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“I’ll be back in LA as soon as I can, but—” He hangs up before I can finish my sentence.
“You’re leaving.”
I whip around to face the stern male voice.
Logan is wearing the exact same loathing expression he wore last night. It gives me the same square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling.
“Probably a bad time to make a you’re-following-me joke, huh?” My voice falters. The three-inch height advantage I have shrinks to nothing.
His lips purse. “Does Hope know you’re leaving?”
“I’m not leaving.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“Maybe that’s because you heard one side of a private conversation.” My voice rises, and heads whip in our direction. A table of young mothers lean in to whisper toward each other. “If you have something to say, I’m happy to discuss it. But not here.”
Logan scans the restaurant. My gaze catches on Mrs.Lemmings, who’s watching me through narrowed eyes.
“I’m just looking out for Hope. I have nothing to hide.” Logan crosses his arms over his chest. A muscle flutters in his jaw.
“Have you ever considered that she might be able to look out for herself?”
“I know she can. I saw her walk out of that hospital when no one thought she would. But in some things, she’s just—she’s too trusting. She wants to believe the best in people, and that gives her a huge blind spot.”
“Maybe that’s what gives her strength.”
Hope believes in people no one else believes in. That’s rare.
“You have no idea what she’s been through.”
“She told me about the medium in New York.” My voice rises in challenge. “Have you never made a bad judgment call? Or is it only Hope who gets one shot at figuring things out before she’s branded for life?”\
“I’m trying to help her. She’s my sister.” Logan blows out a breath. “The medium in New York was my fault. I knew something was fishy, and I should have stopped her from going. She was just having such a hard time with grief and guilt. She kept blaming herself because of that stupid fight they had.”
“You know about that fight?” My heart rate spikes. I thought no one knew.
Logan bites his lip and slips his gaze left and right. “Hope doesn’t know that I know. When she was in the hospital and out of it, she told me all about the argument she and Brandon had in the car. She never mentioned it again, and I didn’t have the heart to bring it up to her.”
Lies by omission are lies. Hope said so. But who am I to pass judgment?
“And now she’s spending time with Maeve, and a guy with a reputation for stirring the pot and then running away from people who need him the most. So you can guess why I’m concerned. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“I won’t do that to Hope. And Maeve ... I won’t let her hurt Hope either. I promise.” My lungs swell with the gravity of the promise. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve made a promise I don’t want to run away from. “You’ll be the first person I call if she does.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
The truth rises up and shoots across my consciousness, a shooting star lighting up the darkest parts of the night.
“Because I’m falling for her.”
25
HOPE
Flickering light from Maeve’s window is the first sign that she’s awake. The second is more obvious—the sight of Maeve’s door being thrown open.
Maeve steps out onto her porch wearing a pair of old jeans and a vintage New Kids on the Block concert tee.
