Parker’s eyes filled with tears. “Samantha said Rock Man wasn’t real.”
“Of course she did,” Erin said under her breath and ran a hand over her face. “Parker, why don’t you go inside for a minute. I’ll be right there.”
The young boy sniffed but did what he was told. Once he was inside, Erin turned her attention toward her daughter. Logan busied himself with taking the house numbers out of their packaging as Erin spoke to Samantha. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to stay or go for this conversation, since he’d been the one to allow things to get out of hand.
Erin spoke gently to Samantha. Logan only caught little snippets of what was being said. “... doesn’t sleep ... cancer ... won’t last forever ... please.” Even hearing that felt like an invasion of privacy, and he took a few more steps to the edge of the porch to give them more space.
He rested his forearms against the railing, and his eyes followed a couple as they pushed a stroller down the sidewalk in front of Aunt Betty’s house. The parents both laughed as they walked by. Logan imagined Erin and Jake as those young parents. Were theyhappy? Did they take afternoon walks with Samantha and Parker?
He was trying to imagine what that would have looked like when Erin came up beside him. Instead of facing the street, she leaned her back against the railing and faced the house. Neither of them looked at the other, but Logan registered her wrapping her arms around her torso in his peripheral vision.
He pushed off the rail, not sure where to start. Did he address what happened? Did he mention Rock Man when Erin so obviously wanted to sweep him under the rug? Or did he disappear to the guesthouse again?
“I didn’t—” Logan started at the same time as Erin said, “I’m sorry?—”
They both stopped, still avoiding each other’s gaze, and waited for the other to speak.
When Erin didn’t try again, Logan opened his mouth to speak. “It’s okay—” Logan said, but Erin also chose that same moment. “It’s because?—”
Erin sighed, and Logan turned to face her. He said, “It’s normal for kids to have an imaginary friend.”
She shook her head. “Maybe, but it’s not normal for a four-year-old boy to have to fill the hole his dad left with an imaginary friend because his strong, seemingly healthy father dies of cancer.” Her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes. “Rock Man, protector of the Carlisles, so no one else suffers the same fate as Parker’s hero.”
Logan ran his hand through his hair. “Erin.”
“You were his friend, hisbestfriend.” She closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath. “You weremyfriend and you just left.”
“I know.”
“Why weren’t you here?” This was the second time she’d asked him a question he couldn’t answer. Her eyes pleaded with him for an answer that would make his absence make sense.
“I ...” How did he explain that he loved her? That her marrying Jake was the second most painful thing he’d experienced in his life—second only to losing his parents. That he was too afraid to see Jake when he was sick. And now that he was back in Frostford, he was ashamed of what he’d done. How did he tell Erin that it hurt just being here and that he needed to get out of this place as quickly as possible? “I didn’t mean to get the kids all worked up. I’ve been trying to work around you. I’m trying to stay out of your way.”
“Staying away.” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “That’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
Logan recoiled like he’d been punched in the gut. The words were hard to hear, but they weren’t wrong. Logan had his reasons for staying away, not that he could voice them. He stood silently under her scrutinizing gaze for what felt like an eternity. When Erin realized he wasn’t going to respond, she let out a sigh and stormed back inside, the front door squeaking in her wake.
Left alone on the porch for a second time, Logansensed a pattern emerging whenever he talked to Erin, and he didn’t like it.
It had beenan hour since Erin’s encounter with Logan on the porch, and she still felt rattled to her bones. She was feeling defensive of Parker, frustrated with Samantha, and... well, she wasn’t sure what she was feeling toward Logan at this moment.
She was angry at him. Angrier than she’d ever been at another human being. He shouldn’t have come back to Frostford, not now.
Sure, she’d wanted that when Jake got sick. It would have been helpful for Logan to come home and help her husband as he suffered. It would have been nice for her friend to be here to help with the funeral arrangements. Erin had wanted someone who’s known Jake in his prime, someone who wouldn’t only remember the cancer.
Now that he was here, everything was so wrong.
Erin was finishing the cupcakes she’d started earlier when Aunt Betty walked into the kitchen, wearing flowing linen pants, a bright-yellow tank top, and a palm-tree necklace.
“You’ve got a minute, sweetie?”
Erin set the frosting bag on the dated linoleum countertop and wiped her hands on her apron. “Always, what’s up?”
Aunt Betty leaned her hip against the counter littered with baking supplies. “It’s about Logan.”
Erin’s stomach dropped.
“I realize you don’t want to talk about him.”
