Under the Mistletoe, page 15
part #1 of Home to Heritage || Book Five Series
Ten minutes later, as they pulled into his parents’ drive, his mom laid her hand on his arm. “Your brother is a force of nature. Just because she rode with him doesn’t mean anything. I saw the way she was looking at you last night.”
“We’ll see.” He popped open the door and slid out.
“You’re selling yourself short.” His mom climbed out and moved to the back of the Bronco. “Any girl would be lucky to be loved by you.”
“Thanks, Mom.” He gave her a side hug and then opened the latch. Mothers always saw the best in their children. But Logan knew the truth. Liam usually seemed to get what he wanted, and if he’d decided that he wanted Devin, Logan wasn’t sure he stood a chance.
No, that wasn’t true. That was old thinking. He did stand a chance, or at least that’s what she’d made him believe last night. Then again, today she’d been acting weird. Really weird.
He carried the cookies in and dropped them off in the kitchen, pausing to greet Cal. Then he hurried up to his room just as his phone lit up with a missed call from his bedside table. He unplugged it and checked the notifications. Make that ten missed calls. One was from Liam, but the rest were from his agent. He tapped his number, and he answered on the first ring.
“Finally. You’re killing me.” Mark’s voice was as tense as he’d ever heard it.
“I didn’t have my phone on me. What do you need?”
“What do I need? I need you on a plane in three hours.”
“What?” Logan’s gaze shot to the clock on his bedside.
“The executives at the studio have called meetings this week to discuss the movie option. It’s moving forward, and they want you there. The first meeting is Monday at eight in the morning, so Sandy and I need to spend Sunday prepping you. There’s a flight that leaves Grand Rapids in just under three hours. Can you get there?”
It was about an hour’s drive. “If I leave now, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’ll send the confirmation to your email.” Computer keys clacked in the background as he spoke. “You have a connection in Chicago that’s tight. Don’t miss it. A car will pick you up at eight thirty in LA, and I’ll be here at the hotel to give you your key to the room.”
With that, the line went dead. Awesome. Logan pulled his duffel bag from the closet and dropped it on the bed. Cal’s face dropped on the bag. Logan grabbed the dog under his ears and scratched as Cal pressed his forehead into Logan’s. “Not this time, bud.”
He opened his drawer and pulled out a stack of T-shirts. He didn’t really have clothes for meetings like this, but he couldn’t do anything about that now. So much for a date tonight. His hand froze with the T-shirts halfway in the bag. He still needed to talk to Devin.
As if on cue, Liam walked into his bedroom, grabbed a basketball that was lying on the floor, then reclined across Logan’s bed just before Cal bounded up next to him.
Good, she was here. Maybe they could talk before he left.
“Guess who has a date tomorrow?” Liam tossed up the ball and caught it.
Everything in Logan went cold. He angled his face away before his brother could see him and scooped the rest of his clothes from his drawer. “You?”
“Well, it’s not Cal.” Liam wrapped his arms around the brown mass of fur. “I knew Devin had a crush on me in college. I don’t know why I never asked her out as soon as that pact we made in college ended. But when I saw her at the tree farm today, I knew I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass again.”
Logan shoved the rest of his clothes in the bag with a little more force than necessary. “So you asked Devin out and she said yes.”
“That’s generally how it works.” Cal jumped down and ran off, and Liam rolled to his back, tossed up the ball, and caught it. “You should try it sometime.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You need to let go of Jacquelyn. Not every girl is waiting to betray you.”
“I know.” But did he? Because this right here was way worse than the Jacquelyn fiasco ever was. Logan zipped up his bag and lifted it to his shoulder.
Liam seemed to finally recognize what Logan was doing. “Where are you going?”
“Meetings in LA.”
“Is this about the movie deal?” Liam sat up and set the ball aside. “What did I tell you? From the moment you told me about that story, I knew it was going to be a hit. I’m so happy for you, man.”
That was the reason Logan could never be mad at Liam. Because Liam had always been his biggest supporter. He’d always believed in Logan, even when Logan hadn’t believed in himself. If he told Liam what he was feeling for Devin, his brother would back off without a question. But he didn’t want to get a girl because his brother backed off. That would leave him permanently the second choice. He wanted a girl to want him more. To choose him.
But yesterday she said she had. Holding onto the last thread of hope, met his brother’s gaze. “Did you text Devin that you were coming too?”
“Yeah. Why?” His brother studied him for a moment, waiting for more, but Logan shook it off.
“No reason. My flight’s in an hour. I’ve got to go.” He turned toward the door and hurried down the steps. He nearly tripped over the last step at the sight of his parents standing by the front door talking to Devin, who was squatted down petting Cal. Her eyes found his, and just a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she stood. “Can we talk now?”
“I got a call.” He focused solely on his mom. “I have to catch a flight to LA for”—his gaze flashed to Devin again, then back to his mom—“work meetings. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Can I leave Cal?”
“Of course.” His mom patted the fluffy head. “I may take him to the groomer while you’re gone.”
“That’d be awesome. Just let me know how much.”
