Chapter Seven

That might leave her frustrated, but that was a state of being Savannah could take care of on her own. 

She shivered, and then, pulling herself together, out of her day dream and began to clear the tables on the side of the diner assigned to her. 

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Matt drove through town in the blinding rain. His destination was Logan's diner where Savannah was waitressing. It shouldn’t surprise him. It was the place she was working before she had left.  She’d been waitressing there when they’d met. And during their relationship, he had offered to get her a job in his company but she had refused, insisting that she would be uncomfortable working for him while they were sleeping together. 

He had insisted but had given up when he realized that he couldn't change her mind about her decision. But he had tried his best to ensure that she got everything she wanted. 

Savannah Carson's parents had died when she was in college and she didn't really have a lot of family around. She had dropped out of school in her third year and began to fend for herself. She was independent and liked to work, refusing to depend on him or anyone else...and that was one of the things that he loved about her. 

When they broke up, he had been very angry. But he still cared about her and was worried about her and he still wanted her to lack nothing. So he had written her a check. If she could cheat on him... With his own brother, she had obviously never loved him. She had obviously just stayed for the money. He couldn't believe he had fallen for that act. The woman was a really good actress, because she had fooled him completely. 

The check he’d written her would have prevented her from needing to work for quite some time. He figured she would have returned to school. Even when they were dating, she’d expressed the desire to finish her degree. He hadn’t understood it, but he’d supported her decision. The selfish part of him had wanted her to be completely reliant on him, but since it was what she wanted he tried to support her. 

Why then hadn’t she cashed the check? He asked himself for the millionth time. He had been asking himself that question for months and he was beginning to think that he might go crazy. 

He had headed straight for the diner immediately after giving David and Emily his best wishes. He hadn’t told Dash or Stefan that he’d found Savannah. He had just told them that he had an important business matter to attend to. By the time he’d gotten into town it had been late in the evening, and her shift must have ended, so he’d spent a sleepless night in a downtown hotel.

When he’d gotten up this morning, the skies had been gray and overcast and there hadn’t been a single break in the rain since he’d left his hotel. At least the weather had been beautiful for David's wedding. He thought. By now the happy couple would be off on their honeymoon—someplace where there was an abundance of blue skies.

He glanced over at his GPS and saw he was still several blocks from his destination. To his frustration, he hit every single red light on the way down the busy street. Why he was in a hurry, he didn’t know. According to his investigator, she was working there, probably living close to the diner too. She wasn’t going anywhere.

A million questions hovered in his mind, but he knew he wouldn’t have the answers to any of them until he confronted her.

A few minutes later he pulled up and parked at the diner that sported a lopsided doughnut sign. He stared at the place, remembering the first time he saw her. It had been here... Their story had began right here in this diner. And with the way he had felt when he first saw her. He had thought it was meant to be. What an idiot he had been then. 

With a shake of his head, he ducked out of the BMW and dashed toward the entrance, shaking the rain from his collar as he stepped under the small awning over the door.

Once inside, he looked around before taking a seat in a booth on the far side of the café. A waitress who was not Savannah came over with a menu and slapped it down on the table in front of him. 

He looked around. He knew this was the part of the diner where Savannah served, so she was the one who should be attending to him. Unless she had changed places. Or maybe she wasn't the one his investigator had seen. A huge feeling of disappointment descended on him. 

“Just coffee,” he murmured to the waitress. 

“Suit yourself,” she said as she sashayed off to the bar to pour the coffee.

She returned a moment later and put the cup down with enough of a jolt to slosh the dark brew over the rim. With an apologetic smile, she tossed down a napkin.

“If there’s anything I can get you, just let me know.” she said. 

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her about Savannah when he looked beyond her and saw a waitress with her back to him standing across the room at another table.

He waved his waitress off and honed in on the table across the café. It was her. He knew it was her.