Of course he wasn’t. The worst hadalready happened to Logan, what did he have to be scared of?
“One or two things,” hesaid. “I hate spiders.”
I laughed at that.
“We don’t so much getspiders here,” Grandma said. “Scorpions, on the other hand…”
“Kinda like those,” Logansaid. “Met my share of them already. They mostly leave you alone if you’re notpestering them.”
“You’d do well out here,”Grandma said, glancing at me.
I wasn’t sure that wastrue. This town was definitely too small for me, but I thought maybe it was toosmall for Logan, too. He wasn’t ready to settle down.
And he had family to go backto. His own family.
“But you’re not staying, areyou?”
Logan looked down at hisboots. My stomach clenched.
I wanted him to stay. I wantedhim to stay more than anything.
But that wasn’t how it wasgoing to be. Not now, not ever.
“You don’t have to answer. Ican see how hard this is for both of you,” she said. “I can’t do much about it,but Icanget you the houseto yourselves tonight.”
A tingle of heat climbed upthe back of my neck to the tips of my ears. Within seconds, they were burningso hot they must have been purple.
“What, you think I don’tknow about sex?” Grandma asked, raising an eyebrow.
We’d had plenty of discussionsabout it when I was younger. She’d made sure I had the information I needed,thetruth, how to staysafe, how not to get hurt or hurt anyone else. She’d done it all in the samematter-of-fact tone she was using now, softened with kindness.
I bit my lip.
Logan chuckled. “Think you’reembarrassing him, ma’am,” he said.
“If I can embarrass a manwho shows his naked ass to a packed bar and films it for the whole world to seeevery month, I’m doing okay.” She smiled.
Well. When she put itthatway.
“I’ll handle it,” Grandmapromised. “You boys just… enjoy yourselves.”
I could hardly believe thegift she was offering. One more night with Logan.
That’d make two of those, and Iknew they couldn’t last forever, but I’d make the most of this one. Maybe…maybe it’d last me until something else came along.
“Good luck dealing withMaisie,” Logan said, and my stomach clenched thinking back to their argument.He’d done the right thing, but I knew already that I was going to pay for itlater.
I would have listened to himshut her down a hundred times over, though. Someone needed to.
Grandma huffed. “You had a run-inwith her,” she said. “I love that girl because she’s my granddaughter, but… how’dthey manage to raise one Ashley and one Maisie?” she asked.
I knew the answer.
Maisie had been the baby,and Grandma had taken over raising me from the day she’d been born. Maisie waswhat mom wanted, a little girl she could turn into a miniature version ofherself, someone to go on shopping trips and beach vacations with.
Part of me wondered if thatwas why I liked things that people told me werefor girls. If I’d been jealousand desperate to be loved.
But I didn’t think that wasit, exactly. Grandma had let me like whatever I liked.
