Beth hadn’t exactly planned on shacking up with Logan, but she hadn’t expected to end up on the couch either. To be fair, she hadn’t really planned on much of anything at all, as was her usual way of living.

She’d tried calling and texting Logan multiple times over the past few months, to no avail. Her sisters, Andy and Alex, had kept her completely in the dark about what had happened to him until her last cruise contract ended.

When they’d finally told her, it was like all the air had been sucked out of her world; her single focus had been taking a breath. When she had, her lungs and body had filled with nothing but the thought of seeing Logan. Loving Logan.

All it had taken was the thought of losing him—Logan not being alive anymore—and something inside her had clicked into place. She knew she wanted him, that had never been her problem, but she thought she could deny loving him. But those words falling from Andy’s mouth about Logan being injured, how close he’d come to losing not just his leg but his life, and all the scary fell away.

She loved Logan and all she’d wanted was to lay eyes on him.

She was so thankful he was still alive. From the little she’d been told, that was a miracle all in itself, but she also knew how much he loved being in the navy. His career was everything to him. She couldn’t imagine how he must have felt, maybe like he completely lost a part of his life.

None if it seemed real and she’d needed to see him with her own eyes to prove that he was truly okay. She hadn’t expected to be thrown into a situation where she pretended to be a stripper and then actually taking her clothes off.

Granted, it was a situation of her own making, but still.

Beth sat on the couch the morning after her disastrous striptease, unable to sleep, wondering what she was going to do now. Logan clearly wasn’t interested in picking up where they left off and after her last trip, her cruising days were over. It was just too long to be away, and she didn’t enjoy the traveling as much as she used to. At least that was what she told herself. In reality, she’d had the worst six months of her life. Not only had she ruminated on what she knew was probably her last night with Logan, but she’d also had the boss from hell. That man alone was enough to send her running from the job she’d been working.

Going back to her plans for the future, she definitely wasn’t ready to go back to Freehope and settle down.

Once again, she was adrift in life. She didn’t mind so much. It was kind of freeing, actually. If it wasn’t for one small sticking point, she’d already be gone, searching for her next adventure.

Logan.

She wanted him.

More than that, she needed him. Her life was so boring without him in it. It was like living in black and white when you damn well knew there were colors out there. He was the color in her life and she’d screwed it up royally. She knew that.

She had a vague notion of fixing what she’d broken; she just had no idea how.

In a perfect world, she would have smartened up and come running back into Logan’s waiting arms. Problem was, Logan wasn’t waiting with his arms open. Hell, Logan wasn’t even Logan anymore.

The man she remembered—sweet and understanding to a fault—wasn’t there anymore. The man she’d seen last night was an entirely different person. When she thought about all he’d been through, she knew the changes in him were inevitable.

But could that new man love her? Would he make her feel the same as the old Logan had?

Would she be able to make that man love her back, despite her faults?

She’d have never been able to make the old Logan happy. He’d wanted things from her that she couldn’t give him. Maybe this Logan would be different.

“Sleep okay?”

Beth turned to find a sleepy looking Cole padding down the stairs, brown hair mussed as he ran a hand through it.

Logan hadn’t talked much about his family when they’d been together. She knew his mother was a southern woman with a penchant for feeding everyone that walked through her door and liked to take ghost tours in New Orleans once a week.

She knew nothing about Logan’s father.

Beth shrugged in answer to his question. Had she slept well? No, she hadn’t slept at all, but that was neither here nor there, was it?

“That wasn’t very convincing.” He laughed. “I make a halfway decent cup of coffee, if you’re interested.”

Beth stood and followed him into the kitchen. He popped a plastic pod into the coffee machine and pressed a button. Coffee sputtered out into a mug.

“Impressive,” she said, noting that his coffee-making took zero skill.

“I’m a man of many talents,” he said, sliding the mug to her when it was full. He took another from the dish rack in the sink and grabbed another pod, preparing his own coffee. “I’ve gotta say, I was not expecting you to be who you turned out to be. None of that went as planned.”

