Page 94 of Ever With Me

“Fine. I’ll do the stupid auction. With any luck, no one will bid on the apples. Cortland aren’t that great.” Maddie closed her laptop. “But just for that, I’m not doing the other contests with you. Maybe I’ll do them with Logan.”

“I already asked someone to the festival.” Logan came out from behind the bar toward them. “So you’re stuck with Jake. Sorry, hon.”

Maddie feigned a look of hurt. “And who, may I ask, did you ask?”

“Kayla.” Logan’s eyes hinted with warmth. “I thought it would be fun for her little girl.”

Nooooo.She knew that look. Logan got that look when he liked someone. “You can’t date her.”

“I like her. She’s witty. Keeps old groucho on his toes. Cute kid, too,” Jake said with a grin.

Maddie looked from Logan to Jake. “How do you know Kayla?”

Jake shrugged. “Logan invited her to pizza night last night. Maybe if you hadn’t skipped it, you would know.”

What? Kayla had met her whole family?

Maddie propped her elbows on the table and covered her face. “Ugh, no, Logan. Don’t catch feelings for Kayla. That’s so messy.”

“And why is that?” Logan asked, sliding in beside Jake. He crossed his arms.

Jake copied his stance. “Yeah. Whyisthat, Maddie?”

“Because Brooks . . . isleaving,guys. So is Kayla. Neither are from around here.” Not to mention that if Logan dated Brooks’s sister and things didn’t work out, it would . . .

Would what, exactly?

Make it hard for you to see Brooks?

Make family situations awkward?Only if she and Brooks were involved, which they weren’t.

“Kayla lives three hours away. It’s not that far. Besides which, it’s a date to a fall festival, nothing more. I didn’t ask her to move in with me like you would have done by now.”

“Ouch, that was below the belt, asshole.” Maddie shoved her laptop away, her appetite quickly fading.

Sincere regret filled Logan’s face. “I was just teasing?—”

“Forget it.” That wasn’t what she was upset about, anyway. And what shewasupset about, she couldn’t quite verbalize. Logan had every right to date Kayla if he wanted to, so what was the problem?

She stood. “I should go.” She scowled at Jake. “You can sign me up for a couple of events with you. And maybe the singing competition by myself. I don’t need any more grief about how much I suck.”

Eyes burning, she hurried out of the pub.

She was already walking down Main Street when Logan caught up with her. “Hang on,” Logan said, grabbing her firmly by the elbow. He hauled her to a stop, then faced her. “What’s going on with you?”

Maddie swiped her lashes, blinking rapidly. “I don’t know.”

“I really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings about the moving in comment, Mad. If anything, I think it’s admirable how open you are to love. You jump in feet first, sure, but you jump. I’ve spent a lifetime hanging back and regretting it.”

“Really, that’s not it, Logan.” She hugged her arms to her chest, the day chillier than she expected. They’d reached that point in Maryland weather when one day you’d wake up freezing and be boiling by noon, and the next, you’d dress in summery clothes and a cold front would move in by midday.

“What is it then, Maddie?” Logan set his hands on her shoulders. “You know you can tell me anything.”

What am I feeling? Why am I this upset?

She pressed her lips together, then said at last, “I don’t want you to fool around with Kayla.”

He searched her eyes. “Why not?”

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