Page 23 of After All This Time

The word leaves my mouth quickly, almost too quickly. It feels like a reflex, but I force myself to swallow and suppress any slightly confusing feelings that are trying to claw their way to the surface.

"I'm happy just looking at him. I want things to stay the way they are between us." My pulse thunders in my ears, betraying the lie even as the words leave my mouth.

"I'll remind you of that if you ever have a fuck-it moment."

God, I miss her.

She's the one piece of home that hurts to leave behind, the only part I wish I could have here. It's funny—when I was in Pennsylvania, I missed Tobias every day. Now that I've settled in this beautiful city, it's her absence that stings the most. They're the two people closest to me, yet I can never have them both in the same place at the same time.

A quiet beeping noise interrupts my thoughts, and I glance down at the screen, seeing Logan's name flashing as an incoming call.

"Alli, I gotta go. Someone's calling me about a job, so I need to take it."

"Go, get to work, princess." She laughs, her voice trailing off as I cut the call and quickly swipe to answer.

"Hey, Logan."

"I thought you were about to ghost me for a minute," he says with a chuckle.

"Not at all. I was just on another call."

"Oh, sorry. Do you want me to call back later?"

"No, no, definitely not."

"I got your message about needing a job," he says. There's a pause as I hear him shuffle something in the background—it sounds like papers. "You know the money isn't the best, and the customers can be a little…"

"Rough around the edges?"

"Massive understatement."

"I'm good with people, and I can handle myself."

"I don't doubt that." I can hear him smiling through the phone. "I'll talk to my parents for you. They've been running the barsince forever, and if they have the hours, then maybe you can shadow me for a few shifts."

"That would be amazing, but only if they're looking to take someone on."

"Trust me, my sister has been trying to ditch her shifts for months, so if you're more reliable than her, you're golden."

"Okay, but I don't want to steal someone's job."

"Chrissy's been begging to be fired for a long time. She hates working for our parents," he says, laughing loudly now.

"Are they that bad?"

"No, she's just a rebellious pain in the ass."

"Well, I can't promise that I'm not a pain in the ass, but I am reliable, and I hate letting people down."

"I'll go see them now and send you a message in a bit. I can't guarantee anything, but I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thanks, Logan. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. Catch you later."

The call ends, leaving me in the quiet of the apartment. I stretch out on the couch and take a deep breath. My stomach suddenly growls, reminding me that coffee is not, in fact, a meal, and I should probably eat something, but before I can even sit up, my phone buzzes.

LOGAN

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