Page 32 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

Logan looked up to me for help. “I, uh . . .”

“He didn’t know where we lived.” I dropped to my knee next to Charlie. “That’s my fault. But as soon as he found out, he came right here to visit.”

Logan gave me a sad smile, then focused back on Charlie. “I’d really like to get to know you, if that’s okay?”

The corner of her mouth turned up a bit. Was she actually going to smile? Could it really just be this easy?

“Do you like forts?” she asked.

He smiled and my heart started to race. Say yes, Logan! Just say yes! “I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a fort. Do you have one?”

She nodded and flashed him a shy smile. “It’s outside. I can show you.”

“How about after dinner?” I offered.

“Sounds great.” Logan and I both stood, sharing a look of pure relief.

“Okay, we’d better eat.” I turned and led the way toward the kitchen.

Charlie and Logan followed in silence, sitting at the dinner table as soon as we got to the kitchen. I left them there and went to the stove to bring over the food. But the kitchen was small and with the table in the corner, I could still hear them.

“Are you going to stay here now?” Charlie asked.

“Well, um, no.” I looked over my shoulder to see a rush of panic cross Logan’s face. “I have to go back home in a week.”

Charlie’s forehead furrowed as she took a few more steps and stopped. “Then you’ll be gone again?”

“I guess. But I’ll come back again to visit.”

“When?”

The good feeling I’d had a moment ago vanished. Like most kids, Charlie remembered promises. Every detail. If Logan committed to a visit and it fell through, she wouldn’t forget.

Goddamn it. Why hadn’t we talked about this more last night? Why hadn’t I prepped him? We should have made a more specific plan. We should have delayed this meeting until the two of us were on the same page.

But now it was too late. He was here and she was asking the questions she had a right to have answered.

My insides started to twist. I abandoned the stove for the table, but before I could jump in and change the subject, Logan spoke up.

“I’m not sure.” Logan smiled. “But soon. And maybe you and your mom can come and visit me in New York. You could even move there and live with me.”

Wrong answer.

“No!” Charlie’s wide eyes snapped to mine. Her chin quivered. “I don’t want a dad anymore.”

My feet froze as the pain hit because from three feet away, I felt Logan’s heart break.

An hour later, the most painful dinner of my life was over.

“Can I go?” Charlie asked, already picking up her plate.

“Did you want to show Logan your fort?” I grasped for anything that might put a smile on her face. All through dinner, I’d been trying to find a topic that would connect Logan and Charlie but nothing had worked.

Any time Logan had tried to make conversation, she’d try to hide behind her plate of noodles. Nothing either of us had said could get her to mutter more than one or two words throughout the whole meal.

She hadn’t even been impressed by the sunflowers.

Charlie had shut down the minute Logan had mentioned the idea of moving. The only thing that was going to get her to emerge from her shell was time.