Chapter Twenty-Six
Logan
Three Months Later
T he front door opens and Rose comes in, looking a little disheveled. She's been working on cleaning out a storage shed in the back yard of this cabin so we've got somewhere to put gardening equipment .
Rose is very determined that she's going to have a vegetable garden, even though the soil up here isn't the best. I've been teasing her that she's going full frontierswoman, which she sometimes finds funny .
"There's a robin out there," she says .
I look up from the dishes I'm doing, and Knox looks up from some electronic thing he's trying to fix .
"Spring?" I ask .
She nods, excitedly. I think the long winter has been getting to her, even though she's trying not to let on. But it's hard to be snowed in for a couple of months, no matter how often your boyfriends make you come .
"Supposedly," she says. "I think some of the trees are starting to bud, too ."
"Good," Knox says. "It's about time ."
"It's the same amount of winter as every other year," I point out .
"And it's always about time for spring right around now," he says .
" Boys ," Rose interjects .
She walks over to Knox, giving him a kiss, then comes over to me .
"How did we survive before you?" I murmur .
"With either more surly silence or more fighting," she says .
I think she's right, actually. Not that I particularly remember, because the years before we found Rose half-frozen on a dirt road feel like they've faded into the background, the past three months burning brighter in my memory than anything that happened before .
"I picked up the mail, by the way," I tell her and Knox .
She's standing at the sink, drinking a glass of water, looking out the window at the still-brown trees .
"Anything good?" she asks .
I know she means is there anything from my dad ?
The question still forms a rock in my gut, and I swallow, because there's not.
No one's heard a peep from him since Rose left without saying goodbye, and while most of me thinks she's better off without him, I can't believe anyone would do that to their own child .
God knows if I had a daughter, there's no way I'd ever let her drive across —
You're getting ahead of yourself, I think .
"The course catalog came," I say .
Rose smiles, and she looks a little relieved .
"Good, I was starting to think I'd forgotten to request it or something," she says. "I think getting out of the cabin and into town once a week will be good for me ."
I just laugh, because I know that living up here full time without much human interaction is... let's just say it takes a particular personality type. I think Rose likes it, but I think she also needs just a little more company than Knox and I can give her, sometimes .
I can't blame her. I know I'm the weird one in this situation .
"Study electrical engineering," Knox pipes in. "Maybe you can fix this damn radio ."
"I don't think an act of God could fix that radio," Rose says .
"It was working the other day," he muttered .
"You mean before you dropped it into a half-melted snowbank ?"
I have to force myself not to laugh. Knox just sighs .
"Why'd you have the radio outside, anyway?" I ask .
He glares at me .
"Trying to get a better signal," he says, shrugging. "It's been on the fritz, so I thought maybe it would help if I took it outside, without interference or something ."
Rose and I just both look at him, eyebrows raised .
"Yes, where I proceeded to drop it into a snowbank," he grumbles. "Like you two are so perfect. I know that burn hole in the rug by the fire is your fault, Rose ."
"We're not talking about me right now," she says, her eyes dancing .
Now Knox is smiling too .
"And you left the window open for it to rain on the storage room last week," he says, pointing at me .
"Okay, okay, point taken," Rose says, walking over to Knox .
She sits in his lap, her arms around his neck. He starts to look mollified .
"I'd like an apology," he says, straight- faced .
Rose laughs .
"I'm sure you would," she says .
"So would I," I interject, slowly walking over to them .
"For what ?"
"I'll think of something," I say .
Rose laughs. She kisses Knox, then me .
And then we do dirty, dirty things to her, right there on the kitchen table .