Page 130 of The Lost and the Found

Hayden

They were gonefor quite a long time. And I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t sit still. Fifteen minutes after they left, Charlie brought out our food, and I almost asked if she could put it back to keep it warm for us.

I didn’t, because one look at her face told me she didn’t want to make conversation. Now that both Logan and Mathew were gone, she didn’t need to pretend to like me. So she didn’t. The dislike was so blatant on her face, it bordered on rude.

I didn’t smile when she set the plates down, barely acknowledging her, and I pushed the plate of ribs Logan ordered for me to grab the side salad instead. Any appetite I had was now gone, but Logan would definitely comment if I didn’t eat anything.

I nibbled on a piece of lettuce. I didn’t wait for Charlie to leave. If she was going to be rude to me, I wasn’t going to be any better.

When she finally set the last plate down—Mathew’s cheeseburger—she stood in front of the table. I looked up. “Is there something else you need?”

The coldness in my voice must have thrown her off, because she took a step back, and with blushing cheeks, she walked away without another word.

I supposed it was better that I didn’t know all about Logan’s sexual history. Seeing Clarissa was quite enough for me, I didn’t know what I would do if I found out Logan had a thing with Charlie before me, too.

I was halfway through with the salad without really tasting it, when Logan and Mathew came back, both men somber in appearance. And Mathew… well, he looked like he’d been crying.

They sat down at the table, and I smiled, because that felt like the right thing to do. Both men acknowledged my smile with a small one of their own.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

Logan opened his mouth to answer, but Mathew beat him to it. “Everything is great. No, it’s more than great. It’s perfect.” His voice was a little gruff, and if I had any doubt that Mathew had been crying in the back, I didn’t have that now. The question was, what was he crying about?

Without thinking, I reached across the table for his hand. He froze and stared down at my hand for a really long time, so long, I thought I might have made a mistake. But then he turned my palm around and held it in his, squeezing just a little.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He cleared his throat. “I am. Yeah. I’m great.” He let go of my hand, patting it gently, before looking up at me. “Let’s eat. I bet you’re hungry. And you have to tell me what you think about the food later, deal?”

I smiled then. “Deal.”

Logan grabbed my plate and placed it in front of me. It wasn’t until he handed me my fork that I realized he hadn’t said much. When I met his hazel eyes, they appeared dimmer somehow. And he wouldn’t quite meet my eyes.

Mathew got my attention then. “Tell me about your life, Hayden.”

I put Logan’s weird reaction in the back of my mind. Then I gave Mathew my attention. “You really want to hear about it all?”

“Yes,” he replied. No hesitation. “I want to know everything.”

And because he sounded truly interested in learning about my life, I told him. We spent at least three hours at the restaurant, and Mathew took in every word I spoke, as if I was giving him the secrets to life’s happiness.

And it wasn’t until we were driving home that I realized how open I had become. I wasn’t like this before. I wouldn’t have told someone I had just met about my life. I would have told him to fuck off as soon as the question left his mouth.

It was all before Logan.

Before him, I was so unsure about everything and everyone.

After Logan, I felt secure of my place in world. I felt safer. I didn’t need to worry about strangers wanting to harm me, and I didn’t need to worry about hurting.

Logan would take care of everything, I knew that.

And it felt good. I had to depend on myself for so long, I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until this very moment, when I could finally take some of the burden off.

I rested my head on Logan’s shoulder while we sat in the car, waiting for it to heat up, and Logan kissed my forehead.

As if he was promising me that everything was going to be okay.

I knew it was.

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