Wild Hearts (22 page)

“Brie, no,” Logan argued, playing along perfectly.

“I'm going to move soon—I don't know when—but I will. If you and I were still together, it would hurt so much worse then. You have to stay away from me.”

“No,” Logan said. “I love you.”

“I can't keep loving you,” I said, connecting my eyes with his to make sure he knew I was still lying. “It would be too painful later. Please leave me alone.”

I spun on my heel and walked away from him. I passed Jack and my dad and kept my expression vacant. I picked up my discarded shoes, slipped them on, and walked up the trailer steps and pulled open the door. Only when it shut behind me did I collapse on the couch, putting my head in my hands.

I'd never done anything like that before. EVER. My chest and stomach hurt. Maybe I didn't
like
my dad at the moment, but I still loved him.
You're clearly showing your love for your dad since you just put on a giant production that was a total lie.
I curled up in a ball on the couch, squeezing my eyes shut while I waited for Dad to come back.

It was official: I had just become a traitor.

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

You can scratch a cowboy out of your brand book, but not out of your heart.

My “breakup” with Logan was puzzling Mom and Dad. They still grilled me even though the showdown had been a week ago.

It would have been funny if I hadn't felt so nauseous constantly because I was living a complete lie. I was grounded and only allowed to leave the house if I was going to the job site. Dad's deadline to move the horses seemed to be approaching faster and faster. I'd seen flashes of the horses through thick trees at the back of the property, so Logan and Jack hadn't moved them yet.

Today, Mom said Amy could come over, but I couldn't leave the house. I'd even had to use Mom's phone to call her.

“Hey, prisoner,” Amy said as she came into my room.

“Hello, visitor,” I said.

Amy sat on my brown swivel chair and I sat up on my bed. I had been lying down reading while I waited for her to come. We were both in shorts and T-shirts and the door to my balcony was open.

“I think I might have something for you,” Amy said quietly.

“Oh, really?” I said. I got up and closed the door to the balcony and quietly shut my bedroom door.

Smiling, Amy reached into her oversize brown satchel and pulled out a small pink cell phone, the present she'd promised me in her e-mail yesterday. (I'd been allowed to check e-mail once last night on the family PC.) She tossed it to me.

“Yeeees!” I said. “Thank you so much!”

“Please, you'd do the same for me.”

“I would, and here.” I rummaged through my purse and found twenty bucks. “This is enough, right?”

“More than enough,” Amy said. “Thank
you
.”

“Oh, the lengths you must go to when you have a secret boyfriend,” I said, grinning.

“I already charged it for you,” Amy said, her tone barely above a whisper, “and you have five hundred minutes. So go on, call him. You should, like, go over by your balcony, but don't go outside in case your mom is out there. I'm going to turn on your TV and talk to it.”

I giggled. “I can tell you've done this before.”

Amy shrugged, smiling. “Maybe once or twice.”

I got up and tossed Amy my TV remote.

She turned on the TV and I dialed Logan's number.
Please answer!
I thought.
I know it's a strange number, but it's me!

“Hello?”

“Logan!” I said.

Amy waved at me. “Shhh,” she said, finger to her lips.

“Logan, oh, my God, it's me. I'm on a burner cell that Amy got for me so we could talk. If I hang up on you for no reason it's because my mom came into the room. Okay?”

“Got it,” he said. “Hi.” His tone was so soft and gentle. It made me miss him more. I wanted his arms around me, strong and tanned. I needed to smell his cinnamon and sweet hay scent.

“Hi. Are you busy?” I kept my voice low. I leaned my back against the wall next to my balcony door. I slid down so I was sitting on the carpet.

“Not for you. Walking to the alley behind Watson's right now.” A door slammed and the background noise from the store vanished. “Okay. All clear here,” Logan said.

“I miss you. So much,” I said.

“You have no idea how much I miss you,” Logan said. “I can't believe we're even talking right now.”

“I know,” I said. “How did it go with your dad when you got home?”

“I don't want to rub it in,” Logan said. “But honestly, my dad was okay. We talked for a long time. He liked you so much when you guys met each other at dinner. He let me talk about you for, oh, a little while.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“I told him that I'd found an amazing girl who, when I first met her, irritated the crap out of me.”

I laughed softly. “I know I did.”

“But even after all that, there was something about this girl that was different. Something that I'd never felt about anyone else.”

