A lot of people had come back in the years since, but right in that space in their early twenties, there weren’t a lot of people around that they’d known in school, with most of Will’s friends having moved away.
She hadn’t understood the connection between him and Will. Except Will just seemed to still find him extremely cool, and was excited that the school’s rebel-with-no-particular-cause had thought he was cool enough to hang out with.
They’d have barbecues at the house, and Logan would just man the grill, not especially friendly. But Becca was sweet, and when she’d had Chloe, she and Sam had spent time sitting together, both with little babies and sleep deprivation.
Then Becca had gotten sick.
Sam could only admire the way Logan had been with her during her illness. The care that he’d shown her, the tenderness. She’d seen it then. What Becca saw in him.
Chloe had spent a lot of time at their house when Becca was sick, and a lot of time after. Sam had been happy to be a cool-aunt figure to her, especially since she and Will only had the boys.
That was how they’d ended up combining family vacations and game nights and holidays.
They were friends. Except it always felt like they weren’t. She felt like she always said and did the wrong thing with Logan, like every interaction was akin to tossing a knife in the air, hoping she caught it by the handle instead of the blade.
Finding her footing with this man felt precarious at best.
And this was the worst timing ever.
A Logan Martin special.
Was he here to talk to Will? Had Willtold him?
She’d told her friends, so…so it stood to reason.
She found herself walking quickly to the front door and pulling it open, feeling immediately engulfed by discomfort. He was too tall. She had to look up too far to see his face. It was weird and she didn’t like it.
“What are you doing here?”
“Picking up the power washer your husband borrowed from me?”
She huffed. “Was I supposed to know about that?”
“He said it was in the garage. I just wanted to let you know before I went digging in your garage so I didn’t scare you.”
That was downright reasonable. Nearly kind.
“Oh. Well. Feel free.”
“Thanks. Are you…”
Her irritation unraveled. “No. I’m not okay, thank you. Did you talk to Will?”
“About the power washer,” he said, his tone maddeningly calm.
“Is that all?”
“We may have discussed a sports team or two. Ethan’s summer plans and Chloe’s move to Santa Clara. Is that…a problem?”
She tried to read his face, to see if he was holding something back or not. But she couldn’t tell.
“No,” she said.
She decided to take him at face value because she wasn’t going to tell him what was happening. Even if he did know, she wasn’t going to have the conversation with him. It was hard enough to look her two best friends in the eye and explain it.
The idea that this man might know more about the state of her marriage than she did made her want to break things.
“I’m going to grab the power washer,” he said.
