Beta

Savannah couldn’t help but think everything looked different. It had been years since she had been in Minnesota, where she and Shea had grown up. She really had forgotten how much she missed the place.

She was grateful when Shea and Alex had agreed to a long girls’ weekend in Minnesota. Her parents had been thrilled the women were coming back to visit, even if for just a short period of time. She didn’t tend to see her parents too often, even though they were always asking for her to come back for a visit. It just never worked with her work schedule. But now with her mandatory leave from work for her concussion, she suddenly had the time.

Savannah needed to get away from Dallas. It was hard sitting at home not being able to work. She’d been working for the past 12 years straight and now she was forced to take a break. And she hated it.

She’d spent the previous night in her old bedroom at her parents’ house. She was unsure why her parents kept the four bedroom house now that she and Shea had moved out and they liked to travel so much, but she stopped fighting them on the matter. It was convenient for times like this when she made a last minute return trip.

She felt like a teenager again, waking up to her mom’s breakfast, which she made enough for for all three visitors plus an army on top of that. She didn’t really feel like eating, though, but she had put down some food just to appease her mom.

After breakfast, the girls decided to go back to a few of their old stomping grounds from their high school days. First up was a state park about twenty minutes from her parents’ house. Savannah recalled going out to that lake often on the summer weekends with Shea and Alex, and she was excited to return.

Savannah hadn’t imagined how good some empty space and fresh air could do for her. Just walking the trails helped, since she wasn’t allowed to do any strenuous physical activity per the doctor.

There was no one else around, which wasn’t too surprising since it was a Tuesday morning. Even with kids out of school for the summer, they tended to go to one of the larger beaches in the area. That’s why she was surprised when she saw someone walking towards her on the hidden trail.

She instantly went into defensive agent mode. But, as the person came closer, she swore she recognized that walk. She could have picked him out of a crowd from a mile away. She didn’t need to see his face. And she wished she could defend herself but she couldn’t.

“What are you doing here?” she called out. He was still far enough away that she couldn’t make the details of his face out, but she knew it was him.

“I needed to see you,” he replied simply.

She stood, grounded in place, hands on her hips. “You really thought this was a good idea?” she questioned. “How did you even find me here?”

“I’ve got my people,” he stated vaguely with a smirk. The answer didn’t satisfy her, and she frowned at him. “I talked to your parents. They told me you came here today,” he explained.

“Fucking Mae and Dan,” she muttered under her breath. Her parents had betrayed her.

He held his hands up in defense. “Look, just talk to me. Five minutes. Give me five minutes,” he pleaded.

She conceded. “Fine. Five minutes and then I’m screaming for Shea and Alex,” she warned. There was a brief period of silence. “You better start, Tyler, your time is ticking,” she told him, dramatically looking at her watch on her wrist.

He’d reached her and was standing practically toe to toe with her. He looked good, she noticed. Though she couldn’t think of a time he didn’t look good. “You’re stubborn,” he began.

“Really good start,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Let me finish,” he sighed. She pressed her lips together and let him continue. “You’re stubborn. So am I. It’s why our fights get so explosive. But it’s also why I love you. On top of a million other reasons. Look, Savannah, I hate that your job puts you in danger. But I love you more than I hate that feeling.”

He had stopped talking, and she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to speak, but she did so anyways. “So what is that supposed to mean, Tyler?” she questioned. “You broke up with me, remember? You can’t handle my job, and I’m not changing careers,” she said, putting her arms over her chest, proving his point as to how stubborn she was.

“I know,” he said softly. “So let’s find a way to make it work.”

She stared at him, not knowing what to say. She wanted to make it work, but part of her couldn’t see any way it could work. But, damn she would try if he was willing to meet her halfway. “You really came all the way to Minnesota to say that? You couldn’t just pick up the phone?” She hadn’t heard from him in nearly three weeks. Granted, she hadn’t tried to contact him either. Though he had been the one to end things, not her.

He laughed. “I figured you would hang up on me...if you even picked up the phone in the first place.” She couldn’t deny that wouldn’t have happened.

He was so close to her she could smell the shampoo he used, something she’d grown accustomed to while staying with him. “Good call.”

“Plus,” he said, grabbing both of her hands at her sides with his own. “I couldn’t do this.” He moved one of his hands to cup her jaw and he kissed her hard on the lips. A kiss that made her knees weak, though she’d blame that on Odella kicking her knee a few weeks ago, even though that had fully healed by now.

As soon as he separated from her, she inhaled deeply to regain her breathing. She looked up at him. “You sure you want to try this again?” she asked him, wanting an honest answer. “You said you couldn’t do this anymore. Not with my job,” she reminded him.

“I can’t be away from you either, I’ve realized. So I’ll have to figure it out,” he shrugged, holding her hand. “I heard you’re on medical leave right now,” he commented, changing subjects.

“Yeah, my concussion,” she replied. “See, my head’s not right right now, maybe that’s why I’m not pushing you away,” she joked, nudging his arm with her shoulder. In reality, she’d been waiting on him to come after her. He was right, she was too stubborn to chase after him. He was going to have to be the one to make the first move, and by this point she had given up hope that it was going to happen. So when she saw him standing there, pleading to try to mend their relationship, she knew she had to concede, or at least meet him in the middle.

“How long you off of work for?” he asked her. He just wanted the answer, she could tell there was no malicious hope that she’d be done for good.
She shrugged as she looked down at the ground. “Doctor won’t give me a definite answer. Right now, I’ve got another five days before I go back to see if I can start anything. He won’t even let me work from home right now,” she muttered.
Tyler knew that had to be killing her. It was like when he was injured and the athletic trainers and doctors told him he had to just stay in bed. He got restless, much like Savannah was now. “So you came to Minnesota for a little retreat,” he smiled at her.

