Sky's the Limit

by Elle Aycart

  She tried to hold back her tears until she was out the door. She didn’t succeed.

  Chapter 21

  Logan was sitting on his porch, working on his third beer, when he saw his sister coming up the driveway. She slammed the driver’s door. Yanked open the backseat door. Hauled out a ginormous box. Slammed that door too. Then, looking mighty pissed, she marched straight at him.

  Shit, he was so not in the mood for this. It had been a week since he’d come home from New York. A week since he’d seen Sky. A week since he’d spoken more than a couple of words with anyone or done anything besides work and get drunk, wallowing in self-pity.

  He considered taking the easy way out and, pretending he hadn’t seen Megan, go inside the house, but ignoring her wouldn’t do squat. She’d bulldoze right through the closed door, if need be. Better to face the music and get this over with quickly.

  At that moment his cell rang. Vivienne. Again. Over the last couple of days, she’d tried to reach him multiple times. He disconnected the call. Again.

  “Beer?” he offered as his sister stomped up the porch steps.

  She dropped the box on the railing with a thump. “Remember how I said, after we had the huge fallout over Vivienne, that I would never again meddle in your love life? That I would rather eat my own tongue than comment on your relationships? Well, I’m taking it back. What the fuck did you do to Sky, and why isn’t she picking up the phone?”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Of course not. That’s why she came back on her own, looking like she’d been crying her eyes out, and without saying a word aside from ‘thanks’ and ‘sorry,’ took Arnie and left.”

  “Things didn’t go her way.” He couldn’t be blamed for that, could he? That was what happened when you tried manipulating events behind the scenes; sometimes you won and sometimes you lost.

  What he couldn’t fathom was why he was feeling like the loser.

  “What do you mean, things didn’t go her way? What things?” Megan demanded. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “She betrayed me.”

  Her brows rose disbelievingly. “She cheated on you?”

  He took a sip of his beer. He wished it were that simple. “She was playing me. Working behind my back to get me to relocate to New York.”

  “Relocate to New York? Are you nuts?”

  “She suggested to the owner of DiaperWorld that I would be open to relocation, provided the offer was big enough.”

  “That’s impossible,” Megan said, resolute, her hands on her hips.

  “He told me.”

  “I don’t know what he thought Sky told him, but he’s wrong. And you’re wrong too. She was planning to stay here with you.”

  “Sure she did,” he muttered. “That was why she had a meeting with her ex-boss while we were in New York. She was angling to get her old job back.”

  Megan opened the box she had brought with her. “The name of her ex-boss doesn’t happen to be Doreen, does it?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “This is why,” she said, pulling out a wedding dress. “This came from someone named Doreen.” There was a note. Wedding present was all it said. “It’s from a famous designer. Sky went to New York and met with her ex-boss because of this.”

  Logan stilled, his blood turning cold. “Why wouldn’t Sky have told me about it?”

  “Because it was a surprise, you moron,” Megan hissed. “Sky was there to get me a wedding dress, not to ask for her old job back.”

  Logan’s heart clenched. “What?”

  “She could have accepted the transfer and bailed out. I heard her tell her sister—who, by the way, begged Sky to leave with her. Sky refused. Told her she loved you and was staying here with you.”

  Fuck, the walls were closing in on him. And he was outdoors. “What transfer are you talking about?”

  “Sky was offered an internship in France for the summer!” Megan screamed. “But she turned it down to stay here with you. Here, Logan, not New York.”

  Blood was pounding so loudly in his ears, he had trouble hearing what his sister was saying. “She never mentioned—”

  “She wanted to tell you after the gala.”

  Jesus fucking Christ. That was the surprise she’d said she had?

  “She was keeping Mrs. Rantala’s place so that you wouldn’t feel she didn’t have any other options. So you could send her away if you got tired of her. She was not playing you, believe me. Whatever went down at the gala, Sky was not playing you,” Megan repeated. “She’s not Vivienne.”

