Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1)

by Evans, Georgia

  “You did?” He hadn’t thought anybody ever believed him.

  It was her turn to feel guilty. “I know you didn’t break the trophy case. And it wasn’t you who stuffed the drains with toilet paper.” She remembered when he’d nearly been expelled. “I saw Vern spray paint the graffiti on the buses.”

  He was struck dumb. There had been a witness who could have exonerated him. And not just any witness—Emily Scott! He wouldn’t have always had to have been the person taking the blame for everything. Then he thought of all the things he had done to her.

  “I guess you got even with me, huh?”

  “Logan, I’m sorry. It seems so childish and…insignificant now. I mean, I should have come forward, but I made excuses to myself for why I didn’t. Please, can we forgive each other and forget our school problems? We can’t go back and change anything, but we can go forward—together.”

  He would do anything humanly possible for her. “What school problems?” He gave her a crooked grin. “Your turn.”

  “Don’t say I’m cheating; this is a fair combination. What are your favorite color, book, movie, hobby, and place?” She waited for him to refuse to reply on the grounds of it being a combination question.

  “My favorite color is hazel—the same shade as your eyes when you’re all worked up about something. I have read The Lord of the Rings so many times I know parts of it by heart. It’s old, and you probably haven’t seen it, but I can’t watch Ghostbusters without laughing. Fast-pitch softball is my favorite hobby, and my favorite place is wherever you are.” He hadn’t even hesitated. “Now, you answer the same question.”

  “Okay.” She had to try and remember how she’d asked it. “My favorite color is the reddish orange of the sky just as the sun sets. My favorite book is The Notebook, and I’m the same way about a movie called Steel Magnolias as you are about Ghostbusters, only I laugh and cry every time I watch it. My favorite hobbies—I can’t separate them—are camping and walking those trails at Boone’s.” She caught his gaze as he glanced at her. “Will it be cliché if I say my favorite place is wherever you are?”

  “Maybe,” he chuckled.

  “Okay.” She grinned. “My next favorite place is your house. It’s my dream house, Logan.”

  He felt his heart soar. Everything about his house had come from his imagination and was built to suit himself. And she thought it was perfect.

  “We’re here,” he announced, as he pulled into a long driveway behind a few other vehicles. “Looks like we’re the last ones to arrive.”

  “Before we get out, I want to tell you one thing, Logan.”

  He paused, his hand on the door latch, and turned to face her.

  “It’s been one month, and I still love you.” She leaned toward him, and he couldn’t resist kissing her. “Just five more to go,” she softly breathed when they parted.

  He got out of the car and went around to open her door. “I hope you still feel the same way, Emily. I’m counting on it.” She seemed to be having trouble handling her purse, and he remembered all the pennies she’d brought. “At least you shouldn’t go broke too soon.”

  A grinning Mason opened the door. “Hi, Logan.” He gave Emily a brief hug. “Come over here and let me introduce you to the ladies.” He led Emily into the dining room, where two couples and a single woman sat at folding tables. “This is my date, Lanie.” The pretty blonde gave a little wave. “You know Coop.” Coop nodded at her and grinned. “The lady that’s way too pretty to be with his ugly mug is his fianceé, Marie.” Her head full of dark curls bounced as she giggled in response to Mason’s words. She reminded Emily of Abby, except for her coloring.

  “You can’t listen to him, Emily,” Marie told her. “Mason Wright is the biggest flirt to walk the face of the earth.”

  Emily cocked an eyebrow and looked at her host, then back at Marie. “Already been there, way too early one morning.” It seemed a lifetime ago when he and Logan had been on her doorstep…at her mom and dad’s…She wasn’t going to think about her parents tonight. Except for a few things her dad had taught her.

  “Colton is sitting at the other table.” Mason ignored both of the women’s remarks about his flirting habits. He was probably used to hearing it. “The hot chick with the red hair is his wife, Joni.”