“Do things ever go as planned?” she asked vaguely, knowing damn well that they didn’t.

Hell, wasn’t she living proof that life liked to kick you when you were down and then stomp all over your precious plans?

“You’ve got a point,” he said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Good show, girl.” He held up his mug and clinked it with hers. “But, I was thinking more of trying to entertain Logan, lift his spirits. Not show off his naked girl in front of all his closest friends.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch,” she said. “I highly doubt those guys were Logan’s closest friends.”

“Why do I feel like you’re purposely missing the point?” He smiled at her over the rim of his mug. “I can see why he likes you.”

“Is that what that was last night?” she asked sarcastically. “Him showing me how much he liked me?”

“In his defense, you did dance around naked in front of a roomful of dudes. Plus, there’s the whole ghosting him situation.”

“I didn’t mean to ghost him,” she said in her defense. “There’s a possibility that I have commitment issues.”

He barked out a laugh. “You and me both, sister.”

“How is it you all are related again?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, the usual. My mother and his mother were first cousins or something like that. We have a very small family, so even when you’re distantly related, it feels close because there wasn’t anyone else around.”

“So, you’re some kind of cousins,” she deduced. “That’s nice. I don’t have much extended family myself.”

“But you got brothers and sisters.”

“One brother,” she corrected. “Two sisters.”

“Twins,” he said dreamily.

“Gross.” She laughed. “Do you have any idea how old that joke gets?”

He shrugged. “A classic is a classic.” He pulled out the stool across from her and sat. “So, tell me more about you.”

“Not much to tell.”

“You’re awfully evasive,” he noted. “I’m just trying to get to know you.”

“Doesn’t seem to be much point,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll be here much longer anyway.”

“You’re going to let him run you off like that?”

She shook her head. “I know he’s going through a lot right now. I know I’ve put him through a lot. I don’t want to make it worse.”

“He’s worse without you,” Cole told her honestly. “Most days, he says and does all the right things. He goes to his appointments, he participates in conversations, he pretends like he’s really here. But he’s not. I don’t know where he is, but I know it’s not a good place. Until you showed up last night, I almost didn’t notice that he was missing something.”

“And you think that something is me?” she asked, not daring to be hopeful but unable to help herself.

Cole shrugged. “Could be. Worth a shot, don’t you think?”

Beth matched his shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine. I have yet to make the right call where Logan is concerned, so I don’t think my judgment is the best.”

Cole put his mug down on the island and sat up straight, his eyes now serious as they watched her.

“It took me a while, but I think I figured it out last night. Here you are, a woman Logan’s been chasing after for a year. You two have your go-arounds, you leave him, he leaves you. Neither of you are in a position to have a relationship. But then, the shit hits the fan and yeah, maybe you’re a few months behind, but here you are. You could’ve left last night. You could’ve taken Logan’s attitude to mean that he really didn’t want you here and walked away, but you didn’t. Here you are, in a stranger’s house drinking coffee with a strange man, waiting for Logan to wake up.”

“Pathetic, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Sounds like love to me,” he replied, winking.

“I’m not sure what I’d do with love,” Beth told him. “How sad is that?”

“I don’t think anyone knows what they’d do with love until they find it. But hey”—he held up his mug in a toast— “what the hell do I know? My brothers and I are sworn lifelong bachelors.”

She laughed. “What are you, twenty-five?”

“Eight,” he corrected. “Twenty-eight.”

“Still plenty of time,” she joked. “But if you need any lessons on how to screw it up, I’m your girl.”

“I’ll pass.”

“What is it we’re passing on?” Tucker asked as he shuffled into the kitchen, his hair finger-combed in an easy wave off to the side, his warm, brown eyes sleepy.

“Lessons on how to screw up a relationship,” Cole told him.

“Oh,” he said. “I think we’ve got that covered. Good morning,” he said to Beth. “Glad to see you’re still here.”

“Did everyone think I was going to leave?” she asked.