  Logan’s mind was spinning out of control. He didn’t understand anything. Eric had no reason to lie to him.

  His phone rang. He looked at the screen and declined the call.

  Megan crossed her arms, staring at the cell. “Don’t tell me Sky’s calling you and you’re not picking up.”

  Logan shook his head. “Vivienne.”

  “What does she want?”

  Fuck if he knew.

  Suddenly, the lump of lead he’d had sitting in the pit of his stomach since the fight with Sky grew bigger. Vivienne had been calling nonstop since he turned down the DiaperWorld offer. Vivienne.

  He dialed.

  “Finally,” Vivienne answered.

  She started saying something else, but he interrupted. “Are you calling me because I turned down the DiaperWorld offer?”

  “Of course. I’d like to know why you’re so stubbornly trying to ruin your life. And mine. It’s an excellent offer.”

  “How do you know about it?” he demanded. “Have you been in contact with Eric? Have you met him?”

  “Not in person. We exchanged emails. I’m your wife, and when the organizers of the gala couldn’t contact you, they contacted me. I got in touch with Eric through them.”

  Shit. The lump now sat in his throat. He forced it to work. “Did you tell him I’d be open to relocating for the right price?”

  “I just suggested it. I didn’t confirm anything. All my work down the drain because—”

  He cut the call off.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Sky had gone to the gala as his wife. The invitation and the seating cards for dinner had read that way. Eric must have assumed Sky was the woman he’d been exchanging emails with.

  Logan probably looked pretty bad, because his sister’s face had softened. “You okay?”

  He shook his head. “I fucked up, Meg. I accused Sky of manipulating me. I accused her of everything under the sun. It was Vivienne who’d been in contact with Eric.”

  “Talk to Sky. She’ll forgive you.”

  The conversation on the dance floor reverberated in his mind. Fuck, he was going to puke. “I basically... Shit, Meg, I basically called her a…” He couldn’t get the word out. He’d accused her of trying to convince him on her knees. Of negotiating a commission for her trouble. He winced at the thought.

  Spewing that venom at Sky hadn’t relieved him of any pain. At the time, he hadn’t understood why. Now he did.

  Sky watched through the window as the sun rose over New York. She closed her eyes and exhaled. Another unbearable morning. She’d like nothing more than to throw the blanket over her head and go back to sleep. But she wouldn’t. Someone was relying on her. “Let’s get up, sweetie?”

  All the response she got was a whimper. Arnie was lying on top of her, his head on her chest. His ears were down. Her otherwise boisterous dog, always ready to kick her into gear, looked under the weather.

  She so knew how he felt.

  Sky patted him and he whimpered again, his moist muzzle pushing against her hand. She scratched between his ears. “He fooled you too, didn’t he?”

  Arnie yelped.

  Yep. Logan had fooled him too.

  “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll be fine. His loss.” Her throat clogged and she swallowed, trying to stop the tears from falling.

  Arnie got sad and nervous when she cried. He’d been sad and nervous enough for the last week. It was her turn to
man up, for both of them.

  With Arnie at her heels, she dragged herself to the kitchen, looking forward to her sister’s Colombian coffee. One sip and she’d be arrhythmic and totally pumped up.

  Lola was sitting at the kitchen table. “Good morning,” Sky said, going for the coffeepot.

  Lola had been unusually quiet these past few days too. “You okay?”

  “Peachy,” Sky lied. “Do you have an afternoon shift today?”

  Her sister didn’t even bother to answer. “Gonna tell me what happened?”

  “Nothing to tell. You were right; I was brainwashed by a doomsday cult, and I didn’t realize it until I was back here.”

  Sky didn’t feel like explaining what had happened. Basically because she still wasn’t sure what had happened, aside from Logan turning against her and going batshit crazy.

  “You seemed pretty tight with Logan when the two of you came to visit.”

  “Yeah, well, appearances can be deceiving.” She knew; she’d thought this guy was the one. Right. What a joke. The one to break her heart, if anything.

