Page 54 of Seven of Hearts

“It’s the—um—the anatomy scan where they can tell if the baby is a boy or a girl.”

He perked up. “Really? What day?”

His curiosity surprised me. “Um. The twenty-ninth.”

Logan had his phone out and was scrolling through his calendar app. “Do you know what time it is?"

“Ten in the morning, while Gio and Ellie are at school.”

“Can I come?” He looked up. “Or is it something you want to do on your own? I can drive you there if you need a ride.”

“You...want to come?” I narrowed my eyes. “Willingly. To the OBGYN?”

He nodded as he put the information into his phone. “Leah, I told you I’m in. This is what that looks like.”

16

LOGAN

“Are you excited?” Kristin asked as she passed behind my chair at the dining room table and gave my shoulders a squeeze.

Since I was working from Will and Kristin’s house, Will had basically moved his office to the dining room so we could work in the same space.

It was kind of nice. It annoyed the hell out of Kristin, though. Or at least she pretended like it did.

“Yeah,” I muttered as I finished reviewing one of the reports my team in Chicago had sent over.

“When are you leaving?” she asked.

I glanced at the clock. “I’ll walk next door in a few minutes.”

Kristin glanced out the window to where Leah’s car was parked in the DeRossis’ driveway. Orange and brown leaves covered the windshield as the sea breeze blew them off of the trees.

October had been a welcome reprieve from the summer heat, and had been gracious with only a mild hurricane season.

It had been a few weeks since I had crash-landed back at my sister’s house. A few weeks of finding my way with Leah and what that relationship would look like in just four months when the baby was born.

She was halfway through the pregnancy and handling it like a champ. We were slowly growing comfortable with each other, and had fallen into the routine of morning and evening check-ins, even if we couldn’t see each other.

I had never had a friend like Leah. But now that I did, I couldn’t imagine any other kind.

She was thoughtful and intuitive. She knew when to push a conversation, and when to back off. She was funny and quick-witted, and had half-decent taste in TV shows.

“Leah’s always welcome to come over here, you know.” Kristin laughed. “You two don’t have to meet in the driveway like you’re teenagers.”

“Kylie’s still being a stubborn asshole,” I said as I logged out of the team space and closed my laptop. “Leah hasn’t been able to get her to talk.”

Kristin sighed. “October is Kylie’s busy season with wedding and event planning. Maybe she’s just been swamped.”

I gave Kristin a look, and she just shrugged.

“I’ll talk to her.Again,” Kristin said. “You gonna be home for dinner.”

“Not tonight,” I said as I found my shoes and grabbed my keys to the car I had bought, because a monthly payment was cheaper than renting indefinitely.

For some reason, spending money lately hadn’t given me the heart palpitations and anxiety that it usually did.

My inability to live comfortably and my compulsive need to save every penny was probably the aftermath of having my childhood house and life seized by the government because of something that someone else had done. I knew first-hand how quickly it could all go away, which meant I stored everything for a rainy day, even if I knew it wasn’t going to rain.

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