Reflection Point: An Eternity Springs Novel (35 page)

He walked up to the house and knocked on the front door. A minute later, a teen answered it. “Hello, Sheriff Turner.”

“Hello, Mandy. I’d like to talk to you about the stop sign.”

She burst into tears.

As Savannah hung up the phone, she realized her hand was shaking.
Thank God
.

She sucked in a breath, then smiled at her customers, a woman and her teenage daughter from Kansas. “May I help you? Answer any questions?”

“We’re fine, thank you.”

“Okay, then. If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to check on something in the workshop. I’ll be right back.”

She hurried through the kitchen and almost ran to the back. “TJ, Ginger Harris just called. They want us at the sheriff’s office. She said they have good news.”

TJ all but melted with relief. He stepped away from the box he was filling with an order from the pet supply line—quickly becoming one of her bestsellers—and said, “Let’s go.”

“I have customers. I’ll hurry them on their way as quickly as possible.”

“Okay,” he said, rushing past her. “I’ll meet you there.”

He took off running, and Savannah stared after him, a little peeved. She’d intended for him to wait for her.

Back in the shop, she waited with outward serenity and inward impatience for her customers to make their selections. It proved to be a sixty-five-dollar sale, so when she thanked them and handed them their bags, her smile was genuine.

It faltered when a new group of shoppers entered Heavenscents as the others made their way out. Twenty minutes later, they finally left, Savannah flipped the door lock and turned the open sign to closed, then dashed
out the back door. Arriving at the sheriff’s office, she was surprised to discover that TJ and Zach had gone for a walk.

Gabi invited—no, instructed—her to sit down. “I have information about the stop sign to share with you, but before I do it, I need your word that you will keep it quiet until this office gives you permission to share. Do I have it?”

“Yes.” The coldness in her friend’s tone didn’t surprise Savannah, but it did bother her. Gabi was loyal to Zach. Very loyal. Almost too loyal. It was weird.

“Mandy West saw Aiden Marshall and his brother throw the stop sign on the side of the road the morning of the accident. She picked it up and was going to use it as a decoration for her bedroom because she’s nuts about Aiden, poor thing. After the wreck, she got scared and didn’t know what to do. She took it to your house to ask for TJ’s advice, and when something happened that hurt her feelings, she hid it in the kitchen and called in an anonymous tip. Zach will deal with the Marshall brothers upon their return at the end of the week. In the meantime, as I mentioned, you must keep this information confidential.”

“I don’t understand. I thought the Marshall family was out of town.”

“They left later that morning. The boys were out causing trouble early.”

Savannah was shocked. Mandy West had tried to place the blame on TJ? “Why did Mandy do it? They’re friends.”

“That’s something we’re going to let TJ explain to you. So that’s the story.” Gabi folded her arms, lifted her chin, and added, “Now, aren’t you glad you didn’t run off last night after all?”

“Zach told you.”

“No, actually, TJ mentioned it. Dammit, Savannah, I
am so pissed at you! It’s one thing for you to be afraid of being in love. I get that. But running out on your friends? You couldn’t call me? Why?” She pointed to her badge. “Because of this?”

“Gabi, you don’t understand. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“That’s totally obvious. You couldn’t trust us to do our jobs? This after Zach has busted his ass to prove your innocence?”

Savannah recalled the words Zach had thrown at her last night.
I don’t think it’s necessary to tell you about the progress I’ve made toward proving Kyle Vaughn and his mother ran those drugs, not you
. “I don’t understand. What has he done?”

“Only called in every marker he had with both the feds and with people in Georgia. He went to bat for you, Savannah. He put his reputation on the line for you. He believed in you. And what do you do? You’re ready to run out on him at the first sign of trouble. You should be ashamed. That’s not how you treat people you care about. People you love and who love you. Well, guess what. I think I’ve changed my mind about you. You don’t deserve Zach. You don’t—”

“That’s enough, Gabriella,” Zach snapped.

