Keeping Score

by Shannon Stults

  She needed to distract herself. “And how do you know so much about these horses?” she went on.

  “It was when I started helping Carithers out around the barn. I’d never been on a horse before, but once I started taking care of them and getting to know them, it was all I wanted to do. Carithers wouldn’t let me ride them while I was working, so I started sneaking down here at night.”

  “How did you learn to ride?”

  He shrugged, and she felt her cheek brush the shoulder of his soft T-shirt. “Taught myself. It wasn’t too hard. They’re well trained and, once I had their trust, it was easy. I snuck out here any chance I had. Gave me some much-needed peace and quiet.”

  She laughed, trying to picture it. “How did I not know this?”

  “There are still some things even you don’t know about me, Logan Kase,” he said softly. Something about the quiet gentleness of his voice eased the tight knot in her stomach. She took a deep breath, feeling her body relax.

  “So, what? You’re just going to keep sneaking out here anytime you want like a teenage boy?”

  “No. One day I’d like to have some of my own. You know, once I’m done saving up for the big house and all that land.”

  She pictured it instantly: Cole Tucker in a big ranch-style or farmhouse sitting on several acres of land, his horses running freely in the fields behind it. It was perfect for him. “That sounds nice,” she said.

  “Yep. Maybe you can come out sometime, and I’ll teach you how to handle one of these all by yourself,” he teased.

  “Yeah, maybe,” she muttered, her chest growing heavy. He still didn’t know about her inevitable move to California. She wanted to tell him that her time in Willow Creek was temporary, needed to even. They’d been through too much together—not just in the last several weeks but over the past ten years—for her to hide it from him now. “Cole…”

  There was a crash of thunder overhead, and the two of them jumped. She hadn’t realized her cheek was resting on the back of Cole’s shoulder until she felt the cool breeze hit her warm skin. Cole looked up, and Logan followed his gaze, spotting an immense cloud drifting across the starry sky.

  “We need to get back before those clouds completely cut out the moonlight.” He looked back over his shoulder and grinned. “Hold on tight and try not to scream.” Cole kicked his legs.

  “Why would I—?” Like the bullet out of the gun, Rocky took off. Logan let out a high-pitched yelp, and she could both feel and hear Cole laughing. She’d abandoned her hold on the saddle horn, instead holding on to Cole for dear life as her thighs squeezed around the horse in a desperate attempt to stay on. She shoved her closed mouth into Cole’s shoulder, biting back the scream that tried to escape.

  Rocky was a smooth runner, his hooves hammering into the ground at a steady but rapid pace. Fortunately, staying on top of the horse wasn’t as difficult as she would have imagined at this speed.

  They neared the barn just as another crash of thunder hit overhead. Logan felt drops like fat, cool tears hitting her head and shoulders. Rocky finally slowed as they came around to the front of the barn, and Cole carefully led them into the shelter and out of the rain.

  He helped her swing down off the horse before he did so himself. He was grinning broadly, the exhilaration of the ride still shining in his eyes.

  She hit him with her shaking hand. “You can’t just take off like that without telling me! What if I fell off!”

  “Oh, come on. I told you I wouldn’t let you fall. And you loved it,” he said.

  True, she couldn’t stop grinning.

  In no time, Cole slung the saddle off the horse and set it aside. He removed the saddle pad and reins, replacing the latter with a blue halter before swiftly brushing the horse’s neck and back.

  He took her hand and placed it on Rocky’s halter. “Here, you put him in the stall while I put this away.”

  She hesitated only a fraction before she guided the half-ton horse back to his door. He went peacefully, no doubt worn out from the mile run he’d just completed. Logan gave him a firm pat on the neck. “Thanks for the ride,” she said before turning and closing the stall door.

  Then she heard it. It was faint at first, almost blending into the sound of the rain hitting hard on the barn roof. Then it got louder, clearer. The sound of tires racing up the crunchy gravel.

  “Cole.”

  The barn lights went black, and Logan just barely kept herself from screaming. A strong hand grabbed hers. “Come on,” he said, pulling her back to the closet he’d been in before, which she was now sure was the tack room.

  “Whoever the hell is in there better come out before I start shooting!” Old Man Carithers yelled from the front.

  “The window,” Cole said, pointing quickly to the small window several feet up in the corner before he locked the tack room door.

  Logan sprang into action, using what looked like large barrels of feed to hoist herself up to the window. It was easy enough to push open, and seconds later she wiggled her way through it. She fell hard on the ground, grateful to see that Cole was squeezing his way out right behind her.

  “Get up, Moses! You lazy, good for nothin’ mutt.”

  Logan stood, ready to help Cole in his escape, but he shot through that window like he’d done it a hundred times before. He even managed to land somewhat gracefully. He stood, taking her hand in his. “Run!”

  The two of them took off for the woods almost a hundred yards away. The rain was hammering down, but Logan didn’t care. Her heart was pounding in her throat as she darted as fast as she could up the hill to the tree line ahead of them.

  There was a blast—Carithers hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d start shooting. She didn’t look back, though, couldn’t. Not with Cole pulling her along beside him at breakneck speed. Her lungs burned, and her legs begged her to stop.

