Page 28 of A Summer Mismatch
“She is selfless, almost to a fault,” Nancy mused.
“That’s why she needs to be with someone who would never take advantage of her. Someone who is a giver,” Walt said.
“Did you see her smile on Friday night while they were walking on the beach?” Rosa asked. “That’s the kind of smile romance novelists write about.”
“She was effervescent,” Polly agreed.
“And now, she seems dimmer,” Harry quietly said, and the other two women nodded.
“Will she go against Horace’s wishes?” Don leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him on the table.
Winnie shrugged and stared down the hallway. “I’ll worry about that part. You guys help me find a way to get them in the same room again.”
They brainstormed a few ideas, but nothing really seemed to spark any excitement.
“Let me call Lydia and see if she has any ideas.” Winnie had told the Secret Seven that Lydia wanted to see Logan and Julia get together as well.
“The SFWCC occasionally goes into the community to do animal education and let people engage with some of the animals that can travel,” Lydia said over speakerphone. The other seven remained quiet, but vigorously nodded their heads.
“That’s a great idea.”
Samantha pointed to herself.
“I have a friend, the activities director, who can reach out to him.”
“I’ll put a bug in his ear too,” Lydia said.
They agreed to meet for lunch the next day, and then hung up.
“Cameron loves Logan and the animals. She’ll definitely want to bring him to an event like that,” Winnie said. “It just can’t be a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday afternoon, or any day before one, really. She really is overscheduled.”
“Let’s go for a Thursday then,” Nancy said. “Samantha, you get him here. Don and Walt, keep Horace and Smitty away. Do whatever you have to—those two cannot come near and risk sabotaging our plan. With just a little bit of time and opportunity, I’m absolutely confident Logan and Julia will figure things out on their own.”
Winnie sure hoped so. She wasn’t confident that bringing Smitty and Horace around would be quite so easy.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Logan
WhenLoganstoppedforgas on his way to pick up Amelia and Leo on Thursday night, he found himself looking for a pretty woman with slasher makeup. Had it really only been a month since he’d met Julia? He thought about her all the time—wondering what she was doing, smiling at the memory of her expression after she’d told him she’d killed three fictional people, and wishing they could relive their amazing hug.
He had told himself he wasn’t going to text her first, that he was going to give her space.
Yet, while his gas pumped, he scrolled down his contacts until he found her name in his phone. Even looking at it made a shiver of happiness go through him.
One little text wouldn’t hurt.
Logan:How’s the book coming along? Any more questions?
There. That was professional. Businessy.
Yet, the way his heart pounded while he waited for a response wasn’t businessy at all. To distract himself, he cleaned off his windshield, and then all the windows of his truck, including wiping up the dripping water with a paper towel.
The pump clicked, and he pulled it from his truck and set it back in the holder. His phone dinged just as he sat back in the truck.
Julia:Do you want the long answer or the short answer?
Logan:Both.