“It was a definite possibility,” Tucker replied, grabbing his own cup of coffee. “Elliot owes me twenty bucks now, so thanks for that.”

“I’ll take twenty-five percent off the top of that.” Beth laughed.

“That’s fair,” Tucker agreed. “Logan’s usually the first one up in the morning. Sleeping in or hiding?”

Beth’s eyes cut to Cole. “Love, huh?”

“Hey.” He shrugged. “It takes some people longer than others to see it. Cut the guy some slack.”

Beth’s phone signaled an incoming video call from the coffee table where she’d left it. She jumped off her stool in the kitchen and hurried to grab it in time. Surprised, her brows furrowed at her sister Andy’s picture on the screen. When she swiped her thumb, it wasn’t Andy, but her niece Jenna.

“Hey there, cutie,” she said, smiling. “What are you doing up so early?”

“Auntie Alex told me to call you and wake you up.” The girl laughed. “She said you went to bed really early last night and you’d be up early to talk. She and my mom got their phones mixed up.” She rolled her eyes.

“Jenna, what have I told you about your Auntie Alex? She lies through her teeth and you should never believe a word she says.”

Jenna laughed again. “She said the same thing about you.”

“But she’s a liar,” Beth said again. “So, don’t listen to her anymore.”

“So, you’re both liars,” her niece said. “Maybe I shouldn’t listen to either of you.”

“That’s probably a good start,” Beth agreed. “Where is your Auntie Alex anyway?”

“She’s in the kitchen, making a monkey bread. She swears it’s going to be her best one yet.”

“Has she ever made a bad one?”

“Not that I’ve ever tasted,” Jenna said, just before her eyes widened. “Who’s that?”

Beth noticed Cole standing behind her on the screen. “That’s Cole, Logan’s cousin. I stopped by to visit Logan in Connecticut to see how he’s doing. He’s here staying with his cousins.”

Cole waved into the camera. “You must be Jenna,” he said. “Logan has talked a lot about you.”

“Yeah,” the girl muttered, her eyes still wide.

“Put a dang shirt on,” Beth told him. “Both of you.”

Cole and Tucker hurried out of the room and up the stairs.

Jenna’s cheeks turned pink.

“I know,” Beth agreed to her niece’s silent assessment. At thirteen, Jenna would probably remember the sight of those bare chests for a long time to come. “Apparently, they come from good stock.”

“Where’s Logan?” Jenna asked.

“Avoiding me,” Beth said truthfully. “He hasn’t come out of his room yet this morning. So, I’m trying to figure out if I take the hint and hit the road before he gets up, or if I stay and face the firing squad when he gets up.”

“Want me to call him?” Jenna asked, her voice soft and sympathetic.

Jenna was a total sweetheart and held a very special place in Beth’s heart. Her niece had been one of the only things that kept her going after her mother died. Their relationship had been the one bright spot in a very dark place. Jenna had been just a baby, well, two years old, but young enough that her innocence took the sting out of Beth’s despair. She’d been young herself, only eighteen, but being Jenna’s aunt had been the best thing she had going at that time.

Hell, it was the best thing she had going now.

“No, sweetie, but I appreciate the offer. You know that saying: I made my bed now I have to lie in it.”

“Adults are weird.”

“No joke,” Cole agreed as he came back down the stairs. “Being an adult sucks. Bills to pay, jobs to go to, pressure to settle down. Enjoy being a kid while you can.” He settled on the couch next to Beth, his arm stretched out along the back behind her as he looked at Jenna. “So, Andrea is your mom?”

“Andy,” Jenna corrected. “That’s what everyone calls her.”

“Andy and Alex,” Tucker chimed in as he entered the room and sat on the other side of Beth. “I like it. Has a nice ring to it.”

“Jenna, this is Tucker, Logan’s other cousin.”

“There’s two of them?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Three if you count Elliot,” Cole answered. “But he’s a bit of a bear, so we don’t always count him. He’s such a grump, he bought a house on the other side of town just so he didn’t have to be near us.”

