As Logan walked in the door to his aunt’s house, he was expecting to deal with Hideki’s thousand questions about the evening.

He was not expecting to see his mom sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

“Mom! You made it up!” He was so happy to avoid Hideki’s curiosity, he didn’t stop to think about how odd it was that she was here. Just two days ago she’d told him she’d have to work and couldn’t come. “Were you able to see any of the fireworks?”

His mom shook her head.

“Come sit, Logan.”

“It’s kind of late,” he said, yawning and stretching. His shoulder was a little stiff from lying on the ground, but he didn’t mind. “You must be wiped out from the drive. Can we talk tomorrow?”

His mom shifted in her seat.

“No, I drove all night because I need you to hear this now. Before anything else happens.”

“What happened?”

“You were out with Cassie Hart, weren’t you?”

Logan stopped in the middle of another yawn.

“How do you know that?” He dropped his arms and furrowed his brow.

“I called your phone a few times and when I couldn’t reach you, I called Caroline. She said you were probably too busy with Cassie to hear your phone.”

It’s true he’d seen a few missed calls when he’d called his uncle to pick up Cassie. He told himself he’d look at them on the walk home, but his mind had been stuck on Cassie and everything they’d done.

His mom’s arched eyebrow told him she knew exactly what they’d been doing. Logan flushed. At least she hadn’t gone down to the park to find him. Being caught in the middle of making out with someone by his mom was definitely not on the BSE list.

“You drove all the way out here because I was finally on a date with a girl?” He held back a groan. “Weird time to get overprotective when I’m about to move across the country to school.”

“Logan, this is serious!” The look she shot him finally made him sit down. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap.

“Sorry, Mom,” he said automatically, as he settled into a seat across from her. She was at her most serious. All he wanted to do was sleep and relive every detail of his night with Cassie, so the sooner he heard whatever his mom wanted to say, the sooner it was over. “What’s up?”

“I didn’t drive all night because you were on a date,” she said with a sigh. “I drove all night because you were with Cassie Hart. I thought it was just something for school.”

“It was,” said Logan, and flushed again. “And now it’s…a little more than that.”

Yikes, this was embarrassing. She couldn’t have waited two months to become interested in his love life once he was safely 2,000 miles away?

“How much more?” She narrowed her eyes. Logan felt a jolt of panic shoot through him.

“Geez, Mom, I don’t know! It’s literally a new thing that just started tonight.”

His mom let out a breath and leaned back in her seat.

“So it’s not that serious, good. You won’t break her heart if you break it off,” she said. Then, almost to herself, “Though her heart will be broken anyway by all of this…”

“Mom, what are you talking about? Breaking her heart? I don’t even know what this is. She’s the first girl I’ve ever, uh, liked like this before.” Phew, he avoided letting his mom know he’d never kissed a girl before tonight. Hideki already teased him enough about it, though tonight probably made up for it times a million. He could still remember the feel of her hand on his neck and in his hair as they’d kissed.

“You can’t see her anymore, Logan.”

“What? Why?” He sat up straight as thoughts of her lips on his vanished in an instant.

His mom ran a hand through her long brown hair. She normally wore it up, very professional looking, but tonight it was draped loosely over her shoulders. She looked both older and younger than she usually did. She’d been so young when she’d had Logan, barely older than he was now.

“It’s complicated. Can you please just trust me on this?”

Logan shook his head. Secrets were not usually how they operated. It had been just the two of them for so long, they’d relied on each other too much. She always explained everything she did, so he’d never feel like she was lying. Every question about his dad, no matter how painful, she’d answered. The only person who lied in their family was Logan’s dad.

But all summer, his mom had been weird whenever he mentioned Cassie’s name. He figured if it was something worth mentioning, she would have already. But, apparently, it was only worth mentioning now that he was actually falling for the girl.

“No, Mom, I need to know.”

His mom sighed.

