12. Heidi
I rolled over into a warm, firm body and awakened with a start. We hadn’t gone back to the park since our first “date.” Instead, Logan had made it his personal mission to get me up to speed on everything sex-related while we hid from the world.
My delivery menus got spread across the kitchen counter and turned into a pog game. When we were too hungry to hide in the bedroom any longer, we’d flip quarters to decide where to order from next, then head back into our cave to hide some more. I hadn’t been fully dressed in two days, but waking up next to, or sometimes under, Logan was a shock every time. Hard work had hardened his body, not just the gym, and I felt slow and sluggish next to him. My morning runs had been put on hold in favor of staying in bed with Logan, but my legs were restless from lack of use.
I slid out of bed without waking him. My side of the bed. I stepped inside my walk-in closet. I made sure the door was shut tight before I turned on the light and quietly dressed in my compression shorts and running gear. I left a note in case he woke while I was gone and set off at a walk to warm up. Fifteen minutes and a mile and a half later, I heard pounding on the pavement behind me and jerked to one side automatically to let the other runner pass me.
Instead of blowing by me, I heard the steps slow until they paced me almost exactly. He was close enough that I could hear him breathe. I smirked to myself and put on a burst of speed, kicking hard as my heart pounded and my legs screamed at me. The footsteps behind me increased in time with mine, and for a moment, I panicked. What if it wasn’t him? But, after less than a minute, Logan cursed and called out to me.
“Okay, okay, I get it. You’re in way better shape than me. Slow down, Sugar, before I die and you trip over me on the way home.” His voice was strained, and he sounded like he was in pain. Guilt pinched at me. But when I saw him nearly doubled over, leaning against a magnolia tree, I had to stifle a laugh.
“You okay there, slick?” I snickered as he coughed and gagged a little, trying to catch his breath.
“I knew you were fit as soon as I saw you naked. But I am justifiably impressed. If I were a mugger, you’d just have to tell the cops where to look for my dead body.”
I sniggered before I could catch myself.
He shot me a dirty look. “Evil woman.”
I draped his arm over my shoulder and let him lean on my while we walked out the stitch in his side, and I promised him a homemade breakfast before we went to see his friend, Boyden, about the cameras and any footage he’d received that could help us track the animals that weren’t thriving the way they should be in a protected nature preserve.
“Are we still going on a helicopter ride?” I asked as we rounded the corner and his sister-in-law’s pet store came into view. I tried to turn us around, but he was feeling better and pulled us toward the shop.
“I had no idea this was only a few miles from your house. Do you shop here? I mean, did you used to?”
I smiled sadly and nodded. “Yes, your family has gotten more than their fair share of my paychecks over the years. However, it wasn’t until after I met you that I was introduced to Callie. Briefly. Once.”
He laughed and tugged me toward the back door. He rang the delivery buzzer and pointed at a beat-up jeep parked a few spaces down.
“Looks like Callie got away without little miss Lily-Jade today.” He grinned at me. “Did you know that Callie has this whole foundation thing for matching vets up with service animals? They’re good for combat veterans who’ve developed PTSD from their time in the military.”
“Is that how she met your brother?”
“Naw. They were high school sweethearts. After he almost got blown up, and all the trouble they had when he got home, might have been the reason she started working with service dogs, though.”
I nodded absently. I didn’t need a service dog. Hell, I was lucky not to be a pet owner while I was trying to get to know Logan. Even a career change would be simpler without anyone or anything depending on me. Taking the time away was making it easier and easier to think about leaving altogether.
Some of that had to be normal vacation thinking. But Logan had me feeling I could do just about anything. I still didn’t think I could work for Doc Seale, as nice as it sounded. But I could manage more than a parks and recreation office. The door swung inward, and Logan pulled me in after him. I glanced around at the kennels and warehouse shelves all stacked a mile high with pet food and care items. Maybe I couldn’t run a pet store. Taking care of so many living things had once been my dream. Now, it was the furthest thing from my reality.
Callie’s mouth made a round “O” of surprise when Logan formally introduced us. “I remember; Scotchie’s mom, right?”
I almost cried at the nickname only I’d ever used for my old friend. It reminded of why I liked the curvy redhead so much.
She hugged Logan tight around the neck, and I reminded myself that she was family as my green-eyed monster of jealousy reared her ugly head. Instead, I focused on all the things I missed about having Butterscotch around. I’d finally boxed up all her favorite squeaky toys after a couple of months. I got tired of the crying jags I had every time I tripped over them. As soon as they were gone, I missed seeing them around the house. I scoffed at myself and ran my fingers over the little raised rubber nubs of a ball like the one I’d taught her to fetch with and noticed the conversation behind me had gone silent.
