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“Theyrelationship,” Savannah said, happy to listen to hiht at rest At ease

Watching him eased her, too, and the loneliness lifted, the sadness evaporated

“I think it was an interesting one-night stand” He grinned “They weren’t together when I was growing up But to his credit, he took care of ht ht, a few notes of jazz and she wondered what other secrets their handyman kept

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No,” he said, the jazz coreith a kid Jack He’s as much a brother as I could ask for”

There was a whole lot of heartache going on behind those words and she nearly asked hi about Jack made him sad, but he cleared his throat and asked, “Where is your mother?”

The coziness surrounding the cool in the room, the very late hour

She wasn’t going to answer—things had already gotten too far too fast with hi to answer that question

“Savannah?”

She’d let the silence unfold until he got uncomfortable and stood and left It’s what she did whenever anyone asked about her mother—not that many people did anymore

“I should go,” he said and she heard hi to leave and suddenly, she didn’t want that She didn’t want to be alone Not anyht now

So, the words just fell out of her for the first time in years

“My mom left us Here When my two brothers and I were just kids”

“That’s—”

“A terrible story, I know I lived it I haven’t seen her or heard from her in twenty years”

“Not a word?”

“No cards, no letters, no phone calls Nothing”