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He turned his head to look at her. “Like what?”
“Anything. Just talk to me. Keep my mind from going down the dark path it keeps trying to sprint toward.”
“It might be nothing,” he pointed out. “A virus that just needs to run its course.”
His voice lacked conviction, but she didn’t object to his attempt to keep things positive.
“I know.” She sighed. “Still, I’m not a patient person, and I hate the waiting. I’m asking you to distract me.”
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and when she glanced over at him expectantly, a wry grin passed his lips. “I’m thinking.”
“Think faster,” she said, the familiar spark of ire she often had around Logan a welcome feeling.
He chuckled. “Do you know how I met your brother?”
“No.” Andrew had talked about his friend Logan for a couple of years, and she’d just assumed they met in college. “Wasn’t it at KU?”
Logan shook his head. “We were there at the same time but didn’t know each other. It was actually his first year of law school. One Sunday, I was watching football in my condo and heard the guy who’d just moved in next door yelling at the television every time something happened in the game. I realized he was watching the same thing, and I figured it was as good a time as any to meet my new neighbor. I went over to invite him to watch the game, but when I saw his TV was three times the size of mine, I offered to trade a few beers to watch it on his screen.”
Jeni grinned. “Football and beer. The ultimate bromance meet-cute.”
“It was sort of ours too, you know. You and I drank beer and talked sports the first day we met.”
She snorted. “Amongst other things.”
He cocked an eyebrow and just smiled, a sort of secretive expression on his face. “Anyway, it became a regular thing for Andrew and me to watch football together. We did that for almost two years, even when I bought a house and moved.”
“You already bought a house?” She’d probably be renting for at least another five or ten years before she had enough money for a down payment. “Aren’t you my age?”
“I’m twenty-seven,” he said.
“Impressive,” she said and meant it.
His gaze drifted away, and he shrugged. “I’m not saying it’s paid off already. But it was important to me to put down permanent roots and have a stable place to live. A home that’s mine.”
Jeni could understand that, but she didn’t quite feel the same. She liked Kansas City so far, but moving here had been more about leaving Nebraska than finding a place to settle down. The ability to pick up and move if she needed to, or even if she just wanted to, was almost as important. She wanted space of her own but figured she could find it anywhere and relished the freedom to make that call for herself.
“So, where’d you learn to cook?” Logan asked. “The food tonight was awesome.”
Tonight? Had it really just been a few hours ago that they were in her living room, eating and watching the games? It felt like days ago.
“My mom,” she said. “She’s like the Pioneer Woman. Hangs out in the kitchen and makes these big meals while my dad works the farm. I didn’t pay much attention when I was younger, but as I got older, I started helping out and trying to learn a few things.” After the accident, she’d nearly gone crazy being stuck at her parent’s house and had been desperate for things to keep her busy. Helping with meals had been one way to escape.
Her mind immediately shifted to those challenging years and how, if that had been her only escape, maybe things would have turned out differently.
She could have finished her degree earlier and been further along in her career. Maybe she wouldn’t have such a bad taste in her mouth when it came to men and relationships. Perhaps she’d be a little more open-minded and less closed off.
It hadn’t happened that way though. She’d allowed someone—her ex-husband—to lure her in another direction, and it had felt like the right decision at the time. She’d eventually seen the error of her ways but not until she’d wasted several years of her life.
But if there was one thing she’d learned from the past, it was to never make the same mistake again. Repeating that decision was something she was determined not to do.
No matter what.
