Page 78 of Whatever You Want

I hummed in agreement. After everything she put us through, we were both ready for a break. Things have been tense since she checked herself into a mental health facility. Logan has been torn up and riddled with guilt these couple of weeks. It was painful watching him walk around, feeling like he failed his daughter somehow. I was a fixer, so it was hard knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to make him feel better.

Vanessa, as much as I disliked her, was finally owning up to what she did. The district attorney cut her a deal. She paid for the damages to my car and was finally getting the help she needed. Regardless of how I felt, she was Brina’s mother, and I just wanted her to get better. For all our sakes.

“So, what would you like to do first?” I reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze.

“Let’s get the girls and go for a walk.” We swung our hands back and forth as we made our way back to the house.

After putting the salads and burgers in the fridge, we strolled down along the shoreline. It was mostly rocks and shady trees, but it was the perfect place to clear my head.

Brina and Madison were off to the side in their own little world, and Logan, well, something was weighing on him.

“Hey, are you going to tell me what’s wrong or are we going to pretend everything is hunky-dory?” I sat on the edge of the dock beside him.

His head slanted to the side. “You’re very intuitive. You’d make a good cop.”

“No, thanks. I’ll just stick to dating one.” His arms wrapped around my back. “I know this thing with Vanessa isn’t easy, it’s okay if you’re worried about her.”

He trained his gaze over my shoulder, looking out at the lake. “That’s not it, I mean don’t get me wrong, I want her to get better for Brina’s sake…” He trailed off, and I waited for him to continue. “But there’s something I haven’t told you.”

The wind blew, pushing my hair in front of my face. Logan tucked it back; his eyes watched mine. I could feel something chipping away at him. “Are you finally going to fill me in on what’s been bothering you? Because if it’s not Vanessa then I have no clue.”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” he muttered under his breath. I squinted my eyes and thought back to the past couple of weeks and how overprotective he’s been. We got into an argument when he insisted on installing a security system in my house. At first, it seemed a little over the top to me, but I couldn’t help feeling that there was more to the story.

“I’ve been avoiding telling you because I don’t want you to worry.”

“Keeping me in the dark and forcing me to draw my own conclusions doesn’t seem like a good strategy. The truth is always best.”

He released a sigh. “Vanessa didn’t put the tracker in your car.”

I twisted around to face him. “What are you talking about?”

I tried to remember every little detail that was listed in the police report, and wished I had paid better attention now. Honestly, I didn’t think I needed to. Unless Vanessa had an accomplice, we didn’t know about, nothing about that theory was even believable. She pleaded guilty. No one else was mentioned. I would remember if there was.

He shook his head. “It wasn’t her, Ava.”

My mind tried to put the pieces together, but nothing fit.

“This doesn’t make any sense. She admitted to damaging my car and unless my memory is going, she didn’t implicate anyone else. Other than Vanessa, I don’t have any enemies.”

“Maybe you have an admirer that you don’t know about. Maybe it’s the guy from the park.”

I snorted out loud. This was crazy. “Logan, I never saw that man before that day and I haven’t seen him since. It has to be her. I don’t know why she’s lying, but she is.” He looked at me like he wanted to believe me, but something was holding him back. I don’t care what she told him. I know it was her. It had to be. “Listen, I don’t want you to worry, okay. Let’s just enjoy this vacation and worry about the rest when we get back.”

He cupped my cheek and pulled me into his arms. “I’ll never stop worrying about you, Ava.”

“Mom.” Madison entered my room. “Brina and I are ready to go swimming.” She groaned when she spotted me still in my pajamas.

“I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” I walked over to my suitcase sitting by the door. “We need to eat breakfast first. Go wait for me downstairs while I get dressed.”

I slipped into my two-piece bathing suit and peeked in the mirror. My hand pressed against my stomach as if I could flatten it somehow. After being with Drew for so long, I never worried about how I looked, but I wanted Logan to like what he saw. Sure, he’s seen me naked before, but this felt different. There would be no hiding under the covers, dimming the lights, and distracting him with my hands and mouth. The extra pounds around my hips would not be concealed with my body-shaping swimsuit that the saleslady said “would make me look ten pounds lighter.”

I peeled my eyes away from the dimples on the back of my thighs and cursed myself for not joining the gym earlier in the summer. I slipped the coverup over my head, took a deep breath, and tiptoed down the stairs.

My heart melted into a puddle at my feet once I reached the kitchen. Logan’s back was to me, and the girls were standing on either side of him, laughing over the griddle. “Ready for the next one?” he asked them both as they nodded their heads. “All right, what are we putting on this one? Blueberries or chocolate chips?”

“Chocolate chips,” they both chanted.

“Morning.” My smile was wide as I walked over to the coffee machine and poured a cup.

---