Page 30 of A Summer Mismatch
“Maybe you need to forget about studying this weekend and sleep.”
“I wish. I’ve got clinicals all day tomorrow,” she said. “Then Monday is a practice test for the NCLEX.”
“You’re going to do great,” Logan assured her. Willow was one of the smartest people he knew, but Mom’s death had taken a huge toll on her, and she’d nearly dropped out of the nursing program she’d worked so hard to get into because of it. He knew that Jordan didn’t fully support her nursing efforts, especially since he made enough money for her to not have to work. But Willow had wanted to be a nurse for as long as he’d known her. She wanted to specialize in pediatrics and would be great at it.
“Kids, go get the cookies we made for Uncle Logan,” she told them. They rushed from the room, excitedly. “They have more frosting than cookie,” she warned him. “But I did make them wash their hands.”
“I like frosting,” he reassured her. “Is Jordan working tonight?”
Willow frowned. “Always. He’s trying to make partner. And I shouldn’t say this, but sometimes I wonder if he’s punishing me for going to nursing school by making it as hard for me as possible.”
Logan sure hoped that wasn’t what Jordan was doing, but he wouldn’t put it past him. Logan struggled to keep liking Jordan, especially when he saw Willow struggling and Jordan not helping, but Logan also didn’t want to drive a wedge between his sister and her husband, or make Willow feel like she had to choose between them.
“Maybe you two can get some time together without the kids here this weekend. Kai was telling me about a new seafood restaurant that opened up not too far from here. I’ll text you the details.”
“How is Kai?” she asked. They’d met several times, when Logan had brought Kai to family things, or when his family had visited him at the conservation center.
“Still trying to set me up on blind dates.”
Willow snorted, and it was good to see her laugh. “I always did like him. Are you going on any of those dates?”
Logan shook his head. “Been busy.”
Willow took his hand. “Too busy, Logan. There’s only room for one overworked basket case in this family, and I call dibs.”
Logan wanted to laugh, but it all felt too real.
“Hey,” Willow said. “I’m worried about you. You used to be so confident and playful, and it seems like you’ve lost that spark since Mom…” She swallowed. A year later, and it was still hard to say. “I miss how happy you used to be. Kai seems able to bring that out in you.”
“Kai brings that out in everyone.” Logan knew what his sister meant though, even if he tried to deflect. It had been a while since he’d really let himself set his worries at the door and just live.
The kids ran back into the room, and he was grateful for their whirling twisters of distraction.
“I made the whale cookie, Uncle Logan!”
“I made the horse one!”
“I made the bird one!”
Their claims of which one they made tumbled over one another, and Logan laughed and took a bite from every single one, until he claimed that his stomach was going to hurt and he needed real food.
Willow followed him out as he threw the bags in the bed of the truck, and then grabbed the car seats from her car. She ran back inside while he buckled them in, and when he turned around, Willow stood there with Gatsby on a leash.
“Willow—”
“Please, Logan,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to have to worry about taking care of any living beings this weekend, and the kids adore him.”
They engaged in a staring contest, but Leo pulled on the back of Logan’s shirt, making him blink first. Willow hooted in victory, and Logan was so happy to see a genuine smile on her face that he caved. It wasn’t that he didn’t love dogs, or, specifically, didn’t love Gatsby. It was only that Gatsby shed a ton, and hadn’t been socialized well, so he tried to make babies with everything in sight. It had caused more than one embarrassing interaction when Logan tried to help his sister by taking Gatsby for a walk.
“Get in, Gats,” Logan said, and Gatsby eagerly jumped into the truck’s backseat to sit between the car seats like another child. Logan grabbed the dog food and bowls, and finally everything was settled. The sun had completely set, and the air had cooled just enough for Logan to roll his windows down for the drive.
He hugged Willow tightly before he left. “Thanks for doing this,” she said. “Mom was helping me a ton before… you know. And Dad’s been too occupied lately to help.”
Occupied with dating at the same rate their mom used to read through books: one, sometimes two, a day.
“Me and the kids are going to have a great time,” he reassured her. “Now go rest so you can save some lives.”
Logan’s heart nearly stopped on the spot when he woke up to see two pairs of eyes within inches of his face.
