“Did you go after him?” Alexa finally asked.
“No. I’ve been trying to avoid him, but, as I told you, he’s my boss, and so we keep running into each other, and then one moment he’s a complete ass, and then the next he’s making me laugh …” Savannah trailed off when her sister chuckled.
“If you weren’t chasing after some man, trying to steal him away, I don’t see why in the hell you’re feeling so guilty. You need to cut it out. Is this woman of his a saint, feeding the elderly every day, rescuing kittens from trees, saving the whales?”
“What in the world are you talking about?” Savannah sputtered.
“If the guy is coming after you while he’s already taken, it’s for one of two reasons. He’s either just a cad with zero morals,” Alexa said, “or his fiancée is a class A bitch and he’s looking for a reason to get away from her. He’s heading for the hills, and your cute little hills are alive … never mind.”
Savannah opened and closed her mouth helplessly as she tried to figure out how to respond to that.
“His fiancée isn’t the nicest woman in the world, but that doesn’t mean she should be cheated on, and it certainly doesn’t mean I ever want to be the other woman.”
“I agree. The guy needs to choose — either the fiancée or you,” Alexa said simply.
“Not everything is always black and white, Lexie. It’s not a bunch of true-or-false questions with easy answers.”
“Sis, you have always sacrificed for others. Always. And I’m tired of watching you do that. Do you like this man?”
They pulled up at a shopping center, and Alexa cut the engine and turned to look Savvy in the face.
“No, not really,” Savannah lied.
“I don’t believe you. I think you do, or there’s no way he would have been able to kiss you, let alone do whatever it was he was doing to make your cheeks glow the way they were when I walked into your room. I think you like him, but you are being self-sacrificing like always. If the man doesn’t want to be with the fiancée, you have nothing to beat yourself up about.”
“How can you be so casual about cheating, Lexie?”
“I’m not casual about cheating. I can’t stand cheaters. And if the man were married, I would tell you to slap him in the face and run far and fast. But he isn’t married, and it doesn’t sound like he plans on getting married. So why not try to see if there is anything more to what’s going on between you than insane lust?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Because I … well, I …” Savvy couldn’t think of a single reason.
“Because you want to play the martyr. Well, stop it.”
“I’m not playing the martyr, I swear,” Savvy said. “I just don’t like him, Lexie.”
“Wrong. You do like him. Don’t worry, though. I’ll do some digging on him and find out if he’s worthy of being liked or not. You don’t always have the best judgment when it comes to men.”
“It wasn’t as if either of us had a great example of what a husband looks like,” Savannah said.
“Yes, our father was an abusive asshole, and yes, I know you took the brunt of that,” Alexa said before sending a warning look Savannah’s way with one unmistakable meaning: DO NOT INTERRUPT. “Don’t play it down. I’ve always known what you did for me. I also know that you’re smarter than me and have always had bigger aspirations in life. We both got out of there, sis, and we won’t repeat the pattern. We won’t turn out like our mother, and we won’t marry men like our father. So quit worrying so much about it and enjoy having a hot man drool over you. It’s not wrong.”
“I thought I hid a lot more from you than I apparently managed to do,” Savannah said, stunned by this new confident woman her sister had become in the last year while working out of the country as a nurse.
“No. But I was selfish, and that’s on my shoulders. I missed you so much while I’ve been gone. Phone calls haven’t been enough. But now we’re both in Seattle, and we’re moving on with our lives. Let’s do that without sacrificing anything else.”
Savvy laughed. “Isn’t it supposed to be me saying all of this to you?”
“You’re only two years older than me, Savs, so loosen up a bit. You have two more months before your nose is stuck in the books again, and we’re going to have a good summer. Hopefully, you’ll also have some amazing sex with that hunk of a boss of yours.”