Page 63 of A Summer Mismatch
Julia laughed out loud. Normally, she wasn’t a big texter. Timothy, of course, hadn’t won her over to its convenience with his gut-punch break up texts that came without tone or warning. But with Logan, she could picture him wearing some bright-colored scrubs, maybe sitting in a camping chair outside of Raza’s pen, his feet kicked up onto the rails, and that small, private smile on his face that was just for her.
Logan:Have you heard of the Watermelon Gala?
Julia:Yes… it’s kind of a big deal here.
Logan:Oh, yeah. Sometimes I forget you’re a local.
Logan:I’d never heard of it before, and Nonna was just telling me about it.
Logan:Have you gone before?
Julia:A few times. It’s a couples thing, so I’ve gone with a few past boyfriends.
Logan:Does it have bad memories for you then? By association?
Julia:No. None of those men were loves of my life.
Logan:That’s good. Give me a second…
She waited a moment to feel some sort of guilt over Timothy. Though they usually took a relationship break for the summer, they had gone to the Watermelon Gala the last two years together. Hadn’t she loved him?
They’d never said the words—in fact, what he’d said to her at the equestrian center was as close as he’d ever come to saying that he loved her. But the fact was he had become someone to pass the time with. And she had no doubt she served the same function in his life. Two busy people who didn’t want to be alone, but didn’t have enough passion to commit fully to a full-time relationship with one another.
When she thought about it that way, it made her feel a little squicky. How had she let her life come to a point where she’d been okay in an ambivalent relationship? Hadn’t Allegra Winters’s books taught her anything? Yes, those were fiction, the same as Julia’s murder mysteries and her talking animal stories. Yet, her feelings for Logan—those weren’t fiction. They were completely real and all-consuming, and even veering recklessly toward passionate.
And also one hundred percent, inconveniently forbidden.
She had never once in her life been drawn to the things she shouldn’t do. Her sister, Eliana, was the one who broke the rules growing up, giving her parents gray hairs. Julia had been the obedient child, the rule follower, someone who found comfort in order and in pleasing others.
With Logan, though, she found herself wanting to push against the boundaries of what her family wanted. Break the rules for the first time. He was a good person. Someone who served his family, took care of his grandparents, had a deep love for and knowledge of animals, who made people feel seen and heard, who could make even scrubs look dang good—not that the way his body filled out scrubs absolutely perfectly was neither here nor there, but it was totally undeniable.
She was way beyond falling for Logan. She was twenty-feet under ocean water deep for Logan. And just like when she went scuba diving, the view was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Colors and movement, wonder and reverence unimaginable from the surface.
She never wanted to come back up. How could someone so stunning who gave her feelings so wonderful be forbidden just because Logan’s grandpa and her grandpa didn’t get along?
Logan:I’m back. Raza needed a song.
Julia wished more than anything she could have been there to see that. She let out the breath she’d been holding and asked a question she’d wanted to know for a while.
Julia:What about you? Past girlfriends?
Logan:A couple. It’s hard to date consistently when you’re in school and working eighty hours a week in Africa, so nothing really serious.
Julia:Yeah, I can see that.
Someone knocked on her car window, startling a small shriek out of her. She looked up to see Grandpa Horace there with an unreadable expression. She opened the door, tipping her phone close to her chest. Had he seen who she was texting?
“Grandma wanted me to tell you that dinner’s ready.”
“Okay. Let’s go in.” She got out of the car and put her phone in her back pocket. “I was just finishing a conversation.”
Grandpa paused and took her in, then patted her on the head gently, something he’d done to her, Eliana, Cameron, and their cousin, Eric, since they were all young. It was Grandpa’s shorthand for “I love you.”
His smile was gentle. “You look happy, Julia.”
She nodded. “I am happy.” It filled her all the way up, from her toes to the top of her head, like sunshine bursting through her skin.
“Good. That’s all I want for you.”
