“Guys, guys, come on,” Ashley scolded. “You’re not helping. We need to distract her, not make her relive her trauma.”
She reached out to rub my back as I hiccuped my tears down.
“Hey, look, they’re setting up karaoke now,” Jared said, deadly serious. “Would it help if I sang that Scarlet Rush song ‘Small Man’ and dedicated it to Logan?”
His intense expression was enough to coax a giggle out of me. “Sure. That would be amazing.”
“Good. Let’s do an entire set of breakup songs. Ladies?” He looked at Beth and Ashley.
“On it,” Beth replied. “I’ll sing ‘Thank You, Next.’”
“That’s too mellow,” Ashley insisted. “I’ll scream-sing ‘You Oughta Know.’ That feels appropriate.”
“And I’ll do ‘Cry Me a River,’” Jared added. “My falsetto will blow your mind.”
“Thanks, friends,” I said.
“Don’t you worry, we’re going to make you forget that Logan Ashford exists,” Ashely said.
I managed a half smile, appreciating the effort even while knowing they were trying to achieve the impossible.
28
LOGAN
The quiet chatter in the kitchen meant that Josie and Noah were back from his therapist appointment. It was the fourth time he’d asked for her to drive him instead of me, and yeah, it hurt. Compounding the pain was the fact that Josie still hadn’t forgiven me for the breakup with Nina. Between the two of them, I was living with a black cloud over my head. We were moving past the initial anger, but the lingering freeze out wasn’t much of an improvement.
I never knew how Noah would feel at the end of a therapy session, which was part of the reason why I made a point of working from home on the days he went. Some appointments left him withdrawn, others matter-of-fact enough to assume it was nothing more challenging than a trip to the grocery store. But that hadn’t happened since Nina left.
I decided to push my luck and go in to see them.
“Hey there,” I said as I walked into the kitchen.
Noah was perched on a stool at the counter looking at a comic book, and Josie was bustling in the walk-in pantry, probably gathering stuff for a snack.
“Hi, Daddy,” Noah answered flatly, not even glancing my way.
Josie came out of the cupboard clutching a bag of almonds and some peanut butter. “Hello.”
And the cold spell continued.
“What are you two up to?”
I purposely didn’t ask about the session, a lesson I’d learned the hard way after a particularly bad one.
“Snack,” Noah shrugged.
“Would you like some?” Josie asked. “Peanut butter on celery sticks and a bowl of almonds.”
“Thanks, I’m good.” Funfetti cupcakes sounded better, but I knew better than to mention it. I’d already brought them up once and was informed by Noah that he never wanted to eat them again. I deserved that, but it still hurt.
Josie put the ingredients on the counter and walked over to her purse. She pulled out a phone and placed it on the counter. “You can have it back now.”
I stared at it like it was haunted. It was a concession I’d agreed to, but even now, thinking about it nearly broke my brain.
The phone was Noah’s direct line to Nina.
After the dust had settled post-break-up, we’d all come to understand that the void Nina left behind was causing Noah to go through a severe regression, not helped by the fact thatthe separation had been so abrupt—and so final. Josie had suggested that perhaps opening up the lines of communication between them could help ease the sting, but I knew I couldn’t be a conduit for it.
