Love at Second Sight

Chapter 6

Rhett broke the silence by answering the question with another question. "You are on a full name basis with my girl? I don't approve."

Oh, that. That was just to get her attention, but now that it had gotten Rhett all riled up, well... This would be fun.

"Yeah, so? That's her name, right? Plus, it's not like I asked you, whether you approve or not." Zac countered.

"Well, you see, it's rude to be playing around with her."

"Really? What else are you doing, sir?"

Savannah watched their banter with wide eyes switching from Zac to Rhett and back from Rhett to Zac, while Stella tried hard not to laugh.

"Enough, boys!" Clair said. "Zac, you were saying something?"

"Yeah, to Savannah Victoria Reece," he deliberately said.

What was wrong with him? Talk about awkward, she sniggered.

"Um, yeah?"

"Where's the casserole?"

"Wait," Stella interjected, "how do you know what's for breakfast?"

"I got to see her making it, kiddo," he smirked, while Stella looked disappointed.

The aroma of freshly baked casserole wafted throughout the kitchen and that's when they realized that Savannah had left, returned and placed the casserole in front of them.

"This looks so delicious," Gerald commented and dug right in.

Savannah looked around the table to see all happy and delighted faces except Clair's, whose looked worried.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing..." she tried to shrug it off but failed. The worry was clear on her face.

"If you're worrying about the fat count, you have nothing to worry about." Clair just looked at her perplexed. "There is no junk-ish stuff in there. Only sautéed and baked things."

"Cheese?"

"No cheese, believe me."

"But cheese is very important in a casserole, as far as I know," Clair reasoned.

"And you're right too. But health is most important, and just because I'm here to spoil y'all doesn't mean I'll compromise with your health, Mrs. Sifton. Never would I do that. Rest assured; everything is perfectly healthy."

"Oh, thank you, dear."

"My pleasure. Come on, dig in."

Zac had watched and heard the whole exchange from start to end. He was touched with the way Savannah had handled his mom. She was a wonderful chef without being reckless or inconsiderate towards health. It had only been 21 hours since he'd met her, and she continued to flaw him incessantly. Her work ethics, her functioning methods, her compassion, her amiability, her humility... everything.

"Stop!" Savannah's voice beamed, and everyone stopped dead, making her burst out laughing. And, when she realized what she was doing—laughing her ass out in front of an audience, who were her client's family—she straightened up. "I am extremely sorry. That was extremely rash and indecent. I don't know what got into me... seeing y'all so alarmed made me laugh and then I couldn't control... so I burst out," she sheepishly added. "Sorry."

Now it was their turn to laugh. She looked at them as if they'd all grown two heads. They were laughing?

"Jesus, Savannah. You are one specimen of this world. We never said anything. It's okay to laugh, kid, and I'm glad you feel free enough in front of us. You are one cheerful soul, like my baby girl there," he nodded at Stella, who sprang out of her chair and raced to Gerald, to press a hard kiss on his cheek.