LOGAN
“The party is here!” Penny called, striding toward the fire pit with a box of her favorite wine hoisted proudly in her arms. Behind her, Mac followed at an easier pace, shaking his head with that signature crooked smirk tugging at his lips.
A cigarette balanced between them, the smoke curling upward into the night sky like a lazy ribbon.
“We would’ve been here an hour ago,” he said, nodding toward Penny, “but someone couldn’t manage to be on time.”
Theo, perched sideways on Rhodes’s lap, raised a brow. “Did you not tell her the time was an hour earlier than we were meeting? We gotta keep her under control somehow.”
Mac let out a dry laugh and shrugged. “Tried. She’s catching on.”
Penny shot him a playful glare as she set the box of wine down at the edge of the picnic table, pulling out a Solo cup and filling it to the brim without apology.
Before they arrived, it had been Boone and Aspen in their chairs, Theo and Rhodes sharing one, and Ellie and me sitting side-by-side, close enough to feel the warmth of her arm against mine. There was comfort in these moments—these people, this space.
Penny and Mac claimed a spot together on the log bench across from us, settling in as the glow from the fire lit up everyone’s faces in soft flickers of orange and gold.
We all slipped into easy conversation, the kind that comes only from long histories and years of entanglement.
I’d known most of this group most of my life, except for Aspen, Penny, and Theo.
Even though we all did go to high school together, it wasn’t until Boone took a liking to Aspen that brought everyone together, making an unlikely paring of friends our reality.
We joked about old flames, terrible habits, the chaos of our youth, and how, somehow, most of us ended up paired off.
“It’s kind of wild how it all worked out,” Aspen said, her smile tender as she looked at Boone, who reached for her hand without missing a beat.
Those two had been the first—the spark that lit the rest of the fire.
Then came Theo and Rhodes, bonded not just by love but by the love for their daughter, Frankie.
And now, the newest pair: Mac and Penny.
He’d clawed his way back into her heart after blowing it once, but damn if he hadn’t put in the work.
Now they were living together, smiling like love was something easy.
“Isn’t it?” Theo laughed softly, her palm tapping against Rhodes’s cheek. “Who would’ve guessed we’d end up here?”
Penny and Aspen exchanged a quick glance and burst out laughing, their voices echoing over the firelight. “Us!” they said in unison.
Ellie raised her beer bottle, nodding toward Mac and Penny. “And then there’s you two. Clearly meant to be. Mac, you’re one lucky bastard for her to have forgiven you.”
Mac lifted both hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I served my time in the doghouse. Don’t think I’ll ever be fully paroled.”
Penny just grinned and took a sip of wine, nodding as if to say, damn right.
Laughter rolled around us, easy and familiar. Yet a quiet ache settled in my chest as I looked around the fire. They’d all found something. Someone. I was happy for them, but that didn’t stop the part of me that longed for it too.
I might’ve been the youngest of the group, but I’d always known what I wanted. A wife. Kids. A house full of love and noise and everyday chaos. I wanted the kind of life I didn’t grow up with. The kind I only ever got glimpses of.
My parents loved each other, sure, but they never settled down. My mom was a barrel racing champion, my dad her manager. Always on the road, always chasing something. Trophies, wins, adrenaline. So, I’d grown up mostly at the Cassidy Ranch, taken in like one of their own.
Still, I wanted my own. I wanted holidays that didn’t feel borrowed. Family vacations, messy traditions, movie nights with popcorn on the couch and kids falling asleep in my lap.
I glanced to the side quickly to see Ellie, the flames dancing in her eyes. And for the briefest moment, I let myself wonder if maybe, just maybe, that kind of life could still be mine.
“What do you say, why don’t we play Blackjack?” Aspen suggested, producing a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere, her eyes glinting with mischief.
Boone groaned and took a swig from his beer. “No way. Ellie always wins. It’s totally unfair,” he said, chuckling as he leaned back in his chair.
Ellie shot me a glance, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth to hide the growing grin. I met her eyes and laughed with her—just the two of us sharing a silent joke wrapped in history.
She did always win, but not because she was lucky.
That’s why I gave her the nickname.
Ace.
Because she always had one up her sleeve.
Boone, Ellie, and I sat around their dining room table while the storm outside boomed so loudly we could barely hear each other talk. Thunder cracked, and the lightning lit up the windows like fireworks. I wasn’t scared, though, not when I was here with them.
I was spending the night at the Cassidys’ house again.
My parents were gone on another trip, which was typical.
I didn’t mind. I loved being here. They had the best snacks.
My favorite were those brownies wrapped in plastic.
The kind with the little white squiggle on top.
My parents never bought that stuff. They said it was junk, but I thought it tasted like magic.
I took a big sip of birch beer from my can. It was cold and sweet and made my nose tingle.
I looked down at my cards, holding them tight in my hands. My tongue poked out the side of my mouth. Should I ask for another card? Or keep what I had and hope no one beat me?
“I’ll stay,” I said, laying my cards face up on the table. A ten and an eight. Eighteen! That was pretty close to the big two-one. But I had a funny feeling Ellie had me beat. She always did.
“Ha!” Boone shouted, throwing his head back with a giant grin that almost made his cowboy hat fall off.
Boone was thirteen now—a teenager. That made him basically a grown-up in my eyes.
He had given me his old cowboy hat when he got a new one for his birthday.
He told me it was mine now, that he was a man, he needed a man’s hat.
I didn’t care. I liked mine better. It was darker brown, and I thought Ellie might think it looked cool on me.
Boone slapped his cards on the table—two tens. “Gotcha!” He pointed right at me before stuffing a fistful of Skittles into his mouth.
I turned to Ellie, who was trying hard not to smile, but I could see it creeping up her cheeks.
Her hair was in two braids Mrs. Cassidy had done after we came inside, all soaked from playing in the rain.
Ellie’s hair had been wild, sticking to her face, and I laughed because she looked so silly.
I liked her hair crazy, but I didn’t mind it in braids either because now I could see her face.
“Twenty-one,” she said, her whole face lighting up. She laid down a ten and an ace with a proud grin.
“No way!” Boone yelled. “You got twenty-one again?”
Ellie just shrugged, like it was no big deal. She reached forward and scooped up her prize—a pile of Goldfish crackers. We didn’t bet money. We bet snacks. Ellie’s pile was huge. Mine was medium. Boone’s was mostly gone ’cause he kept eating his.
But I didn’t care that Ellie kept winning. I liked when she was happy.
“Boone,” Ellie said sweetly, “can you get me another soda? All these Goldfish are making me thirsty.”
Boone groaned but stood anyway, hopping down from his chair with a big sigh. I watched him head toward the fridge. That’s when Ellie leaned toward me and raised a finger to her lips, telling me to shhh.
Then—sneaky as a fox—she reached across the table, grabbed the ace she’d just played, and slid it into her sleeve before collecting all the cards to start another round.
I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. She winked at me.
No wonder she always won.
When Boone returned, Ellie dealt the next hand. The ace still up her sleeve.
Round after round we played. Ellie won the majority, but of course, she had to throw some or it would get suspicious.
I liked that I knew her trick. It was our little secret.