“Fine, but just know I didn’t tell you all this because I didn’t want to ruin your last summer at home with all this drama.”

He waited, his heart racing. The possibilities were endless, and his mind flitted from one improbable scenario to the next.

“You can’t be with Cassie because I’m in the middle of suing her father.”

Logan blinked and frowned. That had not been one of the scenarios.

“Suing him? For what? You worked for him ages ago, why are you suing him now?”

“Wrongful termination.”

He thought about that for a moment.

“I thought you quit that job?”

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She looked so tired.

“As soon as I started, the disgusting way they treated their female employees was pretty clear.” His mom’s voice was hesitant. She didn’t want to tell him this. “The jokes they made, the random shoulder touches and brushing back of hair.”

She wrapped her arms around herself.

“Sometimes it was more than that. Never with me; I wasn’t young enough for their taste apparently. So many of the girls were barely out of college and they didn’t say anything to the men when they’d do it. But they’d talk to me about it during breaks. They said it was normal, that’s just how guys were, but the pain in their eyes…”

She shook her head and closed her eyes. Logan’s hands started to ball into fists. She said they hadn’t done anything to her but the thought of any man treating someone like that made him sick to his stomach.

“I tried to get them to say something, but they were all afraid of losing their jobs. At this point in my life, I have way less patience for that kind of misogynistic crap.”

An intense urge to hit something bubbled up in Logan, alongside a wave of guilt that he’d had no idea that she’d been dealing with this.

“How did I miss how stressed you were last year?”

She shrugged and shook her head.

“Probably because you were in the middle of your SAT and college application madness,” she said with a sad smile. “I didn’t want this to distract you.”

It was true, he’d barely noticed or thought of anything other than schoolwork and colleges most of junior year.

“So you quit because Mr. Hart was a jerk?” Logan could totally get that. Every boss he’d ever had was a jerk.

“Not exactly.” His mom twisted her watch around her wrist. “I went to him and his partner and told them it had to stop. I thought maybe they just didn’t realize what they were doing.” She shook her head. “It’s such a small company, they don’t have an HR person on staff. All the other places I worked were really rigorous in their harassment training. I felt like I had to say something.”

Logan nodded. This all seemed like such adult things to worry about, but wasn’t he technically one now?

“Of course you did. I’m sorry I didn’t notice with everything at school—”

She held up a hand.

“Logan, you’re a brilliant and caring young man, but I still like to protect you when I can. Like I said, I didn’t want you worrying about any of this.”

Of course she didn’t. All she’d ever done was worry about him. Whose job was it to worry about her?

“So the wrongful termination…he fired you when you complained?”

She shook her head.

“No, he got really upset. They told me that I’d never be able to find work anywhere in Helena if I didn’t quit right then and keep my mouth shut. I wasn’t expecting that.” She blinked back tears. “But with you going off to school soon, I didn’t want to find myself without the ability to get a new job, so I quit.”

Logan’s heart sank. She’d sacrificed so much for him over the years, making sure he could go to the best private school in Helena, going without what she needed so he could have a chance at better things. And this was what she got in return? He stood up and went to fold her into a hug, towering over her. She sniffed as a few tears started to fall.

“I tried to put it out of my mind and get on with another job, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” Her voice was muffled now against his shoulder. “Every new job I had, I would notice something off and worry that there’d be trouble so I’d quit rather than sit there saying nothing.”

Logan drew out of the hug and sat next to his mom on the couch.

“What kinds of things were off?”

“Nothing major, nothing like at Hart & Preston. Usually just off-color jokes. It’s ironic that at probably every other place, it would have actually helped for me to say something, but I couldn’t risk it.

“Finally, at my last job, at the law office, I learned there are limits on when you can file these types of claims. Having a deadline made me realize I had to make a choice one way or another. I waited as long as I could. I hoped it would be all settled before you went to school. I didn’t do it for the money, but if there’s even a little, it would help you so much.”

Logan shook his head.

