Chapter 10
Logan
Logan heard Beck and Colt ringing the doorbell to his loft then banging up the stairs.
“You’re going to the tree lighting,” Beck told him.
“You have to walk a hundred yards. That’s it,” Colt said. “Grab a coat.”
“No, I’m not going.”
“Why not?”
“I have to work.” Logan didn’t have to work.
He could work, but he would probably read a book.
Or play chess online with someone who didn’t want to go see a Christmas tree light up.
He used to play with Bellini. She almost always won, but he’d been practicing these last years.
He was getting better. Maybe not enough to beat Bellini, but he could try. He hoped. Maybe. Someday.
“You don’t have to work,” Beck said, scoffing. “Come on. Come with us. We go through this every year, and you always say no. Why don’t you say yes this year? One yes. One.”
Logan did not want to go to a tree lighting. He didn’t like Christmas anymore.
“Maybe we can get Colt a date,” Beck joked. “Someone visiting from out of town.”
“Me a date?” Colt exclaimed. “How about you?”
“I don’t need a date.”
“Yeah, man. You do.”
They started arguing about who needed a date most, and then they wondered who was more “undatable” because of various “challenging personal characteristics and major faults.”
“Hey, Logan,” Beck said. “I know that Jaxi and Helena and Collins went to get Bellini. They’re bringing her.”
Logan froze.
“She’s going to the tree lighting,” Colt said. “Got a text.” He held up his phone to prove it.
Silence descended as Colt and Beck waited.
They knew Logan and Bellini’s history, but they didn’t know why Bellini had broken up with Logan.
Logan didn’t talk about it. Neither did Bellini.
They knew how much it had affected Logan, though.
They’d known him his whole life, and he’d damn near shut down and out.
Logan turned and stared out the windows at the darkening mountains. He shouldn’t go. He had gone with Bellini for years as kids. And now he was supposed to go and see her there? And remember?
“Logan,” Colt said quietly, slapping him on the back. “Come on, man.”
“It’ll be fun, Logan,” Beck said. “We’ll try to be three manly men watching a tree lighting. We’ll gather up all our masculinity, try to look cool, stand cool, be cool. Maybe we’ll cross our arms over our massive chests and not clap when the lights are turned on, because, again, we’re too cool.”
Logan laughed. Couldn’t help himself.
“Then we’ll be tough men with machismo and come back here and have a couple beers with you and watch sports on TV and grunt and scratch and make dumb jokes.” Beck mimed clinking beer mugs together.
“You’re both true friends,” Logan said. “I definitely wouldn’t want to sacrifice my manliness by watching a tree lighting.”
“I’m holding on to my testosterone with both hands as a member of the male species,” Colt said. “At least I’ll try until they sing ‘Silent Night.’ That one always makes me tear up. My grandmother used to sing that to me, and I get all emotional.”
“I’m always a stud,” Beck said. “And an excellent singer.” They laughed. Beck could not carry a tune. He had even gotten kicked off the choir in fifth grade. He sounded like a belching frog. “Come on, bro.”
Logan thought of Bellini standing near the tree, the lights glinting off her red hair, her huge smile beaming, her dimples flashing.
He should stay here so his heart wouldn’t crack.
He should go and surreptitiously watch her.
He should stay and play chess.
He should go and see how the Christmas lights looked shining off all that beautiful hair.
“Okay,” Logan said. “I’ll come.” What the heck? He grabbed his jacket. “Let’s go.”
“Remember,” Beck said, a finger in the air. “We’re manly men. No crying over Christmas carols or women!”
Logan tried not to look for Bellini, but it was impossible. He found her within seconds. For one, her red curls stood out. For two, she was smiling and laughing with her cousins and friends, and for three, he always knew when she was around. It was a sixth sense. His Bellini sense.
Her dimpled, wide smile captured him every time, and once he saw her, he could hardly focus on anything else.
The crowds cleared a bit, like some magical tunnel, and Bellini turned and stared right at him.
He stared back. Of course, he couldn’t look away.
That was impossible. Tiny snowflakes, dancing down, were catching in her hair.
Automatically, instantly, she smiled at him, free and flowing, as she’d always smiled at him.
He smiled back, his heart warming.
Beck raised his eyebrows at Colt.
Colt shrugged at Beck.
Jaxi and Helena and Collins elbowed one another.
Colt and Beck waved at Jaxi, Helena, Collins, and Bellini and headed over. For a second, Logan didn’t move, his gaze locked on Bellini’s. She glowed. That’s what Bellini did. That inner light of hers, her inner goodness and humor and intelligence, it was like a…a moonbeam. A galactic star.
“Coming, Logan?” Beck said. “Or do I have to drag you? I’ll do it, you know.”
“I’m coming.” He had missed Bellini so much. Every day.
“Man, why don’t you cut out a red paper heart, write, ‘I love Bellini,’ and stick it to your forehead?” Colt asked, hitting him on the back as “cool” guys do.
“Very funny,” Logan said.
“I’m always honing my comedian skills. Maybe I’ll be famous one day.”
The groups merged into one, as they had done for all their growing-up years.
“Hi, Bellini,” Logan said.
“Hello, Logan,” she said.
Then they gazed at each other for a while as Colt, Beck, Helena, Jaxi, and Collins tried to suppress how entertaining they thought this couple was.
Why on earth had they broken up in the first place?
No one knew. They were perfect for each other.
Maybe they would get together for Christmas. Surely there could be a miracle?
At least half the town was there for the tree lighting. It was a clear, cold night, perfect weather to start the Christmas celebrations. The band leader signaled that the countdown should begin.
The crowd joined in. “Ten…nine…eight…”
At “one,” the tree lit up, like magic, with colorful lights from bottom to top. Everyone oohed and aahed and clapped.
Bellini tilted her head back to look at Logan, and he winked down at her. Now, finally, he was glad he’d come to the tree lighting. He knew he should protect himself, not see her, not think about her, but it was impossible.
The carols were sung. Colt teared up at “Silent Night” and insisted he was still a manly man.
Beck sang all the songs off tune, loudly, which had Logan and Colt almost crying with laughter.
As soon as they recovered, Beck belted out another song, sounding like a cross between a sick frog and a donkey.
Bellini, Jaxi, Collins, and Helena laughed, too. They could hardly sing they were cackling so hard. Beck always did this to them.
The star at the top of the tree twinkled. Some said later they’d never seen that star so bright.
Logan thought his heart was growing a couple of sizes, like the Grinch’s.