Page 53 of The CEO's Revenge

When I got back to Mom’s, I reluctantly re-activated Max’s number. That evening as I prepared dinner, the phone rang. I took a quick second to take a deep breath before answering.

“Hello?”

“Are you back?”

“I’m… back in the city.”

He must have picked up on the pause. “Good trip?”

“Yeah, I could have stayed longer but something came up and I had to get back.”

“Oh?”

The change in his tone was obvious and I could have kicked myself. I had been doing so well with my short, non-committal responses. I tried to sound as casual as possible.

“Yeah. Mom had a little accident so I’m at hers to sort things out for her.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s being discharged in a day or two.”

“Is she in the hospital?” he shot back, sounding genuinely concerned.

I gritted my teeth.Way to go, Savannah. You’re such a chatterbox!My plan was to relay in as few words as possible about my mother’s incident, and make it sound as casual as possible.

“She fell and hurt herself bad enough for her to land in the hospital. Fortunately, she’s not too bad. At her age, it could have been worse. Much worse. She could have broken her hip and that kind of injury lasts a lifetime. She’s not getting any younger and her bones have stopped growing. They’re not sold in the stores either. You can’t just place an order and a waiter comes out and delivers. She has to be more careful at her age.”

I could hear myself babbling, but I couldn’t stop.

“That’s what I told her, but she did not take kindly to being reminded of her age. Pretty damn near snapped my head off when I said it!”

He laughed. It was a musical sound I’d always loved to hear. For a split second, it felt like old times, but I forced myself back to the present, breaking whatever spell was being cast on me. “Anyway, I’ve got to go,” I said and ended the call.

After that I sat looking at the silent phone. The beeping of the oven timer broke me out of my reverie. I pushed all thoughts of Max out of my head. It was only a few more weeks till the end of summer and the end of our arrangement. I could only hope that the news of my mother would give me a reprieve from holding up my end of the bargain.

21

SAVANNAH

Finally, my mother was discharged and I went to pick her up. She was waiting in a wheelchair in the foyer, a pair of crutches across her lap and her overnight case at her feet. With some maneuvering, the porter and I managed to get her into the car.

When we got to the house, Benny, who rented the cottage at the bottom of her garden, was waiting to help her into the house. He easily swung her into his arms and I watched as her cheeks turned pink. I watched as he fussed over her, chastising her for not waiting for him to come from work to clean the gutters as he had promised. She took his fussing with much more grace than she had taken mine. I eyed them curiously, noticing how familiar he was in her kitchen and knew where everything was to be found.

When at last he left with a promise to check on the gutters as he did not want her finishing the job with a cast on her leg, I turned to her with raised eyebrows. I got straight to the point.

“Is there something going on here that I should know?”

She looked at me, a too-innocent smile on her face. “What do you mean, darling?”

I pointed my thumb in the direction in which Benny had gone. “Are you two into something? Am I going to be hearing wedding bells any day now? Am I getting a new dad?”

“Savannah, you always were so dramatic. He’s just my tenant.”

I chuckled. “A very good-looking hunk of a masculine tenant who lifted you into his arms like he was posing for the cover of a torrid romance novel. And the way he was fussing over you?”

“Don’t be so silly, child. He’s just a kind and caring man.”

“I can see he cares for you.” I raised my eyebrows. “Mom, you don’t have to hide your romance from me. I like Benny. He has always been a gentleman and you’re still young and good-looking. There’s no reason he wouldn’t be attracted to you. Dad would be happy with your choice too. Benny is the kind of man that would have been Dad’s friend.”

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