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He’d signed his name on that line for Savannah as much as for himself. More.
Savannah was an incredible woman. One unlike any he’d ever known or dated. Sure, he’d had a few long-term relationships over the years, but none that he’d ever thought twice about walking away from. Walking away had always been easy.
Nothing about leaving Chattanooga would be easy, except knowing that he was doing the right thing for Savannah by leaving before she became any more attached.
She was the most independent woman he’d ever met. He’d not expected her to get so intertwined in his life. Nor had he expected himself to become so tangled up in hers.
“Don’t let a woman hold you back from your dream, son.”
How many times had he heard that or something similar over the years? His father had dreamt of medical school, of working as a travel doctor with an organization such as Doctors Without Borders, of dedicating his life to medicine. Instead, he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant, dropped out of college and gotten a coal-mining job to support his new family.
He’d resented his wife and child every day since for those stolen dreams. Charlie’s mother and Charlie had never been able to replace those dreams and his father had grown more and more bitter over the years. Rupert Keele had pushed Charlie toward going into the medical profession from the time Charlie could walk and talk. Talking about medicine, about becoming a doctor and traveling the world to take care of needy people, was the one time Charlie’s father liked having him around. For years Charlie had thought if he could make his father proud, that might make his father love him, might make life better for himself and his mother. He’d tried his best but, no matter how good the grade, the game performance, the above and beyond achievement, nothing had ever been good enough. Rupert hadn’t cared one iota about anything or anyone except himself.
Charlie’s mother hadn’t been much better, blaming Charlie for her lot in life as well.
Sometimes Charlie wondered if he’d have chosen something besides medicine if he hadn’t been brainwashed from birth and so eager to try to win his mostly uninterested father’s affections in the hopes it would somehow magically transform his parents into good ones. Regardless, when Charlie had been eleven, his maternal grandfather’s congestive heart failure had worsened and Charlie had decided that, rather than work as a travel doctor, he wanted to do cardiology, to work on healing people’s physical hearts, because he sure hadn’t been able to do anything with his parents’.
Charlie had dreamed of heading up a cardiology unit his whole life and now he had the chance.
* * *
If he’d learned nothing else from his parents, he’d learned giving up one’s dreams only led to misery for all concerned and that he couldn’t protect anyone from that misery, not himself or the people he cared about.
Which was why he was leaving Chattanooga to set Savannah free.
To truly accomplish that, he’d have to hurt her, make her hate him.
Based on past experience, that should be no problem.
* * *
Stuffing the last of the shopping bags into her closet, Savannah closed the door just as her doorbell rang.
Charlie was there.
Finally.
He had a key but always rang the bell rather than just coming in, as she’d asked him time and again.
She turned from the closet and a pair of blue baby booties sitting on the bed caught her eye.
Oops.
She grabbed up the soft cotton booties, hugged them to her for one brief happy moment, then put them in the closet with her other purchases and reclosed the door. She’d decided she was just going to place his hand on her belly and let him figure out for himself why. She’d watch as his face lit with surprise, then excitement. She felt so giddy her insides quivered.
“You okay?” Charlie asked when she opened her apartment door, his dark eyes curious as she had taken longer than usual.
By way of an answer, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
Immediately, his arms went around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her back. A thousand butterflies took flight in her belly that had nothing to do with the little life growing there and everything to do with the man making her heart race.
His kisses always made her heart race.
“Hmm,” he mused, looking confused, when he pulled back from her mouth. “What was that for?”
“Do I have to have a reason to kiss you?” she asked, batting her lashes. She wanted to just tell him, to jump up and down and scream to the world that she was having a baby—Charlie’s baby. But, seriously, she should probably let him into the apartment and close the front door before doing so.
Probably.
Frowning, he shook his head. “You have to admit, that’s not the usual way you greet me.”
“Well, it should be.” He was right. She didn’t meet him at the door and throw herself at him usually, but nothing was usual about tonight. Tonight, she was going to tell him the greatest news.
