In Between Lies (20 page)

Savannah
cleared her throat. “So just how did you two meet? Did you know when you tried out for the part that Kevin was part owner of The Blue Horizon?”

“Well, we met back in college, actually.” Her eyes lit up as she spoke of the past. “He was a full year ahead of me, but we actually met in a drama class. I never really said much to him at first back then because he had his hands full with a lot of women. He got a lot of attention back then.”

“Uh, yeah, we met in school. It really wasn’t anything though,” Kevin quickly added. 

“I assume he gets a lot of attention now. A handsome weatherman, single, living alone, probably has a revolvin-“

“That’s enough, Ms. Naomi,” Kevin interjected. “I think we get the picture you are trying to paint, which I can point out to be totally untrue.”

It all of a sudden became uncomfortable.

“Revolving door, like he did back then,” Naomi finished her statement.

“I think we have heard enough.”

Savannah
soaked in every word Naomi was saying. “Wow, Kevin, was it like that? Is it still like that?”

“You know,
Savannah
, every night he wasn’t with you, he was with me!”

“Whoa! Listen to this bitch,” Jazzy spit out.

“Were there days where he just disappeared and called with some lame excuse of where he was?”

Savannah
dropped her fork, looked at Kevin, then back at Naomi.

“What about phone calls that he ignored while he was with you? Did you notice that too?”

“What the fuck is she talking about, Kevin?”

“Baby, I told you she was unstable. She will say anything.”

“But why after all these years would she make up stuff now? At this moment?”
Savannah
no longer had an appetite. Her stomach churned from the heat of not only from the embarrassment of Naomi’s statements, but also from the slight fact that she may have been telling the truth.

“You know what,
Savannah
? I’m out of here. And if you want to sit here and listen to the lies that she spits out, then you can do it by yourself.” Kevin excused himself from the table.

Savannah
glanced at Naomi but didn’t say a word. She also followed Kevin out of the door. By the time she reached her car, both Jazzy and Gio were in tow as well, leaving Naomi by herself at the table, holding the bill.

Naomi gladly paid the bill. She sat there for a moment and reveled in the thought that her comments completely ruined Kevin’s evening.

Savannah
sped off behind Kevin. Her cell phone rang. Blind with tears, she could barely see to answer it. “What!”

“
Savannah
don’t listen to the lies, she is a master at them.” Kevin plead through the phone.

“Sounds like to me she may have been telling the truth.”

“I will meet you at your house in an hour. I need to stop by the station first. Oh, and pull that commercial. I don’t want it.”

“Tell me one thing, Kevin, are you still seeing her?”

“No, I told you she is from the past, where she has been and will stay” he lied. “I will see you.”

Savannah
was filled with rage, pain, felt lied to, and ashamed that she had fallen for Kevin and his smooth games. She was more upset with herself for not seeing any tale tell signs that he was not true. He’d seemed so sincere, so into her, and never really gave her a reason to doubt anything that he said or did. Not once. Or maybe she wasn’t looking because she was thrilled to finally have a man in her life that treated her right, or so she thought. According to how Naomi approached the subject, they still were not finished. Her cell phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Did he tell you about the baby?”

             
Savannah
slammed the phone down. “I can’t believe this! A baby?! What the hell?” she yelled in her car.

Chapter 15

             
Savannah
sat in the middle of the floor in her living room. Her trust in Kevin was pretty much shattered. Although she didn’t want to believe anything that Naomi said at that table, she could have been telling the truth.  All of her hard work at learning to trust and love again just went down the drain.

             
The house seemed dark and empty, right along with her heart now. She had known from the beginning to not put her whole self into him, yet she did in the hopes that he would be the right one. She had given him that benefit and had to admit that she wanted, not needed, to have a man in her life.

             
“Baby?”
Savannah
re iterated to herself. “How could he have gotten her pregnant, then just dropped her the way she had implied. That didn’t seem like his character. To have a child and just leave it and the mother to fend for themselves. Kevin seemed to be to warm hearted to do that. But then again, he didn’t seem the type to cheat.

             
Savannah
reminded herself again that really they weren’t a couple, truly they were friends with benefits. She hated to admit that, and scolded herself for not clarifying what she wanted when they became closer. So in essence, she really had no right to be upset. He wasn’t hers to begin with and wasn’t her now for sure. Hell, she even fooled herself into thinking they were ‘together’. She’d paraded him in front of her family as if he was hers… and he really wasn’t.

             
Not wanting to think about Kevin, Naomi, or the supposed baby, she lay her head in her hands at the table and wanted to nap for a while. Her mind needed to be cleared. Later that evening, she heard Kevin knocking at her door, then rang her phone. She just didn’t want to be bothered by him, Naomi, Jazzy, or Richard. No one for that matter. She just wanted to sleep.

             
Days past before
Savannah
finally picked up the phone to talk to Kevin.

