“Ellis invited me at church last week.”
“What?”
He nodded. “I didn’t realize he’d invited you too. I would have made sure to decline.” Not that he would have wanted to. As much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he was growing accustomed to nightly dinners with Erin. The pull he felt toward her was growing stronger everyday. It felt wrong because she had married his best friend, and because he was leaving soon, but he couldn’t help but want to spend more time with her.
“No, it’s fine.” Her voice was too cheery, too casual.
“Erin.” Logan stepped closer to her, not sure how he could fix this. “I’ll stay home. No big deal.”
“It’s a big deal if Ellis is expecting you.” She straightened her shoulders. “Since Aunt Betty is out with her car, I’m assuming you’ll need a ride. I’ll meet you down here at five-forty-five.”
Logan nodded as Erin turned to go inside, then hewent to the guesthouse to get ready. As he got dressed and combed his hair he wasn’t sure what to make of his racing heart and frazzled nerves. This wasn’t so out of the ordinary from the routine they’d fallen into, and yet, he couldn’t help but feel like he was crossing some invisible threshold.
Erinand her children were ready and standing on the front porch at six-forty-five, just as she’d promised Logan. While Samantha and Parker looked perfectly content sitting on the swing, Erin was a ball of nerves. She paced back and forth, an apple pie in one of her hands, while she contemplated what this night would look like.
She wasn’t sure what Ellis and Anne Marie were thinking when they invited both Logan and her to dinner on the same night, but she didn’t like it. She’d debated encouraging Logan to stay home so that she didn’t have to sit through another awkward meal with him, but it didn’t seem fair to let him off the hook either.
Sure, things were getting a little more comfortable between her and Logan thanks to their nightly dinners around Aunt Betty’s dining room table. But there were still so many things to be said between them that hadn’t come to the surface yet. It was still painful to be in the same room as him, knowing the ways he’d hurt her.
She wiped her free hand on her floral dress as she waited. Erin hadn’t worn it in a long time, hadn’t had an occasion to. For some reason, when she was looking through her closet earlier, the dress had called out to her. She’d even taken the time to put some mascara on and run the curling iron through her hair to add some uniformity to her natural waves.
What am I doing? I’ve never dressed up for dinner with Anne Marie before.
She debated running upstairs to wipe her face and change into something more casual, but Logan walked out of the guesthouse before she got the chance.
He wore a button-down shirt untucked over a pair of crisp, dark jeans. His dark eyes found hers immediately. They didn’t leave her as she made his way across the lawn. When he got closer, the corners crinkled as he smiled. “You look really nice.”
Her cheeks warmed. “I haven’t had a chance to dress up lately, other than church. I thought it might be fun to mix things up.” Why was she telling him that?
He ran his thumb over his chin. “Makes me wonder if I should go back in there and put something nicer on.”
“No, you look great ... good.” Erin hated how she tripped over her words. “Don’t change.”
She quickly ducked her head and walked toward the car, wondering why she was so flustered. This was Logan—a friend from her high school days, her latehusband’s friend, the one who had been completely absent when they needed him.
Was she so starved for attention that being told she looked nice was enough to make her feel young and carefree again? If that was the case, she was going to have to get out more often, even if that meant tagging along with Aunt Betty to Bingo and wearing a dress for no reason.
She put the pie in the back of the station wagon. Once everyone was inside, and she made sure her children were buckled, Erin pulled out of the driveway and toward Ellis and Anne Marie’s home. It wasn’t a long drive, they lived just a mile or so down from Aunt Betty’s, but it felt like an eternity sitting next to Logan.
The minutes crawled by, and she was hyper aware of every movement Logan made beside her. His fingers gently tapped against his thighs, and he was fidgeting in his seat worse than Parker on the way to the dentist. His anxiousness was affecting her, and Erin debated speeding just to get it over with faster. When they got to the Wilsons’, she jumped out of her car as quickly as the kids. She was already ringing the doorbell when she’d realized in her hurry to get out of the vehicle, she’d forgotten the pie.
She turned to see Logan carrying it, that warm smile once more on his face.
She’d missed that smile. Having him here again, looking happy, made her feel like her friend was back. It was doing weird things to her heart.
The door swung open, and a grinning Ellis greeted them. “So glad you could make it. Come on in.”
Erin grabbed the pie from Logan as Samantha and Parker ran past her, and toward the back door leading to the Wilsons’ backyard. The girls were most likely already out there jumping on the trampoline. Erin walked at a much slower pace down the familiar hallway, leaving Ellis and Logan at the front door. She was happy to put some pace between her and Logan before they were forced to sit together for dinner.
“There she is,” Anne Marie said, as she walked into the kitchen.
Erin set the pie on the counter as she greeted her friend. “Can I help with anything?”
Anne Marie shook her head. “I don’t think so. The girls haven’t fought at all this afternoon, so I’m actually ahead of schedule. I hope you guys are hungry, because dinner is ready.”
Erin’s stomach growled in response. She hadn’t eaten a big lunch, too busy trying to get things done around the house. “Starving.”
The two ladies brought the food to the long table that stretched the entire length of the dining room. It was a table made for entertaining, which was fitting because Ellis and Anne Marie were always finding excuses to have people over for dinner. The children sat at one end of the table while the adults were at the other. After Ellis said a blessing, they passed the chicken and sides around the table. Soon, thechildren were all happily eating and chatting on their end.