His brow lifted in question.
About to burst with excitement, she searched for the right words. Loving the strong feel of him, the spicy smell of him she wanted to breathe in until he permeated all her senses. “I have good news.”
She was about bursting to tell him. But it registered that he’d yet to smile, as his face took on a tired appearance and he closed his eyes, tension tightening his body. “I have something to tell you, too.”
“You do?” She stepped back and motioned for him to come into her apartment. Rather than sitting down, he paced across to the opposite side of the living room.
“Yes, and maybe I should go first.” He raked his fingers through his hair, turned, gave her a troubled look.
The cloud nine Savannah had been walking on all afternoon dissipated and she felt her stomach drop. She’d been off work, but had met him that morning to run at the greenway. Then, they’d hit the gym together for about an hour. He’d been all smiles when he’d walked her to her car and kissed her goodbye. He’d kissed her so thoroughly and soundly that she’d wanted to drag him into the backseat and have her way with him.
Not that that was anything new. She always wanted to have her way with Charlie. He had that kind of body. One she still had difficulty believing she got to see and touch and kiss and hold and...
She shook off the sensual rabbit hole her mind was jumping down. “What’s going on?”
“I didn’t mean to get into this first thing.” He paced over to a bookshelf, picked up a framed photo of them at Lookout Mountain, stared at the smiling image of them as if he’d never seen it before rather than being part of the couple in the picture. “But it’s just as well to get it out in the open.”
He was the most upfront person she knew. She’d never seen him so distracted. Was something wrong?
“Charlie?”
He set the photo down, turned and faced her. His expression was clouded, which was odd. Charlie never tried to keep his feelings from her. He’d never had to. He knew she was as crazy about him as he was about her.
Only right now, at this moment, he didn’t look like a man who was crazy about her. He looked like a man who was torn by whatever he was about to say, a man who was about to deliver earth-shattering news.
Fear seized Savannah’s heart and she struggled to get enough oxygen into her constricted lungs.
“Charlie?” she repeated, this time with more urgency.
“Have a seat, Savannah.”
She made her way to her sofa. Slowly, she sat down and waited for him to tell her what was going on. She didn’t like his odd behavior, didn’t like that he hadn’t greeted her with smiles the way he generally did, didn’t like the way her heart worked overtime.
Where was her loving, kind, generous, open lover of the past year? The man whose entire face would light with happiness when he saw her? The man whose eyes would eat her up with possessiveness and desire and magical feel-good vibes?
The man avoiding looking directly at her looked as if he was about to deliver the news that she had a terminal illness or something just as devastating.
What if...? Her hands trembled.
Oh, God. Please don’t let something be wrong with Charlie. Please, no.
Not now. Not ever.
“I’m leaving.”
His two simple words echoed around the room, not registering in Savannah’s mind.
“What?” Her chest muscles contracted tightly around her ribcage as she tried to process what he was saying, her brain still going to something possibly being wrong with him. “What do you mean that you’re leaving?”
His expression guarded, he shrugged. “I’m leaving Chattanooga. I’ve taken a cardiology position at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville on the heart failure team and I’m moving there as soon as I can get everything arranged. I turned my notice in at the hospital today.”
Her ears roared. What he was saying didn’t make sense. “You’re leaving the hospital?”
He nodded. “I’m working out a two months’ notice, during which time I’ll be relocating to Nashville.”
“But...your house.” The house she’d imagined them raising their child in. The big backyard. The nice neighborhood close to good schools. The large rooms. Perfect for a family.
“I’ll put it up for sale. I only bought it because I knew I could turn it for a profit. I never meant to stay there. It’s way too big for my needs.”
Never meant to stay. Too big for his needs. Savannah’s head spun.
He’d never meant to stay.
Nothing he said made sense. Not to her way of thinking. Not to the promises she’d seen in his eyes, felt in his touch.
“You’ve always known you’d leave Chattanooga?”
