Page 64 of Bittersweet

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It was different this time. Different than when Logan had left before. If possible, she loved him more than she had all those years ago, and that made the separation harder this time around. And Logan and Kayla had only been gone for three days.

She’d never been in a long distance relationship before. All the ones she’d ever heard about had failed. She was afraid of being hurt again, afraid to hope theirs would be the one to last.

Logan sounded tired on the phone. She could hear it in his voice as he talked about waiting hours for Naya at the prison, worrying the whole time how Kayla would do when she saw her again, then driving her to her brothers’ house in a bad neighborhood.

“Where are you now?” Harper asked.

“At my parents’.”

“What are you doing?”

“Talking to you.”

Harper laughed a little at the first hint of humor in their phone call. “What’s Kayla doing?”

“She’s napping.”

“That sounds good right now. My feet are killing me. I’ve barely had a chance to sit and rest all day.”

“Busy in the shop?”

“Steady flow of customers, but it’s finally tapered off, I think. I’ve mostly been working on orders and going over things with Savannah for when she leaves this weekend.”

“You didn’t tell me she was leaving so soon.”

“Well, she wasn’t sure when, but her mom’s surgery is scheduled for early next week.”

“I hope her mom comes through okay.”

“Me too.” Harper had been praying for her and hated to think of the alternative.

“I wish you weren’t so far away right now.”

“I know. I hate this.”

She wished there was something she could do, some way to get him a job closer to her. But she had no idea where to start. If only he knew how to bake, she’d put him to work at the shop while Savannah was gone. But he didn’t bake. He made coffee. Really good coffee. Her mind began to take off with an idea. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? It made perfect sense.

“Hey, what if you were to come back and work here while Savannah’s gone? You could help out with the customers while I work on orders, and maybe you could sell coffee here like you mentioned before.”

“You want me to work for you?”

“Why not? I need the help, and then you wouldn’t have to take that job with your dad. We would get to see each other every day and—”

“No.”

Her mood suddenly deflated. “No?”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Like what? What’s wrong with working here?”

“Nothing. But I know you can’t afford to pay me what I’d make at the construction job. If I work here, I’ll earn more and maybe be able to get the truck fixed eventually.”

With that, she went from hopeful to hopeless. “I don’t like that word.”

“What word?”

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