Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1) (10 page)

“I can’t take these.” Trevor dropped the plastic bags full of clothes onto the tent floor.

“There are just a couple of pairs of jeans and a few shirts—some new underwear and a pair of tennis shoes. I promise there’s nothing expensive in these bags.” Logan picked them up and held them out again. “Please, Trevor. Take them. I know your grandma is working hard to get you what you need, but I don’t have anybody who needs me to buy things for them, and I can afford to. Just let me do this.” He tried one more time. “Please?”

Trevor looked at the bags warily. “None of those jeans that cost thirty bucks or shoes that cost a hundred dollars?”

Logan shook his head. “I’ll give you the receipt. You can look for yourself. These are just plain, everyday clothes.”

Trevor started to take the bags, then pulled his hand back. “What about Grandma? How’s she gonna feel? She wants to get me stuff like this, but she can’t afford to.”

He had thought of that. “Remember Pastor Rhinehart told you I own a construction company?”

Trevor solemnly nodded.

“I’ve been thinking. I think your grandpa could work on jobs he within reach. I always need somebody to mind the office when we’re on site, and I bet he could do some outdoor work for me too, if he’s good with his hands. I’d like to come to your house and offer him a job.”

Trevor’s shoulders started shaking and tears built up in his eyes before they silently trickled down his face. “You…you’d do that for my grandpa?”

“I’d do that for you.” Logan wasn’t finished, either. “My mom is sick, Trevor. She needs somebody to stay with her during the day and help her with things. I think I can afford to pay your grandma more than she’s making cleaning houses, and she won’t have to work quite as hard anymore.” Shelly had been talking about relocating to southern Kentucky to be closer to her grandchildren, and with Trevor’s grandmother there, Shelly’s obligation to Logan’s mom would no longer be holding her back.

Hope was starting to show through Trevor’s tears. “But you don’t even know my grandma and grandpa.”

“I know
you
. People who have raised you have to be pretty special because they’ve made sure that you are.” It was all that Logan had to offer.

Trevor threw his scrawny arms as far around Logan’s shoulders as he could reach, squashing the bags of clothes between them. “Thank you, Logan.”

Logan let go of the bags with his right hand and roughly ran his hand over the top of the boy’s head. “It’ll be okay now, Trevor. You’ll be okay now.” He wasn’t sure if he was talking to Trevor or himself.

The twelve-year-old boy stepped back and took the bags of clothes from Logan. “I’ll be outside as soon as I change.” He wiped his face with the back of his hand and grinned.

“I’ll be out there waiting for you. We’ll show ‘em how it’s done when we play kickball pretty soon.” Logan ducked and walked out of the tent.

He was surprised to find Bo sitting alone on a table.

“Where’s Seth?” he asked.

Bo gestured toward the tent. “He doesn’t want to play kickball. I’m not going to tell him he has to, either.” He looked sadly at Logan. “That boy is plain scared, is what he is. I think someone—maybe his dad—beats him. And I can’t do a cotton pickin’ thing about it.”

Logan thought of how he had felt about Trevor’s situation and making things better for him. “I’m sorry, Bo. I don’t know what to tell you, but if you wait here for Trevor, I’ll go get somebody who might.”

Bo silently nodded.

Logan jogged away, toward the field where Emily and Abby had helped set up a kickball diamond. Sure enough, Abby was standing beside Brody and Luke.

“Abby, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked as he stopped beside her.

She gave him a suspicious look.

“I’m not up to anything, I promise.” He crossed his heart. “This is something important, and I don’t know who else to ask for help.”

“I’ll be back to cheer you guys on,” she told Brody and Luke. She followed Logan several feet away from everybody else.

“It’s Bo and Seth.” He’d just get straight to the point.

She sighed, and tears welled in her eyes. “If you’re going to tell me he’s being abused, you don’t have to. I knew from the moment I saw him.”

“Can you help?”

Abby sadly shook her head. “I’d have to witness the abuse, or he’d have to tell me what happened. I can’t just call and report what I see and why I think he’s acting the way he does. Protective Services need facts, not opinions, Logan.”

Logan thought for a moment. “Then, can you help Bo? He’s not dealing very well with his inability to make things better for Seth.”

“Like you did for Trevor.” A small smile broke through her woebegone expression.

“That’s different. His problems are something I can help with. Seth’s aren’t.” Logan didn’t know who else to ask for help. Abby had been a counselor for at least the past couple of years. He’d found out at their class reunion.

She looked into his eyes. “Okay. I’ll talk to Bo and see if I can help him. Maybe he can’t do anything long-term for Seth, but he can give him these two weeks of safety and fun to remember. And I’m going to talk to Pastor Rhinehart myself and make sure Seth’s situation is being investigated. If it’s not, I’m getting in touch with one of my friends at Protective Services and finding out why. We don’t have to just forget about him.”

