17. Thea
thea
“Damn—I mean, dang , I haven’t been inside of one of these in a long time.” I elbow Annmarie and take the lead, finding us a pew to sit in near the back.
It was early Sunday morning, and I had an urge to go to church. It’s not my first time at this church, but I was not a regular.
“Church is good for you. Broadens your knowledge,” I tell Annmarie, who rolls her eyes. Juniper stays quiet and people-watches as we sit down.
Growing up, we attended Sunday church every week, including Sunday school for all of us girls and some youth groups during the week. It was one of those things I assumed everyone did growing up, and now, in my thirties, I wanted to try it out again.
Even if my faith was slightly different nowadays.
I glance around the room and see a choir up front; a man is standing off to the side, and I assume he’s the pastor. He looks familiar, and I think I’ve seen him in Bottle Grounds for dinner with his family.
Looking to the right, I blink when I see a certain someone looking back at me. Luella Cash.
“Oh,” I say softly, surprised that Logan and his daughter were up early for church. I wave back at her and smile when she gives me a toothy grin.
“What is it?” Juniper whispers.
“They haven’t started yet, June,” I tell her when she does, smiling at her.
“It’s Mr. Cowboy,” Annmarie whispers back loudly, filling her in on who I’m waving at.
I look back over to their pew and see vibrant eyes looking back at me. Blushing, I duck my head and look away, but not before I see the little smirk that Logan always wears aimed my way.
Didi and Stetson sit with them in their row, and they look like the perfect little family.
I also see Dani Cash with her fiancé, her parents, and CT’s dad. Behind them are Graham and Quinn, with Quinn’s arms full of the little baby and her adorable daughter on the seat next to her.
They look like the perfect all-American family, and I wonder briefly what that’s like. Is it overwhelming to be a part of something like that? Or do they appreciate having so much support?
I couldn’t have gotten through what I did without my sisters. I knew Tori wasn’t happy with me, and I knew Ophelia was just a little too young to fully understand all that had happened when I was with Eric. Even so, they were there to be my support when I was going through hell.
Not telling them what was going on now, that I’d basically handed Logan my life, that he was saving us from potential ruin, was not an easy feat.
Juniper would worry.
That was who she was. She worried about everyone and was the person who would give you the shirt off her back if it would make you feel better. If there was something she could do to help someone, she would do it without hesitation.
But I didn’t want her to have to do that for me. She was in a place in her life that was good. She was happy, secure, and headed for a wonderful future here.
Derailing her would break my heart.
Annmarie would probably hit me if she knew what I was hiding, and I’ve been tempted to let her in on what was going on, even if she would probably threaten to end Eric’s life if he ever came near us.
She was the backbone of our family more than she probably realized, but it was because she is levelheaded.
She didn’t let things get to her and absolutely refused to involve herself in anyone’s drama.
But…she was happy. Maybe she didn’t show it like anyone else, but she was.
Ruining that for any of my sisters would break my heart.
Several times through the service and worship, I caught myself glancing to where Logan stood or sat, and several times, I caught him already looking back at me. His smile was mischievous, and his eyes told me that he was thinking of getting up to no good.
We leave the church first, and Annmarie takes a deep breath as soon as we’re out the door. She blinks and looks at me, her hand laying on her stomach. “Whew. Didn’t burn up. That’s a good sign, right?”
I laugh at her and shake my head, heading down the stairs.
For the first time in a long time, I’m wearing a light-blue sundress and flats. It’s dressier than I was for my date with Logan, but the sun is shining bright and hot today as June took over.
“That’s definitely a good sign, Annie,” Juniper replies, smiling proudly at her sister as if what Annmarie said was serious.
I bite back a laugh at the reply and make my way onto the sidewalk.
“Thea!” I hear my name called, and all three of us turn back to the voice.
I smile when I see Logan rushing toward us.
He’s got a light-green button-up on, tucked into clean jeans that lay over his shiny brown boots that seem to be his “dress boots.” And now that he’s outside the church, his straw hat is firmly in place over his slightly too-long hair.
I try really hard not to look pleased that he ran after me.
Annmarie pinches my side, and I jerk away with a yelp.
“No need to holler, I’m right here.” Logan grins at me when he stops in front of me.
“Ha, ha,” I reply sarcastically. “What’s up?”
“Where are you guys headed?” he asks, tipping his hat at my sisters. I’m pretty sure Juniper melts a little.
“Back to the bar. We have to work,” I reply, holding my bag a little tighter against my side.
“Ah, bummer. We wanted to invite you all to lunch at the Trevors’ place.”
“Oh, well, Juniper and I have to go to work, but Thea is free.” Ann gives me a little shove. I glare back at her .
“No, I’m going to work too.”
“Oh, no, we don’t need you,” Juniper says, picking up on what our sister is so obviously doing.
I glare at her. “I have inventory to do.”
“Didn’t you do that last night?” Ann pipes in, and I turn the glare to her.
Suddenly, my sisters think that they need to shove me at Logan. Can’t they see by the death glare on my face that I’d rather eat rusty nails than be alone with Logan right now?
“Great, sounds like you have the day off, Dorothy.”
“Okay, now you’re pushing it,” I tell him, holding a finger up to him and watching his little smirk become a full-grown smile. Doesn’t it hurt him to smile so much?
“Come on, Lue would love to see you and show you around the ranch.”
“I’ve already been there.”
Juniper turns to me, a frown on her face. “You have? When?”
“For the festival.” I cover quickly before Logan can blow that I was there recently. “Remember? Funnel cake and beer?”
Her eyebrows knit together, and I understand her confusion. Because we’ve never gone to the festival.
It throws her off long enough, and I turn back to Logan.
“So, yeah, sorry. But I really do need to get back to the bar.” His eyes glance to my sisters and back to me, his lips still curved and his hands on his hips.