  When they finally made it into the trees, Logan wasn’t sure she could run anymore. Cole didn’t force her. Instead, he whipped her around behind a large tree, sandwiching her between it and him as another shot rang out.

  She was soaking wet by now. Her flannel shirt stuck to her, her long hair dripping as it clung to her face and neck. The rain was cold, still hitting them beneath the canopy of pine needles. A shiver crept over her skin as goose bumps rose on her flesh.

  Cole Tucker was pressed against her, soaked and breathing heavily. She felt his warmth through their wet clothes as both their chests rose and fell in synchronicity. She could feel his erratic heartbeat like it was hammering in her own chest.

  Before she could stop it, a memory from a night four years back flooded her senses. Their hearts pounding together to one firm, quick beat. Their breath mingling as their lips found each other over and over. The electrifying feeling of rough hands roaming over naked flesh. Her voice begging him not to stop while her heart silently told him no moment in her life had ever been more perfect.

  No. Logan stopped herself there, reality hitting her hard as a sharp pain stabbed within her. She’d learned a long time ago not to think about that night. But as she stood here pressed against him, breathing his breath, she hadn’t been strong enough to stop it.

  “And if you ever come back, those won’t just be warning shots!” Carithers yelled into the black, raining sky.

  She felt Cole relax against her. He stayed close, his head bent down to hers.

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  She nodded. Neither of them moved or spoke, their eyes searching each other’s as their thundering hearts calmed. Finally, when the moment became too much, Logan looked down at his chest where she’d only just realized her hands were clutching his shirt. She let go.

  “So much for promising Carly to keep me safe,” she choked out, her voice thick and froggy.

  He smiled down at her. “For the record, I promised I wouldn’t get you arrested. I didn’t say anything about getting shot.”

  “Oh, well then, good job,” she said lightly, clapping him on the shoulde
r while simultaneously pushing him off of her. She needed fresh air and a clear head, neither of which she would get pressed against Cole Tucker.

  His eyes followed her as she moved around him, his gaze steady. She waited for him to say something. For the first time, she wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say.

  Seconds later he gave her a tiny smile. “Come on, let’s get you home.” He turned and started walking the path back to the Bronco, leaving Logan nothing to do but follow him.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Logan’s eyes slowly opened as sunlight poured in and pulled her from her sleepy haze. Taking a deep breath, she stretched out her arms and legs. It felt so good, though not as good as the dream she’d just woken from. She grinned, running through it all again.

  Lips trailing over her neck and jaw. Powerful hands gripping her waist. Her body coming alive in a way it hadn’t for several months now. Crying out his name.

  Cole.

  Logan’s eyes shot wide as that final detail of her dream emerged. No. No, no, no, no. This was not happening. She did not just have a sex dream about Cole Tucker.

  Except she did.

  She sat up, grabbed the pillow behind her, and started punching it hard with her fists. “It’s all his fault,” she muttered as she hit the pillow again. This would never have happened if he hadn’t made her sneak into Carithers’s barn last night. All that adrenaline after running to the woods and away from the gunfire and then the two of them pressed together and soaking wet.

  Lust. That was all it was. Her body’s way of telling her it needed some action and needed it now. It was natural.

  That was what she kept telling herself as she crawled out of bed. And when she pulled her hair up on top of her head. And while she brushed her teeth.

  “Get it together, Kase,” she told her reflection in the mirror after spitting out a mouthful of toothpaste. But even as she did, her mind was flooded with the physical sensations that had felt all too real.

  She came down the staircase and into the kitchen, still in her sleep shorts and tank top, and trying not to think about her dream. Maybe Carly’s concern for her wasn’t completely unfounded.

  She’d clearly spent too much time with Cole, and now he was in her head. She was supposed to be figuring out her future with Jacob, but instead, she’d wasted time goofing off and avoiding the future altogether.

  She needed to focus so she could finish Cole’s stupid game and get back to what really mattered. Then soon she’d be in California with no more Cole to distract her.

  “You look glum this morning,” her dad said from the breakfast table. He was chowing down on a plate of biscuits and gravy. Breakfast was all set out, but her momma was nowhere to be seen. “You okay, baby girl?”

  Logan fell into the chair across from him. “I’m fine, just thinking about something,” she said. She certainly wasn’t going to explain to her dad that she was having inappropriate dreams about the wrong guy.

  “I got an interesting call late last night,” he said, eyeing her. “Seems Harrold Carithers found two people sneaking around in his barn when he went to check on his expecting mare. He wasn’t able to catch them, but he said it didn’t look like they’d managed to take anything either. You wouldn’t know anything about that, now would you?”

  She forced a laugh, avoiding eye contact. “Daddy, why would I want to go breaking into Old Man Carithers’s barn? That doesn’t even make sense.”

  He checked the kitchen door. “I thought maybe it had to do with the bet you and Cole have going,” he said, voice low and disapproving.

  This time Logan looked him straight in the eyes, glad to be able to tell him the truth for once. “Daddy, I can promise that Cole and I did not sneak into Carithers’s barn for our stupid bet.”