She liked Chattanooga. The mountains. The river. The nightlife. The people. The town. She liked it. Chattanooga was home, where she wanted to be.
“I’ve never stayed in one place more than a few years and even once I’m in Nashville, if the opportunity comes along to further my career elsewhere, I’ll move.”
Her brain didn’t seem to be processing anything correctly. Perhaps it was baby brain. Perhaps it was that he’d dropped the bottom out of her world.
“This is about your career?” she asked slowly, trying to make sure she understood what he was saying.
Because she didn’t understand anything he was saying.
He was happy in Chattanooga. Why would he willingly leave? Why hadn’t she known he planned to leave some day?
“I’ve taken a teaching and research position at the university and a prestigious position at the hospital. It’s a great opportunity.”
What he said registered. Sort of. “You’re moving to Nashville?”
He nodded. “The hospital is offering a relocation package. Hopefully, I’ll find something to buy or rent within the next few weeks so I can be settled in prior to starting.”
“Hopefully,” she mumbled a little sarcastically.
He was leaving. Not once had he said a word to her about the possibility that he might leave. Not once had he mentioned that he was looking for another job. That he’d consider another job even if it was handed to him on a silver platter.
He’d made the decision without even discussing it with her. Her mother, family, and friends were here. She didn’t want to move to Nashville. Upset didn’t begin to cover it.
“I don’t want to live two hours away from the man I’m dating,” she pointed out what she thought should be obvious. “I like that I see you every morning, that we work out together, that I get to see you from time to time at work, that I get to grab dinner with you, that you get to kiss me goodnight almost every single night.” Did she sound whiny? If so, too bad. She felt whiny. And angry. How could he take a job in Nashville? “That’s not going to happen if you’re in Nashville and I’m in Chattanooga. Do you expect me to just sit around waiting for you to have time to come home or that I’m going to be commuting back and forth to Nashville between shifts?”
He regarded her for long moments, his expression guarded. “I don’t expect you to do either.”
What he was saying hit her.
A knife twisted in her heart and she instantly rejected the idea.
That couldn’t be what he meant.
Of course that was what he was saying. That he’d not even mentioned he was thinking about moving, about taking a different job, that she hadn’t warranted that tidbit of information, spoke volumes. He was breaking up with her.
“You’ve never mentioned that you planned to move.” Her words sounded lame even to herself. So what? She was reeling.
Reeling.
Maybe he meant for her to go with him. Maybe he wasn’t ending things. Maybe she’d jumped to all the wrong conclusions when he’d said he was leaving. Maybe he looked so stressed because he was worried she wouldn’t go with him.
The reality was she didn’t want to move to Nashville. She loved her job and coworkers at Chattanooga Memorial Hospital. She wanted to stay in her hometown, to be near her family, her friends, all the things that were familiar. She wanted to raise her baby near her home, where her child would grow up knowing her family and being surrounded by their love.
Her baby.
She was pregnant.
Charlie was leaving.
With obvious annoyance, he crossed his arms. “I never mentioned that I planned to stay, either.”
Ouch. Had she seen blood oozing from her chest, she wouldn’t have been surprised. His comment wounded that much.
“No,” she began, wondering how she could have been so terribly wrong about his feelings.
His eyes were narrowed, his tone almost accusing. “Nor have I ever implied that I would stay.”
He was right. He hadn’t. She’d been the one to make assumptions. Very wrong assumptions.
Her silence must have gotten to him because he paced across the room, then turned to her with a reproving look.
“Good grief, Savannah. I’ve taken a job that’s a wonderful opportunity. Be happy for me.”
Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead of telling him what he wanted to hear, she shook her head. “No, I’m not going to say I’m happy for you. Not when this news came about the way it did. We’ve been involved for months. You should have told me you planned to move. I deserved a warning about something so big. For that matter, we should have discussed this before you made that decision.”
His jaw worked back and forth. “I don’t have to have your permission to move or take a different job, Savannah.”
