Page 41 of Savannah Heat
“I know, but I have my own. Let’s check out the other bedrooms.” Jenna waved a hand.
“Their boys are twins and had adjoining bedrooms, connected with a bathroom, I think.” Dan walked down the hall.
“I missed this entire second floor when we came in,” Jenna said.
Dan laughed. “Well, we hurried to get to the master bedroom, as I recall.”
“Hmm, maybe we can try again after we finish here,” Jenna said, as she inspected the bedroom and moved on to the next. “No personal objects are in the bedrooms at all.”
“These rooms belonged to the kids back when they were kids, but I don’t think any of them spend time here now,” Dan said.
“Yeah, these bedrooms are a bit bland, so used as guest rooms now maybe, if used at all. Only a few framed pictures are present of what looks like their travels.” Jenna inspected the pictures in the guest rooms. “Looks like they’re into sailing. Is this in Greece?”
Dan looked at the picture. “Yeah, and it’s his yacht, or was. He and his brother really loved sailing, and his brother used to be involved in all the race events years ago.”
Jenna took Dan’s hand. “I suppose I’ve seen enough here. Now to the top floor and to re-check the master bedroom, and it’s very late.”
“I love a woman who knows what she wants.”
Some hours later, Jenna woke from their post-sex, post-food adventures and found Dan gone from the bed. She put on her robe and made her way downstairs. “It’s morning. And here you are cooking and in your boxer shorts.” Jenna looked at Dan with new eyes.
“Hey, I am a bachelor, it’s self-preservation. Besides, I have many talents other than pleasing you in the bedroom.” Dan waved his spatula.
“What are you making?”
“Some scrambled eggs with cheese and ham. Don’t turn up your nose before you taste it. It’s good food.”
Jenna looked in the refrigerator. “Yes, but I won’t be able to get into my clothes if I eat too much of this kind of such good food. You can have mine. I’m searching for yogurt and fruit.”
“Women, you miss out on so much.” Dan shook his head. “Can’t eat this, can’t eat that, and freaking out if you gain five pounds. Expensive haircuts, facials, exercise classes, endless diets, yoga…and for what?”
“Yes, yes, welcome to the world of the modern woman. Don’t get me started. I’m eating to stay healthy, not to please any man. I’ll be forty soon, Dan. I can’t keep bouncing around, hoping to find roots not there, and getting fat and unhealthy in the process. I don’t want to end up alone with my pint of ice cream watching television with my cat every night.”
Dan turned from the stove, frowning. “You’re barely thirty-eight. What brought this on?”
“Yes, but forty is out there, waiting. Maybe it’s being here in this town, seeing you, and wondering how the last five years of my life could have passed so fast. Everything here brought it on. Savannah, and the people here, and the way they take care of each other, reminds me of the times I felt loved, safe, wanted, and secure. These old historic houses—holding those who still remember the old ways, the customs, and who still take care of their neighbors—are part of my childhood memories. I can still smell the magnolia trees in the spring and hear the sound of the boat whistles on the river. It’s all playing back in my head now like an old movie one loves.”
“Wow, you have been giving this place serious thought. Why is it making you sad rather than happy to be here?” Dan put his food on a plate and joined Jenna at the table.
“I’m not really sad. Oh, well, maybe I am, but what I mean is being here reminds me of what I don’t have now. It reminds me of what I always wanted but forgot somewhere along the way.”
Dan poured more coffee in his cup. “I don’t want to sound negative, but buying this house when you are feeling sad about the past, or conflicted, could be a mistake.”
“I understand what you’re saying or trying not to say, Dan, but I do realize buying a house here won’t fix me. But it might give me what I feel I’m lacking—a real home. I have lived in New York City most of my life. I have been in my current apartment building for almost four years, and I don’t know but one person in my building, two if you count the maintenance guy.”
“You are more attached to this place than I realized, Savannah, I mean.” Dan sat back in his chair. “I feel as if I’m seeing a new side of you.”
“I think I’m seeing a new side of me, too. I think that’s what the thing with Brock is—was. I was looking for a less complicated life, and man, a partner, and for someone I could depend on. No, before you ask, I am not a victim of the ticking clock. I feel no great urgency to procreate,” Jenna said.
Dan stood to get the toast from the toaster. “Too bad, I think a little Jenna would be a great addition to the world. Or a little Dan, or both.”
Chapter Eighteen
Dan’s words took her breath away. He said it out loud, her very thoughts, the ones she didn’t dare speak. She turned her back on him and went to the refrigerator to give herself a second to regroup. “Oh, I can’t even think about kids at this point. My life is too splintered. Not sure how it happened. I have a magazine that runs itself now, enough money to live on and never work again, and still, I’m kind of empty. I sound like an unappreciative, spoiled brat, I know.”
“Not true. I know how hard you have worked, and all, well, a lot you’ve gone through. I expect you’re at one of those crossroads in life. I went through it, and it’s why I came back to America. I didn’t know what I wanted to do or exactly where I wanted to be. But I knew I wanted to reclaim my life, and I knew I wanted to find you. Now, we seem to be caught up in something that might get in our way. Let’s not let it.”
“Being a grown-up is not all it’s cracked up to be, is it?” Jenna asked before she bit into a strawberry. “Good grocery shopping job by the way. These are good.”