Jenna laughed. “Auntie Beth got a job working on a cruise ship just so she didn’t have to be near us.”

“That’s not true,” Beth corrected. “I got a job working on a cruise ship just so I don’t have to be near Lexi.”

“Who’s Lexi?” Cole asked.

“Auntie Alex,” Jenna said.

“So she goes by Alexa, Alex, and Lexi?” Tucker asked. “This could get confusing.”

“Technically, she does not go by Lexi or Lex,” Beth hedged.

“Technically, she hates being called Lexi or Lex,” Jenna said with a laugh. “Auntie Beth is the only one who calls her that.”

“Why?”

“Because she hates it,” Beth explained. “I’m a little sister. Little sister’s got to do, what little sisters got to do.”

“Let’s see the monkey bread,” Cole said with an infectious smile. “Take me to Auntie Lex.”

“She’ll totally hate that,” Jenna told them as she began walking through Alex’s house. “I wouldn’t say that in front of her.

“What are we doing?”

They all turned to see Logan standing behind them. His blond hair was combed neatly to the side and he was fully dressed. Clearly, he’d been up for a while. Beth felt a pang in her chest that he had been in his room hiding from her, then kicked herself for taking it so personally.

She’d probably never get Logan back, ruining what they’d had beyond all recognition. What she could do for him, however, was help him get back to where he wanted to be. She’d made the decision in a split second. It had taken nothing more than laying eyes on him, standing there in the hallway, leaning heavily on a cane and standing on two feet. That, coupled with Cole’s comments about Logan being lost, had solidified her decision. He’d been through a trauma, not to mention the nightmare she’d put him through. He had every reason to take that step back from life and recalculate. He wouldn’t trust her, there was no doubt about that, but it was time for her to be selfless.

She’d have to try to emulate her sister Andy because selflessness was not her strong suit. Looking at Logan, she was willing to give it a shot. If she couldn’t have him, which she was reasonably sure was out of the question, she’d have to be okay with that.

She had to tell herself that making sure he was in the world and living a happy life would be enough for her. She was going to have to work for his trust, and the thought of working for it filled her gut with determination.

“Well,” Tucker began, interrupting her thoughts. “We just met Jenna and now she’s taking us to see Auntie Alex of the famous monkey bread.”

“Famous monkey bread, huh?” Logan smiled affectionately at the girl on the screen. “How’s my girl?”

“Good.” She smiled at him. “How’s my pirate?”

Logan sent her a wink. “Hanging in there. I promise I’ll come visit you soon when it’s a little warmer.”

“It’s not that cold,” Jenna said. “It’s March. Spring is next week.”

“Your spring and my spring are very different. Your spring is snow melting. My spring is Mardi Gras.”

“What’s Mardi Gras,” she asked.

Beth laughed under her breath. Good luck to him explaining that to Jenna. The minute he told her it was a giant party, she’d want to go.

“I’ll take you when you turn twenty-one,” Beth promised when Logan looked unsure of where to start. “Until then, forget you heard about it.”

“Auntie Alex, what’s Mardi Gras and why can I go until I’m twenty-one?”

“Huh?” Beth heard Alex’s voice getting closer. “Who’s taking you to Mardi Gras?”

“Logan and Auntie Beth.”

That wasn’t what had been said, but Beth didn’t correct her.

“Figures. Let me see her.”

Jenna propped the phone up so she and Alex were both in the picture.

“Seriously?” Alex rolled her eyes, her apron covered with flour, a streak of it across her cheek. “How does this always happen to you?”

Beth looked at the three men surrounding her and shrugged. They were an exceptionally good-looking group of men.

“Hey, Alex,” Logan said. “Good to see you. These are my cousins Tucker and Cole.”

They all greeted each other and Alex cut her eyes to Beth.

“Seriously,” she repeated.

“They wanted to see the monkey bread,” Jenna put in.

