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Hez wished with all his heart that he could go back to that time—somehow hit Reset on his life and avoid all the failures that had led to him walking through this perfect evening alone. But the past was carved in immutable granite. Maybe he needed to accept that.
Everything he’d done over the past few months had been an attempt to undo the past. He had forced Savannah to withdraw the divorce petition and tried to cajole her into coming back to him. Then they could have another baby and start over from where he messed everything up. But it hadn’t worked—and even if it had, the past wouldn’t be undone and Ella would still be dead.
Maybe it was time to move on—and to let Savannah move on. She’d made it very clear that’s what she wanted. She had shown no interest in getting back together despite seeing the “new Hez” at close range for over a month. And he vividly remembered the contented smile on her face when Beckett was massaging her. How many moments like that had the two of them shared when he wasn’t around to interrupt?
Hez’s unhappy train of thought was derailed when he glimpsed a familiar male figure in the dusk ahead of him, hurrying along one of the brick paths that crisscrossed the campus. Hez couldn’t tell for sure if it was him in the dim light, so he followed at a distance, staying in the shadows.
The man went to the administration building. He avoided the well-lit main entrance and circled around to the side. He pulled open a door and ducked inside, but not before Hez got a glimpse of his face in the brief splash of light from inside the building. A moment later, a light came on in the CFO’s office. It was the same guy he’d caught watching Savannah and Beckett at University Grounds. And he just went into Jess’s office.
Chapter 19
Savannah spotted Jess at the end of the Gulf State Park Fishing Pier. She sat dangling her feet off the edge. She wore khaki shorts and a blue top, and she swung her legs like she used to when they were kids. It was such an uncharacteristic pose for her sister that Savannah stopped and watched for a moment with Marley dancing impatiently beside her. Jess stared out over the water in the fading light as if she was searching for the meaning of life. Savannah hadn’t seen her so pensive in a long time.
Jess was such a contradiction at times—caring and supportive yet so closemouthed about her own dreams and desires. Her job seemed to be enough, but was it really? Savannah had often wished to see her sister happily married with a couple of kids. She’d been an attentive and loving aunt to Ella and had been devastated at her death.
Marley barked, and Jess turned her head and spotted Savannah. The pathos on her face morphed into a smile, and she waved. “There you are.”
Savannah walked out to meet her and dropped down onto the rough boards beside her. She licked the salt from her lips. “Been here long?”
“Just a few minutes.” Jess inhaled a breath and blew it out. “I love the smell of the sea. It beats the stale air of my office any day. It’s been ages since we came out here. I was glad you suggested it. I was just watching a pod of dolphins.”
There were no dolphins that Savannah could see. Her memories of this place were full of fishing trips with Dad and Jess, but more often than not, he and Jess were bickering by the time they’d left. “I wanted to talk where we wouldn’t be overheard.” The pier held a few fishermen, but they were far enough away that no one would hear what she wanted to talk to Jess about.
“You said you needed to talk. What’s up?”
“Hez spotted someone watching me.” Savannah gave her sister the brief description Hez had given her. “And last night he saw him going into your office. Does the description ring a bell?”
Jess pursed her lips, and a frown creased her forehead. “It sounds like Peter Cardin, my accounting assistant. I’m sure it’s nothing. He probably forgot something.”
“Hez says he’s an addict. He spotted some telltale signs.”
Jess stared out over the water before she shrugged. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Hez is genuinely concerned. He’d like to take a look at the guy’s background and turn it over to Augusta. We have to consider the possibility this Peter is the one hiding the money. Maybe it’s to support his habit. It would make sense.”
Jess pleated her shorts with her fingers and still didn’t look at Savannah. “Fine. I’ll pull his file when I’m in the office and send it to Hez. I want this all over. I don’t like him poking into the school’s records and implicating my staff.”
Why was she acting so defensive about this? Was it because she felt responsible for hiring Peter? “If Hez finds out who is behind all this, it will be over. The more help you can give him, the faster that will happen.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Jess’s phone sounded with a message, and she glanced at it before she rose. “I need to make a private call. Let’s head back to the parking lot.”
Business or pleasure? Savannah had caught a hint of softness around her sister’s mouth when she read the text. Was she seeing someone? If only she would open up and talk to her like when they were younger.
Hez had been right to have Savannah tackle this conversation. As prickly as Jess had been about it, she would have turned down Hez’s request immediately.
They walked back to the parking lot in silence. Marley nosed along the gravel along the way. A pelican scooped up water and a fish before taking off overhead again, and Savannah watched the big brown bird soar into the darkening sky. Sometimes she felt like that hapless fish. No matter how she tried to escape into a new life, she felt caught. Not that Hez was a predatory pelican. She knew he still loved her, but that love felt like a trap some days. Or maybe it was her own feelings confining her in the same place.
Did she even want to wriggle out? Whenever she was around Hez, she felt the same old pull, even though she fought against it. The inexorable tide dragging her into the old patterns was nearly impossible to resist. When she’d married Hez, neither of them had any idea of the challenges and heartache they would face, but wasn’t that the way it was with any marriage? Even losing Ella hadn’t killed her love for Hez. It was only when he chose booze over her that Savannah had begun to consider what life without him would look like.
And now that he was back, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to let go. The realization had been growing ever since he walked back into her life. Her heartbeat rocketed at the thought of seeing the hope ignite in his eyes when she told him that. Maybe it was time.
Lost in thought, she missed her sister’s comment when she stopped at her car. “I’m sorry?”
Jess wore a troubled frown. “I was just saying goodbye.” She glanced at her phone. “Listen, I have to fly to London and need to book a flight to leave tomorrow morning. Can that file wait until I get back? I’ll just be gone five days. I’ll be back on Tuesday.”
“Not really. Can’t you swing by the office and email it to Hez before you leave? And why such a last-minute trip?”
“I was already planning to go, but I made a mistake on the date and I need to go tomorrow.” When Savannah didn’t answer, Jess sighed. “Fine. I’ll run by the office. Can you reschedule my flight while I pack and finish up a few things? I’ll text you the confirmation code. I need to go out first thing in the morning.”
