Ellie
Iheld my hand out the window, fingers slicing through the warm summer wind as Logan’s truck cruised down the interstate. We were already two hours into our trip, the sun was high and golden, casting long rays across the highway.
A flicker of guilt tugged at me. Was I wrong for doing this? For leaving town when things got hard?
Part of me whispered that I was running again—avoiding the aftermath of my decisions. Maybe I was a quitter. Maybe nothing would ever change because I always chose to bolt when the ground shook beneath me.
But then there was the other part. The louder part, the one I was trying desperately to listen to, which was the part that knew I needed this.
Not just to get away, but to give myself space.
To breathe. To heal. Taking a break to gather your thoughts when your emotions felt like a live wire was okay.
The radio played softly, a lazy country tune humming beneath the roar of the tires on the asphalt. It was little more than background noise, a soundtrack to the chaos in my mind.
This time, I reminded myself, it’s not like before.
I wasn’t running away alone.
Logan sat beside me, one hand on the wheel, sunglasses hiding his eyes, but his presence spoke volumes. Grounded. Quiet. Unshakable. I wasn’t escaping, I was trying to find grace, and he was right there with me.
When I told my family I was leaving, I’d hoped having Logan by my side would soften the blow. I doubted it would make much difference, but we at least had a believable story: Logan wanted to visit his mom’s shows, and I just happened to tag along.
That’s what we told everyone.
Boone, of course, had questions because the ranch didn’t run itself. My brother had always been the type to roll with things despite the unknown, so the lack of answers we provided didn’t shake him much. He was understanding and flexible which made this trip feel a little easier.
Sandy and Penny had offered to cover my shifts at the flower shop.
Even Theo was willing to learn considering she had the extra time since she was still between jobs, easing back into work since having Frankie.
Last I heard, she’d accepted a photography position in Montana starting in a few months, and she was eager to get into the rhythm of things again.
I was lucky, so damn lucky, to have people in my life willing to step in, no questions asked.
Even luckier that I had Logan.
“Hear me out,” I said, shifting my attention back to him.
His left hand rested lazily on the steering wheel, fingers drumming to the beat of the music, while the other hung over the center console—close enough to touch.
He wore his signature cowboy hat, the one that was so him it may as well have come with his name stitched into the band.
It was dusty, weathered, clearly worn in from years of sun and sweat and use.
The ends of his blond hair curled slightly where they brushed the brim. My eyes followed the soft movement, then drifted down to the ink etched along his bicep, just visible beneath the edge of his faded black T-shirt.
“Oh, I’m listening,” he said, flashing a lazy grin as he peeked at me over the rim of his square-framed Ray-Bans.
“There’s an amusement park about an hour and a half from here,” I said. “I swear it won’t take us much off course.” I paused and then muttered, “Well… not too much.”
While Logan packed up and got us on the road, I’d started planning a few pit stops. This trip wasn’t just a straight shot to the beach. It was a chance to breathe, to be somewhere else, to exist without expectation. We had time, and we were going to use it.
That’s what I loved about driving instead of flying. The second you pulled out of town, your vacation begun. There was something thrilling in that. Airplanes were for people in a hurry—people desperate to get somewhere. But right now, I needed everything to slow down.
Logan reached for his phone, pulling it from the dash mount and handing it to me.
“Put it in the maps,” he said, offering it without hesitation.
I took it, and for a moment, I hesitated. It felt strangely intimate, holding his unlocked phone, having access to something private and sacred.
“That’s it?” I laughed, thumbing in the address. “No questions?”
He shook his head.
“Nope. Whatever you want to do, we will do it.”
“Oh, you really don’t know what you’ve just agreed to,” I replied with a devious laugh.
“I think I do,” he said with a knowing smirk, eyes flicking back to the road.
I held up his phone like a trophy.
“You know, now that I have this, I should see what kind of women you’re talking to. Maybe even check out your search history.”
I wiggled it playfully, waiting for him to flinch, to lunge, to snatch it away, but he just shrugged. Like it didn’t matter at all, and that surprised me.
Buck had always snatched his phone out of my hands like it was on fire. Never let me near it, never let me scroll. But Logan didn’t even blink.
“You won’t find anything exciting on there,” he said easily. “Go on, look through it.” He added with a wink.
And something about the calm, complete, and total lack of panic did something to my heart.
Because in a world full of people hiding things, Logan wasn’t.
Curiosity got the best of me.
I swiped out of the GPS. After all, we had plenty of road ahead of us.
I found myself staring at Logan’s phone background.
It was a photo from the overlook, Faircloud nestled between the valleys, the sky painted in hues of fading sunlight.
It was beautiful. Peaceful. The kind of picture that made you feel something, even if you couldn’t name it.
I didn’t know why I was so curious about who Logan might be talking to. Maybe I was looking for proof of something—anything. A girl, a secret fling, someone he kept quiet about. Something dark to prove he wasn’t perfect.
I opened his messages.
They were filled with names I recognized. A few threads from our friend group. One labeled “Mom.”
I hummed under my breath and swiped out. If there was anything worth snooping through, it was the camera roll. That’s where the truth usually lived.
What was I looking for? I wasn’t sure.
Logan and I knew each other inside and out. His favorite foods, colors, the hobbies he obsessed over. I even knew what side of the bed he always claimed—closest to the door, like some sort of silent protector. Same went for restaurant booths, too. Always guarding the exit.
But his love life? That was a blank page. He knew everything about mine, and yet somehow, I’d never once heard a single detail about his.
Cattle. Pastures. Truck engines. Ridiculous photos of Boone acting like a fool. The occasional blurry sunset or greasy takeout menu.
But then, one caught my eye.
I tapped to enlarge it.
It was a photo of me.
My head tilted back in laughter, hair cascading over my shoulders. Penny stood beside me, her back to the camera. And I looked… happy. Purely, effortlessly happy.
I swiped again.
More photos. All from the surprise birthday party Aspen had thrown for me months ago. All of me—smiling, laughing, eyes full of life.
Emotion hit me like a sucker punch to the chest. Sharp and fast and disorienting. My heart thudded, the weight of a thousand things unsaid settling heavily in my ribcage.
“You never showed me these,” I said softly, flipping the phone toward Logan.
He glanced over, just for a second, and I saw the slight tightening of his jaw, the quick clench before he cleared his throat.
“They’re from your party,” he said, eyes back on the road. “I thought they were nice. I guess I just forgot to send them.”
“Well, I’m sending them to myself now,” I replied, trying to keep my voice light. “Because this one is going to live on forever.”
It was a photo of Boone hauling me over his shoulder, mid-sprint toward the swimming hole. I was screaming, my face frozen in a ridiculous expression of panic and laughter.
When I pulled up my contact to send the pictures, another photo caught my eye.
It was my contact image on Logan’s phone.
Me and him, maybe nine or ten years old. I was holding his face against mine, both of us grinning like lunatics. Crooked teeth. Sticky cheeks. What looked like Italian ice smeared around our mouths.
I refused to let this warmth unfurling in my chest take over. Instead, I sent the pictures, exited out of what I‘d been looking through, and handed him back his phone.
Where I hoped to find something deeper, all I found was evidence to prove everything I already knew to be true.
Logan was pure, as wholesome as they come, and that made my heart flutter in recognition, in calming.