“We didn’t know for sure,” Sharla insisted. “He was travelling back with the Blizzard, and we weren’t sure if he’d make it in time.”
“But you talked to him?”
Maddie nodded. “I was over at Shar’s on Boxing Day. Logan stopped by.”
My eyes had to be bugging out of my head.
“Uh, I think they’ll be back in just a second.” Rob’s voice. It sounded as if he was walking closer to us.
“You need to get out there!” I pushed them both toward the door.
“But—”
Maddie didn’t get the chance to finish her argument because the door to the den swung open, light from the hall pouring in on all three of us huddled together.
Rob, Chase and Logan mirrored us over the threshold. “Never mind. Found them.”
Chapter
Thirty-One
“Why areyou three lurking in there like raccoons?” Rob asked, Carter wrapped in his arms.
Maddie and Shar exited as Shar said, “We’re not lurking, we were checking on something.”
“It’s pitch black in there,” Rob started, but I was no longer paying attention to their conversation.
Logan stood in front of me, blocking most of the light from the living room. He wore jeans and a light hoodie.
For a heartbeat, we stared at each other, neither moving. Then Logan asked, “Can I come in?”
I nodded, stepping back so he could enter. He closed the door behind him. The den fell back into darkness, lit only by the glow from the streetlights. The room felt too small. Like my bedroom that first night he’d shown up.
I almost asked how he’d gotten my address, but if Shar and Maddie had talked with him, I’d put all my marbles on them. Logan stepped further into the room and sat down on the edge of the futon.
I couldn’t sit. My body was all restless energy and jangling nerves. I needed to move, or I was going to explode. So I pacedtoward the window, then to the desk where I parked, leaning against the scroll-top.
“How have you been?” he asked quietly.
The question was so ordinary it almost made me laugh. Like we were classmates bumping into each other in the hallway after midterms, not two people who’d seen every part of each other and then spent two weeks pretending the other didn’t exist.
I thought about continuing the ruse.Fine. Busy.Instead, I gave in to the pressure pounding in my head and said, “Not great.”
He looked up. “Crystal?—”
“You never called,” I cut in, heat rushing up my throat. “After the gallery. After I told you I cared about you. Nothing. No call. No email.” He flinched, barely, but I was on a roll. “I stepped off a cliff in front of you, and your response was nothing. Silence. Do you have any idea how that felt? To be here, with my family, pretending everything’s fine while you’re out there—” I gestured vaguely. “I don’t know, doing whatever the hell you were doing? I?—”
“Crys, you were right.” His jaw flexed, his fingers curling together.
The words landed like a brick in a still pond, ripples racing from the impact. My mouth snapped shut.
He let out a long breath, shoulders sagging. “You were right about me. And about my family. I think I’ve been faking relationships my whole life.”
Logan waited for that to sink in before continuing. “I know it probably seemed like that’s what it was with you. But it wasn’t.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was lonely?—”
“Well, I was too.”
He nodded. “But even when I started making friends with guys on the team, I still wanted to call you. To be with you. It wasn't about what I could get away with or what image I couldmaintain. I didn’t—” He leaned back, dropping his hands on his knees. “I lied to you, Crys.”
