Page 106 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

Letting go of Logan’s hand, she obliged. The dog fell onto his side, rear leg lifting, peddling the air in utter bliss.

They were interrupted by his vibrating phone, sliding around the leather sofa, the name Adele flashing insistently. Logan declined the call only for the phone to ring again, this time, Trevor. He rejected that call too and switched the phone to silent.

Jane set her tea onto the glass coffee table. “This entire night was meant to give you some good publicity, not make things worse. Are they very angry?”

“I can deal with the fallout tomorrow. I only have one thing on my mind right now, and that’s you.”

She acted as if she hadn’t heard him. “I’m so sorry, Logan.”

“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Her gaze dropped to the carpet, her shoulders hunching over. “I shouldn’t have antagonized him.”

“There was nothing you could have said to him that would have justified his actions, Jane.”

Her brilliant blue eyes filled with shame. “But I told him to go. I commanded him, actually. That’s what set him off. He didn’t like taking orders from me.”

Logan had heard enough. He would not let her shoulder any more blame, not for a second longer. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I made light of him and didn’t think him a threat. I wouldn’t have left you alone for a second if I had known he would attempt something like this.”

He fell silent, hoping that his words would sink in.

“At least some good came out of today. I had two memories, I think.”

She filled him in on what they were. When he didn’t respond straight away, she wrung her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Logan cursed under his breath. “Stop apologizing! Why do you keep thinking things are your fault?”

Her eyes were round discs. “I know I’ve made things ten times worse for you. And after all you’ve done to help me. I know I’m only a job, a contract.”

Her words sent him reeling. “Is that all you think you are? We had a connection tonight, Jane. At the ball.”

“I thought that was for show.”

“You flatter me, but I’m not that good an actor.”

His words were crushing, his eyes brittle as glass. She’d hurt him with that comment. It was the last thing she’d wanted to do, but her mind was a jumble of confusion.

“What about that night, our kiss?”

“What about it?”

“I invited you to stay, but you left. You pulled away and only came back to talk about the job.”

“Is that what this is about?” The pieces finally fell into place. He couldn’t believe that was what had been bothering her.

“That wasn’t about you, Jane. I have dyslexia. Pretty badly, actually. And I needed to work on my lines for the next day’s filming, to make sure I had them memorized. I didn’t want to leave you that night.”

She didn’t know what to think, blindsided by the revelation. “Dyslexia? Then how do you read your scripts?”

“Very slowly. I have to break down each sentence, and I have my own form of shorthand, diagrams and such, that I note in my scripts.”

She recalled the bloated script from his trailer. “The Post-It notes?”

“I use those when I run out of space on the margins. Vicky, my assistant, also reads the script aloud, and records it for me, though I try to use that as a last resort.”

“Why didn’t you mention this before?”

He rubbed the stubble that was starting to show on his chin.

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