Page 91 of Under the Mistletoe
Hannah walked over to the counter and pulled a rolled-up stack of papers from her purse. “Liam emailed it to each of us. And I printed it out, because I think you need to read it. If you didn’t come to breakfast, I was going to drop it by later.”
When everyone stared at Hannah, she shrugged. “He didn’t make me promise, and I’m not going to let him throw away the best thing in his life because he is being stubborn and he’s afraid.”
Devin took the papers and unrolled them. “I agree, Victor Holt means too much to too many people to throw that away.”
Hannah covered the pages in front of Devin with her hand. “I am talking about you. Careers come and go. But you love him, and he loves you.”
Did he, though? If he did, could he really walk away so easily?
Hannah removed her hand, and Devin skimmed over the pages. It was worse than she feared. Rand was dead. Astryn’s father had taken over the care of Anathia with the hope Astryn would one day find love again. A sick sensation churned in Devin’s stomach.
This wasn’t the end the story deserved. This was garbage.
What was she going to do? She couldn’t call him. She didn’t even know where his cabin was. She set the pages aside.
Hannah thrust her phone into Devin’s hands. “Have you ever used the Life360 app?”
She blinked at Hannah’s phone. “No.”
“Funny thing about the app.” Hannah reached over and navigated to a purple icon. “It helps you know where your friends and family are. It even saves where people in your circle went. Want to see where Luke went yesterday?”
She pointed to a black line that traveled from Heritage up to just north of Thompsonville. And it listed an address where he’d stopped.
“You think I should go?”
Hannah squeezed her shoulder. “Like I said yesterday, only you can decide that. But if I had known where Luke was when he’d run, I would have gone even if he didn’t think he wanted to see me.”
Luke nodded. “And I would have been glad to see her even if I thought I didn’t want to.”
Devin picked up her phone and found the same location on her phone map and tapped for directions. He was two hours away. “I’m supposed to help set up the Christmas Adam dance tonight at five.”
“That’s in seven hours.” Liam stretched his arms across the chairs on both sides. “Two hours there. Two hours back. Two hours to…uh…make up. You would still have an hour to spare.”
Did she want to make up with Logan? He’d failed to show up at the snowman event, he’d failed to show up at the live Nativity. And at the first sign of real conflict between them, he’d taken off. Just like he’d done the day Liam returned. She’d spent a lifetime with those she loved not showing up. She didn’t want her future to be more of the same.
But Logan the author—the kid who loved to create stories and give hope—was still in there, and she couldn’t let Logan throw that part of himself away.
“I’ll do it.”
Smiles spread around the table. Liam reached into his pocket. “His driveway isn’t well cleared. Take my Bronco. Be good to her.”
She stood and took the keys. “I thought you weren’t supposed to get involved.”
He shrugged and laced his fingers across his stomach. “He’ll forgive me. It’s what brothers do.”
She hurried to get her coat. He was right. You forgave those you loved, and sometimes you went toe to toe with them. This could go well or very poorly, but she did hope—no, she knew—that God went before her. She didn’t need to be afraid.
sixteen
The distinctive roar of Liam’s old Bronco filled the air. Seriously? Were they going to come every day until Logan relented? Cal roused from the couch and pawed at the door. A few minutes later, a knock echoed through the cabin. Wait. Liam never knocked. Logan glanced out the kitchen window. It was Liam’s truck all right. He dried his hands and walked to the door and opened it to a very angry…“Devin?”
“Logan.” Her blue eyes blazed. He was suddenly very aware that he wasn’t exactly ready for company. No doubt his hair stuck up and he was in much need of a shave and probably didn’t smell fantastic either. He wore sweats and had bare feet. He basically looked only a few steps above homeless.
“What is this?” Devin marched past him into the cabin without waiting for an invitation, brandishing some papers in her hand. Cal jumped up on her, and she pushed him down to shed her teal coat.
Logan stiffened and shut the door. “So much for the promise not to interfere.”
“Don’t blame your family. They are trying to save you from yourself. So I will ask you again.” She tossed the pages on the coffee table, then spun to face him, her long braid swinging with her movement. “What is this?”
