The Secret She Kept Read Online Free PDF Page B

hated her, yet would need her more than ever if she learned the truth.
    Jake had paced down the sidewalk. Savannah took several steps after him.
    “You can’t tell her. It’ll crush her. She’s been through so much—”
    “Whose fault is that?” He rounded on her, fury in his eyes. “What the hell were you thinking, Savannah?”
    She glanced about to make sure no one could hear. “This isn’t the place to discuss the subject.”
    “Forgive me if I’m not too concerned about that.”
    “Consider Allie, Jake. For one second, think about that little girl and what it will do to her life if she’s the talk of the town because of something somebody overheard on the street.”
    He closed the distance between them, anger radiating from him in waves. He backed her against the wall until their thighs touched.
    “You know what I’d like to do right now, Savannah? I’d like to wring your neck!” But he shoved his hands into his pockets. “How could you keep this from me? For all these years?”
    In some corner of her mind—a corner she usually kept dark—she’d known this could happen. But she’d never imagined how awful the reality would be.
    “I refuse to discuss this with you in the middle of downtown on a public sidewalk,” she said. “If you want to talk, we talk later. Tonight. After the kids are in bed. I have to go to them now.”
    She inched from between him and the wall, but he grabbed her wrist, conveying that he wasn’t about to let the matter drop.
    “Let me go,” she said through gritted teeth.
    “Where can I find you tonight? Because we will be discussing this in a lot more detail.”
    “Fifth and Vine. A red duplex. I live in the one on the left. Don’t come before nine, because the kids will be awake.”
    He nodded once but still didn’t release her. She pulled on her arm, but he held tight as he stared at her. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
    “Kind of hard to tell you when you ran away .” She yanked her hand downward and freed herself, then walked toward the office. At the door, she paused and schooled her features to reveal nothing of the tempest inside her.
    “Tell my grandmother I went to move her car closer.”
    Savannah made a point of not glancing at him as she entered.
    “Mom! Make Allie stop staring at me like that.”
    “I’m not staring at him,” she said. “Brat.”
    “Allie. Don’t call your brother names. Logan, get your homework out, go to the conference room and start on it.”
    The little boy groaned, but Savannah barely noticed.
    Zach entered from the back room then, helping Mrs. Levine through the doorway with her walker. Thankfully, they’d missed the bickering.
    Zach introduced the women and Savannah forced herself to be polite. “It’s nice to meet you.”
    “You, too, dear. Any idea where that grandson of mine is?”
    “He went to get the car.” Savannah assumed Zach’s place to help her to the door.
    Mrs. Levine smiled warmly at her. “This young man’s got a talented crew. Those custom cabinets are lovely.”
    “I keep begging them to do some furniture for me, but they claim paying customers come first,” Savannah said, vaguely wondering how she was managing to speak coherently, making small talk with Jake’s grandma as they headed to the door.
    Jake opened it from the outside just as they reached it, and gently took his grandmother’s arm. Savannah tried to avoid eye contact and any kind of conversation, but she met his eyes automatically when he touched her arm.
    “I’ll see you later.” His quiet words sounded like a threat.
    She let the door swing shut once Jake and Mrs. Levine had cleared it, and went to her desk. There, she sat and shuffled papers to appear busy, even though she couldn’t possibly focus on work.
    Zach didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong. “They’re decent,” he said. “Had some interesting ideas.”
    Suddenly, now that she had a crisis to deal with, the land deal wasn’t so pressing to