“Do you need someone to drive you to the airport?” Devin jumped in. What was her deal?
“Yeah, we’d be happy to take you.” Liam appeared at Devin’s side, his hand resting on her shoulder. Well, wasn’t that cute?
Devin shrugged away his hand, then took a half step toward Logan. He needed to get out of here. “I’ll leave my car in long-term parking. It’s fine.”
“Logan, really—can we—”
“I gotta go. I’ll barely make it as it is.” He pushed past her.
He grabbed the doorknob but paused. “You two have fun tomorrow.”
The words came out more bitter than he intended. But what could he say? The whole situation was a little too raw. He hurried out the door to his Bronco. He hated meetings, and he wasn’t fond of LA, but he was suddenly thankful for a reason to get away from here for a few days.
And maybe he’d never come back. Who was he kidding? He had to come back for Cal, but then maybe he’d just pick him up and drive straight back to his cabin. Internet or not. It was time.
nine
How had everything turned so wrong so quickly? Devin gathered her purse and shut off the lights to the Sunday school classroom. She definitely hadn’t been on top of her game this morning, but with Christmas only two weeks away, she was pretty sure the kids weren’t really paying attention to her anyway.
“Hey, Devin.” Pastor Nate stopped her in the hallway. His dark hair was a strong contrast to his towheaded daughter with her head tucked on his shoulder. “You haven’t seen the baby Jesus from the Nativity in the foyer, have you?”
“No. But I’ll keep an eye out for it.”
“Probably one of the kids playing a prank.” He dropped into step with her. “I expect to find it someplace unique.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s what I would’ve done.” Nate offered a shrug. “Also, we had some people ask if they could drop off candy to donate to the gingerbread house event. I told them to leave it in the kitchen. I’ll run it to the community center Saturday morning. Let Olivia and me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you.” That was one weight off her mind.
He paused a moment, as if weighing his words. “You’re doing a good job. You know that, right?”
A lump rose in her throat, but she swallowed it down as she nodded. “But leaders can’t do it all on their own. I’m not a good leader because I do everything around here. I’m a good leader because I surround myself with people who have the skills and willingness to do what needs to be done.”
Logan’s words about being a fire starter versus a fire tender came back. Maybe she did need to be willing to let go more and invite a few more fire tenders into her life. “I could actually use help baking the pieces for the houses. Do you know anyone?”
He held up a finger. “Janie Thornton might help. That sister-in-law of mine is quite the baker. Have you had her pie at the diner yet?”
“I have, it’s amazing. But I am sure she has plenty on her plate with the diner.”
He shrugged. “I’ll see her at lunch. I’ll talk to her. You could probably at the very least use the industrial ovens there at the diner. I’ll have her reach out to you.”
Before she could even thank him, Charis bolted up in his arms. “I want to build a ginger house.”
Nate ran a hand over her blonde hair. “This is just for the kids in Devin’s program.”
What she wouldn’t give to include everyone. Maybe after she secured her job she could push for that. “If we have an extra one, I’ll bring it over for you.”
She smiled and ducked her head back onto her father’s shoulder.
Devin started to turn away but stopped. “Are the Barlows still here?”
“I think they took off.”
Shoot. She really needed to nail down a time to have coffee with Heather. Every time she saw her, she looked more tired, and today she even seemed a little thinner.
Devin hurried down the hall toward the front door of the church when Jess stepped in front of her, blocking her path. She gripped Jess’s shoulders to keep from barreling into her. “What are you doing?”
“Checking on you.” Her cousin gave her a strange expression. “What’s going on?”
Maybe her stress over Logan ghosting her was showing more than she thought.
“It’s nothing. Just…Logan left town and still hasn’t texted back, and I really need to talk to him.”
“Right.” Jess seemed to be studying her. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
She swallowed. That Logan was Victor Holt? Definitely not her secret to tell, but this was getting out of control. She really was bad with secrets.
Even yesterday, trying to act normal around Logan without telling him she knew had proved disastrous. She’d practically become a blathering idiot of random information every time he was around. And now she had to hide it from Jess. “Uhh.”
“Like the fact you have a date right now with Liam when I was under the impression you liked Logan?”
Devin stilled. “Wait, what? No. Why would you even ask that?”
She pointed so they could just see Liam leaning against his car, waiting. “He said he was waiting for you. That you two had a lunch date.”
What in the world? Then it hit her. Shoot. “Yesterday when he was driving me to his parents’, where I was going to talk to Logan, he asked if we could get lunch after church. The way he said it, I thought we was him, me, and Logan. Like college days. I assumed with Logan leaving that we’d wait.”
“I think Liam saw that little interaction going down differently.” Jess followed her down the steps.
Devin fished her keys from her purse. “I’m sure he didn’t think—”
“I’m pretty sure he did.”
Devin lifted her brows as she stared from Jess to Liam, then back. When her cousin shrugged, Devin released a long breath. “Oh dear.”
Devin shot Jess a final look as they walked over toward Liam.
