“I get havingneeds. Obviously. It’s just… I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” She took a breath. “After being in love, being in a committed relationship, it just seems like it would be hollow.”
“Not everyone feels that way.”
Logan said something to one of the women and walked back over to their table.
“You get a phone number?” Will asked.
She wanted to excuse herself.
She suddenly felt uncomfortable there, witnessing this thing she’d never been part of before. Even more uncomfortable watching her husband’s interest.
“Yeah. We’re on vacation. I’m not interested.”
“We’re all in the same vacation rental, and the kids were planning on staying up and sleeping out on the deck with a movie on the projector screen. She won’t even notice if you leave,” Will said.
Wow. So fucking helpful was Will. If only Will had been so helpful when she’d been packing for this trip last night.
Logan’s gaze slid back over to one of the tight-dressed, short-skirted women. Then Logan looked at her.
“Sam?”
For a moment, she was lost in the context of the question, her thoughts tangled up.
“Is it a dick move for me to leave for a while tonight?”
She blinked. “Oh…well. I… We’ll be fine.”
She realized that wasn’t an answer to his question. She felt uncomfortable, but she couldn’t explain why. It was a big family vacation, the kind they’d been doing for years, and she knew that it was hard for Logan because his family had changed shape. But still.
“Let us,” Will said emphatically. “Shit, man, you deserve it.”
She thought way too long that night about why Will thought Logan deserved a random hookup.
But by morning, when Logan met them at the vacation rental so they could all go on a bike ride, she’d let it go.
Because there was no reason to hang on to it.
TEN
Now
The roadside motel in Flagstaff had indeed proved to be tacky in all the best ways. A rounded adobe building with “Southwestern Flare!” (their words) festooning every room. Meaning extraordinarily loud geometric shapes in purple, yellow and teal.
It’s like a preschool class got into a bar fight with a Taco Bell in the 90s, she’d texted to Elysia and Whitney.
How is the trip?Whitney asked.
Good so far.
Is Logan behaving?Elysia asked.
He never doesn’t behave.
You don’t like him, though, Elysia pointed out.
I didn’t say I didn’t like him. I like him. I said he’s Will’s friend and not mine.
That felt so disingenuous after the last couple of days, but there was no untangling all that over text.