Southern Lights: A Novel

“It seems like everyone in town is related to a general,” Savannah commented. She was wearing her mother’s pink sweater and jeans, with high heels. She looked different from the girls in Charleston when she got dressed up. She had the sophistication of New York and was wearing just enough makeup but not too much. He looked crazy about her.

“That’s a big deal around here,” he explained.

“I know. My grandmother is the president general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She’s the president general because she’s related to a general too.” Savannah grinned. She wasn’t making fun of them, but she did think it was funny. He was a handsome boy with dark hair and green eyes, the oldest of four boys. “Where do you think you’ll go to college?” she asked with genuine interest. She noticed that most of the people she talked to about it had applied to southern schools.

“Georgia Tech, or maybe SMU in Texas. I applied to Duke and UVA, but I don’t think my scores are good enough to get in. What about you?”

“I’d really like to go to Princeton. It’s close to home, which would be nice, and I liked the school. I liked Brown too. I think Harvard would be too serious, and I probably won’t get in either. I liked Stanford, but my mom doesn’t want me that far away.” She went down her list.

“That’s some list of fancy Ivy League schools you applied to,” he said, looking impressed. She was smart but not stuck up, and the prettiest girl he’d ever seen.

He had her back at her house very respectfully at ten-thirty, and she had enjoyed him and the movie, and said she’d see him around school.

Julianne called her just after dawn the next morning to ask how it had gone.

“It was fun,” Savannah said, and giggled, sounding younger than her age, and more like Daisy.

“That’s it? You went out with the hottest guy in school and ‘it was fun’? Did he kiss you?” Julianne wanted all the details. She had learned that from her mother. Gossip was their stock-in-trade.

“Of course not. We don’t even know each other. Besides, it would be dumb to get involved with anyone now. We’re all leaving for college, and I’m only here for a few months.” She was practical about it. She wasn’t looking for romance, just friends, which made her even more appealing. She didn’t have the desperation of some of the girls in school who were always looking for boyfriends.

“There’s nothing dumb about going out with Turner Ashby. Did you know his father has oil rigs all over Biloxi? My mama says he’s one of the richest men in the state. And,” she said for emphasis, “he’s cute. And the captain of the soccer team. What else do you need?” Savannah was well aware that playing soccer wouldn’t get him far in life, it took more than that. And she didn’t care about his father’s oil wells. “Did he ask you out again?”

“No. Don’t be silly. I just went out with him last night.” She was totally relaxed about it.

“He will. Guys always like girls like you who don’t give a damn about them.”

“I didn’t say that. I liked him. I’m just not going nuts about it, like you,” she teased.

“I bet he asks you out next weekend,” Julianne said, sounding moonstruck and hopeful.

“I hope not. I think my mom’s coming. She said she’d try, but she may not make it till the following weekend.”

Julianne made a disgusted sound. “Who would you rather go out with? Turner Ashby or your mother?”

Savannah answered without an instant’s hesitation. “My mother.”

“You’re sick.” Julianne promised to check in with her again later that day to see if Turner had called her yet.

Daisy was the next member of the interrogation team.

“Who was that boy who picked you up last night?” she asked casually over pancakes in the kitchen.

“Just a boy from school.”

“That’s all?” Daisy asked, looking disappointed. “Is he in love with you?”

“No,” Savannah said, smiling. “He hardly knows me.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“No. I don’t know him either,” she said, her feet firmly on the ground.

“Then why’d you go out with him if you’re not in love with him?” Daisy asked, looking disgusted.

“Because we wanted to eat dinner and see a movie, and I figured I might as well do it with him, since he asked.” Daisy nodded at the logic of what she said, but found it pathetically unromantic. Their father walked in, in his tennis clothes, while they were talking.

“Was that one of the Ashby boys I saw you leaving the house with last night?” he asked with equal interest. Clearly, her dating life was the hot topic in town.

“Yes.”

“Nice kid?”

“I think so. He seemed like it,” Savannah conceded.

“I play tennis with his father. They’ve had some hard times. His wife died last year. A drunk driver hit her on Highway 526, five miles from home. It must be hard on the kids.”

“He didn’t say anything about it. We just talked about school.” Tom nodded, and told her that Henry was coming in from New Orleans that afternoon.