At their approach, he put away his phone and pushed away from his ’74 Bronco. “Hey, Dev, what do feel like for lunch?”
“Do you want to wait until Logan is back?”
He frowned a second, then gave a playful grin. “I don’t think so. I mean, I know we’re close, but I don’t usually take my brother on my dates.”
Date? She turned toward Jess, but her cousin was halfway to her car. Thanks for the backup. She took another step toward Liam. “When you asked yesterday, I thought you were including Logan. Like a group thing. Not a date thing.”
“Oh.” He slipped one hand in a pocket and flipped his keys with the other, some of his confident swagger slipping.
Then the smile was back. “So would you be up for a definitely-not-a-group thing?” Okay, maybe it hadn’t slipped that much. Not cocky, just confident. She had to admit, despite Liam’s larger-than-life presence, he still came across as genuine. She could see why he wasn’t used to a girl saying no to a date.
Crazy how she would have once accepted without hesitating, but now, it was not even a temptation.
“Wow. Your face says it all. I didn’t see that coming.” He breathed out a deep sigh and sagged back against his truck. “I guess I read this all wrong.”
“No.” She leaned her back on the truck next to him. “I did have a crush on you for part of college, but not anymore. And if you’re honest, you know things would never have worked between us.”
When he didn’t immediately answer, she pushed on. “Why did you even ask me out? I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, his gaze a little distant, almost painful. “Life has been a bit…crazy lately. I hoped coming home would help. But this place was never my home. Then I saw you, and I thought…” He sighed and smiled at her. “You’re amazing. Why wouldn’t I choose that if I could?”
The guy was really sweet. No wonder most of the girls he met fell for him.
“I can tell you’re searching for something right now, but I’m not what you’re looking for. But I’ll always be your friend.”
“What about you? Anyone in your life?”
Her face must have given her away, because he laughed.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Who is he?”
“He’s none of your concern. Besides, I thought something was finally happening until he started ghosting me yesterday. Now I don’t know—”
“Wait.” He cringed and met her eyes. “Logan?”
“Don’t say it like that. He’s incredible, and just because—”
“Whoa.” Liam held up his hands. “You don’t have to convince me. I know better than anyone how incredible he is. Trust me. I am all for Lo-vin—”
She frowned.
“Logan and Devin, get it? Anyway, I think I might know why he’s ghosting you.”
She pushed away from the Bronco and faced him square on. “What did you do?”
An hour later, as she lay flopped across her bed, she couldn’t decide if she was madder at Liam for messing everything up, or at Logan for believing it without even talking to her. What kind of person did he think she was? Did he seriously think she would accept a date with Liam just hours after she would have let him kiss her? Maybe they hadn’t actually kissed, but that hadn’t been from a lack of trying on her part.
Now they were in a tangled web of secrets and misunderstandings not only with Victor Holt but also with Liam. This was such a mess.
Devin rolled over in her bed and pulled up the most recent chapter from Victor Holt. She hadn’t read the next scene because, frankly, the words would read a little differently now that she knew that Logan had written them. Not to mention, she felt like it was paralleling their story. Did she really want to see how Logan saw the next chapter for them going?
Who was she trying to fool? Of course, she did.
Stone of Anwar: Chapter 11
How could he be so weak? Rand’s eyes darted to Astryn riding double with Orin on his horse. Rand had almost ruined the entire alliance by giving in to a moment. In that moment, he’d wanted to kiss her more than he wanted the next breath in his lungs, and he would have, had they not been interrupted.
What a fool he’d become. He didn’t blame Astryn. She’d been traumatized. But he should have known better. The guilt burned hot in his cheeks. How could he have been on the precipice of betraying his king and the brother he loved? And not only willing to jump off that cliff, but passionately determined to?
For a fraction of a moment, he’d actually believed that they could have a life together. Be happy together.
But the moment Orin had arrived and gathered her to his chest, the cruel whims of fate had become clear again. She was Orin’s. Always had been. Always would be.
Devin dropped her phone on her bed to keep from throwing it against the wall as she let out a frustrated growl. “I could strangle him.”
“Right?” Jess poked her head in the door, her phone in hand as if she were reading the chapter as well. She walked in and claimed one corner of the bed. “Why does he have to be all noble?”
Of course, Jess thought Devin was frustrated with Rand. She had no idea this was bigger than fiction. Devin picked up her phone to keep reading, when Jess peeked over Devin’s shoulder. “You haven’t even gotten to the worst part yet.”
“It gets worse?” She wasn’t sure she could handle worse. Devin picked up her phone again and found her place.
Rand was thankful that Orin had grabbed Calavar for him to ride back to the castle. Sharing a mount was the last thing he wanted. He needed a companion that didn’t require coaxing or compromise. Maybe he should turn and ride straight for Anathia. As though that would be far enough away to forget her.
He closed his eyes, doing his best to shut out her soft skin, her mild flowery scent, and the way she’d fit into his arms as if she’d been made for him. That moment with her was etched into his very soul so deep that every nerve inside still ached with need. She had no idea what she’d done to him. And now he’d never be the same.
