Keeping Score

by Shannon Stults

  She considered turning around, but the need for alcohol was too strong. She was getting tired of running from Cole Tucker anyway. And besides that, she could always count on getting drunk when he was around.

  “Fancy running into you here,” she said with evident sarcasm. “Shouldn’t you be working or something?”

  His eyes, which were hard and focused on the TV, softened when they met hers. He smiled. “Next shift isn’t until tomorrow afternoon.”

  She eyed the stool next to him. “Mind if I sit here?”

  “Help yourself.” He took a sip of his beer. “I could use the distraction from this lousy game. Braves still haven’t gotten a single run in, and it’s already the fifth inning. The Nationals are kicking our asses tonight.”

  She fell into the seat next to him. “So what are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have anything better to do on a Friday night?”

  He shrugged. “Cowboy’s out with a girl, and I’d rather watch the game here than alone back at our place.” He looked back up at the screen. “What about you? No date with the doctor this weekend?”

  “He’s working,” she said flatly. She didn’t want to talk to Cole about Jacob. “Can I get a beer, Lilly?” she called.

  “Sure thing, doll.” She grabbed a bottle of Logan’s favorite from behind the counter. Her low-cut, hot pink halter and skinny jeans combo belonged on a twenty-year-old, yet Lilly managed to pull it off effortlessly. “Anything else?”

  “Nope. Just keep them coming. Thanks.”

  Lilly glanced at Cole then frowned at Logan before she nodded.

  “Want to talk about it?” Cole asked once Lilly had left to refill a pitcher for another patron.

  Logan twisted the top off her beer and took a sip. “Nothing to talk about.”

  “Really? Then why do you look like you’re trying to drown your sorrows?”

  She took another sip. “A girl’s allowed to drink a little after a rough day.”

  He laughed. “Sorry, I meant why do you look like you’re going to need about twenty more of those to drown said sorrows?”

  “Here’s an idea,” she said, looking pointedly at him. “Why don’t you mind your own business and stop trying to nose your way into mine?”

  He held up his hands. “Hey, you came in—looking like hell, I should add—and sat by me. I was just trying to be nice and lend a listening ear since you look like you could use one.” He turned back to his drink, taking a long drag from it.

  Great, now on top of everything else, she felt bad for yelling at Cole.

  She sighed. “Ms. Snyder’s opening the gallery. She wants me to help her do it.”

  He grinned, nudging Logan with his elbow before he turned on his stool to face her. “I told you she’d be the one to talk to.” She frowned at him. “That’s good news, isn’t it? You wanted a job, now you have one. Problem solved.”

  Yes, one problem solved. And one very big, new problem staring her in the face.

  “Yeah, it’s great,” she said. “At least I thought so. But it turns out I’m not going to be around here long enough to do it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Jacob and I…we’re moving to San Francisco.”

  Cole stared at her blankly for a moment then his smile slowly disappeared. “Oh,” was all he said before turning back to his drink.

  She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of reaction she’d been expecting from him when she finally told him about California, but it was more than Oh.

  “The plan was for us to go once he got the job, but we were supposed to get through Carly’s wedding, and even then we thought it would be at least a month before the other doctor retired and Jacob would have to step in. But now we’ve got dinner with some guy on the board tomorrow night, and Jacob says we’ll have to leave in two weeks.”

  Cole took another pull from his drink, this one twice as long as the last. “Two weeks, huh? That’s…soon. How did your parents take it?”

  “I only just told them a week ago,” she said quietly. “Well, more like Jacob blurted it out at dinner.”

  Cole gave a forced smile, still not looking at her as he ran his hand through his hair. “You know, I wondered why the chief was in such a foul mood the last few days when I talked to him, but I didn’t want to get into his business. Guess now I know.”

  “Really?” Logan thought her dad had taken the news well. It had been her momma she was most worried about. But maybe Daddy was just better at hiding it from her.

