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“Yes, but really, is that winning? Dinner with him is more like a joke prize and certainly not worth the ridiculous bid he made me submit.”
“You two really should try to get along better. It’s not like you can avoid each other when you’re two of my closest people.”
If only Katie knew how well we can get along together. Now that our night has been cut short, it might be the perfect time for us to talk. Telling my story for the first time to Logan was hard, sharing it with my best friends, Katie and in time Sarah, has to be a little easier.
We fall into a companionable silence on the ride home, my head wrapped up in thoughts of Logan, just like it has been every waking moment over the last couple of days. Hers, I suspect about the man she just left behind at the gala. There’s a story for her to tell me in her own time.
Back in the apartment, Katie immediately heads to the guest room, and soon after, I hear the shower. I return to my room and change into a comfy pair of flannel pajama pants with happy little gingerbread people covering them and it brings a smile back to my face.
I shout through the door to Katie, “Do you want a hot chocolate? I’ve got some of those baby marshmallows you like.”
Her firm “Yes” is as I’d expect with the sweetener of baby marshmallows. She loves them. I set about heating up the milk and just as I’m scooping multi-colored marshmallows onto the top of the hot chocolates, Katie appears.
“You seem to be making better use of my kitchen than I ever did.”
“This hardly counts. Although knowing how hopeless you are in the kitchen, I guess it does.” She laughs.
Perched on barstools at the island, we sip at the chocolatey sweet goodness. “Are you going to tell me what happened with Drew?” I prompt.
“There’s nothing more to tell … other than I let myself fall for more of his dick sorcery. He only needs to get within a few feet of me and all my good intentions to not get involved with him are forgotten.” I don’t dare tell her I feel exactly the same way when I’m with her brother, the man she thinks I can’t stand.
“Sorry again for spoiling the party for you.”
“Actually, I was glad to leave early. I’ve been wanting to talk to you privately.”
Katie’s head tilts toward me. “This sounds serious.”
“It is,” I say. Then taking a deep breath, I begin to spill out my story, chapter by chapter. I tell her everything, starting back at the beginning just like I did with Logan. She listens closely and when I mention the fraud, she places her hand over mine, giving me the courage to continue. I tell her my birth name and even the threatening texts I’d been receiving.
I finish saying, “I’ve not seen my mother or father since.” Somewhere during the sharing of my secrets, tears have slipped down my cheeks and it’s only now on the release of these last words that I’ve realized. I swipe both hands across my face, brushing them away angrily. I refuse to shed more tears over my parents. They don’t deserve them.
Katie leans forward, hugging me hard and when she pulls back, concern furrows her brow. “Does Logan know?” she asks, and I nod.
“Good, that makes me less worried.” I smile at her, grateful to the bottom of my heart that when I started my new life at fifteen, it was at the same school as Katie, Sarah, and Logan.
“Katie, there’s one more thing, I should confess.”
“There’s more?” she asks, and her eyes are wide. The act of confessing is cathartic and once I’ve started, it’s apparently hard to not let it all pour out. The thick walls around my heart have been breached and all my secrets are tumbling out.
I take a deep breath and on the release blurt out, “Logan and I slept together.” I wasn’t going to mention this tonight, but I want to clear the air between us.
“What? When? How? No scrub that, I don’t want to hear how. I don’t need to know about my brother’s dick sorcery. Ewww. Never, never tell me that.” Her reaction is priceless.
I laugh so hard that my earlier tears disappear, and my head drops onto my bent arms. “You’re kidding me. Of everything I’ve just said, the most surprising part to you is that I hooked up with your brother.”
“Surprisingly yes. But I have to say it’s about time. You two have been on a collision course for years. I always suspected there was something between you. And the other night when I surprised you both in the kitchen. I knew something was going on.” Then her brow wrinkles in confusion. “But why were you so angry with him tonight.”
I huff then explain what Logan did.
She shakes her head. “That sounds just like one of my protective, controlling brothers. Always taking over a situation. You should have seen the way they were with Drew tonight.”
I laugh. “Did he survive the Carlson intimidation test?” I ask, and she shrugs but there is a slight tilt to her lips. I suspect Drew did okay.
“Allie, I know it’s inexcusable that Logan went behind your back but … you do know that the boys’ mother abandoned them too. Hunter and Blake still see her occasionally to make sure she’s okay. But Logan has always refused to see her. He was only five when she left.” What? How did I not know this bit of family history?
I shake my head. “I had no idea. I wondered in the beginning why their mother was never mentioned but I’ve not really thought about it for years. Do you think that has something to do with him wanting to find my mother?”
“Maybe. I guess only he can answer that. Over the years, I’ve tried to talk to him about it but it’s one thing he won’t share, even with me.”
