don't think there's going to be any new information for a while, and I'm curious. How did you end up in jail?"

"Well, I was angry because I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me. I got drunk with a girlfriend. We had just learned how to make tequila sunrises, and I was definitely seeing red. We walked down the street to get some ice cream, and I saw my boyfriend buying this other girl a double scoop of chocolate, and I went a little crazy. I hurled a rock at his car, but I missed. Unfortunately, the rock went right through the window of a patrol car that was just pulling into the lot, and it was driven by the chief. I was taken to jail, where I spent the night."

"Ouch. That was bad luck."

"All my luck was bad then."

"You stayed the whole night in jail? Your dad didn't bail you out?"

"I wasn't living with my father at the time; I was with my aunt and uncle."

"Why?"

"You have a lot of questions, Ryker."

"Because every time you open your mouth, I find out something new about you." He paused. "You said before your dad stopped being a father when you were thirteen. Care to elaborate?"

"That's when my mother died. My father was overseas at the time. He came back on emergency leave for a few days and during that time, he decided I should live with my aunt and uncle. I thought it would be temporary, but it turned out to be permanent. He was too busy to have a daughter. He thought I'd be better off with his sister's family."

"Was he wrong?"

She thought about that. "Not in every way. But I'd lost my mother, and it felt like my dad had abandoned me, too. I had to learn how to be part of someone else's family. I tried to fit in, because I thought if I didn't, they might throw me out, too."

"Was getting drunk and throwing rocks your idea of fitting in?" he asked dryly.

"That was years later. When I first moved in, I did everything I could to be what my aunt wanted me to be. I even agreed to the beauty pageants, because that's what my aunt and cousin loved to do. I was Miss Georgia when I was eighteen." She paused. "You may not have slept with a dancer, but you did sleep with a beauty queen. Feel better?"

"To be honest, I have no idea how I feel about you."

"Fair enough."

He slid out of the car and then looked back at her. "I want to hear more of the Savannah Kane story some time."

"I can't imagine why. I'm not the woman you slept with, Ryker. She's gone. She's never coming back."

Her words hit him in a much more profound way than she'd probably intended. "I'm not the man you slept with, either. He's also never coming back."

She stared back at him, conflicting emotions in her gaze. "I—I don't know what to say."

---