“Gotta make that bacon. Pay the piper. And…” I lick my lips, my mind blanking. “I got nothing.”
“Well, you also don’t have a ride back to the bar, so…” He lifts his brows behind me, and I spin around to see Annmarie and Juniper gone.
“What!”
Logan chuckles. “Guess you’re coming home with me. ”
I glare at him. “You don’t have to sound so thrilled about it.”
“Oh, but I am.”
Three Rivers is a gorgeous ranch. The last time I came here, I didn’t really take a good look at it because my nerves had been so all over the place that I wasn’t paying attention.
But now, looking at it, I could see why the Trevors had held on to it for so long.
It was brilliant.
The barn was huge and white with green trim. It had space above the main doorway where they could put a sign, but it currently didn’t have anything on it. There were horses out to pasture on one side of the driveway, and I smiled at the sight.
I was in the front seat of Logan’s truck—again—with Lue in the back, pointing out all the things the ranch had to offer.
The house itself is something you would see in a children’s storybook. It is two levels, with a large wrap-around porch. It looked part ranch style, part cabin in the woods, and even from just seeing the outside of it, I was blown away.
“Wow, what a gorgeous house.”
“Wait until you see the inside,” Logan says, patting my hand and hopping out of the truck. I glance back at Lue, who definitely saw the hand pat and is smiling at me.
Logan opens my door, and Lue scoffs at him. “You never open my door!”
He laughs and helps me down. “That’s because when you were eight, you told me that you no longer needed my help with anything, so I’ve let you be independent, my strong-willed daughter.”
“Well.” She sniffs and raises her chin dramatically. I cover part of my mouth with my fingers, trying not to laugh. “I changed my mind.”
“Oh, did you? I’m so sorry, Your Highness. Let me get right on that,” he replies, and like a good father, he opens her door and even bows just for good measure.
She exists with the drama of a theater geek and nods at him. “That’s more like it.”
Then she runs ahead of us and catches up to Quinn’s daughter, who is just arriving.
Logan and I walk side by side, me holding a laugh at bay and him shaking his head in exasperation.
Though I can tell that secretly thrilled him.
“She’s something else.”
He laughs. “She certainly is.” He watches her for a minute and then stops. I slow down with him and wait. “I’m glad, though, it means she won’t settle for anything less than she deserves. I want her to be humble, but I don’t want her to think she needs to stoop to anyone else’s level to be happy.”
“That’s really sweet, Logan.” I wish I had had that kind of knowledge growing up.
This next generation was going to have everything they needed as far as affirmation of who they are, while I was taught that you had to change yourself to fit into a society, that you had to be what others wanted you to be. “You’re a really good dad.”
Logan’s cheeks redden, and I smile. It’s nice to not be the one blushing for once.
We head inside, Logan’s hand on my lower back, and he introduces me to everyone again.
I’ve technically met everyone before, but it’s a large group and hard to keep up with sometimes .
It helps that they all come into Bottle Grounds often enough that I can at least recognize faces.
Dani pulls me aside with her and Quinn and the moms. I expected to help out in the kitchen, but instead, I’m handed a cold drink, and we go and sit out on the porch.
The only kid who has tagged along is, of course, Quinn’s little boy, JC.
“What’s JC stand for?” I ask, settling into the seat they guided me toward and listening to the men cook while we relax. If this was the rule in this family, I was going to come to more events.
It was a nice change of pace.
“Jonathan Cade,” Quinn answers with a smile. “Jonathan is my dad’s name, and Graham really wanted to honor his brother.”
Which explained Cade.
“He’s adorable.” And he was. He was maybe four or five months old and was barely able to hold his head up for too long, but he was the cutest little chunk of a baby I’ve ever seen.
“So, Quinn, how comes the wedding plans?” Didi asks, sending me a wink when she catches my eye. I have no idea how Didi feels about me being in Logan or Lue’s life, but so far, she hasn’t said anything to me about it.
I wonder if that interrogation will come today.
Quinn dives into details of her wedding, telling us about colors and flowers and invitations. It makes me think about mine a little bit, which had been a quick courthouse thing, then heading back to his motorcycle club’s compound for a reception.
It hadn’t been fun.
The people there were rowdy and, frankly, didn’t give a crap about me or my sisters, who were too young to be there, even though it was a family event .
I ended up leaving early with my sisters, going home without my new husband.
Red flags were everywhere, but apparently, I used to be colorblind.
“What about you, Dani? Any plans?” Quinn switches the topic to her sister-in-law-to-be and Dani blushes.
“Actually, we’re thinking July.”
“July?” Sandra, Dani’s mom, asks with a shriek. “This July?”
Dani shrugs and nods her head. I admire this girl so much. She was wearing her boots, jeans, and a button-down shirt as well, and looked every bit of the cowgirl she is at heart. “We want something small. Heck, we wanted to do it in the spring, but things got away from us.”
“Well, shoot, we need to plan something!” Sandra says, rushing into the house.
I watch her go, and Dani stays where she is, casually sipping her tea. “Where is she going?”
“Knowing my mom?” Dani smiles at me, her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders, moving gently with the summer breeze. “Crazy.”
I laugh, and when Sandra bustles back out with a large planner, CT follows closely behind her. “I grabbed the groom!”
CT smiles at Dani and goes to rest on the arm of her chair, reaching down to interlock their fingers together. “We don’t need anything crazy. Dani doesn’t want a big wedding.”
It’s sweet to see him looking out for her. To see that they’re such a unit, a team, is a dream that I never wished for myself.
Now, with Logan, who was literally saving my ass, I had this tiny bit of hope lingering in my chest that maybe he could be that other half of my team someday, too.
But I was getting ahead of myself.