Page 2 of Kiss the Girl
“No, no. I got that,” Parker replied with a smile. “I guess I’m just confused, that’s all. I mean…if Cash is family to you and he’s family to me, then…you’re family! Oh my goodness! You’re family!”
“What?No…I mean…it’s not like that! Not really.”
Parker’s smile fell slightly. “I think you and I may need to sit and talk because I am curious as all get-out to know what’s going on. Come on. Come back to the spa and we’ll chat.”
Right now, that was the last thing Savannah wanted to do.
“I appreciate your time, Parker. Really. But, um…I should go. I wish you luck with all your interviews and maybe I’ll see you around.”
The urge to turn and run was strong—and she seriously hoped Parker wasn’t the kind of person to chase after her, but…
Oh. Right.
She was.
Letting out a long breath, Savannah took one look at Parker’s face and knew she needed to just be honest with her.
“There is no way I want to go back inside and upset your mother more than I already have. Cash was very emphatic about not approaching his family until he was ready.”
“Yeah, okay. I get that, but you didn’t know you were approaching his family,” Parker reasoned. “It was really just a coincidence.”
“No, believe me, I get that too, but…this is incredibly awkward. I’m not comfortable talking to strangers about things that I know Cash doesn’t want me to speak about.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”
“I really wish you’d reconsider. If you want, I can totally make my mom leave. I’ll call my dad or my brother to come and get her and…”
Holding up a hand to stop her, Savannah told her, “Please don’t. That’s just going to draw even more attention to this situation.”
“I hate to break it to you, but the cat’s already out of the bag.” She motioned to the spa and laughed softly. “I’d be surprised if my mother wasn’t on the phone right now either calling everyone she knows or texting them.”
“Dammit.”
Nodding, Parker laughed again. “If it makes you feel any better, she already saw the two of you earlier. She was telling me about it not long before you showed up. So…basically…even if you hadn’t come in for an interview, the gossip was going to start to fly.”
Cash had warned her about the dangers of small-town life and she hadn’t believed him.
Lesson learned.
“Still…it’s not my call to make. I’m sorry,” Savannah murmured before turning and walking away.
Tears stung her eyes because she really wanted this job.
Needed it, really.
Packing up her life in Seattle to bring Cash back to his hometown was a no-brainer, but she desperately needed to work. Her savings wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination and since she had no idea how long they were going to be staying, it was important for her to have a job.
“Just not this one,” she whispered when she got to her car. The crappy little Nissan Sentra was over ten years old and had well over 150K miles on it, but it refused to die.
Which was great since Savannah didn’t have the money for a new car anyway.
With a weary sigh, she climbed in and drove back to the tiny bungalow she and Cash were renting. It was fully furnished and the price was right, but she had to wonder if they could have found something a little nicer. With the way his health was declining, she hated the thought of him living out the rest of his days in such a dingy environment.
It was something they’d argued about during their three-thousand-mile trek across the country. His logic was that he didn’t have the money to spend on anything overly luxurious and he didn’t need anything fancy. Savannah had pointed out that she didn’t need fancy either, but the house was the exact opposite of fancy.
Basically, it was shitty. There was no better word to describe it.
And now, as she pulled up to it, she wished she had put her foot down sooner.
Once she was parked in the driveway, she took a few minutes to collect her thoughts. She knew Cash wouldn’t be upset about her walking out on the interview, but she had no idea how he was going to feel about her coming face to face with his relatives.