Page 17 of Stuck Together

“I do.”

“How old is she?”

“She's six.”

“Wow. I can't believe Grandma never told me that detail about you.”

“That seems like something your grandma would mention about me. You knew I got married, right?”

“Yes, that she told me every day from the day the announcement came in the mail up to the day you actually got married. She tried to get me to go to your wedding. Obviously, I didn’t go.”

“You should have come. It would have been nice to see you again. Fifteen years is far too long.”

“Yeah, no. I wasn't coming to your wedding, Logan.” Learning Logan was getting married had been like a knife to my heart. Even though I hadn’t seen him for several years at that point, there was a part of me that still held on to hope that he’d come back to me. The wedding invitation had shredded that hope and left me wounded all over again.

“Well, doesn't matter anyway. It didn't work out.”

After I refused to go the wedding, I made Grandma promise to never mention Logan to me again. She held up that promise and I never knew what happened, only that Logan had eventually gotten a divorce. “What happened?”

“She left.”

Still a man of few words. “What do you mean, she left?”

“I mean exactly what I said. Right after Rylee was born and except for the divorce hearing, I haven’t seen her since.”

Was he saying what I thought he was saying? “I don't understand. What about Rylee?”

“She left both of us. Me and Rylee.”

“That must have been so painful for you.”

His jaw was more tense than it was earlier. Clearly talking about his ex-wife was worse than having to face me again. I guessed I should be a little glad about that. He didn’t hate me as much as he hated his ex-wife. Was that even something worth celebrating?

“It wasn't me that I was worried about.” His voice was low and gravely. “It's what she did to Rylee that pisses me off. I don't understand how anybody could leave their child, but that’s me.”

“I’m sorry you went through that.”

“It’s okay, I got Rylee out of it and that’s pretty awesome even if the circumstances aren’t ideal.”

Wow, who would’ve thought. Logan Anderson was a good father. The urge to see them together was strong and the image in my mind of seeing him with her tickled my ovaries. “I'd love to meet her sometime.”

“I'm sure you will.” His expression softened and he smiled. “She's at the office hanging out with me or Grandmother all the time. I have no doubt you'll run into Rylee more than you probably care to.”

A notification dinged on my phone and I picked it up, opening the main screen. “Hmm, looks like this snowstorm is going to be worse than originally predicted.”

“It's not supposed be more than a light dusting, I thought.”

“It looks like the weather pattern has shifted.” I sighed. If this storm worsened it could mean I was stuck with Logan longer. Three days was already too long. “It might still miss us but they're calling for some heavy snow tonight.

“Perfect. Nothing like a leisurely mountain drive in a snowstorm.”

I closed my eyes and focused on calming my mind. Nothing about this trip had been ideal and tossing a winter storm into the mix certainly made it worse. Just another obstacle complicating my life.

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