Page 75 of Second Chance Vacation

“Do what?”

“Belittle your feelings for Jackson. Or his feelings for you. Anyone with eyes can see it, so it’s kind of insulting.”

I pause my spoon to my lips at her response, trying to hold on to my cool. Her intentions are good, but who is she to place judgment about my relationship with Jackson?

“Really, Savannah? You want to do this?”

“I’m just saying…you do this a lot. You keep everyone at arm's length, and while I can handle it with me, what you’re doing to Jackson isn’t cool.”

That stings. I feel tears begin to prick at the edge of my eyes, but I do my best to hold them at bay.

“I don’t keep you at arm's length.”

Despite everything I could say in this moment, that is all I can come up with.

“You do—and that’s okay. I know it’s not on purpose. I accept it because you are my best friend, and I want you in my life…even with your quirks. But Jackson…he lo—”

“Savannah!” I accidentally shout, drawing the attention of those in our section. My spoon crashes to the table, hitting the edge of the ceramic on its way down.

My face grows warm as I look around, eyes on my outburst.

“Look…I’m sorry,” I try to backtrack.

Savannah is quiet for a moment. She just looks down at her bowl as I watch the thoughts bounce around in her head.

“I know.” She sighs, reaching across the table to grab my hand. My cold fingers mesh with her warm ones as she pins me with a stare. “As I said, I can handle it—Jackson, however? He deserves better. If you don’t want to be with him, fine, but you need to have a conversation. This ignoring him thing? It’s not cool.”

This has got to be one of maybe three times I’ve seen Savannah completely serious the entire time I’ve known her. With that, I know that, without a doubt, I have royally fucked up.

THIRTY

JACKSON

“I’m just saying…PC is better than Mac,” Liam continues on his tangent.

“But for what reason?”

“Uh—I don’t know, man, intelligence?”

“So, that’s your only defense? ‘It’s better because I say it’s better’ isn’t a defense. Intelligence is subjective.” I shake my head with a laugh as I turn back to my computer, staring at the brief I’ve been working on for the past few hours.

Rubbing my eyes, I power off my monitor as I see Liam packing his laptop into his bag.

My phone buzzes on my desk. I jump to grab it, only to be disappointed at Wes’s name on the screen.

Wes

engagement party, wear a suit. savannah’s orders

Jackson

roger

As soon as I text Wes back, I find myself looking through my unread texts from Gen. Well—unresponded to she doesn’t appear to have her read receipts on, so who knows. I think it’s safe to say I’m not getting a response. Despite knowing that, it doesn’t lessen the sting whenever I open the chat.

“You want to get a drink?” he asks, not looking up from his bag, pulling my gaze to him before I look back down at my phone. I need to stop. She clearly doesn’t want to talk to me.

“Yeah—sure.”

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