  After running away from the gala, she’d made it on her own to Minnesota, fetched Arnie, and gone straight to Mrs. Rantala’s. Never mind how little she’d wanted to be back; she would never have left Arnie behind. They weren’t to blame that Logan was an ass and she was a gullible imbecile.

  “Whatever he did, you’ll feel better if you let it out. Let’s go partying tonight, get drunk, and gut him. Figuratively speaking. Or not, your choice.”

  “I don’t feel like it.” Her gaze drifted toward the pictures on the wall. One in particular caught her attention. It had been taken during the good old days. Lola and Sky were in it, laughing. Their mother too.

  “She was beautiful,” Sky said. “Mom.”

  “She was,” Lola assented. “They weren’t all bad times, were they?”

  “No. They weren’t.”

  “She did love us. That wasn’t the problem.”

  “I know,” Sky whispered.

  Lola stared at her for a long second, her gaze softening. “What are you going to do?”

  Honestly? She would love to go back to bed. But Arnie was counting on her, and her sister’s coffee was giving her a heart attack, so she was going to put the extra energy to good use. “Get dressed and go to work.”

  The new prêt-à-porter collections were being exhibited for major retailers, and Doreen had asked Sky to accompany her. It seemed her ex-boss was going to squeeze the dress favor for as long as possible. It was worth it. Megan was going to shine in that gown. Sky didn’t have to see her in it to know that.

  “That’s not what I meant,” Lola reprimanded her as Sky stood up. “I was talking about your life.”

  “I understood you perfectly.” But hell if she knew what she was going to do with that. At the moment she was going to put on her best dress and her Brazilian ass, and then she was going to fake it until she made it.

  Glancing around, Logan navigated the crowd as best as he could. Fuck, half of New York must be at this trade show. It was going to take ages to find Sky.

  He grabbed his phone to pray to Saint Instagram. That was the advantage of having a girlfriend hung up on social media; one could always find her. There, she was by the runway. Or had been three minute ago when she posted the pic.

  He could have waited for her at Lola’s apartment, but as a side effect of checking on Sky’s social media, he’d glimpsed her sister’s latest posts. Most of them had to do with ways to make asshole boyfriends disappear. Logan had the feeling he wasn’t welcome. Not that it would stop him. If he couldn’t find Sky here, he’d go to El Barrio and let the chips fall where they may.

  Resolute, he walked toward the runway. He knew by heart what he was going to say. He was going to throw himself at her mercy. Beg and grovel for as long as necessary until Sky took him back. On his knees, if necessary.

  But then he saw her. In her world. Shining brighter than a supernova. Gracious and elegant, surrounded by pretty things. Talking with designers, Doreen by her side.

  This was where she was meant to be. Not buried in the countryside, doing drills and survival training. Or recycling soiled diapers. Vivienne had repeatedly accused him of being an egocentric ass, never caring how his decisions impacted others, and in that, she had been right.

  He’d win Sky back and then what? Condemn her to leave all her dreams behind so that he could save the world, one diaper at a time?

  As if sensing his presence, she began to turn. Logan dodged to the side, the crowd giving him cover.

  Heart in his throat, he walked away.

  Principles were only principles when they cost you.

  Now he understood that saying. Only he wasn’t paying with money this time, but with something far more valuable.

  Chapter 22

  Logan sat on a DIY wooden chair, tapping his foot impatiently. Given the time these people spent in useless town meetings, they should have invested in seating that was more comfortable.

  “What’s this about?” Ty asked, sitting by his side.

  “I guess they’ve reached a decision about the town’s name. Or they’ve changed their minds about wanting to bomb the nearest cell tower.” It could go either way. And it wouldn’t be the first time.

  “That was a close call,” Ty said, chuckling. “If I’m not mistaken, it was a matter of a couple of votes.”

  Yeah, and a threat from Brock, the sheriff, to call in the Feds and a public health inspector to check out all the businesses in town. For that, he’d been unanimously banned from future meetings. Not that he cared to obey.

