giggle erupted from her lips. “You never told me that.”
“And make myself come across as less than manly in your eyes as well as my teammates? Not a chance.”
“Oh, Logan, I’m sorry.”
“They were only having fun with me,” he replied. “Truth be told, it improved my game. In an effort to prove myself more than just a ‘Pretty Posey,’ I broke the high school’s record for total receiving yards our junior year.”
“I had no idea I was the reason behind that impressive achievement,” she said, her tone teasing.
She was behind so many things that had been good in his life. Yanking up the collar of his jacket, he said, “I’ll grab your suitcase.” Tugging the brim of his hat lower over his brow to shield his face from the driving rain, Logan stepped out into the downpour. After grabbing her suitcase from the back of the truck’s extended cab, he hurried around to help Hope get down, but by the time he reached her she was already stepping onto the puddled ground below.
Squealing as the cold rain poured down on her, she made a sprint for the front door of the large cedar-sided building, her laughter trailing after her as she left him behind.
Logan followed at a fast jog, suitcase in hand, a grin sliding across his face. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed hearing Hope’s laughter until that moment. “Afraid you’re gonna melt?” he asked with a chuckle as he stepped beneath the temporary shelter of the roof’s overhang.
She flashed him an impish smile. “Daddy does call me Sugar, you know.” Then she turned, hurrying to insert the key into the lock on the door as a gust of wind sent sheets of cold rain past them.
“Stands to reason, then, why you’re in such an all-fire hurry to get out of this here downpour,” he said. He nearly covered her hand with his own to help steady it, but held back from doing so. He didn’t want to remember what it felt like to have her hand in his, something that had once been so natural. As soon as the lock clicked, he reached past her to turn the knob, giving the door a gentle shove open. “Let’s get you inside, little darlin’. Can’t have you melting into a puddle of sugary sweetness at my feet.”
Before he could follow her inside, she turned, her petite form blocking his way. “Thank you for the ride.”
“Thank you for the ride?” He looked down at her questioningly. “That sounds like you’re sending me off.”
“I am,” she said, unable to meet his gaze. “There’s really no need for you to stick around tonight. All I need to do is close out the register and then I’ll head to the house.”
His brow tugged upward. “You’re asking me to leave you here to walk home in the rain?”
“It’s not like it’s a long walk,” she countered.
She had the right of it. Jack’s house sat in a thin copse of pines a few hundred yards behind the main nursery building. “Maybe so,” he grumbled, “but I don’t like the thought of leaving you here to walk home alone in the dark. In the pouring rain to boot.”
“Daddy keeps a handful of umbrellas in his office for customers to borrow on rainy days if they need one.”
His concerned refused to budge. At the same time, a tiny voice inside Logan was telling him to back off. That Hope was a big girl. One who was more than capable of making her own decisions in life. Even if they weren’t always ones he agreed with. “Reckon I’ll be on my way, then. Sleep well,” he said with a tip of his hat.
“You, too, Logan.” The door closed between them, shutting him out yet again. At least this time it was only a door. Not miles and miles of God’s green earth.
Lowering his head, he moved in quickened strides to his truck before he did something foolish like turn around and go back to insist that he escort Hope home. He’d thought he was finally moving past the unrequited feelings he had for her. That time and distance had given him a better grip on his apparently misguided emotions. But he’d been nowhere near prepared for his heart’s reaction to spending time with her again. Laughing with her again. Now all he could do was pray.
For Jack to regain his good health. And for himself, knowing there would be no escaping the pain of seeing Hope again, of spending time with her, and knowing her heart would never ever be his.
“Morning.”
Logan’s gaze shifted from the plants he’d been watering to find Hope standing in the doorway of the greenhouse. She looked refreshed. More relaxed than she had the day before at the hospital. She wore a sweater beneath an open camel-colored jean jacket. Dark brown leather boots peeped out from beneath the bottoms of her jeans. The long, curling tendrils of her unbound hair looked like a slow-burning fire under the red-gold rays of sunrise.
“Morning,” he replied, trying to ignore the sudden thudding of his heart.
“You’re here early.”
“Habit,” he replied as he shut off the hose’s nozzle and turned to face her. “Better to start early in my line of work,” he explained. “So I’m usually up with the roosters.”
“But the nursery doesn’t open for business for another couple of hours,” she said as she moved past him to walk along two rows of plant-filled tables laden with newly emerging tulips and daffodils. “You could have slept in.”
He stood watching her, unable to keep from drinking in the sight of her. “Appears I’m not the only early bird around here.”
Reaching out she ran a finger over the droplets of water clinging to a slender green-and-yellow striped leaf of a variegated flax lily. “It appears I had the same idea as you.” Letting her hand fall away, she turned to face him. “Watering the plants. Then afterward, before I set out for the hospital, I thought I’d finish tidying up Daddy’s office and go through the orders for this coming week.”
“You were cleaning his office last night?” After he’d dropped her off more exhausted than not?
“I swept up the broken planter and soil, even repotted the aloe plant with the hope I might be able to save it.”
Her words had guilt tugging at his gut. “I’m real sorry you had to do that. I should have at least swept that up before I left for the hospital.” Truth was he’d forgotten all about the upturned plant. His focus had been on Jack.
“It’s all right,” she assured him with a smile. “I’d rather Daddy have had someone he knew with him at the hospital than concern myself with a little dirt on the floor. Besides, I grew up with a nursery in my front yard. Sweeping up soil spills is one of my many talents.”
“Speaking of which, I have bags of topsoil to put out.” He set the hose on the floor by his feet. He’d finish watering later, after Hope had gone.
“Why do I get the feeling I’m chasing you away?”
“I have work to do,” he grumbled.
“I see,” she replied, her scrutinizing gaze fixed upon him.
He sighed. “I’m supposed to be seeing to the nursery during the day so you can spend time with your daddy at the hospital. Or have you changed your mind?” Like you did with us?
“Boy, it’s starting to sound like a certain someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Hope teased in the same playful tone she used to use with him when they were teens and he’d had a bad day. It had worked back then. Now it only served to make matters worse.
“With due cause,” he replied. “I’m worried about Jack.”
“We both are,” she agreed. “But there’s something else bothering you.”
He