Page 27 of Bittersweet

“Are you downtown somewhere?”

“Harper.”

“I know there are a few areas that can be kind of rough at night.”

“We’re fine, Harper.” He was short with her.

Kayla chose that moment to come running through the apartment, squealing loudly with her teddy bear and backpack in hand.

“Ready, Kay?” He scooped her up and turned to Harper. “Thanks for everything, Harper. Really.”

“You’re welcome.”

“We’ll see ya.”

“Bye, Harper.” Kayla waved over Logan’s shoulder as he hurriedly walked out her front door.

She waved back as the door closed then plopped down in the arm chair.

The location of their current residence was obviously a touchy subject for Logan, but his habit of keeping the whole truth from her was getting really old. If he’d been honest with her about where they were living, it might have put her at ease, but she had a feeling they were worse off than he wanted her to know. It wasn’t her place to interfere, but she was worried they might not be safe. And every fiber of her being wanted to race after them and tell them they could stay with her.

But she couldn’t. Her thoughts returned to the moment in her bedroom, to Logan’s words, and how much she’d wanted to fall into his arms. And that’s why they couldn’t stay with her. Having him there would be too dangerous for her heart.

Knowing the truth about why he left had given her some semblance of closure. The animosity she’d been feeling since he came back to town had now shifted to acceptance and understanding. She knew he’d done what he thought he had to do. And it made her feel better to hear him admit it was a mistake, and if he could go back and change things, he would tell her the truth.

She wondered, though, if it happened now, would he do anything differently? Could he be honest with her in the face of tough trials? Because it seemed like he had serious issues when it came to trust, which obviously stemmed from his formative years.

Harper’s phone signaled a text from Savannah, and she suddenly realized she’d been sitting in the same spot for twenty minutes, mulling things over, rather than heading to work.

“I’m on my way,” she replied. “I’ll explain when I get there.”

And she had a lot of explaining to do.

11

First you’re late to work … because of Logan …” Savannah smirked at her from behind a wedding cake she was decorating. “Then you sneak off for an extra long lunch. Where have you been, young lady?”

Harper shrugged as she tied on her apron and began rolling out the dough for a big order she had to complete—sugar cookies for a six-year-old’s unicorn-themed birthday party.

Savannah had totally covered for her that morning. With a little help from Ginny, they had gotten all the morning foods baked and on display before the first customers of the day arrived. Thankfully, Harper always prepared the batter for the morning muffins the night before. She still felt bad for leaving them to handle it all, but Savannah had been more than understanding.

The unicorn cookies were calling, so she got back to work. When they had started the business, she hadn’t planned to focus so much of her time on cookies, but her skilled hand and attention to detail made her designs highly sought after. Birthday party cookies were one of their biggest sellers and kept Harper plenty busy.

“I called and told Logan our answer was yes, by the way.”

Harper looked up from pressing the cookie cutter into the dough. “Already?”

“You said you were okay with it.”

“I am.”

“Well, I figured he’d want to know as soon as possible.”

Her stomach fluttered with nerves as she cut out more unicorn shapes and placed them on the cookie sheet.

“Did you want to be the one to tell him?” Savannah paused her decorating.

“I don’t think he cares to see me right now. I told you, he practically ran out of my apartment when I started asking him about their living conditions.”

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