“It’s in the oven, baking already. Here.” She grabbed the phone and held it up to the oven window. Sure enough, there was a pan on the wire rack, filled with dough rising, before their eyes. It looked shiny and gooey, with butter generously slathered on top.

“Have you ever thought about moving to Connecticut?” Cole asked with a smile.

“Not even once,” Alex returned, her deep voice grating through the phone’s speaker. “I’m trying out new recipes for the class I’m teaching at the university on the principles of working with yeast.”

“Fascinating,” Beth lied.

“After this, Jenna and I are going to make some honey wheat loaves and we’re going to compare how each loaf bakes, depending on how long we let the yeast proof.”

“Stop saying yeast.” Beth scrunched up her face. “It sounds disgusting.”

Jenna laughed. “I get to eat the bread when it’s done and I’m doing a lab report on it for school as extra credit.”

“Silver lining,” Beth agreed. “Where’s your mom?”

“At home with Dad, I guess. I stayed over here last night. Are you coming up to see us?”

Beth looked to Logan. “You know, cutie, I don’t think I am. Not quite yet.”

* * *

Logan didn’t like the way Beth was looking at him. Like she had some kind of plan going on in her mind that he didn’t know about. He’d always thought that Beth’s face was very expressive and he could read every emotion she felt, but emotion and plans we’re not the same thing.

So, while he could tell how she felt sometimes, what was going in that mind of hers was a whole different ballgame. The look in her eyes was dangerous though, he knew that much.

God, he still wanted her.

The fact that she’d shown up kind of blew his mind. She was more the kind of girl that felt things out from a distance. If she wanted to know how he felt, she’d text or call. She might come right out and ask over the phone, but she didn’t always put herself in the firing line. This time she’d shown up on his doorstep and that was a first for them.

He hated that he kept thinking of them as a them. Six months ago, he’d gone to Owen and Andy’s wedding, hoping with all that he had, that they would end the weekend with he and Beth being a them. Instead, Beth had left him alone, once again, and he’d walked away without her.

He’d more than walked away, he’d run like hell. Straight back to the base and onto a transport plane, he’d run as far and fast from the memory of her as he could get. Three months into his detail, there had been an accident. It would be easy to blame it on someone else, but he had been the officer in charge. Anything and everything that had happened on that detail fell on him.

Not just what happened to his leg, but what happened to his entire team. Most days, he could forgive himself. He’d gotten the worst deal of them all, losing his leg and his career, but they had all suffered. For most of them, the injuries were minor. Some of them were still rehabbing like him, but would get to carry on with their careers.

A fucking IED. There had been, literally, no way for him to know. There had been no warnings and they were in a friendly zone.

Just bad timing, they’d said. Most likely a leftover from hostile times and the wiring degraded just as his unit’s Jeep had driven over it.

Nothing more than a coincidence, they’d said.

Due to its age, the bomb had a minimal blast, and they’d been in what was really the equivalent of a rollover accident, which was far better than being blown to bits. His knee, having already been one injury away from what his physician called a catastrophic injury, had taken the brunt of the incident, ending up trapped under a crate of medical equipment. Crushed beyond repair, there had been no choice but to take it.

He looked down at where his prosthetic leg was hidden underneath his pants, and a wave of sadness rolled over him.

Coincidence, nothing more, had ruined his future.

There’d been no way to repair the knee. His options had been amputation or a lifetime of painful procedures and disability.

Beth was still looking at him.

It was funny, because he’d always been the one chasing her. From the second he’d laid eyes on her, he’d known that she was it for him. Sure, love at first sight sounded like bullshit when you said it out loud, but when it actually struck you, when you were the intended target, it made everything fall into place.

Just over a year ago, the first time he’d set eyes on Beth Walker, his life and everything in it, fell into place. Except for Beth herself. She’d felt it too, and instead of understanding and rolling with it, she’d run out on him.

He hadn’t taken it personally. The whole thing was a big pill to swallow and she’s been skittish from the first. When he’d told her sister Andy that he intended on marrying Beth, she’d laughed outright in his face. He should have taken it as a sign that things wouldn’t work.

