Page 117 of Whenever You Call

“Everyone but me?”

“You saw it, honey. You’d just trapped yourself inside a prisonyoumade by telling yourself there was no way out.”

“God, how pathetic was I?”

“Not pathetic.” She shook her head. “Just a mom trying to do what was best for her baby girl, even if it tore her apart to stay.”

The waiter interrupted us with our food, sliding my shrimp and crab summer salad in front of me while placing Kate’s Chilean salmon salad in front of her. When he stepped away with a nod of thanks, Kate raised her wineglass in the air.

“But here’s to starting over,” she said, waiting for me to press my glass against hers, the ding of them connecting soon ringing out. “And doing it right this time.”

I waited for the guilt to wash over me—for Cole’s memory to invade the good moments and turn them bad. Instead, I saw Logan’s handsome face when I sat in his lap two nights ago, riding him slowly, neither of us saying anything we shouldn’t while our bodies said everything we couldn’t.

“Okay, well, don’t sit there daydreaming about him while I’m trying to eat,” Kate said, breaking me from my daydream with a turned-up nose. “That kind of look can make a girl nauseous.”

“Oh, stop it,” I said, unable to hide the heat in my cheeks. Taking a quick sip of my wine, I picked up my fork and tucked into my salad, enjoying the food, and listening to Kate, all the while thinking about how it had been so, so long since I’d felt so…

Free.

Unchained.

So myself.

The ringing of my cell brought me back into the moment, and when I pulled it out from my little black purse, Logan’s name lit up the screen. The instant grin that came to life made my cheeks ache, and I held it up to Kate, seeking her approval to answer.

“Go, go,” she said, wafting her hand, never once taking her eyes off me, not even when I turned away from her. I wasn’t quite ready for Kate to see how dopey I became around him just yet.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Hey, you.”

The sound of his tired voice made my pulse quicken, reminding me of the nights we’d fallen asleep together, talking about inconsequential things until our voices faded away to nothing.

“Everything okay?” I asked. There was a lot of noise in the background, and it sounded as though he was in the middle of something heavy.

“Yeah.” He blew out a weary breath. “Rough day so far, that’s all.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Maybe later. I just needed to hear your voice to get me through the next few hours without you.”

Those butterflies soared again, turning my stomach inside out. I eyed Kate, who was watching me like a damn Netflix show, her eyes wide as she chewed her food, not missing a moment of my reactions to Logan.

“Does it help?” I asked him, turning away from her again.

“More than you know.”

“Likewise.”

The almighty clang of glass meeting the ground had me turning sharply to see the waiter who’d served us on his hands and knees, trying desperately to pick up the champagne flutes he’d dropped from his tray before his boss spotted him.

“Hannah? What was that?” Logan asked down the phone.

“It was the waiter. He dropped something.”

“The waiter?”

“Kate’s here. She’s flown in from England today. She dressed me up and dragged me out,” I said with a smile, not missing the way she nudged my chair with her foot, trying to give herself a pat on the back for that one.

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