Summer Wedding Bells: Marriage Wanted / Lone Star Lovin'

“I said that to get a rise out of Savannah, and it worked.” Marcus rubbed his jaw, eyes twinkling with delight.

“We’ve only just met.” Nash felt he had to present some explanation, although he wasn’t sure why.

“I know.” He slapped Nash affectionately on the back and together they left the garage. When they returned to the house, the dinner dishes had been washed and put away.

Savannah’s mother had filled several containers with leftovers and packed them in an insulated bag. She gave Savannah detailed instructions on how to warm up the leftover steak and vegetables. Attempting brain surgery sounded simpler. As it happened, Nash caught a glimpse of Marcus from the corner of his eye and nearly burst out laughing. The older man was slowly shaking his head.

“I like the coyote, Mom,” Savannah said, as Nash took the food for her. She ran one hand over the stylized animal. “Are you and Dad going to Arizona this winter?”

Nash felt static electricity hit the airwaves.

“We haven’t decided, but I doubt we will this year,” Joyce answered.

“Why not?” Savannah asked. This was obviously an old argument. “You love it there. More and more of your friends are becoming snowbirds. It doesn’t make sense for you to spend your winters here in the cold and damp when you can be with your friends, soaking up the sunshine.”

“Sweetheart, we’ve got a long time to make that decision,” Marcus reminded her. “It’s barely summer.”

She hugged them both goodbye, then slung her purse over her shoulder, obviously giving up on the argument with her parents.

“What was that all about?” Nash asked once they were in his car.

It was unusual to see Savannah look vulnerable, but she did now. He wasn’t any expert on women. His sister was evidence of that, and so was every other female he’d ever had contact with, for that matter. It looked as though gutsy Savannah was about to burst into tears.

“It’s nothing,” she said, her voice so low it was almost nonexistent. Her head was turned away from him and she was staring out the side window.

“Tell me,” he insisted as he reached the freeway’s on ramp. He increased the car’s speed.

Savannah clasped her hands together. “They won’t leave because of me. They seem to think I need a babysitter, that it’s their duty to watch over me.”

“Are you sure you’re not being overly sensitive?”

“I’m sure. Mom and Dad love to travel, and now that Dad’s retired they should be doing much more of it.”

“They have the motor home.”

“They seldom use it. Day trips, a drive to the ocean once or twice a year, and that’s about it. Dad would love to explore the East Coast in the autumn, but I doubt he ever will.”

“Why not?”

“They’re afraid something will happen to me.”

“It sounds like they’re being overprotective.”

“They are!” Savannah cried. “But I can’t force them to go, and they won’t listen to me.”

He sensed that there was more to this story. “What’s the real reason, Savannah?” He made his words as coaxing as he could, not wanting to pressure her into telling him something she’d later regret.

“They blame themselves for the accident,” she whispered. “They were leaving for a weekend trip that day and I was to stay with a babysitter. I’d wanted to go with them and when they said I couldn’t, I got upset. In order to appease me, Dad said I could ride my bicycle. Up until that time he’d always gone with me.”

Nash chanced a look at her and saw that her eyes were closed and her body was rigid with tension.

“And so they punish themselves,” she continued in halting tones, “thinking if they sacrifice their lives for me, it’ll absolve them from their guilt. Instead it increases mine.”

“Yours?”

“Do you mind if we don’t discuss this anymore?” she asked, sounding physically tired and emotionally beaten.

The silence that followed was eventually broken by Savannah’s sigh of defeat.

“When would you like me to start cooking your dinners?” she asked as they neared her shop.

“You’re conceding?” He couldn’t keep the shock out of his voice. “Just like that, without so much as an argument? You must be more tired than I realized.”

His comments produced a sad smile.

“So you’re willing to admit marriage is a thing of the past and has no part in this day and age?”

“Never!” She rallied a bit at that.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Are you ready to admit love can last a lifetime when it’s nourished and respected?” she asked.

Nash frowned, his thoughts confused. “I’ll grant there are exceptions to every rule and your parents are clearly that. Unfortunately, the love they share doesn’t exist between most married couples.

“It’d be easy to tell you I like my macaroni and cheese extra cheesy,” he went on to say, “but I have a feeling you’ll change your mind in the morning and demand a rematch.”

Savannah smiled and pressed the side of her head against the car window.

“You’re exhausted, and if I accepted your defeat, you’d never forgive me.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

“A draw.” He pulled into the alley behind the shop, where Savannah had parked her car. “Let’s call it square. I proved what I wanted to prove and you did the same. There’s no need to go back to the beginning and start over, because neither of us is going to make any progress with the other. We’re both too strongminded for that.”

“We should have recognized it sooner,” Savannah said, eyes closed.

She was so attractive, so…delectable, Nash had to force himself to look away.

“It’s very gentlemanly of you not to accept my defeat.”

“Not really.”

Her eyes slowly opened and she turned her head so she could meet his eyes. “Why not?”

“Because I’m about to incur your wrath.”

“Really? How are you going to do that?”