Page 33 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

“I want to play in my room,” she whispered, sliding off her chair.

“Okay. I’ll come up in a little bit and we can do your bath.”

“I’m glad I got to have dinner with you tonight.” Logan forced a smile and stood from his chair. “Good night, Charlie.”

“Good night.”

She dropped her plate in the sink, then disappeared upstairs with sad eyes.

When the sound of her footsteps faded, I looked up at Logan. “I’m sorry.”

“I think I failed that test.” He ran a hand through his hair and sank back into his chair.

“She’ll come around. She just needs some time.” I stood and began clearing dishes from the table.

“Thank you,” he said. “Dinner was delicious.”

“I guess none of us was all that hungry.” Our plates were all still half

full. Food had been pushed around during the awkward silences instead of eaten.

“She’s not like other kids, is she?”

“Not like most,” I said over my shoulder as I rinsed a plate. “It takes her a while to warm up to new people and change. She’s not really shy, just . . . wary. For years, her world consisted of only me, Hazel and Jackson. She just needs time.”

“Time I don’t have.”

Because his life was in New York. And ours was in Lark Cove.

I shut off the water and turned away from the sink, leaning back against the counter. “I guess we’d better come up with some sort of plan.”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Would you ever consider moving back to the city?”

I shook my head. “I’d do it if I had to, but I’m hoping you won’t make us.”

“Make us?”

“It’s no secret you could bury me under a mountain of lawyers to get custody of Charlie.”

His eyes narrowed. “I told you last night I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know.” I held up my hands, hoping to calm the rising tension in the kitchen. “I’m just laying it out there. If you wanted her in New York, you could make that happen. I’m hoping you won’t because we’re happy here.”

“She could be happy there.”

“Yes, she could. But she is happy in Lark Cove.”

He frowned. “I can’t come back and forth to Montana all the time.”

My stomach sank. I knew without asking that he wouldn’t consider moving an option. I didn’t blame him. I knew leaving the city would be asking too much. But that hasn’t stopped my foolish heart from hoping.

I wanted him to choose Charlie over everything else. I wanted him to prove that she was his most important priority.

I wanted the impossible.

“What do you want to do?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know. I wish . . .” He sighed. “I wish she would have liked me.”