The Promise of Us (Sanctuary Sound #2)(34)

“Still not worried.” He strolled into the bedroom. “You can’t deny that we make a great team. And seeing this space only makes me happier that I’ve hired you to redo my place. How ’bout we go grab lunch to reward ourselves for a job well done?”

Yes.

“No, thanks.” When he winced, she elaborated. “I’m meeting my mother to make homemade mac and cheese and a cake for my gram. It’s her birthday. She’s eighty-eight.”

“Mac and cheese?” He grinned.

Mac and cheese was no laughing matter in the McKenna house. “With ham and peas. Her favorite.”

“Eighty-eight.” He whistled. “That’s some longevity.”

“A by-product of close family ties,” Claire blurted, a saying her mom repeated often.

In all the years she’d been friendly with Peyton and Logan, she’d never met their grandparents. The Prescott side had died before she moved to town, and their maternal grandparents had lived in California. “Do you miss your grandparents?”

“We saw my mom’s parents only at the holidays, but they never stayed long. And it’s no secret that my dad didn’t respect his father. They couldn’t even get along, so that was always uncomfortable.”

“That’s a shame, especially when there was so much to be thankful for and enjoy.”

“Well, I don’t miss what I never had. Prescott parent-child bonds aren’t as tight as the McKennas’.”

She tipped her head. “If you want to see eighty-eight, maybe try not to repeat that pattern.”

He flattened his hand on his chest. “It’s not my fault my dad’s an ass.”

“I bet your dad would say the same about his dad.” She tucked her hands in her pockets. “Does it matter whose fault it is when it’s your family? Break the cycle so that, someday, your kids will know something better.”

Logan blinked at her as if she’d grown another nose. “Let’s get rolling. I guess I’ll go kayaking this afternoon.”

She let the non sequitur pass without comment because panic took over. “It’s only March, Logan. There’s fresh snow on the ground.”

“I know. No one else will be on the Sound. I can clear my head.”

“Only because no one else is foolish enough to risk hypothermia. If something happens or you tip over, there won’t be anyone there to help.”

“It’s clear skies and calm seas. I’ll be fine skirting the coast.” He started for the door.

“Now I’ll worry all afternoon.” She sighed while following him out of the room and down the stairs. “I wish you wouldn’t go.”

Before he could reply, Nancy met them at the bottom of the stairwell. Claire preferred tea, but the hazelnut coffee aroma coming from Nancy’s cup piqued Claire’s appetite.

“How’d it go?” Nancy asked.

“Once we update the website with these shots, you’ll be sharing the links with all your friends. Even Town & Country will be envious.” Logan bestowed her with one of his charming smiles, and Claire watched her preen.

“Claire and Steffi did a beautiful job, didn’t they?” Nancy touched Logan’s forearm. Claire couldn’t blame her. He was a human magnet. “It’s my sanctuary.”

“Thank you,” Claire said.

“Thank you,” Nancy replied and opened the front door. “Have a wonderful day.”

“You too,” Logan answered as she ushered them outside.

“Bye!” Claire waved.

Before she knew what was happening, Logan shifted the tripod case to his other hand and took Claire by the arm as they made their way around the patches of ice clumped along the walkway. Typically she resisted being treated like an invalid, but the part of her that had always yearned for Logan’s attention couldn’t bring the rest of her to fight him off.

When they arrived at her car, he set down the long case and adjusted her knit scarf, his fingers brushing against her neck and sending tingles down her spine. “Enjoy your birthday party.”

“Logan.” She gripped his arm. “Please don’t go kayaking.”

“Don’t be such a worrywart.” A light breeze blew some of her hair across her face, but he brushed it away before she could. “I’ll be fine.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” She scowled.

“Honestly?” He shrugged. “I don’t want to go home. My mother’s itching to drag me into the fund-raiser planning, and my father’s working from home. I’m going a little stir-crazy in that house.”

“So find something else to do. Something safe.”

He grinned. “Like baking a cake.”

“Well, no. You’d have to be at home to do that.”

He crossed his arms. “Or at your mom’s with you.”

“Ha ha.” Her heart thudded to a stop until she told herself he’d been joking.

“I’m serious.”

She paused, resisting the search for candid cameramen waiting to embarrass her. “You do not want to spend your afternoon in my mom’s kitchen.”

“Why not?” He leaned against her car, staring into her eyes in a way that made her feel overexposed.