  “This hot chick is going to kick some serious butt tonight, Mason.” Emily already liked Joni. “I’m glad you’re here, Emily. Logan’s usually odd man out, or else he and Mason are a couple.” She snickered.

  “We’ll start out with you two at that table with Colton and Joni,” Mason informed them.

  “We’ll switch around later,” Logan told Emily as he held her chair.

  The four of them were facing each other, with Colton shuffling the cards. “Since Emily’s our freshman, she can deal first.” He grinned across the table at Logan and handed her the cards.

  Emily unzipped her purse and took out a couple of rolls of pennies, then busted one of them open. “How much do I have to put in the middle of the table?” she asked.

  Logan smiled indulgently. “We just play penny ante, so start with one.” He looked around the room, searching for a pen and paper. “Do you want me to write a list of winning hands and their standing for you?”

  She shook her head as she shuffled the cards. “I think we’ll just start with five card stud, no peek, and deuces wild.”

  If she’d have had a camera, she’d have taken a picture of both men’s faces. Instead, she looked across the table at Joni, who was grinning conspiratorially at her, and winked.

  Several hands later, Emily’s little pile of pennies had grown while her tablemates’ had shrunk.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you could play poker?” Logan asked as Joni dealt the cards for five card draw.

  “You didn’t ask,” she told him. “You just assumed I didn’t know how.”

  “I feel violated,” Colton informed her.

  Giggling, she patted his hand. “It’ll be okay. If you run out of pennies, I can cash some out some bills for you. I have plenty of extras with me.”

  Logan remembered her ten rolls of pennies and looked at her winnings. He had been hustled. “I’m dating a card shark in a beautiful woman’s body,” he dryly observed. “Where’d you learn to play like that, Em?”

  Emily’s smile faltered just a fraction before it was back in full force. “There’s not much to do in a motor home on rainy days. Mom had to keep us heavily stocked with toothpicks so Dad and I could play. If you think I’m good, you should have seen him.”

  Logan held his breath. Was she going to lose it? She had mentioned her parents. Emily saw him looking at her.

  “You’d better not be trying to look at my cards. Cheaters should be banned from the tables.”

  He smiled at her. “I’ll try and control myself. I’m just getting pretty desperate over here.” At the rate they were going, he’d be down to pocket lint by the time they changed tables.

  She saw his expression and chuckled. “I’ll give you change for a dollar, too, Logan. Don’t worry.”

  Two hours later, when the pizzas were delivered, Emily had cleaned out all four men once and given them each two rolls of pennies for quarters. They laughingly called her “Moneybags.” She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.

  “So, Colton told me you’re a nurse,” Joni said as she joined her at the table.

  Emily finished eating the bite of pepperoni pizza in her mouth. “I’m the head nurse for the day shift in the emergency room of Ransom Hospital, but I’m off for two more weeks.” She had decided to honor her parents’ wishes and do her best to relax for the remainder of her leave. It felt like she was honoring their final wish for her. “What do you do?”

  “I manage Rivets,” Joni answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

  Emily sat forward. “That is my absolutely most favorite store in the world to shop at. I have bought every single dress and good outfit I own there.” That was where Logan and Abby had t
aken her to shop for the funeral.

  “We’ve probably seen each other before,” Joni commented.

  “You must really be into their clothes if you could miss my lady,” Colton told her as he sat beside Joni, three huge slices of pizza piled on his plate.

  Joni, between bites of food, leaned over and kissed him. “You’re just saying that now because you think I’ll let you have your way with me later.”

  He gave her a quick kiss in return. “Maybe I’ll let you have your way with me.”

  Emily was laughing softly at their banter when Logan walked into the room. He had never seen anything more beautiful than the woman he was looking at right now. She’d left her hair down and it hung in long brown waves, some of it covering her shoulders and cascading down her chest. Her eyes looked nearly green while they twinkled with her smile. She looked happy and content. Just then her gaze came up and met his.

