They settled on the bench and a few minutes later the boys lined up to play. As the game started, Sarah leaned forward, her hands on her knees, her eyes darting from their team to the opposition, as if delving for weaknesses.
Normally Logan would be watching as intently as she was.
But this evening, his entire attention was on the beautiful woman beside him, her blue eyes bright, her cheeks flushed, her hands alternately clenched into fists or thrown into the air in disgust as the referee made what she thought were bad calls.
Now and again he glanced at Alton Berube, but he never saw on that man’s face the love of the game that he saw in Sarah even in the bleachers.
What had he been thinking to even try to take this away from her? How could he have been so selfish? Sure he had been thinking of his brother and what Billy needed and sure Sarah had survived this loss. But as he watched her now, he realized that he had come between her and this job.
And that was wrong.
He recalled Tilly Westerveld’s conversation with him. He wasn’t coming between her and her father now, but he wasn’t encouraging her to maintain that relationship.
But he couldn’t bring her father into his life. Not yet. Not now. He and Sarah were just beginning to breathe new energy into a relationship that had haunted him ever since they met.
“Oh, c’mon. Get going, guys,” Sarah called out, pulling him back to the game. She jumped to her feet, cheering as the Voyageurs scored another basket.
She turned to him and grabbed his hands, oblivious to the fact that her family was watching. “They’re doing great, aren’t they?” she exclaimed, her face flushed, her eyes bright.
Maybe it was her compelling exuberance, maybe it was how her eyes sparkled with infectious glee, maybe it was simply sheer fear of losing the moment—Logan bent over and kissed her.
In public, in front of a large portion of the population of Millars Crossing. And to his immense surprise and joy, Sarah threw her arms around him and kissed him back.
“Okay, much as I hate to admit it, that was a great game,” Sarah said, slipping her jacket back on. Somehow in the heat of the game she had tossed it off. “Didn’t you think it was good?” she asked Logan, who had been strangely quiet the last part of the game.
Sure, it had turned into a bit of a nail-biter and Alton had made some calls she wouldn’t have, but they had won.
“I think, if you were coaching, they would have done better,” Logan said quietly.
His words were a gentle gift that boosted her self-confidence just enough that she dared to joke about it. “Well, we know that.”
He caught her hands and, as the warmth of his fingers enveloped hers, a tingle of awareness flickered up her spine. Logan Carleton was holding her hands in a public place. In the very gym where they had first met.
On top of his kiss, this felt so right. So sure.
Did she dare let her wishes take her further? Did she dare dream that more of a relationship might come of this? She looked up into his dark eyes so intent on her and felt her pulse beating against her temples as possibilities danced around them, insulating them from the noise of the people leaving the gym.
“Hey, Sarah.”
Sarah dragged her attention away from Logan but didn’t let go of his hand and, with a sense of inevitability, turned to see who wanted her. But the person calling her was not a relative. It was Alicia, Marilee’s good friend.
Almost as bad, Sarah thought.
“I want to go congratulate Billy,” Logan murmured.
Sarah didn’t blame his defection. Alicia was a sweet person, but once captured, it was hard to release oneself from the inevitable avalanche of words that would pour from her.
“I’ve been meaning to call you and talk. It’s been ages and you haven’t been around much, not that I blame you, but hey, this is your hometown and you know, you gotta come back once in a while if only to see what you haven’t been missing. Of course—” While she talked, Alicia threw a meaningful glance Logan’s way “—I’m surprised, for that one’s sake, you didn’t come home more often.”
As she chatted, Sarah slipped her hands in her pockets and then found a way to take control of the conversation.
She waited for an infinitesimal pause on Alicia’s part and dove in. “I found this in Marilee’s dresser when I cleaned out her room,” she said, pulling out the friendship bracelet. “I think you must have made it for her.”
Alicia took the bracelet and for a moment her eyes glistened. “I helped her make this one and a matching one .”
She handed it back as she gave Sarah a slow, sad smile. “Actually she had plans to give one to Logan and one to you. The night she died.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I remember her saying that one way or another she was going to figure out how to get you two together again, so she was going to meet Logan at that party. Give him the bracelet. Tell him that you had a matching one. To show that you two belonged together.”
Sarah heard the words but couldn’t seem to string them in any coherent order. “She wrote me a note that night. Something about if I didn’t want Logan…” She stopped, trying to remember.
“I remember her writing that note. She was in a hurry because that Setterfeld boy was coming to pick her and Denise up to go to that party.”
“You were over that night? I don’t remember.”
Alicia’s eyes held a glimmer of sorrow. “Yeah. Last time I saw her alive. We snuck out of the house. Marilee didn’t want your dad to know what she was up to. Said he’d be fuming mad if he found out she was trying to get you two together again. She wrote that note out so fast, I said I’d be surprised if it was readable, but you know Marilee, she said you would know what it was about. I just wished she wouldn’t have decided to get hammered at that party. Things would have turned out so different. For her and for Denise.”
Sarah fingered the friendship bracelet, clinging to the reality of it as she sorted through what Alicia was saying.
Marilee had tried to get her and Logan together. How could she have misread that note so completely?
Misconception upon misconception.
What had she done? She glanced over at Logan, and she felt the relentless onslaught of misunderstandings that had been created by her perception of her sister, her lack of trust in Logan, her lack of self-confidence, and her overwhelming desire to please her father.
She clutched the bracelet and pressed her lips against the flutter of sorrow working its way up her throat. “Thanks, Alicia. I really appreciate you telling me this.”
And before Alicia could say another word, Sarah left. She had much to think about. Much to rediscover.
Her sister had tried to get her and Logan together. Sarah almost stumbled as another wave of sorrow and regret washed over her. She had ruthlessly cleaned out her sister’s room, had tried to purge her life of memories.
But now, she had a new one, a good one to take their place.
Logan was still talking to Billy by the time she joined them. Billy gave her a curt nod. “Hey, Miss Westerveld. You coming back to help Mr. Berube?”
Still bemused by what she had just discovered, Sarah could only shake her head.
“’Cause he said you were coming to practice.” Billy sighed. “You should come. I mean, Mr. B’s okay, but—” Billy lifted one shoulder in an exaggerated shrug “—he doesn’t know the game like you do.”