  “So what about the gallery?”

  “I don’t know. I want to help Louise, but two weeks isn’t enough time. I even tried to convince Jacob I should stay here while he goes to California without me, but then we got into this huge fight about the distance and the wedding and everything else.”

  She took another sip of beer. “I’m just not sure what to do. I don’t want to make Jacob mad, but I feel like there’s still stuff here I need to take care of. Carly’s wedding, the gallery. And I don’t want to say goodbye to my parents yet. Or Carly. Or…”

  Cole was still staring silently at his drink, his hand rubbing the five o’clock shadow spread across his jaw. She’d miss him. The thought of it physically hurt.

  “Lilly, can I get another?” she shouted before downing the rest of her drink.

  Cole sat up straight, waving Lilly off just before she grabbed a second bottle. “Don’t bother, Lill. She’s done.”

  Logan stared at him. “What are you doing?” All she wanted was a damn beer. Was that too much to ask right now?

  “I’m cutting you off,” he said, standing from his barstool and indicating she should do the same. “And now I’m going to walk you to your truck and send you home.”

  “Why?” she asked as she followed him. Unless she wanted to be thrown over his shoulder and carried out, it was all she could do.

  He opened the door for her, letting her pass through. “Because I’m desperate to prove that, despite what you seem to think, you and I can actually sit down and kick back just one beer together,” he joked. The furrow of deep thought had left his brow, and he was back to teasing her. “And because you’re better than this. You said yourself that you’re not that girl anymore. I’m just reminding you.”

  Logan huffed. The last person she’d expected to kick her out of the bar tonight was Cole Tucker. Usually, he was the one filling her shot glass.

  “Look,” he said as they stopped beside her truck, Logan still in a pout. “You and I have done this enough times to know that drinking doesn’t fix the problem. It just allows you to put off worrying about it for another day.”

  There was concern in his eyes. He’d only ever looked at her like this a few times in their lives. So few, in fact, that she could count them all on one hand. And all this because he thought her biggest worry was whether to stay a few extra weeks in Willow Creek. If only he knew.

  A wave of emotion hit her like a sucker punch in the chest. “Cole,” she said, her chin trembling. “What am I supposed to do?”

  The second the tears started flowing, she was in his arms. “Shh,” he murmured. “Don’t cry; you’ll figure it out. Just do what makes you happy and everything else will sort itself out. You’ll see.”

  She nodded, waiting a few seconds before she pulled away and wiped her tears. She had to hand it to the guy, for being such a jerk most of her life, he had a pretty good track record of making her feel better when she needed it.

  “Why are you always so nice to me when I’m sad?” she asked him, forcing a laugh as she wiped her eyes.

  He looked pained as he lifted his hand gently to her cheek, wiping a stray tear. “Because seeing you cry damn near kills me,” he said softly. Then he pulled his hand away and smiled.

  “Now cheer up, go home, and get some sleep,” he said, giving her a firm pat on the back. “We’ve got a challenge tomorrow.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m supposed to meet Jacob in Athens tomorrow afternoon. And besides, we just had a challeng
e yesterday.”

  “Yes, but you may be leaving town soon. And if I remember correctly, you’re only one letter away from making me the winner.”

  Her shoulders slumped. She’d forgotten her woes for a minute. Now their weight felt heavy on her chest.

  Cole looked like he was going to walk away but surprised her by taking her face in his hands and leaning in. Her stomach tensed and she forgot to breathe as he looked into her eyes. “If he loves you, he’ll want you to be happy,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

  Logan gasped, swallowing hard as he brought his lips to her forehead and placed a gentle kiss there. She swore her heart skipped. And then it was over too soon, and Cole was gone, making his way back to the bar. “I’ll call you tomorrow morning with the address for the challenge,” he said without looking back.

  She stood there staring as Cole walked back into the bar, still trying to process what just happened. As if on autopilot, Logan pulled the keys from her pocket and unlocked the truck door. She put the key in the ignition but didn’t turn it.