“You have that look in your eyes,” Callie remarked as she picked up a stuffed frog with braided rope for its limbs. “The look you get when you don’t hurt as much for your loss as for missing having a special friend.”
“Hey!” Logan called out from across the storage room.
I rolled my eyes at him and put the ball back in the wire basket full of toys. “I miss her, and I miss all the messes and the plates she licked clean. The one she broke when she knocked it off the counter.” I laughed, but it sounded like a sniffle, even to me.
“You work out at the Ratcliff Park, right?” Callie asked me.
“Yes, I do.”
She smiled at me. “It must be nice to be around all those wild, free animals.”
I shrugged and screwed my face up in a scowl. “I don’t get out in the park much, really. I’m always too busy with paperwork and registrations and licenses.” I laughed, without humor. “When I was working for free, I was out in nature, all day, every day. The moment I was the most qualified person in the room, I got stuffed into an office.”
She huffed. “Sounds like the reason you took the job was to escape being in an office.”
“Well, I’m a farm girl. What can I say? After my dad left, my mom kept that place running without a hitch. I got a lot of experience. Thought maybe one day I’d take over for her, if I got the chance.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
I waved her off. “It doesn’t matter now. Mom sold the place a couple of years ago and moved into town with her girlfriend to start a gastropub.”
“Oh, my God. Callie, Heidi, get in here!” Logan called out from the next room over. I rushed to him, wondering what could have happened and skidded to a stop in front of him. In as instant, I fell off the precipice I’d been clinging to, and my heart swelled with love. Logan was standing, shirtless and hunky, with his face buried in the soft, silken fur of a tiny spaniel puppy.
I joined him by the kennel and looked down at a patient female cocker spaniel gazing up at Logan while the rest of her litter nosed around her blindly, exploring their space as best they could. I knelt by the kennel and a little, spotted creature nuzzled my fingers through the wire.
“They all need homes, if you think you might be ready in six to eight weeks,” Callie said.
I glanced at Logan, who grinned down at me.
“If she doesn’t, I’m going to, so at least one of these little cuties has a forever home.” Logan gave the little fuzz ball of snuffling warmth back to its momma, and we all watched as the puppy unerringly found food and latched on.
“Hey, Callie, we gotta go. I’m still trying to get this beauty out of the back room they stick her in back at Ratcliff, but I’m striking out. You think a helicopter ride and a fancy Austin dinner on 6th Avenue might help me seal the deal?”
I let my eyes rove over his bare torso and pursed my lips, and he held a finger up at me. “No. Okay? One day. I want one day, where you and I are just people together.” I stared at him in a pout, and he scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I created a monster.”
I laughed at him. “No, you just released one.” I thought about it for a moment and tilted my head to one side. “If I get a dog and quit my job, what’s the next step?”
“From what I overheard you saying to Callie, I would suggest a trip to the ranch.” He stroked a finger along my jawline, and I shivered in response.
“The ranch, like… your family ranch?”
He nodded.
“Neat. I’ll wear my best boots.”
He laughed. “First, let’s get some aerial pictures of your park and find some missing water.”
I gasped and slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand. I had forgotten about “my park.” I hadn’t done more than gush over the prospect of seeing film from the cameras we’d set together.
Logan put his arms around me and kissed my forehead. “Yeah, I’ve been a little distracted, too. But Boyden finally got in touch with me while we were asleep, or otherwise occupied last night, and he’s got EPA and local cops ready to move.”
“Why don’t they just take care of it?”
“Because if they’re going to spend money on an investigation, there’s a paper trail a mile wide. If they get a tip and some evidence, they can act immediately, without going through certain channels, which we believe might be compromised.”
Logan hugged Callie, and she held her arms out to me afterward. I hugged her gingerly, afraid to get sweat on her, and she laughed.
“I’m grooming dogs today, Heidi. You could rub your armpits on me and it would be the best smell to end up on my clothes today.” She hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe and then walked us to the door.
Logan reminded her to lock up after us, and I bit back a sarcastic remark. It was hard to remember sometimes that Logan wasn’t just some guy who thought he was smarter than the women around him. He was a protector. Probably like Callie’s husband.
I wanted what she had. I wanted to surround myself with the things and people I loved. She had freedom to do what she needed to be happy. I’d lived through moments I’d been told I would never get to see and instead of enjoying my freedom, I’d made myself a prisoner again. Whether Logan stuck around or not, I wasn’t going to be that person anymore. He’d opened a door I couldn’t close again.