“I don’t need the money.”

She gave him a sad smile.

“You do, sweetie, but it’s nice of you to say that. I wanted to be able to send you off with at least something, but things have been taking so long. Apparently my lawyers are trying to reach out to other women who worked there to see if they can build a bigger case—”

Logan held up a hand.

“I don’t need all the details, Mom,” he said, not sure he could listen to much more without needing to hit something. He felt so totally powerless to help her. “I know enough.”

“You know enough to see why you can’t be with Cassie,” said his mom. “You can’t get mixed up with people like this, Logan. I know it’s important for Columbia to make these kinds of connections, but these people, they’re not like us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Logan was surprised at how angry he sounded. He scolded himself. This was not the moment to attack his mom, not when she was already under so much stress. He lowered his voice. “She’s not like that.”

“Logan, I’m sure she’s a sweet girl, but if this is how he treats his employees, how do you think he treats his family? People like that have so much money, they don’t even care what they do to others. Your dad was the same, too.”

A familiar rage filled him when he thought about his dad. His mom couldn’t really think Cassie was like that asshole, could she? Just because her dad had been so horrible, didn’t mean Cassie was.

“I said she’s not like that!” Logan stood up, trying desperately to keep calm but his hands balled into fists at his sides. “Why are you messing up the one good thing in my life right now?”

“I’m not trying to mess it up. I just…” His mom stopped and took a deep breath. “You wanted to know why you can’t be with Cassie as anything more than a classmate. Now you know. It’s just too complicated. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry, Mom.” Logan suddenly felt sick at how he’d reacted. He released his hands from fists and could see his mom relax a little, too. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Cassie probably already knows, so it just makes sense for you to know, too.” His mom looked up at him with sad eyes. “Maybe when this is all over, things can be different between the two of you.”

Logan frowned. There was no way Cassie could know about this, or she wouldn’t be spending all this time with him.

Would she?

His heart pounded in his ears as he gave his mom a hug and told her goodnight. He couldn’t sort it all out now. He needed time to process.

It was past midnight and he’d been ready to fall right into bed but he was suddenly wide awake. He made his way to his bedroom in the office, knowing his mom preferred to crash on the couch when she was at the lake.

Hideki was waiting for him in the office but Logan shook his head the instant he saw his cousin’s eager face.

“Not right now, man.”

“Aw, come on! You gotta give me something!”

Logan wasn’t sure what his face was doing, but one look and Hideki hung his head.

“Fine, whatever, keep it all to yourself.”

As he left the room, Logan considered telling him everything, and getting his opinion on it. Cassie must know already. How could she not?

It was all just too convenient. She came to his house, trying to help him out. Had her dad sent her? Every little interaction he started to analyze, trying to remember if she’d ever mentioned his mom. He scrolled through their messages, realizing how little she really talked about herself, preferring to ask him questions. Was she getting more information on his family to relay back to her dad?

All his life he’d been lied to by so many people. He should have known better than to trust someone like her. His mom was right. When you had that much money, you couldn’t really care about anyone else. He’d learned that early on and was reminded every birthday and Christmas that went by when it was just him and his mom.

And yet…

Cassie wouldn’t have kissed him if she didn’t like him…right? He hadn’t expected to like her as much as he did. If he was being totally honest with himself, he’d been relieved for her offer of help and information. New York was exciting but a big unknown. Did it really matter why or how she’d started talking to him? She must like him. Girls didn’t go around kissing guys just to resolve legal battles between their families, did they?

He groaned and sunk into his pillow. He could tell you the square root of pi, name all 400 species of sharks that existed, but he didn’t know a thing about girls. Would Columbia be able to teach him that?

Deciding for the moment to hang on to the trust he instinctively felt for Cassie, he sent her a message. When she replied in less than a minute, his heart flooded with relief. She really liked him. He didn’t know why, but in this moment, it was enough. All this would be sorted out tomorrow. For now, he needed sleep.