  All she could think of was the way her skin had tingled under the barest touch of his lips, the wave of disappointment when it ended, and how, just now, all she wanted to do was jump out of this truck and run to him.

  “Oh no,” she whispered, closing her eyes tight and lowering her forehead to rest on the steering wheel as her list of complications grew by one.

  Because at that moment what Logan felt for Cole was not hatred, not loathing, and not lust.

  What if the real reason she couldn’t bring herself to fully commit to marrying Jacob just walked into that bar?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Logan was already awake when her phone beeped, one of two messages she’d received in the last ten minutes. With the covers still pulled up over her head, she blindly reached for the cell phone on her nightstand and pulled it back under with her.

  The first text was from Jacob. I’m sorry. See you at 3. The second was Cole telling her where to meet him in an hour. Logan groaned.

  She’d barely slept all night. Instead, she’d stared up at her ceiling: What did this mean? How exactly did she feel about Cole? Was he really the reason she couldn’t bring herself to set a wedding date?

  But the longer she lay awake thinking about it, the more she rejected the idea.

  Sure, maybe there were some romantic feelings for Cole getting mixed in with everything else she already felt about him. She supposed it made sense, after all the time they’d been spending together, and it was probably fueled by the level of excitement she tended to feel around him. Not to mention the fact that he’d been there to comfort her last night.

  But she loved Jacob. What she had with her fiancé couldn’t possibly compare to these feelings rising for Cole. And whatever caring or affection she harbored for him needed to be buried down deep, ignored until forgotten. She knew with certainty they could be.

  Because she’d already done it once four years ago.

  The best thing she could do now was put Cole Tucker out of her mind completely. Granted, that would be challenging considering their bet. But Logan had done the math. If she won this challenge today, they’d both be tied with a H-O-R-S. Then the last challenge would be her choice. She just needed to pick something she could easily win, and the whole thing would be hers. Cole would leave her and Jacob alone, and she’d be able to sort out her issues behind why she was struggling to commit to this marriage.

  “There is nothing going on between you and Cole,” she said. His words from that horrible morning replayed in her head. It was just sex. “There’s nothing going on between you and Cole. He knows it, and so do you.”

  Logan threw the covers off before running into her bathroom. All she needed was a quick shower and then she could grab some breakfast and go beat Cole at the game he had planned today. After that, she could put him out of her mind and spend the day getting ready for the big dinner with Jacob.

  *

  Logan wasn’t at all surprised to see a trailer hitched to the back of the Bronco and Cole in the process of rolling two dirt bikes down from it.

  Everyone in town knew that County Line Road was good for one thing. It was a winding, curvy road about three miles long with nothing but woods and open pastures on each side. It had been a dead end for as long as she could remember, and most people didn’t bother coming this way unless they were lost or farmers coming to check on their fields and cows. All of which made it the perfect spot for a race.

  The second she read Cole’s text to meet him here, she knew that was exactly what this challenge would be.

  “Seriously?” she asked. She pulled her thick jacket tightly around her against the strong, cold wind. “You know I suck at this kind of thing.”

  Cole looked over his shoulder, turning his trademark sexy grin on her. She felt a jolt in her stomach but managed to push away the feelings she’d decided to ignore. “That was kind of my intention. You think I’m going to get this close to winning and let you ruin it?”

  She rolled her eyes. Tying up this game was going to be a lot harder than she’d hoped. But considering what all was at stake if she lost, she was going to have to find a way to win.

  “Hey, beautiful,” a familiar voice called. Logan turned just in time to see Cowboy coming around the other side of the Bronco. He had a thick jacket over a green John Deere shirt and his UGA cap covering his shaggy blond hair.

  Logan smiled. “I didn’t expect to see you here. Cole said you had a hot date last night; I thought for sure you’d still be passed out at some girl’s place.”

