“Sorry, man.” Logan flashed a smile. “I guess we can getcarriedaway.”
“How about you carrymeaway, Big Boy?”Katesaid.
“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Logan said as he scooped her into his arms. Kate giggled as her husband carried her out into thenight.
Cindy cupped the mug in her hands and turned to facethefire.
“It must hurt to be picked on all the time,”shesaid.
“They weren’t always like this,” Drew said. “It’s a recent development since everyone foundamate.”
“Still, it can’tfeelgood.”
“Itdoesn’t.”
“Have you ever dated?” sheasked.
“A few times, but nothing serious. I just never found someone I wanted to be around for more than a few weeks. I prefer to be alone,”hesaid.
“I should go back upstairs,”shesaid.
As she stood, he lookedup. “Wait.”
“What?”
“I…would you stay for a bit?” heasked.
“Okay.”
“Sometimes it’s nice to have someone to talk to,” he saidsoftly.
“I get lonely too,” she said. “Itsucks.”
“Were you ever in a long-term relationship?” heasked.
She hesitated. The whole truth rested on the tip of her tongue, but her throat constricted. How much did she want to reveal? She hadn’t talked to anyone about her life since she’d left LA. She hadn’t even told anyone her real name. But the constant lying was taking a toll onhersoul.
“I was in arelationship,once.”
“What happened?” he askedgently.
“Thingsgot…bad.”
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand,”hesaid.
She bit the edge of her lip. It wouldn’t hurt to tell him some of it. As long as she didn’t tell him the whole story, she’dbefine.
“When I was in college, I met a man. He was cultured and charming and he swept me off my feet. I know that sounds terribly cliché, but that’s the only way I can think of describing it. I thought I’d found the man of my dreams,”shesaid.
He nodded but didn’tcomment.
“The first few years were good,” she said. “We’d go out on the town. We’d take trips together. Everything seemed so perfect. But then he started to change. He became more controlling. He started demanding to know where I was every minute of the day. He’d check my phone to make sure I wasn’t getting calls from people hedidn’tknow.”
“Possessive,”Drewsaid.
“To theextreme.”
“How long did that go on for?” heasked.