Savannah twisted around to see the sheriff, tall and handsome and cold as a winter wind, standing with his hand on TJ’s shoulder. TJ looked both happy and pained, as if the weight of the world had lifted from his shoulders at the same time as he wanted to melt in embarrassment.

Savannah stood, her heart pounding, her mouth suddenly dry as burnt toast. “Zach, can we talk? Privately?”

If possible, his expression grew harder. “In my office.”

He led the way into his office and gestured for her to take a seat. He shut the door, then took his seat behind
his desk. Silence dragged out for a long moment. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yes.” She started out with the easy one. “Thank you for what you did for TJ. I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”

“I did my job.”

Short. Clipped. Still angry. She knew she deserved that.

She went on to the next subject, this one more difficult. “May I ask about something that isn’t your job? Will you tell me about Georgia?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Gabi made it sound like more than it is. I made a few calls. Asked a couple people I know to take a look at the case. They found someone who was willing to talk, and we used what they learned to convince Georgia to reopen your case.”

Reopen my case?
“I don’t understand. They can’t revoke my probation, can they?”

“They’re working to overturn your sentence, Savannah. They followed the money and ran a sting. Got Kyle Vaughn to talk to an undercover. We have on tape that he and his mother used you as a mule without your knowledge. Francine would load up your car, and while you were in class, Kyle and his cohorts would make the transfer. Nobody likes a dirty cop, so they are moving quickly on what we found. They’re pounding the last nails into the coffins now. You should expect arrests within the next couple of weeks.”

“Arrests?” She couldn’t believe it, so she wanted him to say it flat out. “Whom are they going to arrest?”

“Kyle and Francine Vaughn. After that, you’ll need to work with a Georgia attorney to get your conviction overturned, but you won’t have trouble finding someone good. Don’t hire a shark, though. You’ll have a settlement coming your way, so the scum lawyers will be circling.
Talk to Mac. He’ll help you figure all that out. In the meantime, you should sit back and let Georgia do its thing.”

She sat back and attempted to take it all in. They had believed her. Zach had believed in her. Somebody had been on her side.

She couldn’t believe it. “It’s that easy? Just like”—she snapped her fingers—“that?”

“Once someone looked at your case without wearing blinders issued by Detective Vaughn, it was pretty straightforward.”

“You did this for me. You believed me.”

He looked at her stonily.

“Zach, I—” She reached a hand across the desk toward him. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been so stupid. I …” She hesitated, working up her nerve.

He stared down at her hand, then shook his head. “Look, Savannah, I don’t have the energy for this. It’s been a long week and I’m whipped. A woman I liked and respected is dead because of stupid teenage drama that could have been avoided. So I’m not in the mood for any more adult drama. I’ve had my fill. So let’s just go on about our business, okay? We had something, we ended something. It’s done. But in the meantime, TJ has something to tell you, so take him home and listen to him.”

Her pulse had begun to race. She felt him slipping away and it frightened the truth from her. “Zach, I love you.”

He looked at her and gave a snort of disgust. “Sure you do. Now. Because I proved myself. It’s all about that, isn’t it? You couldn’t take me and all of this”—he waved his hand around his office—“at face value. I had to prove it. Prove I wasn’t like that dickwad in your past. Prove that I’d stand by you—unlike your brother. Over and over and over. Well, I’m done proving myself.
I managed just fine before you. I’ll be peachy keen after you, too.”

“But I was wrong. I know that. I love you.”

“It’s too little, too late, Savannah. You should have trusted me. You should have loved me for who I am, not what I do.”

“But I do love you for who you are, Zach! I trust you.”

“Oh, really? Well, guess what? We’ve had a bit of a sea change around here. I don’t believe you. I don’t trust you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” He stood and exited the office, leaving her shaken and trembling and brokenhearted.

