Page 76 of Saving Graces
“I’m good,” Rosalie said, considering her friend. “Are you… okay?” She did not want Savannah seeing what Cole was up to while she was in this state.
“I’m great,” Savannah reassured her. “I’m so great!” Rosalie saw the exact second Savannah clocked Cole. Her spine went rigid and her expression cracked for barely a microsecond, before she turned and smiled even wider at Rosalie. “God, I’m honestly just so great.”
“Savannah-” Rosalie said softly.
“Oh stop,” Savannah soothed her. “It’s fine. It’s not what it looks like.”
“What does it look like?” she asked carefully.
For a second there was a flash of pure rage in Savannah’s eyes.
“Oh my god, stop,” she said again, her voice hard. Then she giggled once more. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Rosalie trailed behind her with deep trepidation as Savannah approached her husband. The young brunette’s eyes went wide and she scattered.
“Well if it isn’t the beautiful Mrs. Corbin,” Cole said straight away, his tone smooth and approving as he wrapped his arm around Savannah’s waist. He ignored Rosalie like she was part of the shrubbery. “You look hot,” he told his wife.
She kissed him possessively on the mouth and he grinned down at her. “Now go be a hostess. We gotta show all these fine people a good time.” He fobbed her off with a light push, following the brunette over to where she had rejoined her friends. Savannah watched him go. Rosalie watched Savannah.
“See?” Savannah gave her a grotesque imitation of a smile. “It’s fine!”
“Honey,” said Rosalie gently. “Do you want to get out of here?”
Savannah laughed out loud as if Rosalie had made the best joke. Then she went white.
“Yeah,” she said tightly. “I do.”
Rosalie briefly considered how pissed Savannah’s security would be with her as she tugged one of the most famous women in Nashville into a plain old taxi cab. The driver’s eyes went wide as he saw whose face was atop that sparkling dress. He opened his mouth and Rosalie snapped the address at him so fast he swallowed sharply and drove without comment.
Her house was blessedly quiet and Savannah wobbled in behind her. She put on the lowest lights, sat Savannah on the couch and made her a huge warm cup of cocoa, unsure if adding sugar to her high was especially helpful but wanting badly to find a way to soothe her. Savannah looked around, her movements quick and flighty, her jaw still tight.
“Your house is beautiful, Rosie,” she said. “God, I wish I lived here.”
“You could,” Rosalie told her. “You could get a little house like this, all to yourself if you wanted.”
“I could get a hundred of them!” Savannah announced. “A hundred and three.”
“You could do that.” Rosalie couldn’t help her smile. Savannah smiled too. “You’d only need one though,” she said, “if you want to leave Cole.”
Savannah’s jaw dropped.
“Leave him? I’m not going to leave him. He’s my husband,” she said as if Rosalie hadn’t been right there beside her as she’d made her vows.
“Sure,” Rosalie said. “You still can though. If you want to.”
“I don’t want to.” Savannah stared at her, her hands shaking a little as she clutched the hot chocolate to her body. She hadn’t taken a sip. “I love him. And he loves me.”
“And tonight-” Rosalie started.
“Tonight was nothing. He flirts a little. Who doesn’t?”
“It made you upset-”
“Because I’m a little too high,” Savannah argued. “I got wigged out over nothing. Coke does that to me. I know that.”
“How much coke are you doing?” Rosalie asked curiously.
“Jeez mom,” Savannah rolled her eyes, pushing back the blanket Rosalie was trying to wrap her in, “not much.”
