“Oh good,” Jen’s voice tinkled loudly, beaming at Logan. “Then I hope we’re still on for next week, handsome.”
“You have a date next week?” a leggy brunette called out behind Jen. “You never told me that! I thought all the men in your town were dried up.”
Jen laughed. “He asked me out last Sunday.” She smiled at Logan and me, motioning toward her friend with her head. “That’s my cousin, Cheryl, and those are some of my old friends from Salmon.”
Jen made quick introductions, but when she got very little out of me and Logan, she waved us off. I could only stare as she jetted to her side of the pool with her friends, her backside as perfectly sculpted as the front, and left us drowning in her wake.
Leftmedrowning.
Logan’s face was carved stone as he stared listlessly out at the valley below, his jaw clenched. I inched away from him. He had a date with Jen next week. He had called her a week ago and asked her on a date.
A week ago.
Sunday. The dance in the orchard had been Saturday night.
Sunday. I nodded before I realized I was doing it, trying to convince myself that my feelings weren’t valid. I had no right to feelings when, technically, Logan hadn’t done anything wrong. He was allowed to date while we snuck around, trying to avoid liking each other.
What was Jake thinking? He had presented the bet, in my mind, as if I couldn’t lose. Either way, I get to hang out with somebody fun all summer, then fall in love, or get a fancy new truck. I could pay off student loans with that money. Put a down payment on a house. All cheery and good.
NO. Not cheery and not good.
Childhood infatuation aside, we had shared things. I had told him hard things, and he had listened to me. Comforted me. Like a boyfriend would do. He told me about Valerie. Our kiss five minutes earlier wasn’t something you just did on a whim. Well, not me anyway. Maybe that’s exactly what Logan did on all his dates. There was no more denying it. I had been falling all summer long, each day a little more, like a drop in the bucket. I thought things might have changed for him as well. It wasn’t a game to me. Not anymore.
My greatest fear of the whole summer had just come true.
I was in love with Logan Marten, and he had played me.
30
Logan
Well done, Marten.
If I didn’t know how I felt about Tessa before this, watching her face fall at Jen’s words clinched the deal. A punch to the gut by Mike Tyson would have hurt less. A man who thought higher of himself would have probably been angry at Jen. But I was not a man who thought highly of myself. This was all my fault. Jen was just being Jen, and I—like always—was just being a complete idiot.
Tessa’s shoulders were unbending as she made a beeline on the trail in front of me to our tents. I swallowed. Tent. Since Jen’s confessional, I couldn’t look at Tessa. I didn’t want to see what I’d done to her in her eyes. Her jaw was clenched, and the second we’d seen enough of the sunset, she stood up and climbed out of the water. I had begun to follow her but got waylaid by Jen’s gaggle of girlfriends.
“What time are you picking me up on Tuesday?” Jen asked, all smiles, not noticing Tessa practically running up the trail. Or maybe just not caring?
I stepped out of the pool, smiling tightly while wrapping my towel around my waist. “Actually, Jen. I don’t think that’s going to work out.”
Her painted eyebrows lifted before her eyes found Tessa, growing smaller in the distance. “Oh? I’m sorry, did I step my foot in something? I honestly thought you two were just friends.”
“Not your fault,” I said, stepping into my shoes. “I just can’t go out with you.” The circle of estrogen grew to a hushed silence, their eyes bouncing between Jen and me like a ping-pong match. A pack of wolves had nothing on this crowd. Good for Jen. Bad for me.
“Well, I’ll see you around, Jen. Sorry again. It was nice to meet you all.”
“Goodnight, Logan,” Jen called to my back as I hit the trail after Tessa.
“Tess, wait up.”
She kept walking, her back ramrod straight. I waited to try again until we had reached our tent.
“Tess, I’m really sorry about that. I—”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” She turned to face me, her disheartened eyes contradicting everything she said.
I folded my arms and stood my ground, hating myself for the hurt in her eyes. “Really? Because I think I screwed up big time.”