Savannah sat frozen, devastated and uncertain, staring blindly through her tears at Zach’s empty chair. At some point TJ entered the office and said, “Jeez, Aunt Savannah. What did you do to make Zach so angry? He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a good guy. He really helped me.”

“I know that, Teej.”

“I, um, need to talk to you about something. It’s nothing bad. Just stupid. I’m not in trouble or anything.”

“Yes, he mentioned that. Can it wait? I’m a little … distracted.”

“Absolutely! No rush. No rush at all. I’m going to go talk to Mandy if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure.”

The boy hesitated, then stepped toward her. He bent over and pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Everything will be okay. Don’t worry. Thanks for being there for me.”

TJ left, but Savannah still didn’t move, remaining lost in her thoughts and sunk into her misery. Eventually she noticed that Zach’s chair no longer sat empty. Gabi was watching her with pity in her eyes. “You told him you loved him, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Your timing sucks, girlfriend.”

Savannah’s tears spilled. “I blew it. I am so stupid. Gabi, it wasn’t because of what he did, I promise. I had a long talk with Celeste last night and she helped me see what was in my heart. I spent this morning practicing how to tell him. But I’m too late. I don’t know how to fix it. I’ve lost him and it’s all my fault. I really screwed up.”

“What you’ve lost is your good sense. He’s angry, Savannah. His feelings are hurt. You shot him down, and guys never take that well, especially not men like Zach. His pride has been wounded. That’s almost more serious than wounding his heart.”

“I know.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’ve lost him. It means you’re going to have to work to get him back.”

At Gabi’s words, a little flame of hope flickered to life inside Savannah. “Do you really think it’s possible?”

“Yeah, I do. People don’t fall in and out of love that easy. You know that. He’s mad right now, but he’ll calm down. What you need is a plan for how to heal his wounded pride.”

“Okay.” Savannah nodded. “That sounds good. What will it be?”

“Honestly, I haven’t a clue. I think we need help from people who have known Zach Turner longer than you and I.”

“What? You want to call a town meeting?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

Savannah’s throat went tight with emotion. “Thank you, Gabi. Your friendship means …” Choked up, she blinked back tears. “Everything.”

“Oh, just calm down. I’m sure there will be a point when you have to do something like this for me. No one
is perfect, Savannah. You gotta remember that. You just have to trust people who care about you.”

Gabi picked up the phone on Zach’s desk and punched in a number Savannah recognized. “Sarah? Gabi Romano here. Savannah did something stupid and now she needs our help. Can you call a meeting? We need the Eternity Springs matchmakers to do their thing.”

TWENTY-FOUR
 

“We could try an intervention,” Celeste suggested as she sank into the largest of the hot springs pools at Angel’s Rest three days later. To Savannah, she added, “We have quite a bit of experience at that.”

Sarah kicked off her flip-flops, then sat on the edge of the pool and dangled her feet in the water. “Interventions are a specialty of ours.”

Nic frowned thoughtfully. “We’ve never done an intervention with a guy before. I’m afraid it could backfire.”

“Mac wouldn’t like it,” Ali said, scooting over to make room for Sage.

“Colt wouldn’t, either.” Sage waved at Gabi, who had just ended her shift and ducked into the dressing room to change out of her uniform into her swimsuit.

“I think we should return to our original strategy,” Sarah said. “Oh, this water feels good. My feet are killing me.”

“What original strategy?” Savannah asked.

Nic explained. “We chatted you up to him every time we saw him.”

“We were Eternity Springs water torture,” Sage added with a laugh.

Savannah said, “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t think y’all understand just how angry he is.”

“She’s right,” Gabi said as she joined them. “The man is one great big impossibly bad mood. I’ve tried three times to bring up Savannah’s name, and he cuts me off with that laser look of his. The last time I tried it, he handed me a stack of old paperwork to file. Took me four hours. I don’t dare mention her again. Trust me, Zach is PO’d. She needs something big to get through to him.”