“Sit,” Erin demanded as she set down a plate of breadsticks and took a seat at the table. Izzy obeyed.
“Where’s Cliff?” Abbie asked.
“Working late tonight,” Erin answered, but with the way she refused to glance up, and instead focused on everything else on the table, Abbie wondered what was up. There was something Erin wasn’t telling her. It was rare that her brother worked late for their parents, but possible since their dad was out of town. She almost asked, and might have if Izzy wasn’t sitting at the table.
“Are you coming, Logan?” Izzy asked.
Logan held out a plate to Erin and waited for her to scoop up a piece of lasagna. “What’s that, now?”
“To horse camp!”
Abbie’s throat clenched shut. No. No way. She shook her head at him, trying to keep the gesture subtle but seen. “Peanut, I thought it was just going to be me and you tomorrow.” Knowing she’d have most of the day a few miles from town—with no cell service, and with no Logan Attwood—had kept her sane today.
“Pleeease!” Izzy begged, dragging out the plea.
“I think just you and your Aunty Abbie should go,” Logan said. “You don’t want some ol’ bull rider there.”
Abbie felt a beat of relief that he was on her side. She chanced a glance at Erin, but her friend seemed distracted and no help whatsoever in this little debate Izzy stirred up.
“Yes, I do!” Izzy continued. “Please, please, please?”
Erin’s phone buzzed on the counter, and she shot up out of her chair. “I’ll be a minute.” Abbie followed her friend with her eyes, but remained in her chair. Erin obviously wanted her privacy, but she couldn’t help her concern. She’d talk to her later, in private.
“But it’s my birthday tomorrow!” Izzy pleaded, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. The threat of tears shone in her bright blue eyes.
“Okay, I’ll come,” Logan said.
“Yay!” Izzy’s frown turned into an instant victorious smile.
“Because it’s your birthday.” Those words were directed at Abbie, almost in apology. But the twinkle in his eyes didn’t suggest a sincere apology at all. In fact, he seemed pretty happy about the whole thing.
She glanced back and forth between the two, wondering if this little episode was premeditated.
Logan gently kicked at her foot beneath the table. “Abbie, she’s four.”
“Five tomorrow,” she retorted. Eerie how after all this time it felt as if he could still read her mind. “You know word’ll get out that you’re back.” It was a weak attempt to talk him into changing his mind, but she had to try.
“No one will bother me out there.” Something more unsaid danced in his eyes. “Besides, Lina Holbrook already saw me earlier today. The whole town probably knows by now.”
She swallowed. If one of the most prominent figures in Starlight knew he was back, Vince did too. Maybe Logan coming along to horse camp might save her some grief, even if it threatened her sanity.
“Sorry about that,” Erin said as she came back into the kitchen and sat down. The smile pasted on her face was for show, but Abbie wasn’t fooled. She’d not call attention to it now, though. Erin might not want to air her dirty laundry in front of Logan. “Cliff should be home in an hour, but he said not to wait.”
“Everything okay?” Logan asked.
Abbie kicked him under the table, a little harder than she meant to, judging by the size of his widening eyes.
“Yep, fine.” Erin scooped lasagna onto her own plate. “Please, don’t wait to eat on my account. Dig in.”
“We have to leave at seven,” Abbie said to Logan to draw away attention. She tried to say that without a groan, but she wasn’t sure she was successful. Horse camp was an all-day event for five-year-olds. Instead of escaping him, she’d be stuck with Logan for far too many hours.
“Logan’s coming to horse camp!” Izzy told her mom, bouncing in her seat again. Her stuffed horse fell on top of Gibbs who lay on the floor beside Izzy’s chair, but he didn’t seem to notice. The dog knew it was the best place to catch falling food and remained on alert for anything he could eat.
“Is he, now?” Erin raised an eyebrow at that, looking back and forth between her and Logan.
“Izzy insisted,” Logan said.
Erin smirked, shaking her head. “That’ll be something.”
