The Secret She Kept by Amy Knupp Page A

sibling battle, and now she finally could be. She just had to learn what to do to keep from missing the kids.
    The door from the shop area opened and she glanced up, expecting to find Zach, but not Jake right behind him.
    “Hey,” Zach said, and immediately busied himself with the phone messages that hadn’t been urgent enough to forward to his cell phone.
    “Afternoon,” Jake said, not smiling. He was still upset, obviously. Well, join the club.
    Savannah stared at him, unable to think of a thing to say. She couldn’t quite act as though everything was fine, not when she was terrified of what his being around would do to her and her kids’ lives.
    “Is there any coffee?” he asked, and Zach pointed to the conference room, where they kept the coffeepot and cups.
    Jake sauntered in that direction and Savannah hastily popped out of her chair to follow him.
    She needed to chill. She knew that, but she couldn’t seem to do it.
    “Coffee?” he inquired smugly.
    “No, thank you. Just checking on my daughter.” She shot him a glare of warning—possible because Allie didn’t even glance her way. “Why are you here, Jake?”
    He poured brew into a disposable cup, his back to her. Then he turned, and she couldn’t help noticing how appealing he was even after being, she’d guess, on the future job site with Zach—hair tousled, dusty T-shirt stretched across his sculpted chest.
    “I’m here for my grandma. Until I leave town, she’s put me in charge of her interests.”
    “I thought you were in the middle of a crucial project back in Montana.”
    “I am. Now I’m in the middle of two crucial projects, one in Montana and one in Kansas.”
    “I just find it coincidental that—” Savannah glanced pointedly at the back of Allie’s head “—with everything going on, you decide to invade here . Now.”
    “Interesting choice of words.” As he spoke, he ambled toward her. “You make it sound like it’s all about you.” He stopped right in front of her. Far too near. Infringing on her personal space and then some. “It’s not.”
    Savannah glanced toward Allie again, noticing she was drawing instead of studying. Her daughter appeared to be ignoring them, but Savannah had learned that little ears were usually tuned in when you didn’t want them to be.
    “Allie, why don’t you pack up your stuff. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Did you get your homework done?”
    “Yesss,” Allie answered impatiently. But she did as Savannah requested, without ignoring her or fighting. She put her pencil into a pink canvas pouch full of art supplies, and zipped it.
    “We’re renting videos tonight,” Allie told Jake.
    “Videos? Cool. What are you going to rent?”
    “ High School Musical. It’s my very favorite movie.”
    Who was this child who was volunteering all kinds of information without being prompted?
    “That sounds fun,” Jake said, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear as she walked past him.
    “You could watch with us.”
    “No, he couldn’t.” Savannah practically snapped the words. “Go tell Logan to pack his stuff.”
    Jake started to trail Allie from the room, but Savannah reached out to stop him. He looked down at where she held his arm and she dropped it fast.
    “You touched her,” she said in a low voice. “You’re being affectionate with her. You’re trying to get her to like you.” Her words were crazy, she acknowledged, but she felt desperate, as if he was stealing her child away.
    He stepped closer, so they were inches apart, and spoke softly, gently. “Savannah. You’re being ridiculous. Relax.”
    Being so close, she could sense his heat, the energy that pumped through him, and she wanted to lean closer. Wanted to hang her head and bury it in his chest, because yes, she was overreacting and she knew it. But…
    “I can’t relax,” she said through gritted teeth. “She’s my daughter.”
    Their eyes met, and the fact that Allie was his daughter, too, hung between