  Carol went up to the podium and called everyone to order. They had a full house, with people standing along the walls. Even Alec, who was getting married in a matter of hours, was present. Megan wouldn’t be far away. In another lifetime, before Sky, he would have searched for his sister. Now he was avoiding her. His failure to give her an explanation of why he’d come back from New York without Sky hadn’t gone down well at all.

  Carol cleared her throat. “We called this meeting because we have an urgent matter to address. We want Patient Zero back.”

  What? Logan frowned. Had he understood correctly? It seemed so, because everyone turned to him, their looks reproving.

  Ty leaned against him, smirking. “So it’s about you. Again.”

  “This is so important,” Carol continued, “that we, the members of the town council—who, by the way, are unanimously in agreement on this issue—decided to submit it to a public referendum. Transparency above all.”

  Logan stood up. “Are you people serious?”

  “Of course,” Carol replied. “All in favor of getting Patient Zero back, please raise your hands.”

  All the hands in the house rose.

  “Approved by an overwhelming majority,” Carol decreed, slamming the hammer on the podium. “Logan, get Patient Zero back. Or we will.”

  Murmurs of approval and several declarations of “That’s right.” Yep, they were serious.

  He tried to appease the crowd. “I understand you live in your own particular world, where kidnapping someone is not really an issue, but I can’t snap my fingers and get Sky back.”

  “Didn’t you go to New York to see her?” Shayna asked. “What happened?”

  “I didn’t speak with her.” Logan couldn’t believe he was discussing this with half the town. Correction, the whole town.

  “Why?” someone asked.

  “Never mind,” he sighed. “Besides, why do you want Sky back? I remind you that you gave me the third degree for bringing her to town in the first place. You quarantined her. And me. Does that ring a bell?”

  “That was when she was infectious,” one of the pandemic squad said. “She’s not infectious now. We need her. She’s a great addition to our gene pool.”

  “Because she’s Latino?”

  “Of course not, you silly. Race has nothing to do with anything. It’s because she has the fashion gene.”

>   For crying out loud. “There’s no such thing as the fashion gene.”

  Collective snort.

  “Oh yes, I forgot,” Logan said with a dry laugh. “The government’s hiding it. It’s a plot between the authorities and Cosmopolitan to keep us in the dark and subjugated.”

  Some nods and murmurs.

  Man, he might have started a new conspiracy theory. He should not have played that card with this crowd.

  “My aloe vera plants are dying. I need Sky to tell me what I’m doing wrong,” Emily said.

  “And I need help organizing my baby shower,” someone else interjected.

  “We’d already scheduled her to help with the next auction,” Monroe added. “She has a knack for valuable antiquities.”

  “I’m sorry, but you’ll all have to do without her,” Logan said firmly.

  Everyone started yelling at him at once.

  Carol slammed her hammer several times. “People, people. Calm down. Let the Alchemist defend himself.”

  Yeah, there was always time for a spontaneous lynching. Scratch that; they would probably vote on it first. Logan had no shadow of a doubt it would be approved by a majority, too.

  “Why didn’t she come back from the award gala with him?” Maggie asked. “They were supposed to be back in town by Sunday.”

  “True. She had a reservation for dinner at the restaurant,” Astrid said. “Table for two. The most romantic booth.”

  Logan cringed. That was probably where Sky had intended to tell him she was prolonging her stay in Minnesota. He took a deep breath. “Because I fucked up.”

  “And?” Monroe said, a look of incomprehension on his face.

  “What do you mean, ‘and’? I fucked up. Big time. I accused her of trying to manipulate me the same way Vivienne did.”

  “Who’s Vivienne?” someone hissed.

  “The uptight bitch he came to town with when he first arrived. The ex-wife,” a helpful soul filled in.

  “Right. I forgot. Please, continue.”

  Logan looked up to the ceiling. He couldn’t believe this. “There was a misunderstanding. I assumed Sky was scheming behind my back. I said some very nasty things to her.”