Page 63 of Riding the Sugar High

Aaron’s eyes flicker briefly to meet Logan’s, and the room seems to hold its breath, caught in the tension that weaves a web around the brothers. “Hello,” he says, and Logan answers with a light jerk of his head.

This lunch is going to last forever.

“Lono!” Sadie cries from a colorful, furry carpet next to the couch, and he walks to her and picks her up. I busy myself with checking out the mounted frames featuring Aaron and Josie over the years and Sadie as a baby. There’s even one of her with Logan, and it must be from a decade ago. His beard is short, his body thinner, and his grin innocently happy, as if life hadn’t broken him down yet.

Josie walks to me with two glasses of white wine. “Here,” she sets one in my hand, then glances at Logan. “Let’s get some alcohol inside those twoimmediately.”

Probably a good idea.

“Lunch is almost ready—do you like falafels, Prim?”

“Love ’em,” I say as I follow her into the dining room. “Can I do something to help?”

“Nothing to do,” she says before disappearing into the kitchen.

Logan sits at the table, Sadie now in his lap, and I take a seat at his side.

“How old are you?” I ask when Sadie keeps staring at me, and with a timid voice, she whispers back, “Four.”

Logan kisses her cheek. “Don’t lie. You’re one year old. Two tops.”

“No!” She stands on Logan’s thighs, then smacks his shoulder. “Four!”

He gives her a dry look. “Is that so? Then show me with your fingers.”

Sadie pulls up five fingers, and he tucks her thumb against the palm of her hand. “Thisis four.”

Holding on to his shoulders, Sadie starts hopping up and down, as if bored with their exchange. It can’t be too pleasant, but Logan chuckles, hands gripping her sides to make sure she won’t fall.

Damn him. Why does he have to be cute? And with a kid, of all things?

That’s playing dirty.

“What?” he asks in a soft voice as he turns to me. He must have noticed I was staring.

“Nothing.” I sip from my glass of wine, relieved when Josie walks back into the dining room with a casserole and squeezes it among the other trays and bowls.

“Here we go,” she says. “Aaron. Take Sadie, please?”

“She’s fine here,” Logan interjects. Josie begins serving the casserole and describing one delicious dish after the other.

“And, of course, everything’s vegan.”

We all begin eating, the only noise provided by our cutlery and Sadie, who’s telling Logan some rambling story about her favorite toy at kindergarten.

The tension is almost unbearable.

“So, how are you liking Pinevale?” Josie asks. “It’s a pretty big change from Mayfield, huh?”

Setting what Josie said was pasta primavera on my plate, I nod. “Yeah, it’s different. Especially the farm. Everything’s so silent there, and I’m used to noisy, crowded places.”

“Oh, well. If silence bothers you, I’m happy to bring Sadie over. Give it a night, and you’ll be missing the peaceful cows.”

We chuckle lightly, but as the laughter dissipates, she turns to Aaron where he’s bending over his food and eating in silence. Then to Logan, whose full attention is devoted to Sadie, currently squishing his cheeks as he kisses her nose.

“You know, I can’tbelieveyou’re doing long distance,” Josie tells Logan, and she must realize it sounded like she doesn’t think he could possibly do that, because she shakes her head. “I mean, that’s great. You must care about each other a lot.”

Is she referring to his ex? Logan said he was very resistant to being in a long-distance relationship with her.