Page 45 of Whenever You Call

“Sorry, what?” I asked, clearing my throat.

“Am I really that boring? Ugh. I am, aren’t I? It’s happened. I’ve turned into my mother. I’m sorry, Hannah. I called you to see howyouwere doing, and here I am going on and on about myself.”

“Stop it. You’ve been the perfect distraction. You always seem to know when I need your call the most.”

She didn’t speak for a few seconds, the silence lingering until she said, “What’s going on? Besides the obvious.”

“What makes you think there’s something else?”

“Because I know you, Hannah, and I may be across the ocean right now, but I can practically see you drifting in and out of our conversation. That usually means one of two things. Either you’re tired and about to fall asleep where you are, or… you’re worrying over something you have no control over. Is it Cole? Has something else come out in the press?”

“Actually… no,” I said with a long exhale. “It’s…” I bit down on my lip and scowled, not knowing how the hell to say what I so desperately wanted to say to someone.Anyoneat this point. Not even Livia knew about Logan’s position in my life. Here he was, this incredible guy, and I couldn’t tell anyone about him. I didn’t dare for fear of what they’d think of me.

Maybe with Kate being so far away, I could finally confide in someone about him.

“Hannah…” she said, a clear and obvious warning etched into my name.

“I met someone.” The words came out freely.

“A man?”

“He’s a friend.”

“Oh…”

I closed my eyes and pictured Logan’s ruggedly handsome face and then I told Kate everything. How he’d been there for my first panic attack and then again for the second. How he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and how he’d been adamant he didn’t want my cell number or the responsibility of it. I told her how he calmed me, easing my soul, making me feel safe in a world where I suddenly felt exposed to the sharks of clickbait. I must have been going on and on more than I intended to because when I finally came up for air after explaining how Bella had brought us together with her phone call to him, Kate blew out a long breath.

“Shit, Han,” she whispered, and something about the tone she used had me scowling and looking up at my reflection again. “You sure he’s just a friend?”

I searched my own eyes, feeling the direct hit of that very question—the one I’d tried to avoid asking myself at every turn.

“What else could he possibly be?” I asked instead, my cheeks suddenly warm.

“I don’t know, but the way you talk about him.” She sucked in a breath, making a funny noise in the back of her throat when she sighed again. “That’s some reverential shit right there.”

“Hey, I speak about you the exact same way.”

“Bullshit.”

“He’sjusta friend, Kate. One that’s good to me.”

“Okay, fine, but I’m going to be the pain in the ass who states the obvious here. Be careful with those kind-faced, big-hearted boys. They’re the ones that turn from friends to heartbreakers in a minute, and your heart has already taken a pounding. I’d hate to see you have to survive another.”

“It’s not like that. Can’t I have a friend who’s a guy? One who looks after me and makes me feel…” I trailed off just as a hammer of betrayal hit me square in the gut.

“Makes you feel what?”

“Like I could actually learn to be happy again. Go back to the old me. Live a little.”

“Well, when you put it like that.”

“I promise this isn’t anything more,” I said, pushing down on that twisted gut again. “It’s just nice to have someone in my life close by. Someone out of the spotlight. Someone—”

“I get it, Han. I do, and I’m sorry. I was being a judgmental prick even questioning you about it.”

“You were being a friend. A good one. In fact, there’s only one thing you could do to be a better friend than you already are.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

---