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Without another word, Fallon walked out of the bedroom. She snagged her purse from the floor by the door where she’d dropped it, and she gripped the strap hard. She was out the front door in an instant, slamming it shut behind her. The resounding bang echoed down the brightly lit hallway.

Tears built up in her eyes, threatening to fall down her cheeks and burn a trail of despair. Fallon stood, once again frozen on the spot as she stared down the hallway toward freedom. She’d wanted this, hadn’t she?

She’d been the one to approach Savannah about a relationship. She’d been the one to lay down the rules of what they could and couldn’t do. She’d been the one… Fallon tightened her jaw and fist, really wishing she could smack her hand into the wall. Instead, she took slow and deep breaths. Her heart was still racing, and she really needed to calm that down.

Savannah was right.

The rules had never been clear. They’d stated them and immediately ignored them. There was so much more between the two of them than just sex, and it had been that way from the very moment Fallon happened upon Savannah at the cemetery carrying flowers for a dead woman she’d never met. Who brings flowers to a headstone out of adjacent guilt? Fallon sucked in a sharp breath, those tears sliding down her cheeks in absolute anger.

She swiped them away with her palms before rolling her shoulders and looking down at herself. Who was she kidding? She had loved every moment she’d spent with Brinley so far. It hadn’t been much, but the little moments had given her more hope for the upcoming generation than anything. Brinley was smart, strong, and very astute. Fallon saw more of herself in that kid than she had in anyone else.

This wasn’t right.

None of it had been right.

Fallon twisted on her toes and faced Savannah’s door again.

What was she doing?

Why was she here?

She had spent the last few months getting to know this woman and her family and her past, learning about the grief she harbored for her dead twin brother and the love she held onto for her sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, the absolute adoration she held for her daughter.

Fallon had witnessed Savannah in some of her lowest lows as she navigated grief and walked the path she’d been set on. And what had Fallon done? Put up walls and held Savannah at an arm’s length. She couldn’t deny that accusation. It was nothing but true.

Savannah was behind that wall. All Fallon had to do was open the door and find out if Savannah was as imperfect as she claimed. Fallon had to decide. She had to discover. Were they shattered in ways that they could be put back together? And could they do that with each other?

“No one’s perfect,” Fallon whispered as she reached for the doorknob and twisted.

twenty

Savannah jumped at the sound of the front door slamming. She hated that she still reacted that way sometimes. She’d gotten beyond defensive when Fallon had, and she hadn’t been able to control herself enough to calm the conversation down.

And she’d been scared.

What if Fallon was no different than Forrest?

What if Savannah just continued to date the same person over and over in a new form?

She’d known people like that. She’d witnessed the disaster that it would be year after year. Savannah couldn’t put Brinley through that. She couldn’t damage her daughter for the sake of love. Savannah pushed the blankets off, ready to grab her clothes, take a hot shower, and put this entire disaster out of her mind.

“I’m not perfect.” Fallon’s voice was quiet, but it was clear as day.

Savannah jerked her head up, fear coursing through her before it settled into something else. Something she couldn’t quite name yet. She wanted to reach for the blanket to cover herself up again, but Fallon’s gaze wasn’t locked on her body. It was locked on her eyes.

“I’m not perfect either,” Savannah whispered in an answer.

The tension between them tripled. Neither one of them said anything, playing chicken about who was going to admit they were wrong first. But hadn’t they already done that to an extent? Still, Savannah wasn’t sure where to go from here. She’d thought Fallon had left. She’d thought Fallon had given up.

“Why are you here?” Savannah finally asked, pulling the blanket to cover her nakedness. She wasn’t brave enough to get dressed, but she wanted to have the conversation, and since Fallon hadn’t actually left, they might as well do that now.

Fallon pressed her lips together hard, the defensiveness Savannah had seen earlier falling away almost instantly. “There’s more between us than just sex.”

The air was sucked right out of Savannah’s chest. Had Fallon actually just admitted that? She’d been so adamant for so long that they weren’t going to have a relationship that Savannah was pretty sure Fallon would never admit to there being more. Then again, Savannah had been adamant that she didn’t want a relationship either.

Case in point, the slamming door brought back the haunted memories of the last relationship she’d completely failed and didn’t want a repeat of. Savannah clenched her jaw hard, her molars grinding as she stared at Fallon, trying to figure out exactly what to do and what to say. Or perhaps more importantly, just exactly what she felt about the entire situation.

“I don’t like it when you say things like you did.”