LITMIR.BIZ

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possible, check with your parents.”

      That was going to be difficult since she had no desire to talk to her father about the lump, not when he’d overreacted about her falling off a horse. Oh, and the fact that she had no idea where her mother was, or if she was even alive, would make it difficult to ask her.

      She fell so deep into her thoughts of her mother that she nearly missed what the doctor said next—that Savannah was being sent for a mammogram. Not next week, not the next day, but in a few minutes. That wasn’t good, was it? They always made you wait for these things, making you live in a perpetual state of freaking out until the test was done and results received.

      As she maneuvered the hallways of the clinic to the mammography area, she felt as if she were trudging through a dense fog that slowed her thoughts while making it seem as if they were racing at the same time. A part of her buried deep inside wished she had her mother beside her, holding her hand. But that wasn’t possible. Delia Baron had abandoned her and her siblings, walked away from them and their dad as if they meant nothing.

      Savannah pushed thoughts of her mother away. She’d stopped trying to figure out the why behind her mother leaving a long time ago. After all, she couldn’t think of a single reason that wasn’t at its core purely selfish. Add in the fact that her father refused to even speak Delia’s name, and gradually she just stopped coming up in conversation anymore. Honestly, until Lizzie had gotten pregnant and started worrying about not being a good mother, it had been a while since Savannah had even spared her mom a thought.

      But now, as she endured the boob smashing that every woman dreaded, she couldn’t help but think about the mystery of her family medical history on her mother’s side. As she left the clinic half an hour later with assurances that she’d be contacted as soon as the test results were available, she couldn’t stop wondering about her mother. Where was she? Was there a history of breast cancer in her family? Had her mother ever found a lump?

      A part of Savannah desperately hoped the answer to that last question was yes, and that it had proven to be nothing of concern. In that one way, she was totally fine with following in her mother’s footsteps.

      But how was she supposed to find out those answers without cluing her family in to the fact that something was going on?

      She was still searching for that answer as she maneuvered through traffic toward the downtown Dallas office of Baron Energies. Even as she walked through the glass entrance and flashed her security badge to the guard at the front desk, she wasn’t sure how she was going to casually bring up their mother in conversation with her sister.

      As she neared Lizzie’s office, she spotted her father’s longtime secretary, Maria, chatting with Emory, who worked as Lizzie’s assistant.

      Maria’s face lit up the moment she saw her. “Savannah, dear, I haven’t seen you in forever.”

      Savannah was careful not to allow Maria to hug her too tightly. “It’s good to see you, too.” She glanced toward Emory. “Both of you. Is my sister available?”

      Lizzie poked her head out of her office door. “So I’m not hearing things. What are you doing here?”

      “What, I’m not allowed to come take my sister to lunch?”

      It was no wonder Lizzie was surprised by Savannah’s appearance considering Savannah rarely darkened the door of the oil company’s headquarters. Like Jet and Carly, she had little interest in the energy side of the family business.

      Savannah crossed her arms. “Convince me you’re not hungry, and I’ll leave.”

      Lizzie shook her head. “You know I can’t do that.”

      “I know. Chris says all you do is eat.”

      Shock registered on Lizzie’s face. “He does not.”

      “Are you sure about that?”

      “If he said that, he’s going to wish he never had.”

      Savannah couldn’t help but laugh, which was a minor miracle considering what had propelled her here in the first place. “Okay, so maybe I made that up. I don’t think Chris would ever be stupid enough to think that, let alone say it. But I’ve seen you eat recently. You can put away an impressive amount of food.”

      “Just for that, you’re paying for lunch.”

      “Really? You’re the company bigwig now.”

      “And you’re the one teasing the pregnant lady.” Lizzie disappeared into her office but was back a moment later with her purse. Now that her pregnancy was out in the open, she’d gone shopping for maternity clothes. But she made even those look stylish. “Come on. I feel as if I could eat an entire cow.”

      They didn’t go far, just down the block to one of Lizzie’s favorite restaurants. When they’d placed their orders, Lizzie leaned back and pinned Savannah with a questioning look.

      “So why are you really here?”

      “What’s with the interrogation?”

      “Because you are somewhere other than on a horse or behind the counter of the store.”

      “I just wanted to get away for a bit, spend some time with my sister before motherhood and marriage gobble you up.”

      “Dad’s still being a pain, huh?”

      Savannah shrugged. “I can manage Dad. Avoidance works well, I’ve found. Though if he were to heal overnight and suddenly go back to work, I wouldn’t object.”

      Lizzie held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, no more looking for ulterior motives.”

      “Thank you.”

      Lizzie grabbed a slice of toasted sourdough bread from the basket and dipped it in olive oil. “Heard you took quite a tumble the other night. Frank Owens in Accounting was at the rodeo and said he was surprised you were able to walk out of there on your own.”

      “So that’s who called Dad?”

      Lizzie shrugged. “He didn’t say, but I wouldn’t be surprised. He always has had his lips firmly attached to Dad’s behind.”

      Savannah snorted just as she was taking a drink of water. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks as she tried to cover up her gaffe with her cloth napkin. “Warn a girl next time, would ya?”

      Lizzie gave her an evil grin.

      They talked some about Lizzie and Chris’s plans for the baby’s nursery, and it was obvious from how Lizzie’s face lit up every time she said Chris’s name that she was in love with him. It was great to see, but Savannah found it hard to imagine opening up that much to someone. When you loved another person, they held the power to hurt you. She had to look no further than her father for that.

      One wife had walked out on him, and another had died. Though Savannah cared a lot for Julieta, she had to wonder if her dad was crazy for marrying a third time. Was being in love really worth all that pain? She liked things over which she had control. Still, she couldn’t deny the happiness her sister had found with Chris.

      “I’m happy for you,” Savannah said. And maybe even a little envious, despite her best intentions. Her thoughts drifted to Travis, and she wondered what he was doing right in that moment, if he’d thought of her any since they’d parted company. But why would he?

      “Thanks,” Lizzie said. “I guess you’re next up.”

      “Lord, you sound like Abby.”

      “And let me guess—she has some long, lanky cowboy picked out for you.”

      “No, actually. I happened to bump into Travis Shepard at the rodeo, and she suddenly thinks we’re destined to be together.”

      “Why does she think that?”

      Savannah shrugged. “I don’t know. All I did was talk to him for a few

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