Page 18 of Break the Barrier

“I would do anything to help you, Thea.”

Her eyes meet mine, trying to puzzle something out. “Why is that?”

I shrug and look back at the view. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

But that wasn’t the whole truth, and frankly, it was the first time I felt like I’ve lied not only to her, but to myself.

I knew why I was doing this.

I just wasn’t ready to admit that to myself.

7

thea

Ever since thatday when Logan took me for a ride up to the ridge of that mountain, my shoulders could finally relax, my stress finally settled, and I could get back to work.

It’s been a couple of weeks, and so far, business has resumed as usual, with one exception. Logan’s name was now on the business mail we received. Somehow, during our meetings, they had put Logan’s name on everything and neglected to inform me that his name would replace mine on almost all my mail.

Because of this, I was having to be meticulous in grabbing any and all mail before Annmarie or Juniper did, which wasn’t a big deal.

The first time it happened, I tracked Logan down and made him open it before handing it to me.

“It’s a federal crime to open someone else’s mail,” I’d told him when he looked at me like I was crazy.

“Oh yeah, I was meaning to send you to prison for opening my mail. I forgot my to-do list at home.”

I half-appreciated his sarcasm. It helped me that he was so casual about this arrangement that he truly had no interest in owning my bar, even though he was quite literally saving me from ruin.

I had no idea if Eric could get released, but I didn’t trust that they’d keep him forever, despite the fact that there was evidence against him.

But if he did, I would be ready to face that and leave my sisters out of it. They have already been through enough. They didn’t need any added stress because of a stupid mistake from my past.

The spring sun was quickly changing to summer, and with it came happier attitudes and a lot more partying during the evenings, which I would not complain about, no matter how much I wanted to at times.

It kept me busy and helped me refocus on tasks.

I had set up an official area for the dart league, going as far as ordering a custom scoreboard for when Logan and his friends came to compete. I was surprised to see how many people were actually interested in joining the league until I realized we had nothing like this in town.

People loved being on teams, it seemed.

It was Monday night, and like clockwork, the Cash and West families came into the bar. I was not surprised to see CT and Cal Trevors, CT’s dad, joining the family dinners.

Last I heard, CT and Dani were engaged, but as far as I knew, there were no talks of weddings.

Not that I was in that group of people.

“Emily,” I call for one of my waitresses when she comes back from break. “Go grab table seven, please.” I point to where Logan and his family sit, and she nods, heading right over.

I have this need to take really good care of them. Maybe that is my debt to Logan hovering over my head, even if he doesn’t say anything, or maybe it is just because I liked that family a lot and appreciated their business.

Sure, Dorothy, whatever you need to tell yourself.

“What’s with the smile?” Annmarie scares me as she pops out at me from behind the back door.

“What smile?” I ask casually, keeping my head down. There’s no way she can tell who I was smiling at.

“Hmm.” Her suspicious hum has me turning to face her, but her eyes that I suspected would be trained on me are looking out at the tables in the bar.