He still felt the connection between them now, but the love he felt before hurt more than anything else. It was all just too hard. Not just loving Beth, but loving at all.

What did he have to offer her? And if she couldn’t bring herself to be with him before, why would she bother now?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.

“Now I’m not allowed to look at you?” she returned. “Is that a thing now?”

“It’s not that you’re looking at me. It’s how you’re looking at me.”

“And how’s that?”

“Okay kids, break it up,” Alex joked, rolling her eyes. “What kind of example are you setting for Jenna by bickering like children?”

“Jenna doesn’t even have anyone to bicker with,” Beth pointed out.

“I think it’s funny,” Jenna said with a good-natured shrug. “Logan loves Beth. Beth gets scared and runs away. Beth loves Logan and Logan runs away. Beth and Logan love each other, then they both run away. Now, Beth loves Logan again.” She looked right at Logan. “I’m trying to figure out what he’s going to do this time.”

He must have been the only one that didn’t think Jenna’s assessment was funny, because his cousins and both Walker women were trying to contain their mirth.

It was a sad day when he was the one who’d lost his sense of humor, but there it was. That’s who he was now, the guy who couldn’t laugh at a kid’s joke. He might not have wanted to laugh, but he’d never want to hurt Jenna’s feelings. So, he pasted a smile on his face and hoped it looked real.

“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. What are you up to these days, J? Still playing hockey?”

She chattered on about her most recent hockey season and Logan listened with half an ear. Jenna was a great kid and he loved when he got to spend time with her. Being so close with Owen, he could sometimes picture himself far in the future, sitting in the crowd at her graduation or watching her get married. She’d just turned thirteen, so those things were a long way off, but still there on the horizon for her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but watch Beth who was sandwiched between Cole and Tucker. Cole’s arm was on the back of the couch behind her and they looked just as cozy as could be. Logan clenched his jaw against the urge to lay his cousin out flat on the floor. She was not his, but Cole could learn a lesson or two about who was off-limits and who wasn’t.

Beth was off-limits.

“That’s great,” he told Jenna when she was done. “I’m sad I didn’t get to a game this year. Maybe next time, okay?”

“That’s fine,” she said. “I knew you weren’t up to it this year.”

No, he had not been.

They said their goodbyes and Jenna and Alex disappeared from the screen.

“I can’t believe how much she’s grown, even in the last few months,” Beth marveled. “Andy always says things like it goes so fast or she’s growing like a weed but I never really get it until I see her. She’s already taller than I am.”

Logan laughed. “That wouldn’t take much.”

“She’s taller than Andy and Alex, too,” she defended, her auburn brows slashed down over her bright eyes. “Not just me.”

He sent her a look. “None of you are very tall, Sugar, but if that makes you feel better, you run with that.”

“So, am I allowed to talk to you now?”

Logan sighed. “Beth–”

“I know,” she interrupted. “I’m a pain in the ass.”

“We can get out of your hair,” Tucker offered.

Cole’s head whipped around to his brother. “I don’t want to hide out upstairs.”

“Not hide out,” Tucker clarified, his eyes cutting to Logan and Beth. “Just, make ourselves scarce.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Logan argued. “Beth is going to be on her way soon.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Is that so?”

“Just making an educated guess based on history,” he said.

Her expression changed, the look on her face somewhere between hurt and resignation now more than humor. He knew he should feel bad for being responsible for that, but he didn’t. He didn’t like seeing it, didn’t want her to feel that, but he felt no guilt in calling it like he saw it. The less she saw of him the better off they’d both be. There was no point in getting wrapped up in each other again. She didn’t want him and he was useless to her now, nothing more than half a man.

She stood from the couch, leaving his cousins behind, and rounding it to stand in front of him. She was still dressed in her pajamas, nothing more than a plain T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants, but she still mesmerized him.