Logan felt like hugging her, but he knew for a fact she’d bop him. “Thank you, Abby. I have to go get Trevor so we can get back here and play ball, but Bo is sitting over there waiting. Seth doesn’t want to play and Bo’s not going to make him.”

“I’ll walk with you. Let me tell Brody and Luke I’m leaving, though.”

Logan watched as she walked back to the two of them. He scanned the field and saw the other pairs, laughing and goofing around with a couple of balls. Then he saw her. Emily was laughing at something Paul Findley had told her. She really was beautiful. He felt a twinge of guilt as he thought about seeking her out later, but remembering he wasn’t sure it was merely for the benefit of the team eased it a little.

“I’m ready.” Abby was back and ready to go see Bo.

“So, what’s up with you and Em?” she asked after they had taken a few steps.

He looked at her. “Honestly?” She nodded. “I don’t know.”

“But you want to find out?” Abby was Emily’s best friend for a reason. She might be little, but he had seen for himself how big her bite could be. Heaven help him if she found out about the newspaper picture thing.

An awful thought came to him. If Em or Abby either one saw the
Razor
, it was over. Em would kill him, and Abby would make sure he wasn’t still kicking.

“Do you know if Em gets the paper?” He hoped the abrupt change of subject didn’t arouse her suspicions.

She shook her head. “Emily refuses to read or watch the news while she’s out here. This has always been her oasis—ever since we were kids and came out here with her parents. She figures if she doesn’t know it’s happening, then it isn’t. Why?”

“I just wondered. You know since the photographer and reporter from the
Razor
are here, I thought she might be following their story.” He sure hoped not.

“If she is, she’s not sharing it with me, and her motor home isn’t that big.” She chuckled. “Now, since I’m not about to let you get away with changing the subject, tell me. Do you want to find out what’s up with you and Em?”

He answered honestly. “I think I do.” He just wished those blasted newspaper people were out of the picture.

“Come take a walk with me.” Logan had appeared at Emily’s side.

She looked around the empty pavilion. “What about Trevor?” They had all just cleaned up after dinner, and gone back to the tents for some kind of story activity Pastor Rhinehart had planned.

“He’s with Bo and Seth. It’s okay. It seems to help Seth when Trevor’s around, and Trevor doesn’t need to spend every waking moment with me to know I care.” He put his hand on her arm. “Please take a walk with me.”

She looked at him, carefully considering his request. “Okay. We’ll walk on the Sweet Gum Trail. It’s only half a mile long and shouldn’t be too dark yet.”

“Lead the way.” He took her hand in his and laced their fingers together as they walked to the trailhead.

“How did Trevor like his clothes?” She’d noticed he was wearing them.

“I didn’t think he was going to accept them at first, but after I told him about his grandparents, he was fine with it.” He tugged her a little closer.

“What about his grandparents?” Emily knew only that he lived with them, and they were nearly destitute.

He told her about the jobs he was going to offer them as soon as he got home.

She stopped in her tracks and looked at him in amazement.

“I’m going to kiss you,” she informed him.

“Not if I kiss you first.” He gathered her into his arms and tenderly kissed her lips. Her hands snaked into his hair and pulled him tighter against her, wanting—no,
needing—
more. Logan didn’t disappoint her. He tilted their heads to deepen the kiss, and if he pulled her any tighter against him, she wouldn’t be able to breathe. She could barely accomplish that as it was.

“What are you doing to me?” he murmured between kisses, then put his hands underneath the back hem of her blouse and started to slide them around to the front.

Suddenly he froze. He dropped his hands and broke off their kiss before he stepped away.

“What’s wrong?” She was confused by his actions.

“I’m sorry, Em.” He gently kissed her again. “This just isn’t the time or place for doing what I want with you.”

Her heart soared. He actually cared enough to not give the other men reason to think she was “easy”. After all these years, could the two of them be feeling something…romantic for each other?

They resumed their walk, once more holding hands.

“Tell me about your job,” Logan requested. “Your real job—not this one.”

“I’m the day-shift head nurse in the emergency room at Ransom Hospital.”

“How did you get away for this long, then?” Hadn’t she said she was there for a couple of months?

An ironic little laugh escaped her. “I told you about my mom and dad’s anniversary present. The fact is, they tricked me. They asked if I would give them anything they wanted, and fool that I am, I said yes.” She remembered the joy on their faces. “They wanted me to use all my saved vacation time and days off to come here so they could go on their cruise. They’d been trying to get me to take a vacation for over two years, and they really wanted to visit the Caribbean. I guess, in their eyes it was a win-win situation.”

