Page 6 of Until Tomorrow (Love Doesn’t Cure All: The Ashwood Duet #1)

Eva

Letting Logan go wrecked a part of me that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to fix.

But I told myself I would. I texted my boss for an extended leave, so I wouldn’t have to go anywhere.

And who was I kidding? My position was unimportant—meant to humor me.

They’d be fine without me. I turned my phone off to avoid the temptation of calling or texting Logan.

I filled my time with old nineties animated movies, eating cereal, and having total emotional breakdowns on the couch. I couldn’t sleep in our bed. It smelled like him, and the contours on his side of the bed were a constant reminder that he was gone.

When our housekeeper, Cecelia, came on day four, I sat on the fire escape while she cleaned.

The kid across the way told me I looked like a gremlin and that I should crawl back into hell.

I flipped him off, he told his mom, she yelled out the window at me to be an adult, and I flipped her off too.

I didn’t care. I never liked the little demon child anyway.

I didn’t like kids in general. There was a reason my tubes were tied.

While Cecelia didn’t know what was going on, she wasn’t an idiot either.

As soon as our bathroom and bedroom were done, she ran me a bubble bath and sent me to relax.

I did anything but. Why? Because the bathtub we had was one Logan had picked out, so it could fit the two of us. Sunday evening baths were a thing.

But not anymore .

My whole life was wrapped up in Logan. We’d met when I was eleven, and that was that. It’d always been me and Logan.

Well… me, Logan, and Elliot.

Elliot was Logan’s best friend. Their moms were best friends, which automatically meant they had to be as well.

It’d been like that since Logan was born—he was the younger of the two.

A fact Elliot teased him about, even if it wasn’t by that much.

The two were as opposite as could be. Logan was quiet, whereas Elliot was loud.

Elliot was thrill-seeking, and Logan was reserved.

Logan used his logical brain while Elliot thought with his heart. The list went on and on with those two.

Over the years, I’d made plenty of jokes about being the third in their relationship. Logan and Elliot were inseparable—always had been. When we left our small town for Logan to go to Harvard, Elliot came with us and got a job as a firefighter.

Not once had it bothered me. Until now . I blamed him, even when my slightly more rational moments told me it wasn’t his fault. Yes, he shouldn’t have tried to kiss his married friend, but what Logan felt was on him, not Elliot.

My brain got stuck on that loop, leading to another breakdown of epic proportions. One I couldn’t pull myself out of.

On the eighth day, when Cecelia returned, I had a feeling she knew something had happened between Logan and me.

And the woman took no shit from me. She made me go grocery shopping with her—some little dinky mart I’d never even heard of.

Thankfully, I wouldn’t run into anyone I knew there because I was fully decked out in my husband’s workout clothes with unwashed hair.

The mart sold Fruit Loops, so that was a plus.

But Cecelia limited how many boxes I could buy in favor of real food.

On the fourteenth day, I told myself that was enough. Two weeks. Two weeks was enough. Everything else could be packaged nicely in a proverbial box and never thought of again. I’d survived my mother dying, my father dying, and five foster families not wanting me. I could survive Logan leaving me.

I would survive.

Clean hair, nice make-up, new dress, favorite heels.

I could survive this.

The first stop was tea—always tea. The place around the corner had the best lavender chai latte. It wasn’t a chain place, but rather a cute hole-in-the-wall one. It didn’t quite fit our social status, but it was quaint, the staff was nice, and I particularly liked the soft decorations.

I was so focused on getting in and out that I almost missed the fact that Logan sat at a window table with Elliot. I stopped dead in my tracks, my legs locking up and my heart stuttering in my chest.

I just stared because I didn’t know what else to do.

He looked good, happy even, as he laughed at something Elliot said. His smile was genuine, and his laugh carried through the open door. Elliot was one of the only people in the world who could make Logan laugh like that. Who could help him let go of his reservations and live in the moment.

It made my heart ache. I missed that sound. And, at that moment, I also hated that sound. Of course, he was here. Why wouldn’t he be here? It was our coffee shop—just like everything else in my life. I sighed and took out my phone, turning my back on the window and starting down the street.

I needed a new coffee shop. One that made a comparable lavender chai latte.

“Eva.”

I froze, my body tensing. How could just the sound of his voice threaten to take me out by the knees? And not in a good way. It wasn’t fair. I took a moment to ensure my walls were in place before rotating on my heel to face him with a practiced smile.

“Logan,” I greeted. That handsome face scrutinized me, and I stood a little taller, knowing full well he could see right through me.

“Don’t do that,” he whispered as he stepped closer. “Please, don’t hide behind your walls, Eva.”

“I don’t think you get a say in that anymore, do you?” I asked. I tried to sound convincing, but even I could hear the slight tremble in my voice. He nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“How are you?” Logan replied.

“I don’t think you get to ask me that either.” Yes, I was being difficult, but I couldn’t handle him. Every second of talking to him cracked open my heart a little bit more.

“Okay.” Lips pressed together, he nodded. “Have a good day, Eva.”

“Goodbye, Logan.” Stiff and painfully aware of how he watched me, I left. I headed straight back home, threw my clothes in the corner, and buried myself in his workout clothes all over again .

And as I went to drown in cereal, the doorman showed up to give me a lavender chai latte—courtesy of a hired delivery boy that security wouldn’t let up. I never cried so hard over tea in my life.