“I don’t mean anything to you? Clearly. You couldn’t even call? Pick up the phone after all these years? After all the letters I wrote you?”
“No. And I never should have come back.”
“Why?” I demanded.
“So, I could keep avoiding all of this! You trying to pull me back in. Make me your girl again. I am not your girl Logan, and I never will be.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The words left my mouth before I realized what I was saying. She brought out the best and worst sides of me. My long-suppressed cockiness reared its ugly head again. In that moment, I knew it had been a mistake to let those words slip out, but I didn’t regret them. Not then and not later. Finally, Piper came to a full stop and turned to face me head on.
“What did you just say?” Her eyes were narrowed dangerously.
“I said you’ll be mine again, Piper,” I said.
“That’s not going to happen Logan,” she snapped.
“You’ve been wrong before.” I spat back at her before walking away.
Piper was my new mission, and this time, I wouldn’t fail.
Twelve
Piper
“Ian, I have been dreaming about these scones for so long,” I said into my phone. “You have no idea how amazing these things are.”
“Bring me back a few,” he suggested.
“Oh, I’m bringing back a dozen,” I assured him.
“That’s the fatty I know and love,” he teased.
“Watch it,” I warned. “You know I can fire you.”
“You know you never would,” he said with confidence. I rolled my eyes and stepped further forward as the line at Angie’s began to move.
After my encounter with Logan the day before, I needed an Angie’s fix to get my day started. I woke up feeling younger than I’d felt in years. Just one conversation with Logan and I was back to my old self again. Vulnerable. Exposed. I hated my old self.
“How was the funeral?” Ian asked, snapping me back to reality.
“It was… fine,” I said with a shake of my head. I tried to clear my thoughts, but images of Logan were flooding my mind. I saw his smiling face the night he told me about the SEALs. I saw him flush with rage just a few hours before. His dark eyes looked angrier than I’d ever seen them.
“Uh oh,” Ian said.
“What?”
“I know what that means,” he said.
“You do?” I asked with a small chuckle. “And what does it mean?”
“It means you ran into that old flame of yours. Leo? Logan? Something like that.”
I sighed deeply and looked up at the ceiling. I would never know how Ian did it, but he could always hone in on the one thing I didn’t want to talk about. He had a sixth sense for things like that.
“What old flame?” I asked evasively. Ian snorted on the other end of the phone and I knew he didn’t buy it.
“Talk to Ian sweetie,” he said, putting on his therapist voice. “Come on. Tell me everything.”