Page 5 of Under the Mistletoe
Hannah’s distant voice carried through the line as she talked to Luke in the background, her voice a little distressed.
“Everything okay?”
“A friend of ours car is stuck at the Marathon just off US 31, and I need to go get her. Wait. You’re right there. Can you grab her as you go by?”
“Her?” Logan shook his head even though Luke couldn’t see him. “You really think a woman wants to get into a car with a strange man even if you say you know me?”
“Actually, you know her. It’s your friend Devin from college.”
Everything went cold for a moment before heat coursed through him as a pair of big blue eyes framed by light-auburn hair flashed in his mind. No doubt she still had the smattering of freckles that had driven him to distraction in more than one of his college classes. “Devin Hendrixson?”
Like he needed to clarify. There had only ever been one Devin in his life. In so many ways.
What was she doing in Heritage? Last he knew, she was living in Detroit. No doubt visiting her cousin Jess, who was from Heritage, but then, why couldn’t Jess pick her up? Maybe the roads were worse off the main road.
Luke’s voice broke into the silence again. “This is perfect, she’s?—”
“You seriously can’t be asking me to do that.” Logan knew his voice sounded frantic, but if anyone should get it, it’d be Luke. “Don’t you remember our conversation last New Year’s about the Christmas party Liam and I threw?”
“Was that the one at your parents’ old house in Chicago?”
“Yes, Liam wanted a final hurrah with our friends there before the moving trucks came. There was a girl…there was a mistletoe…”
Luke didn’t even know the whole story, but he knew enough to understand this was a bad idea.
“Wait, that was Devin?” The humor in Luke’s tone didn’t offer the sympathy Logan was hoping for. “I don’t remember Liam ever dating Devin.”
“It was short-lived, but he definitely showed up with her as his date to the Christmas party and then stuck pretty close to her all night.” The memory of Liam walking in with her hand in his, leaning down to whisper in her ear, touching the small of her back…He shoved the image away. He was over it.
“It’s been almost a year. I bet she’s forgotten. I mean, you’ve put it in the past. I’m sure she has too.” Luke was right. She probably hadn’t thought of Logan once since that night. “Unless youhaven’tput it in the past.”
“I have.”
“I mean, if you’re still in love with?—”
“I’m not.” And he wasn’t. Not anymore. He shared a lot with his twin, but never girls. So he’d buried that crush, and he’d never felt more free. At least, that was what he kept telling himself.
“Then consider this an opportunity to apologize.” Luke wasn’t letting this go, and if Logan fought this any longer, his family would get suspicious.
“Fine. I’ll be there in about two minutes.” He ended the call, then checked his reflection in the mirror. His gray beanie covered his mop of dark hair in desperate need of a haircut, but he was about a week overdue for shaving. Not the best first impression after almost a year.
Shoot! He was doing it already. Not ten seconds with Devin back in his life and he was falling down the rabbit hole.
As if sensing his mood, Cal stood and nosed Logan’s shoulder over the seat. Logan reached back and patted his head. “We’re almost there. But I do fear, buddy, that leaving the house today was a bad idea.”
Because the last thing Logan needed was to spend the next year getting over Devin all over again.
two
As much as it went against her nature, Devin had done it. She’d called Hannah for help. And it had gone well. Well, it’d been that or freeze to death. Because the moment she’d figured out that she was stuck was also the time cars stopped showing up at the pumps. Devin scanned the surrounding empty parking lot. It had started to snow again, but Hannah had said Luke should be here any moment.
Because some people did show up when you needed them. Hannah hadn’t even made it feel like a problem. She’d actually made it sound like Devin joining them would be a gift. That type of acceptance was mindboggling. Maybe today she could let herself be fostered into this family—her brothers, her sisters, her nieces and nephews.
When her phone rang though the car, she took the call.
“MaryLynn? Everything okay?”
“I know I said Monday, but you said you’d be driving for two hours, and I had a thought. How many do you expect tomorrow at the derby?”
