31- Understandable

Predictably, the night was a long one. After tossing and turning for hours, Terri rose and headed to the hospital. Because Logan still expressed hesitations about letting her out of his sight, they’d shared a room, though he’d slept on the foldout couch on the other side of the partition, so they had at least a bit of privacy.

Not that she’d wanted it. The little crush she’d initially had on him had turned into something more. Last night, standing up for him, she’d realized that she’d fallen so hard there seemed little chance of getting back up again. Which was so very, very bad.

It didn’t matter that he’d sent mixed messages. The one that had been broadcasted the most was the rejection one. She really needed to get that through her head.

At the hospital, her mom was nowhere to be seen, which was kind of a relief. She’d told Logan this would be a quick visit, so he waited in the car.

“Knock, knock,” she called softly, entering her dad’s room.

“Hey.” He grinned big from the bed, where a breakfast tray sat across his lap.

“Hi, Dad. How you doing?” She took a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Ah.” He waved his hand. “I’ll be out of here in no time at all.”

“Yeah, okay.” She laughed. “Please don’t push yourself.”

In answer, he shrugged. “Your mother told me about your new boyfriend.”

She caught her lip between her teeth. Oh. That’s right. She’d told her mom that Logan was her boyfriend.

“Is he as handsome as she says?”

“That’s what you want to know?”

Had her mom shared anything about the fight? And what about Charlie? For all Terri knew, he’d spilled the true story to their mother the second she left the house last night.

“What I really want to know is if he’s nice.”

A lump formed in her throat. “He is, but I don’t think we’ll make it.”

“I’m sorry to hear.” He frowned. “You sure it can’t be worked through?”

She looked down. “I don’t think so.”

There was a knock, and a doctor entered the room. “Hi, Mr. Lane. Time to do that checkup.”

“I’ll go.” Terri stood and squeezed her dad’s hand. “But I’ll be back later.”

Since she’d said it, she would. Running back to Chicago over the first hiccup wasn’t so easy after all.

As she exited the room, her steps slowed. Charlie stood in the hall, hands on his hips.

“Hi.” He scuffed his shoe on the shiny floor.

“Hi.”

“Where’s Logan?”

She crossed her arms. “Around.”

Charlie gave her a dark look. “Really? I’m not going to have him arrested right now.”

“Yeah, only because you don’t have enough evidence.”

“No. Because he can help us, and if you want me to let him off the hook, I will.”

Terri’s arms dropped to her sides. “Oh.”

Looked like Logan was right. A night’s sleep had changed her brother’s mind.

“I have to get back to Chicago,” he said. “I have a meeting in a few hours. But once you two return, we’re taking care of this. Okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded, tears filling her eyes. Quite abruptly, she felt a thousand miles closer to the end of all of this.

“I’m sorry I freaked out last night.”

“It’s okay.” She sniffled. “It was understandable.”

Charlie wrapped his arms around her, and she squeezed him tight.

“I know Mom and Dad need help,” he said into her hair. “But don’t stay long, okay? This needs to be taken care of soon as possible. Especially if what you said about Bryce Shillings knowing about you and Logan is true.”

“Okay.” She stepped back and nodded. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Good.” The doctor left their dad’s room, tapping on the tablet in her hand. “I’ll say goodbye to Dad and then head out.”

“I’m gonna leave now.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder. “Logan is in the car.”

“Hey.” He paused, hand on the door. “Are you two together?”

“No.” For some reason, she couldn’t meet his eyes. “We’re not.”

“Just wondering. See you soon.”

“See you.” She gave him a quick wave, then hurried down the hall.

“How is he?” Logan asked as she entered the car with the AC on full blast. “He’s really good, but that’s not all.” She turned in her seat to face him. “I saw Charlie, and he says he’s in. He’s going to forget all about investigating you and focus on Bryce.”

Logan’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yes. He has to get back to work now, but once we’re all in Chicago, it’s game on.” She burst into laughter, and he joined in.

“We need to celebrate,” he said.

“How?”