“I’m not letting you drive across the country with a potential concussion.” He pulls out of the gas station.
I stare at the side of his face. “Logan.” He doesn’t look at me. Is this actually happening? Three months of my life, all leading to this. I lose my career, every dime I had, my boyfriend, my relationship with my father fractured nearly beyond repair, and now—
“I don’t have a concussion,” I try again. “I’m sure of it. I’m fine. My headache is already going away.”
He doesn’t reply. Takes a turn, merges, puts us back on the highway like the conversation is already over. Like this is just decided.
“I cannot be in a car with you for ten hours,” I say honestly.
He lets out a short, dark laugh. “Believe me, Rose. Same. But here we are.”
“Change it back. You get on your flying death trap, and I’ll take my time getting to Georgia. It’s not like anyone’s counting down the minutes until I show up, unlike you. Right?”
“That was a shit thing to say.” He exhales. “I’m sorry. Roger loves you, of course he wants you at his wedding. And Pearl—look, whatever’s between you two is between you two. Don’t bring her up to me again.” He waits a beat. “I’ll try not to make assumptions about you, either.”
My actual nightmare, made real. Yesterday I was dreading a three-hour flight with this man. Now, we’ve had the last twenty-four hours, ten more in this car, plus however many days on the island once we get there.
Easton would absolutely lose it if he could see me right now. He’d be laughing his ass off.
Logan’s phone starts beeping after we rerouted, but he doesn’t stop to check it. I see Pearl’s name more than a few times on the car’s display screen. Jesus, woman.
I feel a pang of discomfort witnessing their close relationship. Knowing he doesn’t want to be here with me, but rather there with her.
I can’t help it, I blurt out, “Does she always text you this much?”
He side-eyes me and laughs a little. “No. Actually—” he pauses. “I don’t think she’s thrilled that we’re together. She also thinks I’m on a plane right now and is probably already making plans to pick me up at the airport. I should let her know I won’t be there.”
Great. One more thing for Pearl to pin on me. Though, not that I’d ever tell him so, I’m grateful I don’t have to drive. My head is feeling better, but I’m not in the mood to navigate traffic.
“Do you want me to stop at the store so you can buy a phone?”
No one is waiting on me. No work, Easton’s busy, my dad knows where I am. The likelihood that my real estate agent has any good news for me is slim. I shake my head. “No, the only person I’d text is Easton, and he’s at practice.”
Logan nods tightly. “So you guys are…” he lets the question hang. After he flipped out last night, I almost laugh.
“You can ask that, but I can’t ask about you and Pearl?”
“For fuck’s sake, Rose, I was just—”
Not wanting to fight, I answer. “Last night, you asked if we were fucking. But Easton’s gay. So, no. We aren’t.” Not that it would have happened, anyway. Easton is meant for bigger and better things than the likes of me. And, as handsome as he is, he’s never been my type—all that athletic energy, his easy-going nature. I’ve always gone more for the artsy ones. Or… the difficult ones.
Logan’s head whips toward me. “What?”
“He’s gay.” I turn back to the window. I can feel his eyes on me.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Pearl and Easton were together. She has pictures of them at junior prom or whatever.”
“Yeah, when they were teenagers. He didn’t… It took him a while to come out. To himself, then to her. I know she was heartbroken, but he couldn’t exactly stay with her.”
Logan doesn’t say anything else. I watch him process it—his brows furrow, eyes focused far down the road.
We continue to drive in silence. At some point I notice the sky has changed, gone flat and gray, and when I look up, it’s full of darkened clouds. After everything else, I’d forgotten all about the storm. It’s barely noon, it should be bright and sunny. I reach for my phone before remembering I don’t have one anymore. “Hey, can I check the weather on your phone?”
He nods, unlocks it without looking, and holds it out. I open the weather app. The storm has shifted since yesterday—moved east, slowed down, which must be how he managed to get a flight out this morning. But the projections for tomorrow are ugly.
“Has Pearl said anything about the wedding? This storm looks really bad.”
Logan shakes his head. “She insists everything’s continuing as planned—says they have an indoor backup plan if it hits.”
