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Miles plated their food and took it over to the table. Logan followed with their beers.
The vet groaned when he took his first bite of the sandwich. “Oh my God. What is this?” He chewed with healthy enthusiasm.
Miles smiled. “It’s the sauce.”
Logan swallowed and looked at him blankly. “You made it yourself?”
Miles chuckled at his awed tone. “I wish I could take the credit, but no. Elijah gave me the recipe.” He paused. “He’s a friend of mine. He owns?—”
“La Petite Bouche Gourmande.” A dry smile twisted Logan’s mouth. “Lucy waxed lyrical about the man. Between his cakes and his movie star husband, I’m pretty sure Lucy would choose his cakes.” He took another bit of the sandwich and groaned again. “Man, if this guy’s baked goods is anywhere as good as this sauce, I can see why people line up to get into his place.”
A soft smile tugged at Miles’s lips. He and Elijah had become fast friends. It was probably because their personalities were so alike.
Miles finished his sandwich and drank half his beer before finally getting up the courage to ask Logan the question he’d been afraid to voice.
“Did Lucy tell you anything about me?”
* * *
Logan wasn’t fooledby Miles’s steady tone.
Miles’s knuckles were white where he clasped his beer bottle.
“She mentioned an accident,” Logan said lightly.
Considering his practice manager routinely blabbed about virtually anyone who crossed Logan’s path, Lucy had been surprisingly reticent to tell him more about Miles. Bar clarifying that the illness Miles had mentioned the day he’d visited the practice had actually been an accident, she’d kept mum on the subject.
Miles lowered his gaze and toyed with his bottle.
A strained silence followed. Miles finally spoke.
“We were eighteen when it happened. It was July Fourth. We were going to our favorite picnic spot to watch the fireworks. We…never made it there.”
Logan’s heart twisted at Miles’s bereft look.
Blue lifted his head and whined softly where he’d settled in his basket with Pepper, as if he could sense the grief and bitterness Miles was trying to mask. Logan suspected the dog probably could.
Animals were a lot more attuned to human emotions than humans themselves were.
Miles startled when Logan reached over and put his hand on top of his fist.
“It’s okay,” Logan said quietly. “We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”
Miles’s skin heated up Logan’s flesh, just like it had done that day at the clinic. Except this time, he hoped his touch would bring Miles solace instead of making him nervous.
Miles took a shaky breath and met Logan’s concerned stare. “I want to, actually.” He almost looked surprised at his own words.
Logan kept his hand atop Miles’s as he started talking again.
“Alex was driving his mom’s pickup that day. All seven of us were there.” A melancholic light dawned in Miles’s eyes. “We’d been inseparable since middle school.”
Logan’s pulse quickened. “What happened?”
“A drunk driver came down the mountain on the wrong side of the road. If it hadn’t been for Alex’s reflexes, we would have gone off a cliff. He turned the steering wheel toward the forest and we smashed into a tree instead.” Miles’s expression turned haunted. “The last thing I remember is the headlights of that other guy’s car. Of the seven of us, six walked out of that accident pretty much unscathed. I didn’t.”
Logan’s stomach hardened. He could see how much the memory of that day still affected Miles.
“Have you spoken to someone? I mean, a professional?” he said, troubled. “It sounds like you still have a lot to process even after all these years.”
