Chapter Fifteen
Sunday, July 17, 2022
After spending the majority of the weekenddoing absolutely nothing but lounging around the house and taking advantage of the pool on a hot summer’s weekend, Sam’s brain was coming back online. She had things to do to prepare for the upcoming week—laundry that needed to be finished, dinners that needed to be planned.
Forcing herself up from the couch, she went to the kitchen, where Elijah was sitting at the table, his eyes skimming his iPad.
She went to the refrigerator, opened the door. “I was thinking we might have—”
“I’m taking you to dinner tonight,” Logan interrupted before Sam could finish her sentence.
She glanced behind her, stared at her husband as he pushed himself up from the couch, where he’d been sitting for the past hour.
She shut the fridge door, turning to face him.
“You are?” she asked, forcing a smile, feeling as though something was off.
“Elijah’s on his own tonight,” Logan said gruffly.
Sam tried to hide her wince at his tone, but she knew she had failed. Her gaze instantly shot to Elijah, who hadn’t bothered to look up from his iPad. He didn’t appear fazed by Logan’s rudely spoken words, though she figured he should be.
Something was going on here, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what. For the past several days, ever since the night Elijah and Logan had showered together, Sam had felt as though something was wrong with Logan. What she thought had signified a turning point between them hadn’t gone exactly as planned. At least not in the aftermath. Logan was acting strange, far more growly than was normal. When she’d attempted to confront him about it, he had shrugged it off, told her it was her imagination.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, taking a step toward him.
“Of course it is,” he grumbled.
Oh, it most certainly wasn’t, but he could go right on pretending if that was his choice.
“Well, dinner out sounds great,” she said, glancing between the two men. “I think that’s my cue to get ready.”
“Wear something nice,” he groused as she was moving through the living room.
Sam refused to look back. This way, he couldn’t see her roll her eyes.
Two hours later, Sam was sitting across from Logan in one of her favorite restaurants. It was an intimate setting, complete with candlelight and wine. It was unexpected, to say the least. Usually, Logan reserved this particular place for special occasions, which fortified in her mind that something was bothering him.
“So what are we celebrating?” she prompted when he refused to look up from the menu. He already knew what he was going to order since he always got the same thing—a rib eye, a lobster tail, and a baked potato—which meant he was avoiding her.
“Why do we have to be celebrating?” His gaze slowly rose, his eyes narrowed.
In that moment, he reminded her a lot of his twin. Back when Luke was always pissy, snapping at anyone who got in his path. He certainly didn’t seem like her charming, romantic husband.
His eyes darted back to the menu when he said, “Can’t I just take mywifeout for a nice meal? Show her how much she means to me?”
Sam reached over, touched his wrist. “Logan.”
He didn’t look up, but she could feel the tension in his arm.
“Look at me,” she said softly.
Logan put the menu aside and met her gaze.
“Please talk to me about what’s bothering you.”
He leaned in, his words gruff. “Nothing’s bothering me, Sam. Let it go.”
She swallowed hard, released his wrist. It was impossible to hide the hurt his harshly spoken words incited. She wasn’t used to Logan acting like this, which was why she was so in tune with it. He was such a laid-back guy, going with the flow for the most part. Yet with every passing minute, something was eating at him, turning him into a man she didn’t even recognize.