“So, you’re here because they tricked you?” He chuckled.

She frowned. “I don’t like being tricked. I don’t like games. It’s only because they’re my parents that I can live with it. Otherwise, I’d have been out the door.”

Logan’s stomach rolled. If…
when
she found out about the pictures in the paper, any chance they might have would be gone—even if they did discover that they wanted to be together. Look how long she had been angry with him over the crap he pulled in high school. She’d only just seemed to get past that. Earlier, it had been all he could do not to strip off his shirt and use it as a blanket so he could make love to her right there on the path. He remembered the photographer just in time.

Nope. She wouldn’t forgive him for this. Even if he weren't faking his feelings, which he was beginning to realize he wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter.

“Any interesting stories about your job? I bet you get all kinds of people in the ER.” That was a safe topic and he really did want to know more about her.

“We do get all kinds of people. Some of them use the ER as their family physician, which is just plain wrong. There are too many people who need the real emergency room services.” She clasped his hand tighter. “And when there’s a full moon, every nut in the county comes out. I had a woman come in and tell me she was in labor.” Just the image of the overweight woman bending and carrying on, still brought on a smile. “She wasn’t even pregnant. She just had a healthy appetite. She thought she’d just check into the hospital like you would a hotel and be waited on hand and foot.”

“I bet you’re good with people like that.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I had plenty of practice dealing with a nut when I was in school.”

“Em, about that. I don’t know why I was always fixated on you—except your life seemed so perfect, and you were always the best person in our class.” He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Maybe I was just jealous.”

Emily looked at their joined hands. “Abby says our years of torture and argument were foreplay.”

An eyebrow raised, he considered that. “I don’t know if she’s right, but I sure would like the end result if she is.”

She swatted his arm. “You’re bad.”

“How do you know? We’ve never…”

“Okay, Mr. One Track Mind. Tell me about your business. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the first advertisement in the paper.”

He shrugged. “Not much to tell. I flipped a few houses and built up enough capital to start Taylor Construction. Like I told you, Mom’s house was our first stick-built construction project. Business grew until I could afford to hire more help. I have four full-time employees and stay in the black, so I can’t complain.”

“Are houses the only structures you build?” She knew another company had done the construction work on the new addition to the hospital.

“Yep.” He smiled at her. “Believe it or not, even in today’s housing market, we’re plenty busy.”

“What do you do in your free time?” A horrible thought struck her. He might have a girlfriend--or girlfriends—and here they were, fooling around.

“I don’t have much free time, but when I do, I usually spend it with Mom.”

“No girlfriends?” If there were, she was out of there.

He looked at her with surprise on his face. “Do you really think I’d be…kissing you like I have been if there were somebody else in the picture?” He shook his head. “How do I know you don’t have a boyfriend?”

“Because I haven’t even had time to date.”

“So, we’ve established that we’re both single. Right?” he asked.

“Right.” She looked at him. “So, what do you think about our government right now?”

They finished their walk, talking about their differing views with regard to various laws. He laughed when she told him she’d never carry a concealed weapon because if she shot somebody, she’d just end up patching them up in the emergency room—
if
she hit them. She thought it was funny when he told her he’d bury a lead-lined, steel case in the ground to hide his guns before he’d give them up. After all, the criminals weren’t going to say, “Well, gee, if that’s the law, I can’t have this gun anymore.”

They both enjoyed their walk so much that neither of them was happy when they came back to the trailhead.

Too soon, they were in front of her camper. “Want to come back later?” She suddenly felt self-conscious.

More than she knew. “I’d better not. Abby’s inside, and I can’t let myself get carried away outside again.”

Feeling disappointed, but understanding, she nodded. “Okay. Then I’ll see you around tomorrow.”

“You’re not getting away that easily.” He leaned down and began to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him. She hesitated for a second, but then got caught up in her feelings and kissed him back. They were both breathing heavily when they reluctantly pulled apart a few minutes later.

“I’d better get back to Trevor.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” Her eyes met his in the oncoming twilight.

He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. “I’m counting on it.”

“Okay.”

He gave her yet another brief kiss before turning and walking away.

With her fingers on her lips and her heart still beating fast, she let herself in. Abby looked up from the book she was reading.

“Did you and Logan enjoy your walk?” Her eyebrows were hidden beneath her bangs.

“How did you know we went for a walk?” She hadn’t seen Abby when they left.

“I was on my way back from the group activity when I saw you coming out of the woods.” She gave Emily a sly look. “Anything interesting happen in those woods?”

Emily smiled at her. “No. He kept it PG this time. I think he really respects me and cares what the other men might think.”

Abby returned her smile. “I’ll bet he does, Em.”

Emily hoped so. She was afraid she was falling for the bane of her existence.