“Logan.”

“I told him that I was pissed about how he had been treating your dad. I made sure he understood that I am
completely
on the side of the horses.”

“How did Jack respond to that?”

“We argued a little at first. I finally got him to see that he wasn't accomplishing anything that he wanted to. Writing, calling, showing up and harassing your dad wasn't going to make him side with the horses. It just pissed him off. I think what really got my dad was when I told him that your dad took that anger home with him.

“I ended our talk by saying that no matter how busy my dad is, he
always
used to know every little thing that Holden and I were doing. But he had been so busy harassing someone that he never noticed that I'd not only met my dream girl, but I was in love with her.”

“I love you,” I said. “So much. Thank you for saying all that to your dad, Logan.” I glanced at my bedroom door. “I better hang up since Mom is still practically on patrol. But I'll have this phone and this number. I can text from it, too. It's going to be under my mattress on silent, but you can call or text whenever you want.”

“Okay,” Logan said. “I'll see you
soon.
”

“I hope so.”

We said good-bye and I snapped the phone shut. I double-checked to make sure the ringer was off and got up. I smiled at Amy as I slid the phone under my mattress.

“So?” she asked, smiling. “How was it?”

I flopped onto my bed, lying on my back with my feet crossed in the air. “Perfect,” I said. “Having a phone changes everything. But it also made me want to see him that much more.”

“You will,” Amy said.

We hung out until dinnertime and Amy headed home. She promised to come over the next day to keep me from dying of boredom.

I checked my phone before I went to bed.

Two new texts:

I'll be thinking abt u tonight.

And

Amy and I need to arrange a jailbreak for you.

I smiled and texted him back.

Thinking abt u too. And yes, get me out!☺

The next morning, I dressed in jean shorts and a red tank top and came downstairs after Dad had left for work. He'd given me the day off. I had been shocked, but I
definitely
wasn't going to argue about it!

In the kitchen, I found Mom staring at her laptop screen.

“What're you working on?” I asked. She motioned me over and slipped her glasses up on top of her head.

“Cropping these photos.” She pointed to the laptop. “They're just gorgeous, Brie.”

I looked over her shoulder. They were the photos from the cave. Mom had snapped one of me grinning as I stood under a
massive stalactite and next to a giant stalagmite. The intimate photos made me feel as if we were back in the cave.

“Hey, Mom?”

She looked up at me. “Why do I feel you're about to ask for a favor?”

“Because you have freaky Mom-radar,” I said. “Can I meet Amy in town for coffee? Just for a couple of hours, max.”

Mom sighed. She looked back at her screen and then at me.

“Amy. Coffee. Home. Deal?” she asked.

“Deal!” I said. “I promise! Thanks, Mom.”

I grabbed the house phone off its cradle and dug into my pocket for the scrap of paper that Amy had written her number on last night. I didn't have my cell to speed dial it, and I had no idea what it was from memory.

The phone rang twice.

“Hello?” Amy answered.

“Hey,” I said. “You busy this morning?”

“Nope. I don't have to be at work until two.”

“Perfect. My mom said I could come into town and have coffee with you as long as I came home right after.”

“That sounds great,” Amy said. “I'll, um, make sure to let everyone know.”

I almost broke out into a little dance in the kitchen. Amy was calling or texting Logan right now to tell him about coffee.

“Thanks, Ames,” I said. “See you in a bit.”

I hung up the phone and grabbed my purse.

“Brie?” Mom called.

I turned back to her and she held out something gold and shiny.

“I get my phone back?” I asked.

“Not really,” Mom said. “You're getting it because you're going out. When you get home, it goes back in the drawer.”

I didn't even try to argue. All I cared about was getting to Beans. “Okay. Thanks, Mom.”

“Sweetie,” Mom said.

I stopped mid-step and turned to face her.

“I don't necessarily agree with it, but do what Dad asked about Logan, okay? For now.”

“Okay.” I hated lying to my mom. She was the rational one in the family. If I told her what I was planning to do, she would probably try to help. I would ask her to let me see Logan, but I had
just
gotten permission to leave the house. It was way too soon to ask.

I'd have to convince Mom to let me see Logan, but I couldn't wait that long. The week that had already gone by was too much time. I owed Amy for all the minutes that I kept buying for the burner phone.

I headed out the door and grabbed my bike. I wasn't wasting another moment.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY