Page 96 of The Star

She rubs her hands along my back, similar to the way Carson does when I need comfort. “Of course, you can stay here, Logan. It’s okay.”

“I can? You don’t want me to leave?” I ask, pulling from her to look into her eyes.

She shakes her head. “I don’t care how brief it’s been, I’ve loved you being my daughter, Logan. If you want to stay here, you’re welcome to.”

My dad and Carson run through the open door, making me turn to look at them.

“Gary,” Sara says, “If Logan doesn’t want to move back to Franklin, she shouldn’t have to. She shouldn’t have to keep uprooting her life for us. Once we figure this out, we can make a more permanent arrangement, but until we know what’s going to happen between us, if Logan wants to stay here, she can.”

“So I’m supposed to just leave my daughter? No, I won’t do it,” my dad answers, walking toward us. “C’mon, Lo, I don’t want to lose you too.”

“Consequences have actions, Gary,” Carson says from the doorway. “It’s something we’re all taught as children. You made your bed, now lie in it.”

* * *

My dad packs his things in about an hour, only taking the essentials because he doesn’t want to jinx things with him and Sara by taking everything. Once he’s loaded his Hyundai, we all meet him at the doorway to say our goodbyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says, holding onto the door and sliding his gaze over each of us. “I’m really sorry.”

“I’ll speak to you in a few weeks, Gary. Give me some time to figure this out,” Sara says softly, making him nod his head.

He doesn’t say anything else, and he doesn’t try to embrace me, he just presses his lips together and walks outside, rounding his car and getting in the driver’s seat. We watch him go until he’s turning from the end of the driveway onto the main road in the neighborhood. Carson steps to the door, closing it and locking it before he looks at me.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.” I blow out a breath.

“Wanna watch a movie?” He grins, stepping toward me.

Before I can answer, Sara is stepping closer to us and holding her hand out to stop him from touching me. “Okay, you two. Now that episode one of the family drama is over, let’s move on to the next.”

Carson smiles like a boy prince addressing the queen. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mom.”

“Okay,” Sara says, “clearly you two have started some sort of relationship. Please spare me the graphic details, but there will be rules while you’re in this house together.”

Carson opens his mouth, a grin touching his lips when he goes to speak, but Sara just holds her hand up to silence him, like she knows he’s going to say something ridiculous. She turns to me. “Are you on birth control?”

“Oh myGod, Sara,” I groan. “Yes.”

She turns to Carson. “We’ve had the sex talk, but do I need to do the condom on the banana demonstration again?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” he answers. “I’ve finally stopped having nightmares.”

“Is this like a real thing, or are we just exploring our teenage hormones?” Sara asks no one in particular, so I speak before Carson can say something incredibly inappropriate.

“It’s real.”

“Okay,” she breathes, “I don’t see how I can stop you from sneaking into each other’s rooms in the middle of the night, but please keep the…loud noisesto a minimum.”

“Oh my God,” I say again, mortified. Carson laughs, and I can feel his inappropriate response radiating from across the space, so I shoot daggers at him to tell him to shut up.

He smirks, but presses his lips together, running his finger over them like a zipper before he twists an invisible lock at the end. I roll my eyes at him, turning to look at Sara.

“I’m sorry,” I say with a sigh.

She shakes her head, a little smile touching her lips. “You don’t need to apologize to me, Logan. We do need to figure out what we’re going to do about Cassidy, though.”

“What do you mean?” Carson asks.

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