The Secret She Kept by Amy Knupp Page B

them. Savannah stepped away, annoyed with herself for the momentary urge she’d had to move nearer to him. She pulled him farther into the conference room, out of sight of the others.
    “You’re using this project to get closer to her, aren’t you? That’s why you did it.”
    He eyed her in disbelief. “I didn’t even know about her when my grandma decided to meet with Zach. It’s been her decision all along. Completely unrelated to what I learned the other night, after our meeting. Do you really think I’d jeopardize my deal in Montana just to mess with you?”
    “You said yourself you wanted to be in Allie’s life.”
    “And I’m going to be in her life. I don’t have to play games to accomplish that. Not my style, honey.”
    With that, he left the room, said goodbye to everyone and went out the front door.
    Savannah sat on the edge of the table. She was an idiot. She didn’t really believe he was using the construction deal to get closer to Allie. She knew how insane that was now that he was gone. But seeing him saunter into the room with her daughter had sent Savannah into a panic. Made her slip into her annoying out-of-control-because-of-Jake mode.
    She put her feet on a chair and lay across the table. The fact was more than just Jake’s knowing about Allie bothered her. Added to it was a bone-deep fear that her relationship with her daughter would get even worse.
    The sound of Logan giggling at something snapped Savannah out of her self-pity fest and made her realize how easily one of the kids could find her here being pathetic and ashamed. She wearily sat up and slid to her feet, wiped the tears away, then busied herself tidying the coffee area. Which really wasn’t messy. She just needed a few moments to regain her composure before facing everyone.
    So much for not losing control again.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    “M ICHAEL ISN’T A LLIE’S biological father.” Savannah squirmed and closed her eyes for a moment, then got the nerve to face her two sisters, who were seated on the couch next to her. They’d been bugging her the entire car ride to the bridal shop to tell them what was wrong, why she was so uptight. Now they knew.
    Katie, the youngest Salinger sister and the bride-to-be, was smiling, clearly not believing what Savannah had said. She pulled her light brown hair up to the back of her head and secured it with a hairband. Lindsey, the oldest, grabbed Savannah’s arm, brown eyes wide, her other hand resting protectively over her pregnant belly. Katie noticed, and then she, too, became serious.
    “You’re not joking, are you?”
    “I wouldn’t joke about this,” Savannah said as she bolted off the couch and paced.
    The fitting room was as big as a living room, in order to accomodate three different pedestals surrounded by mirrors, long wedding-dress trains, and the number of people who invariably accompanied a bride to such ordeals. Today there were just the three Salingers. The other bridesmaid, Eve, couldn’t make it, and would have to drop by for her final fitting later that week. Claudia, their stepmother, was also absent, on a weekend trip to Vegas with their dad. This was the last fitting before Katie and Noah’s wedding, and the sales associate had gone in search of their gowns.
    “Whoa,” Katie said. “Scandal in the family. Who, pray tell, is the father?”
    “Katie,” Lindsey scolded. But she, too, waited for an answer.
    “Probably someone you don’t know. His name is Jake Barnes.”
    “No way! I totally remember him,” Lindsey said. “You used to talk about him nonstop.”
    The saleslady arrived just then, lugging Katie’s dress. “Here is the bride’s,” she said. “Let’s start with you and then I’ll go get the other girls’.”
    Katie slipped her jeans and sweater off her perfect size-six body and walked over to where the woman was removing the plastic covering from the gown. “Thanks—” she read the woman’s name tag “—Beth. I don’t remember Jake.”