Page 27 of Because of Logan

“No way! Apple Hill is so small. We probably crossed paths a dozen times.”

“I have to make it back there. It’s been too long,” I murmur to myself.

I glance at her and her eyes are on me. I wonder if she heard me.

“I guess fate is trying to bring us together. I visited your home town dozens of times growing up, and now you live across the street from me. Do you go home often?”

“As often as school and work allow us. We try to go any time we have a long weekend or more than three or four free days. And all the holidays, of course.”

“Will your parents be upset you’re not going back for your birthday?”

“No, not really. This is the first time our birthday falls on a weekend since we began college, so they’re used to our not coming home for it. We usually do something after, the next time we can make it home or meet for lunch halfway between Riggins and home.”

“You’re close to them. And your sister too.”

“I am. We’re very close. We hit the parent lottery. I couldn’t have asked for more loving and supportive parents.”

I can’t say I know what having loving parents means. There’s an empty spot in my soul where that should have been.

“That’s good. I’m glad you have a loving family.”

I’m not sure what else I can say.

“How about you? Are you from Vermont?”

“No, I’m from Connecticut. But I grew up in Vermont as much as back home. My grandparents on my mother’s side lived here. The house where I live now belonged to them.”

“It’s cool that you can live in the same house your grandparents lived in.”

“I spent the best moments of my life with my grandparents. We came up as often as we could. Every school break, and the entire summer vacation too. But we spent most of the summer in Florida with them.”

“When you say we...”

“I mean my baby brother, Liam, and me. Our parents were always busy with work and social functions.”

There’s a long silence between us, what I’m not saying heavy in the confines of the truck.

“I take it you’re not very close to your parents then.”

Her voice is soft, as if she’s unsure whether she should ask me about it.

“No, we didn’t hit the parent lottery, that’s for sure.”

Before she can say anything, I smile and announce in a much happier voice, “We’re here.”

I watch her closely,expecting to see displeasure on her face or anything that will tell me she’s less than impressed to be spending her birthday and first date with me in an amusement park.

The place is not huge and caters more to teenagers than adults, and this early in the morning, it’s not busy, as the mostly empty parking lot can attest. But it has a particular ride I want her to try.

Her face is pure joy. She’s smiling like a kid at the—well, the amusement park. She gets out of the truck so fast I don’t have a chance to open the door for her.

Amanda, my ex, would’ve still sat in it and waited for me to open the door even if it was on fire. Well, if I’m to be honest, Amanda wouldn’t step foot inside a truck, especially not this old, beat-up one. I do a mental shakedown and tell Amanda to go fuck herself. There’s no room for her in this date.

“You brought me to an amusement park?”

Her eyes dart among the rides she can see as she walks my way.

“Yeah, I hope this is okay.”

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