“Sure thing.” The waitress looked expectantly at him, and he ordered something—anything—to get her to leave.
“Since when do you drink soda?”
Ah, that finally got her attention. He rarely drank soda of any kind, but today he didn’t care. “So, you do pay attention.”
“Journalist.” She busied herself digging in her oversized purse. He wondered if she was looking for something that didn’t exist. But eventually she pulled out a spiral notebook and a ballpoint pen. She scanned a page filled with notes. “I already know the basics.” She flipped a couple more pages, those filled too.
“What’s all that?”
“Everything I know about you.” She rocked the pen in her fingers as she skimmed through what she’d already jotted down. “For the article.”
He tried to be his cool self, tried to let it go. But it made him uneasy how much she’d already compiled without his help. If he wasn’t careful, she would collect the couple of personal details she was lacking and be out of his life forever. A week ago, he’d have accepted that fate, but not now.
“What else do you want to know?” he asked cautiously, afraid she might see right through his question for what it really was.
“Home base, what you do when you’re not doing the rodeo, what you hope to accomplish, who you might be dating.” She looked up from her notebook, ice in her narrowed eyes. “When you mightretire.” Sasha interrupted the uncomfortable tension hanging between them with her drink delivery.
Once they ordered their entrees, he decided to try another approach to get her to open up. “How’re your mom and dad doing?” Maybe it was only a stalling tactic. The woman he’d always love sat across him in the booth, and he wasn’t ready for this to be the last time. He just didn’t know what to do about it yet.
“You were just talking to my mom this morning, weren’t you?”
“Didn’t get a chance to ask too much.” He sipped at his soda, already regretting the choice. It usually made him so thirsty. He pushed it away and went for the sweating glass of iced water instead. “Surprised your dad wasn’t around the shop today.”
Relievedwas the truth. Judith had a soft spot for him, but Mr. Bennington was another matter entirely. He made it clear that if Logan returned to bull riding after he recovered from his injuries, he might as well write himself off. Abbie’s dad was a hard man, but he was a fair man. He loved his daughter very much.
“He’s at some saddle convention in Tulsa this week.” Abbie flipped back and forth between a couple of notebook pages. “You’re lucky.”
“He wouldn’t approve of your front-page assignment?” He let a smirk fall across his lips, because they both knew it was true. And it seemed to irritate her, which he enjoyed to no end. Yes, he was the one to go right back to the rodeo life after he healed. But she was the one who told him to stay gone.
Abbie fiddled with her napkin, slowly unrolling the silverware. “He’ll understand. It’s business.”
“So is the rodeo.”
She squeezed her fork until her grip turned her knuckles white. “Not the same.”
“It’s mycareer, Abbs. Something worth noting for that article you hope to write,” he said with a nod toward her notebook. “Tell me how it’s not the same.”
“Because you didn’t have to choose a career that puts your life in danger every single time you compete.”
They’d gone round and round days before he left two years ago. He’d tried to make her understand why he had to go. Tried to make her understand that until he rode Tornado again and lasted eight seconds, he’d never be able to quit. But she hadn’t wanted to hear any of it. It was something he feared they’d never see eye-to-eye on, especially not with all the time that’d gone by. “It’s who I am. It’s in my blood. Just like the newspaper is in yours.”
She started to rebut that, but Sasha delivered their entrees. It gave him the moment of pause he needed to redirect their conversation. They’d get nowhere by arguing. And if their heated conversation got any louder, their corner booth might not be so private.
He wasn’t ready for the entirety of Starlight to know he was back in town. It was important for him to win here in his hometown, and the national title if he could. It would be an accomplishment in honor of his dad, but he didn’t enjoy the spotlight that came with it. It was something he entertained for the sake of his sponsors.
Abbie poked at her chicken pecan salad. “So, you went to see your grandpa?”
“Yeah.” It didn’t seem possible for a house that’d been in the family for decades to be involved in foreclosure proceedings. Why his grandpa took out a line of credit rather than use the money Logan had been sending him, he’d never understand. Pride had never gotten anyone anywhere. “Wasn’t too happy to see me.”
“You’re surprised?”
“Not really.” He wanted to tell her about the foreclosure notice. Ask her advice on how to convince his grandpa to accept the help he needed. But it’d been a long time since Logan was able to do that. How many nights had he picked up the phone, only to realize Abbie’d never answer him?
“What’s it going to take, Logan?” she asked after a long pause.
“For what?” But he knew. He was trying to buy himself time. Every minute with Abbie was more precious than he could describe. The longer he spent in her presence, the more he wanted her back in his life. It’d caught him off guard, but she’d always had that allure about her.
“For you to do the article.”
