Free Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally Page A

kind of like a great book…you know, you pick up a book at the bookstore because it has a beautiful cover…but it’s what’s inside that pulls you in.”
    That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. I give him a small grin and his eyes meet mine.
    That’s when Vanessa, Kelsey, and Colton enter the courtyard. Kelsey stops dead when she sees me sitting with Jack.
    “What?” she mouths at Jack. He stiffens as his friends saunter over. Colton and Vanessa are bickering.
    “Any idiot can be on The Price is Right ,” Colton says. “ Jeopardy! shows that you’re smart.”
    “But you get to spin the big wheel on Price is Right ,” Vanessa says.
    “I wish they could incorporate that wheel into Jeopardy! ” Colton muses, biting into his burger.
    “You guys remember Savannah, right?” Jack asks. “She works on my farm. We were just going over some business.”
    Once Kelsey hears that, she stops glaring at me and turns her attention to her cell phone, glancing up at Jack a couple times. Vanessa smiles but can’t get a word in, because Colton launches into a speech about how, if he were to go on Jeopardy! , he’d bet it all and make it a true Daily Double.
    “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about Star,” Jack says to me. “Do you have any idea what’s wrong with him?”
    “No,” I lie, remembering how Star got upset when Jack came around. I don’t want to say anything until I’m sure I’m right.
    Jack pops another fry in his mouth. “Tomorrow before school, before you exercise Star, can we try gate training him again?”
    “Yes, sir.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop myself.
    “Smart ass,” Jack says with a grin. “Stop calling me sir. For real.”
    Kelsey glances up from her phone, looking at me as if I said I love doing homework. “You call him sir?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I snap, and she turns her focus back to her phone. Jack covers a grin by sneaking another bite of my sandwich. I yank it away. “Give me that!”
    I bite my lip, excited about the prospect of hanging out with him tomorrow morning. I tell myself it’s only business. But if it’s only business, then why are all these girls giving me dirty looks because I’m sitting with Jack?
    My heart can flutter all it wants—that’s not gonna change the fact that Jack is not in my league. How could we ever have a good working relationship if I were to let him have his way with me, and then things go back to the same ole same ole?
    I steal one more of his fries, just to show him who’s boss.
    • • •
    Dad and Cindy want to take me out to dinner tonight to celebrate my first day of senior year. Neither of my parents got a high school degree, so this is a big deal for me. Of course, Dad’s idea of “going out to dinner to celebrate” is not the same as mine.
    “Really?” I ask, as we park in the dumpy parking lot of a dive diner called Foothills.
    “I said the same thing, Shortcake,” Cindy says, making me wince. “I told him we should go to the Cracker Barrel, but your dad never listens to me.”
    “Do boys ever listen?”
    “No,” Cindy replies.
    Dad tries to hide his grin as we climb out of his ancient truck. “Mr. Goodwin told me Foothills is the best place in town.”
    The F and the T of the neon sign are burned out, so it looks like we’re going to OO HILLS diner. The bell jingles as we open the door. We order coffee and breakfast for dinner, and after we finish eating eggs and bacon that are surprisingly amazing, we pick songs out on our private little jukebox until Dad clears his throat.
    He reaches across the table and takes Cindy’s hand in his before he speaks. I feel my eyes grow wide at the sight of them holding hands. Holy hell, what’s coming?
    “Savannah—”
    “Are you sick?” I ask quickly, wanting to rip the bandage off.
    “No,” Dad says. “Why’d you ask that?”
    “Mom,” I choke out, as my heart races out of control. When my parents told me Mom had cancer, we went