I nodded. Ididknow.I’dhad my grandma, Logan had his sister.
Or rather, his sister hadhim.
“I took her away when I wasnineteen,” he continued. “When it was… when it was all directed atme, that was onething, I could take it. I could take the shouting, I could take the raisedhands, I could take the slap. But not… not Kimmy. She hadn’t done anything.”
I bit my lip, willing myselfnot to tear up. The thought of nineteen-year-old Logan standing up to hisparents after years of abuse because of his sister made me feel like my heartmight shatter, but I couldn’t cry.
Not while he was stilltelling me the story. If he was going to tell me this, I needed to let him.
Logan’s trust was aprecious gift.
“You hadn’t done anything,either,” I murmured, fussing with the knot of his tie to keep my fingers fromtrembling.
“I was stupid,” Logan said. “Barelypassing grades, going to summer school… I was a disappointment. But not her.She didn’t deserve it.”
You didn’t deserve iteither,I thought desperately.
Logan wasn’t stupid. Maybehe wasn’t cut out for school—lots of people weren’t—but he was smart enough forme. And he waskind, and he had a good heart, and a pretty smile, andhe cared about people and wanted to protect them.
I didn’t care whetheror not he could do algebra or win a spelling bee, and I couldn’t imagine whyanyone else did.
“Anyway, when I moved out, Ifigured that’d be the end of it. I was gone, so there’d be peace, right? ExceptKimmy turned up at the supermarket where I worked one day with a bruise acrossher cheek. She didn’t go back home after that. She was sixteen, so… nothinganyone could do about it.”
“And you took care of her?”I asked, smoothing his tie down. It was already as smooth as it was ever goingto be, and the knot was perfect, and the end was tucked away inside the tag.
But I didn’t want to takemy hands off Logan. Not while he was telling me this.
“I did,” he said. “Wasn’teasy, y’know? No one ever got rich working in a supermarket. But I took anotherjob painting houses, moved to the night shift for ten cents more an hour,learned to cook for under a dollar a meal.”
And he thought he wasstupid.There were so many people who couldn’t have handled a situation like that. Hell,I couldn’t have handled itright now.
Logan was incredible.
I wanted to kiss him. Notout of lust, not because I wanted his body, but because I wanted to give himsomethingfor everything he’d done.
Something to show thatsomeone valued it. Valuedhim.
“Anyway, she graduated andwent to college, and I… well, she didn’tneedme, y’know, so Ifigured I’d join the army. And then I could send her my pay and she’d havesomething to live on. Save her getting into too much debt. The least I could dofor not protecting her.”
“You protected her fornineteen years,” I said.
I sure as hell hoped Logan’s sister appreciatedeverything he’d done for her, or there’d be hair-pulling at this wedding, sceneor no scene.
Logan shrugged. “That’s whatolder brothers do.”
I straightened his collarwhile I tried to think of something to say. Logan had shared so much of himselfwith me right now, and I had no idea how to repay him for it.
Would it be weird to thankhim? To tell him I was proud of him?
That he was the best man I’d ever met and Icouldn’t imagine anyone ever wanting to hurt him and I’d claw their eyes out ifthey did?
“Like the nails,” he said,nodding to my hand.
“You said magenta.” I heldthem up for him to look. “Thought we should match, since I’m crashing yourfamily wedding.”
“The invitation said plus-one.”Logan smiled. “Technically, you’re invited. Hell, my sister’ll be relieved thatI didn’t just take Gray with me. I was planning to.”
“Am I taking his place?” Iasked, a bubble of anxiety welling up under my ribcage. Logan had gone to somuch trouble for me already, I didn’t want to cause any more.