“Here’s the thing,” she told him. “I don’t really have anywhere to be. I’m not going back out on the ship, or any ship, for that matter. I gave up my contract with the cruise line, so I have no employment commitments for the foreseeable future. I never had any real intention of going back to Freehope, at least not to stay for any length of time. The only reason I came back here was for you.” She shook her head, emotion choking her words, and looked down at his leg. “I told you not to get your ass blown off, but this wasn’t what I meant.”

Without permission, a laugh fell out of his mouth. He’d shipped out last year for a short overseas detail. He still remembered the quiver in her voice when he’d called her from the transport plane. It was then that he knew she felt the same way he did, even if she couldn’t say it. She’d shakily told him not to get his ass blown off.

He hadn’t that time.

“I don’t have to stay here,” she told him. “And I get it if you don’t want me here, but I just needed the peace of mind to see you, to know you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” he said, his words short, the lie rolling off his tongue as easily as it had the last thousand times he’d said it.

She nodded, though she didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, I can see that. Right as rain. Hiding out here in your cousin’s house surrounded by people you don’t give a shit about.”

“I give a shit about Cole, Tucker, and Elliot,” he argued.

“Anyone else?”

“Sure, lots of people.”

“Liar,” she called him out without hesitating. “Come with me,” she whispered.

“Where is it you’re going?” he asked, noting that his cousins had taken their leave, sneaking out behind Beth when she was talking.

Beth shrugged. “Where do you want to go? I’ve got a rental car with unlimited miles.”

Back in time, he wanted to say. Back a year so he could not go to Freehope and meet her. Back before he was so far in love with her that he wasn’t sure which way was up or down. Back before he was willing to take the pain of her not loving him the way he wanted her to and fly it overseas to get his ass blown off.

“I don’t understand what you’re asking me,” he told her.

“Yeah you do,” she argued.

“You want to, what? Take a road trip?”

“Have you ever gone out into the world, searching for who you are?” Beth asked, her brow furrowed.

“No,” he said, limping past her and into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He’d gone straight from high school and into the navy. He hadn’t had the luxury of aimlessly soul searching. Beth on the other hand had done it her entire adult life. “How’s it working out for you?”

She smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “Life gives and takes, you know. It’s a nebulous goal.”

He wanted to laugh because Beth wasn’t usually so poetic about things. She was more of a tell-it-like-she-saw-it kind of girl, but he didn’t laugh because something about what she said had struck home.

The things people want or need in their lives were always changing. A year ago, he’d found love even though he hadn’t been searching. Months later, everything had changed for him. He’d been focused on healing and wondering where he’d end up. He’d been surviving and not doing much more.

He had a feeling he hadn’t moved on from that state of mind.

Maybe it was time to move on from that goal.

“I’m leaving after lunch,” she said, taking a step away from him. “I don’t want to take up space here, but I want you to know, Logan, that above all, we’ve always been friends.”

“We’ve never been friends,” he disagreed.

She looked like he’d hurt her by saying it, but she didn’t argue.

“Maybe that’s true,” she said. “But I’ve always wanted what’s best for you and that hasn’t changed. Holing up here, hiding from life, isn’t helping you, Doc. Come with me,” she said again. “Come see what kind of trouble we can find and when we’re done, if you never want to talk to me again, I’ll walk away.”

“What are you talking here? A week? Two?” he asked, considering her offer. He’d been crashing with his cousins for months. Maybe getting off his ass would help him find some direction and get him out of their hair.

“We can play it by ear,” she offered. “If after a week, you’re done, we’ll head back or I can bring you wherever you want to go. If you think there’s more you want to do or see, we keep going. I’m easy.”

He raised a brow at her, a silent pun on her statement, and suddenly felt lighter.

He was going to go with her. It was too good a chance to pass up, and a year later, he was wiser than he’d been before. He knew, above all else, he wouldn’t fall into Beth Walker’s web again.

He’d take this trip with her because she was right. He needed some new direction in his life and to find out who the new Logan was.

But he’d be damned if he was going to let himself fall in love with her again.