“I don’t know if you could call it a retreat,” she laughed. “But, yeah, a nice girls’ weekend. Where are they, by the way?” she asked, suddenly aware that she hadn’t seen Shea or Alex in a while. Wouldn’t they want to come make sure she was alright? Though she knew they knew she could take care of herself just fine.

“Watching from the sidelines,” Shea’s voice was heard, and Savannah spun around to see Shea and Alex behind a tree.

Tyler burst out laughing, realizing they had been there the whole time. Of course they’d be watching over Savannah. “Did I pass the test?” Tyler asked them.

Alex walked out first with her arms crossed over her chest. “You still need to earn some extra credit,” she informed him. They had been there with Savannah and had seen her at rock bottom after Tyler had broken up with her. And while they had soft spot for the man, they couldn’t let him off the hook so easily.

“Yeah, you fucked up, buddy,” Shea agreed with a nod of her head.

Savannah looked at her friends. She knew that if she chose to forgive Tyler, so would they. But of course they wanted to have a little fun with him.

He looked from Savannah to the other two women. “How exactly do I earn extra credit?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You go to dinner with us with my parents,” Shea answered.

Tyler gave a confused face. “I feel like I’m missing something here,” he said.

“Oh let’s just say you’re not their favorite boyfriend right now,” Savannah clued him in.

“Shit,” Tyler muttered, rubbing his jaw with one of his hands, while keeping a hold of Savannah’s hand with his other. She had to admit she liked the feeling of her hand in his again.

“Yeah, Jamie’s far ahead of you,” Shea told him with a laugh.

Tyler put his arm around Savannah. It felt good to be back with her again. It was comfortable and it felt like everything was right in the world again after the last three weeks being in chaos. “Well we can’t have that, can we?” he said, confidence oozing with the words.

***

Mae Decker had been skeptical when Shea had texted her saying Tyler was coming to dinner. Mae liked Tyler, he was by far the best man Savannah had ever dated, but she knew her daughter had been hurting the past several weeks after Tyler had broken up with her. But when Tyler had shown up at their door asking to talk to Savannah, Mae knew she needed to tell him where she was and allow him the chance to make things right with her daughter.

She had her hands on her hips when Tyler and the girls walked through the front door of the house. “So this is where you grew up?” Tyler asked, following Savannah inside and looking around. The house was nice and felt extremely cozy.

“All three of them grew up here,” Mae walked out of the kitchen to greet them. “Tyler, welcome,” she said cordially.

Savannah stared at her mother. “It’s okay, Mom, you can treat him nicely. If he runs off again, then you can treat him like all my exes.”

Tyler knew she was referring to Jason in her statement, and he hated even being connected to him at all. Jason was a bastard, and while Tyler had unintentionally hurt Savannah, he would never be on the same level as Jason.

“Well, who can stay mad at this man,” Mae motioned towards Tyler who grinned at her. He’d already won her back over. Now he just needed to get her dad on his side again. That would be trickier.

“I can think of a person or two,” Dan came walking in, and the grin Tyler had been wearing dropped. “Tyler,” he greeted him, Dan’s normal smile not on his face. Tyler knew he had some work to do on Savannah’s father.

Tyler stuck his hand out. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Decker,” he said politely.

“Dad, be nice,” Savannah warned. “You know I can handle myself.”

Dan smiled at his daughter. “Of course I know that,” he told her. “I just want to know one thing,” he said, turning his attention back towards Tyler. “You planning on breaking up with my daughter again?”

Tyler closed his eyes. It was a fair question even if he didn’t want to have this conversation right now. “I know I messed up,” Tyler began, and suddenly Dan burst out laughing. Soon, everyone in the room was laughing along, including Savannah. Tyler was confused.

“I’m just kidding,” Dan told him, and Tyler looked up at him, awkwardly laughing along with everyone else, even if he knew he was the butt of whatever joke he wasn’t in on right now. “Though I appreciate the honest answer. I’m not gonna play the bad cop. Savannah does that well enough. And if she’s brought you here with all your limbs intact then I know you’re alright. If she didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I did learn that interrogation face from him though,” Savannah told Tyler. “I’m just better at keeping it up for the whole time.”

“Hey, your old man was a damn good cop back in his day,” Dan defended himself.

“And there’s a reason you’re retired now,” Savannah joked. Tyler enjoyed watching her interaction with her family. He knew she loved them, even if she got annoyed with her parents after spending too much time with them. He could understand that.

“Seriously, Tyler, I was a little worried for your safety when I heard you were back in town. Savannah knows how to hold a grudge,” Dan told him.

Savannah frowned. “Well some people don’t deserve to be forgiven right away. I love Tyler, but we’ve got some work to do still,” she admitted. She knew things weren’t going to go back to how they were. He hadn’t been able to handle her job, and she wasn’t changing careers. She didn’t really know how they were going to fix things, but she wanted to at least try. She didn’t want to look back and wonder what if.

Tyler was surprised how his heart reacted when he heard her tell her family that she loved him. Sure, she’d said it to him before. But to hear her tell other people, especially after they had just separated for a short time, it was good to hear.

“Aww!” Mae’s voice pulled Tyler out of his own thoughts.

Savannah rolled her eyes at her mother. “And that concludes the conversation portion of the evening,” she muttered. “Let’s eat,” she said, and everyone excitedly agreed, ready for dinner. She glanced over at Tyler. She knew they had a lot of work to do if they were ever going to be together, but if she was willing to work to be with somebody, it’d be Tyler.

Notes

Couldn't keep them apart for too long :)