  He gave her a look that said he didn’t quite believe her, but then her momma came in and he changed the subject. “One of the guys at the station said Louise Snyder got back in town yesterday.”

  Logan’s head snapped up. “Really?”

  Her daddy nodded. “I thought you might like to go pay her a visit today if you aren’t already busy. I think she’d really like to see you, catch up.”

  Logan was already standing. “I’ll go right now.” Once she got a shower and dressed, of course.

  “What about breakfast?” Momma asked, the first thing she’d said to her all morning.

  Logan picked up a biscuit and took a big bite. “It’s delicious. Thank you,” she said through her mouthful of food. She smiled, grabbing another one—because it really was good—before she ran out of the room and up the stairs.

  *

  Ms. Snyder was sitting in a rocking chair on her front porch when Logan pulled up the drive. She wore her glasses, her black hair almost completely gray now and pulled back into a long braid down her back. Wearing a flowy, flowery dress, she sifted through a large stack of papers.

  She looked up and smiled when their eyes met. She was on her feet, papers abandoned on the small table by her chair, and came quickly down the stone path.

  “Look at you!” she yelled, her smile wider than Logan remembered ever seeing it.

  Logan jumped down out of the truck. “Sorry, I probably should have called first, but I heard you were back in town and came right over.”

  “Don’t you worry about it. You know you’re always welcome.” She pulled her into a hug. “Come on.” She pulled away and led Logan to the porch. “Sit and tell me everything. What have you been doing?”

  Logan sat in the second rocking chair. Despite the many years since they’d last seen each other, it didn’t take Logan long at all to catch Ms. Snyder up.

  “I’m so proud of you, you know that?” Ms. Snyder was beaming. “I knew you were going to do great things, and now here you are telling me all about them.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Snyder.”

  “Oh, stop calling me Ms. You’re grown now, honey,” she said in her not-quite-Maryland accent. In her years of living in Georgia, she’d picked up a bit of a drawl. “You call me Louise.”

  “What about you? I heard about your dad. I’m so sorry.”

  She nodded. “It’s all right, sweetie. He was sick for so long, and by the end, I think he was ready.”

  Still, it must have been hard. If anything happened to her daddy, Logan didn’t know if she’d ever be able to cope. “I just wish I’d known. I would have called or done something.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I should have kept in touch better, but it was so chaotic up there.”

  “It wasn’t just you,” Logan admitted. “Other than visits from Carly and my parents, I didn’t talk to anybody here in town the whole time I was gone. I could have called or e-mailed you.” But at that point, she’d been ready to leave it all behind, and that included Ms. Snyder.

  She’d had no idea the number of friends and adventures she was saying goodbye to, no idea how much of herself she was losing when she’d left Willow Creek. Given the chance to do it all again, would she have made the same choice, knowing what it had cost her?

  “So,” Louise said, looking mischievous. “Tell me about this guy. Jacob, you said?” Logan nodded. “How did you meet?”

  “Oh, well,” Logan said slowly. “He was a doctor in the emergency room in Austin. I met him when I brought my friend in with a twisted ankle.” She knew Louise was looking for more details, but Logan didn’t really feel like talking about Jacob now.

  Her phone had rung earlier that morning, just after she stepped out of the shower, and Logan had been relieved to see that it was him and not Cole with another challenge. She’d lied about her night, of course, telling him she’d spent it at home watching a movie on Netflix. He’d given a noncommittal answer on when they could get together. He tried to talk a little about work, but between her disappointment and annoyance, she hadn’t bothered to listen. In only a few minutes, the conversation had died. It was probably the shortest phone call they’d ever shared.

  “That’s all, really,” Logan said, forc
ing a smile.

  Louise nodded. “I see. Well, he sounds nice. I can’t wait to meet him. Can I expect an invitation for the big day?”

  “Of course.” Whenever that would be. Logan twisted the ring on her hand. “We haven’t set a date, so everything’s still a bit up in the air. But I’ll let you know.”

  She didn’t say anything else; her hands were shaking. She’d heard that it was normal to be this nervous about your wedding day, but she wasn’t so sure. Brides were supposed to be ecstatic while their friends secretly wanted to scratch their eyes out just to get them to shut up. Planning a wedding wasn’t supposed to be this hard, but for Logan, the mere thought of setting a date left her feeling unsteady.

  Louise didn’t seem to notice. “So what about after the wedding? You two going to settle nearby or go up to Athens?”

  Logan shook her head. “Actually, he applied for a job in San Francisco. As soon as he gets it, which he’s confident he will, we’re going to get a house or apartment over there.”

  “That’s exciting,” Louise said. “How long do you think until that happens?”

  “Who knows?” She shrugged. “Could be weeks, could be months. He only just officially put the application in, and I reckon it depends on the doctor he’d replace and when his retirement date is set.” Part of her knew that day needed to come soon so she and Jacob could get back to when they were happy and could barely keep their hands off each other. Then, surely, Logan would be able, and even excited, to start planning her wedding and her future with him.

  On the other hand, she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to leave Willow Creek a second time, even after being back only a few weeks.

  Louise nodded, her eyes focused on something far away. “And what are your plans when you get there? Do you have a job lined up for yourself?”