Saving Savannah Read Free Page A

blood kin but like family anyways.”
    Katie practically beamed.
    Savannah bristled.
    “And who ’zackly are you, sweetheart?” The wily old witch was addressing her daughter, probably sensing that she would get no response from the mother.
    “Katherine Mary Carrington.”
    Savannah was going to have a talk with Katie again, the one where she insisted on caution with strangers, even seemingly innocent looking old ladies.
    “What a pretty name fer such a pretty little girl!”
    Katie preened. “But you kin call me Katie, like my mommy does.”
    “Even prettier,” the old lady remarked, then looked pointedly at Savannah.
    Realizing that there was no avoiding the woman, she said, “Savannah Jones.”
    “I ain’t never heard of anyone named Savannah. It could be worse. I had a third cousin named Galveston. Tee, hee, hee!”
    At least she hadn’t commented on her and Katie’s different last names. Although she’d never married Katie’s father, Matt Carrington, she’d given her baby his surname at birth. Big mistake, she’d learned later. Matt’s parents would love to take their only grandchild away from Savannah, and her being homeless would give them all the ammunition they’d need. Thus the need for anonymity and caution.
    “I was born in Savannah,” she explained. Not that she had any reason to defend a perfectly good name.
    “I dint mean no offense,” the old lady said with genuine regret.
    Just then a tall, good-looking guy in khakis, a black T-shirt, and a blazer sat down next to the old lady and smiled at her and Katie. He carried two styrofoam cups of coffee, one of which he placed in front of Tante Lulu.
    “This is my nephew John LeDeux. We call him Tee-John.” To Katie, she explained, “That means Little John ’cause when he was a boy, he was the littlest LeDeux.”
    The guy grinned and winked at Katie. He better not wink at Savannah. She was immune to good looking men who promised the moon and then .  . . Oh, God! Why do I keep thinking about Matt today? I’ve got to focus, and besides, this guy is wearing a wedding band. Not that marriage inhibited some jerks. Working where she did brought that fact home every day.
    Katie flashed a toothless smile and said, “Maybe I could be Tee-Kate.”
    “Sure as gators got snouts.” Tante Lulu smiled back, then added to Savannah, “Tee-John is a cop up Fontaine way.”
    Savannah stiffened. Okaaay! Time to get this show on the road! She began to gather up the remains of their breakfast. “We have to go,” she whispered to Katie.
    The old lady and the man exchanged glances.
    Her reaction had caused them to be suspicious, Savannah could tell, but she couldn’t help herself. Every time she saw a policeman come in her direction, she figured that Matt’s parents or CPS had finally found her and were about to take Katie away. For all she knew, that’s exactly who this one was, though she didn’t think a hired cop would bring his elderly aunt along.
    “What’s yer rush?” the nosy old biddy asked.
    “I have to take Katie to kindergarten.” She checked the wall clock. “We only have fifteen minutes.”
    “And Mommy has to go to work so we can earn enough money to go to Alaska. There’s polar bears in Alaska. And seals. We looked on the computer at the library.”
    Savannah groaned inwardly at her daughter’s running tongue.
    “And where do you work, honey?” the old lady asked Savannah.
    Before she could come up with some hazy answer and drag her daughter away, Katie revealed with a giggle, “Crazy Hal’s.”
    What was it with the giggling today? Katie had become a regular giggle machine. “Isn’t that a crazy name?”
    “Sure is, sweetie,” Tante Lulu agreed.
    But the guy gave Savannah a knowing look. Obviously, he was familiar with Crazy Hal’s.
    “I’m a waitress, not a stripper.” Not that it’s any of your business.
    “Strippers are ladies that take off all their clothes,” her precocious daughter whispered to Tante