  He gave her a quick hug. “Oh yeah, she was hot all right. Until I accidentally called her by the wrong name while we were…you know. She kicked me out pretty fast after that,” he said with a wicked grin. Cole laughed out loud as he knelt beside one of the bikes and started tinkering with it.

  Logan had to smile, too, trying not to think about how the poor girl must have felt. “You are absolutely shameless,” she said.

  “Yeah, well. What are you gonna do?” he said, shrugging. “So, what’s the deal? You ready to win this thing?”

  Cole looked up from the bike. “I thought you were on my side.”

  “I’m on whatever side is willing to feed me after this. And since you already said no”—he turned to Logan, looking hopeful—“what do you say to a victory lunch at Wade’s after this?”

  “Sure, Cowboy.”

  He waggled his eyebrows before he grabbed Logan and pulled her into an even tighter hug, planting a huge, playful kiss on her cheek. If he hadn’t been like a brother to her, she would have blushed. “That’s why I love you. Now let’s get this thing started. I’m starving.”

  Cole stood, brushing his dirty hands on his jeans. “All right, everything looks good. You ready, Lo?”

  “How do I know you haven’t been tampering with them?” she asked.

  “Have a little faith,” he said, raising a hand to his heart like the accusation hurt. “I’ll even let you pick whichever one you want. Cowboy will start us off,” he said, pointing to his best friend. “The first to pass the county sign just before the bridge wins. Simple as that.”

  She walked over to examine the bikes. They looked virtually the same to her, so she ended up choosing one at random.

  “Helmet?” she asked.

  Cowboy pulled out two black motorcycle helmets from the passenger side of the Bronco, handing one off to Cole and one to her. Cowboy stood in the middle of the road to mark their starting point.

  “This is where it ends, Lo,” Cole said as he rolled his bike over to Cowboy’s right. “I’m going to win and then we’ll know once and for all who the better man is.” Though she couldn’t see it, she was sure he was grinning.

  “Not if I can help it.” Logan pulled the bike up next to him on Cowboy’s left. She threw her foot down, kick-starting the engine and getting situated in the seat before clicking the bike into first gear. She heard Cole laugh as he did the same.

  Once he saw
that the two were ready, Cowboy raised both arms out to his sides. “First to reach the bridge wins. Are you ready?”

  She nodded. Cowboy’s arms dropped. “Go!”

  She took off. It had been years since she last rode one of these things, but her body remembered it like it was yesterday. Logan felt a moment of pure joy as the bike sped up, her hands and feet expertly working as she shifted into higher gears. She didn’t dare look over her shoulder, but she knew that, despite her quick takeoff, Cole was coming up fast behind her.

  Between the roar of the engine and the rush of wind, she couldn’t hear anything. Thank God for the thick Carhartt jacket she’d chosen for the unusually chilly day.

  She took the first turn in the road carefully. Too carefully. By the time the road straightened out, Cole had cut across and passed her by several feet. She pushed the bike to go faster while trying to avoid the potholes littered on the old, unused road.

  The next twist came quickly, and Logan was forced to push the limits of her caution. The engine roared and the bike quivered beneath her as she took the turn sharper than she was used to, managing to lessen the distance between them.

  With each new turn, she pushed closer and closer. She knew the end was coming, and Cole was ahead of her by only a few feet now.

  She’d driven this street enough times to know that the last and worst curve was coming. Instinct told her to slow down, but if she lost this one, everything she had with Jacob would be at stake. He’d finally see that the version of her he knew was a lie. And then it would be over. Their relationship, their engagement, everything.

  She felt the minutest nudge of relief at the thought, but she quickly shoved it away. That was her fear talking.

  As the final twist before the county sign came, she knew what she had to do. She had to go all in. No guts, no glory. With a fresh determination, she cut to the inside. Cole hadn’t been ready and missed his chance to cut her off. Logan accelerated, steadily creeping past Cole’s bike.