             
“Babe, I have been trying to call you at home and at the office and they said you hadn’t been in. I really miss you and need to talk to you.” Kevin pleaded. “Now, I know that you probably want to believe all that mess that Naomi said, but I promise you that it’s not true.”

             
Savannah
sipped at her hot chocolate, took in a deep breath and asked the pressing question. “Kevin, is there a baby?”

             
“What? What baby? Whose baby?”  he asked.

             
“Naomi called my phone and asked me if you told me about the baby.”

             
“Well, I can tell you there is no baby. There never was a baby, and there will never be a baby with her…ever. That is just another ploy to get you away from me.”

             
“I really like you, Kevin…hell, I love you and it’s my fault for letting you in my heart and life like I did without being more cautious. This is exactly what I didn’t want to go through.”

             
“And you don’t have to. You are allowing this woman to prevent you from being happy with me. I need you
Savannah
, to trust me, believe in me. There is nothing going on with me and her.”  He neglected to tell her that in the not so distant past, there was at one point something going on. He could feel her swaying back his way. All he had to do is continue to work his mouthpiece and magic. He knew she loved him and didn’t want to let him go.

             
“Ok, let me just think some more please,” she added. ‘I just need some time, that’s all. And no, I don’t believe everything that she says either. I want to believe in you. So, can I just call you later?”

             
“Sure baby. I will give you your space for a little bit. But don’t make me wait too long.”

*********************

             
“Okay
Savannah
, what’s the problem?” Big Momma asked her. “You got your mouth stuck out like you used to when you were little? What’s the problem?”

             
“Mom….it’s Kevin…I mean it’s kind of my fault too.”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
“Well, I trusted him and he did exactly what I didn’t want to happen…I think.”

             
“What…he’s being a man?”

             
“Well, if you call cheating being a man, then yes.”

             
“Are you for sure? How did you find out?”

             
“Who’s side are you on?”

             
“I’m on your side, baby, but I told you when I saw him that it was hard to believe that he was single in the first place. He’s smooth.”

             
“Well, you were right. He’s smooth all right.”

             
“So what does he have to say about it?”

             
“He says there was nothing going on.”

             
“And how do you feel about that? Do you believe him?”
             

             
“He also says that he wants to be with me always, but I can’t be that girl that has just a part of a man for the sake of having one. You know what I mean?”

             
“Most definitely, I do. Do you want to be with him? It’s painfully obvious that you do or else you wouldn’t be here talking about it with me.”

             
“I do want to be with him. We have a good time together, we do a lot of things together. He is what I have been waiting for.”

             
“So, then you should be asking yourself if you want to see what happens between the two of you. Or if you are really wanting to let it go just because of something that you heard… and not heard from him, I might add.”

             
Savannah
looked at Big Momma then moved in closer to hug her. “Child, I know you have been through a lot of mess with men, but you need to learn to forgive and give them a chance….that is if you want to love agin. You know with love comes some pain too sometimes, just like mis-understandings.”

             
“Well, I don’t like that kind of pain and can do without it. Thanks for the encouragement..but there is one thing that I need to check out first before I make any decisions. I will talk to you later, mom….and thanks.”

             
The next morning,
Savannah
decided to go to work. Once she arrived she was met with a large bouquet of flowers, presented to her by
Lydia
. “Looks like someone is trying to get your attention.

             
“Thanks,
Lydia
, put them over there.”
Savannah
pointed to the small conference table that sat in the corner of the room.  There was a card attached to the flowers, but she didn’t bother reading it right then. She’d already figured they came from Kevin. She smiled inwardly and thought  of the past weekend that they had spent together. The intimate moments they shared had brought them closer together than she ever imagined. Never thinking that another man would have that effect on her since her break up with Dre, she had been caught off guard with Kevin and allowed herself to be taken away.

             
She got up to close her door, sat back down and grabbed Naomi’s file. She wanted to know more about her. If she was as unstable as Kevin said she was she was sure to see some kind of clue from her resume and past job experiences. After a half hour of sifting through her file, she turned up nothing. Outside of her last job, everything seemed normal and in place.

             
The thought occurred to her that Kevin seemed sincere enough and she really felt that he wanted to be with her. He’d been with her up until this point, so why shouldn’t he continue? She didn’t know this woman from Eve. But she knew Kevin and he treated her with respect, compassion , and so far, love.

             
“Hey, why not come over this evening. We can talk then.”
Savannah
said over a quiet phone call to Kevin.

             
“Of course, babe. I most definitely will be there.” Kevin hung up the phone.

             
After the rest of the day being taken up with what seemed to her to be meaningless meetings,
Savannah
was happy to go home. Her team had indeed met their sales quota, despite her absence and slight participation. She allowed them an early so that she could leave as well. Despite what she’d been through with Kevin and Naomi, she’d decided to give Kevin another chance since she wasn’t really sure what the truth was. She followed her heart, then thought of Richard, hoping that he hadn’t gotten hurt. She made it a point to call him after she had her talk with Kevin.