Logan’s smile is sweet and patient. He’s happy but restrained.

I do know him. Maybe I’ve always known this side of him. No. I haven’t. Only in glimpses, and then I tossed those off as if they were part of some nefarious masterminded plot to undermine me, instead of the very core and essence of who he is as a person.

I’m like Dorothy, seeing behind the curtain. Only, instead of finding a puny man pretending to be larger than he was, I found the actual wizard, disguised behind a shell of superiority and aloofness.

“You should go spend your evening with Logan,” Megan says.

“Maybe I should,” I tell her.

“You definitely should,” Logan says with a wink, clearly overhearing Megan through the phone.

“I’ll call you later,” I tell Megan.

“You will. Or I’ll hunt you down. I want details upon details.”

“Okay.” I turn my back to Logan so I can say something privately to Megan.

He stands there waiting for me. The reality of his patient endurance rolls over me again like a gentle wave.

“I’m going,” I say. “Thank you. Your excitement somehow calmed my nerves.”

“Don’t overthink this, Olivia. The two of you need to talk. Your whole worldview just crashed into bits. Everything you’ve believed about him has been shattered. Let him help you put Humpty Dumpty back together again. And don’t fight your feelings so hard. Maybe let them take the lead for a change. You’re not in danger. This is the good part. You should enjoy it.”

I smile. “Thanks, Meg. I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go.”

I say goodbye and turn around. Logan and Rhett are still standing outside my doorway, side by side, staring at me like I hold the key to everything important in their lives.

“Want to bring that over to my place?” he asks, a boyish vulnerability in his eyes.

“I’d love that,” I say.

“Love!” Davy Jones squawks. “Love is in the air! Love birds! We’ve got love birds!”

I smile, even though I feel a blush rise up my cheeks.

Logan smiles back at me, and something deep down settles like it never has before.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Olivia

The world is full of magic things,

patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

~ W.B. Yeats

We walk quietly backto Logan’s apartment. He looks down at me with a devastating grin. I’m cupping my bowl of ice cream like a security blanket. When we get to his door, Logan puts his hand on the small of my back, opens the door and gently ushers me in. Rhett trots along beside us, picking something up off the threshold on his way in.

“What do you have, sweetie?” I ask Rhett.

Logan looks down and chuckles.

“Where do these things keep coming from?” he asks. “I could have sworn nothing was in my doorway when I left here only minutes ago.”

“Maybe you were preoccupied,” I suggest.