  “Are you going to stand there all day, or sit down and eat your pizza, so I can get back to becoming a wealthy woman?”

  He walked over and sat down. “Hey, I’m not about to stand in the way of you becoming rich. Then I can quit my job and become a kept man.”

  Their shared laughter died down as they looked into each other’s eyes. What she saw took her breath away. Logan Taylor really loved her. And he was waiting until he was sure she really loved him.

  Logan could see the love and desire in Emily’s eyes. She still needed him too much, though. He wanted her to be sure she wasn’t mistaking that need for love. He was still hoping like crazy she wasn’t—that she really and truly loved him as much as he loved her.

  She leaned over and softly kissed his lips. “Do you need to cash in any more quarters before the next game?” she teased.

  “Nope. I’ll just sit back and enjoy the scenery if I go bust this time.”

  “Poor thing. I’ll buy dinner for us tomorrow evening,” she offered.

  He wasn’t sure if she was just kidding. “You want to go out for dinner?”

  She looked at him solemnly. “I want to go to Butlers.”

  “Then we’ll go.” He couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 31

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Abby asked, holding Emily’s arm and preventing her from entering her parents’ house.

  Emily took a deep breath. “I’m sure I don’t want to do this, but I have to go back to work next week and I’ll be too busy. Mom and Dad wouldn’t want me to let things just set here like a museum. I need to do this.”

  She was going to donate their clothes and furniture to Goodwill—except her mom’s wooden rocking chair. It was going home with her. The only food she had to take care of was the nonperishables since her parents had been traveling, so Abby had arranged for the church to send a van to pick it up for their food bank. Other than a few pieces of jewelry that were special to her, and whatever Abby selected, she was going to let her grandparents and aunt and uncle have their choice of what was left. Aaron and Sara might want something. Everything else was being packed in boxes and going to a rented storage shed. Someday when she was able, she’d sort through the books and papers and deal with those things.

  The task she dreaded the most was sitting in the middle of the living room floor. There were three large trunks filled with her parents’ personal effects. The authorities in Florida had obtained everything and shipped it home. Since it was the last thing Emily wanted to do, she was going to tackle it first and get it out of the way.

  “You should have let Logan come.”

  Emily shook her head. “He’s already missed enough work because of me. He barely finished Taylor’s last project on schedule, and it was only because Mason stepped in and took over so often.”

  She walked to the smallest trunk and sank to her knees in front of it. Already fighting tears, she unfastened the latch and lifted the lid. Abby was right beside her as she looked at the souvenirs her parents had bought. There were all sorts of things made from shells. Emily laughed through her tears when she picked up the heavy glass paperweight with shells suspended in it. Underneath it was an aluminum license plate. A picture of a shell that had been given human features was on one side of it. Words were written underneath the picture. “Shell be comin’ round the mountain.” Her dad had been so cheesy sometimes.

  She pulled out a beautiful set of bamboo wind chimes she knew her mom had bought for the motor home. There were so many other things she lost track. It wasn’t until she felt Abby’s arm tighten around her shoulders when she realized she had soaked the front of her blouse with her tears.

  “I’m keeping these.” She picked up the chimes and the silly license plate. “I’ll just put the rest in storage.”

  Abby helped her put everything back, and she was the one who closed the lid and fastened it.

  The next trunk wasn’t quite as difficult. It was her father’s clothes. Emily was doing fine until his favorite faded “I’d rather be fishing” T-shirt caught her eye. She reached through the rest of the things and tugged it out. When she did, she heard a small thud. “Help me,” she asked Abby, then started digging through the clothes. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There was her dad’s pocket watch. He had rarely gone anywhere without it, claiming it made him appear “scholarly.” “He left it behind,” she said through her tears. “He left it.” She held the t-shirt and watch against her face. It was probably just her imagination, but she thought she could smell her dad—his ever-present scent of Old Spice.

  Emily reluctantly set the T-shirt and watch down with the other things she was keeping, and with Abby’s help, repacked her dad’s clothes. They would go to Goodwill.

  Now she knew she didn’t want to open the last case. It felt like she was saying goodbye to them all over again. She slowly opened it and there, like she expected, were her mother’s clothes. And this time, it definitely wasn’t her imagination. Her mom’s signature scent, “Twilight Woods”, emanated from the open trunk. Emily picked up an armful of clothes and buried her face in them, fresh tears flowing. She wanted her mom to be there—to hold her and comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay. She felt like a lost little girl.

  “Em, you have to let go.” Abby gently pulled the clothes away from Emily. “They’re just clothes. Your mom would bust our butts if she saw us in here crying over a trunk of clothes.” It was then Emily realized her friend was crying every bit as hard as she was. She turned and hugged Abby, burying her face against Abby’s neck. They stayed that way for a few minutes.

  Emily felt her tears slow until she was once more in control of her emotions. She turned and dug through her mom’s things until she found what she was looking for—the ridiculous night shirt with a horse holding a paper fan and the words “hot to trot” on it. She was keeping that.

  She firmly closed the lid and turned to Abby. “Do you think Brody would help us get these clothes and this furniture to Goodwill?”

  “We’re here.” Emily looked up and saw Logan standing in the doorway. “We’re here.” He walked on into the room. There, behind him came the rest of the Slammers—every one of them. “We brought our muscles and our trucks. Just tell us what you need for us to do, Em.”

  She jumped up and launched herself into his arms. “Thank you.” He held her tightly against him for a few minutes.

  “She wants all of the clothes and furniture, except this pile and that chair, to go to Goodwill,” Abby was telling the others. “I’ll get enough buckets of chicken to feed all of you for doing this.”

  “We don’t need anything,” Colton told her. “We’re doing it for Emily.”

  Bo walked over and gently pulled Emily out of Logan’s arms. He looked her square in the eye and said, “This bites, too, Emily.”

  Emily smiled through her tears. This man had a way with words. She’d like to meet his girlfriend someday.

  She looked at Logan before turning to his…and her…friends. “You’ll probably have to take the beds apart to get them downstairs.” Colton, Logan, Bo, and
Brody followed her up the stairs. The others began following Abby’s instructions and started with the downstairs furniture.

  Logan had only asked Colton to help, and the next thing he knew, they’d all pulled up at the construction site, ready to follow him there to help Emily. They were ahead of schedule on the Jensen house so he could afford to close up shop for the day. He’d left Gerald, Trevor’s grandfather, on site to answer the phone and accept deliveries. Hiring the man had proven to be advantageous for both of them.

  He watched Emily lead Colton and Brody into what appeared to be the master bedroom. She came right back out.

  “Will you two help me with my old room?” She led them to a door across the hall.

  Logan felt like he was stepping back in time when he walked into the room. There were trophies on shelves, and ribbons on the wall. Emily’s senior picture held the place of honor on top of a snow white dresser. The furniture in the room was old and beautiful—all finished in antique white. He had an idea.

  “Em, how would you feel about moving this stuff to my spare bedroom?” He hoped he hadn’t upset her when she suddenly froze.

  “I mean, this is your childhood and I have that empty bedroom. It would make a great room for another kid someday…If we don’t work out—if you decide I’m not the one, I’ll have just stored it for you.”

  Emily had heard his offer. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about keeping any of the furniture. It would rot in a storage shed, and she didn’t have room for it in the small one-bedroom house she rented.

  She smiled at Logan. “I’d like that very much. I’ll just box up my stuff, and you can take the furniture to your house.”

  He returned her smile, relief on his face. He had made her happy. That was all he had wanted to do.

  Chapter 32

  “Emily will you assist me with the pelvic examination in 3A?” Dr. Foster asked as he zipped by her in the hall.

  He didn’t wait for her to answer. He didn’t expect an answer because even though Dr. Foster often phrased orders as questions, that was what they were—orders.