Counting On It (Hearts for Ransom Book 1) (13 page)

“What are you doing out here?” Logan was startled by Mason’s voice. He hadn’t heard Mason leave his tent and walk over to the picnic table where Logan sat.

“She wasn’t at church this morning.” Everybody had been at the worship service Pastor Rhinehart conducted—everybody except Emily. “I thought maybe if I saw her again…”

“We’ll be going home and getting back to work in a week. Life will be back to normal,” Mason assured him. “I’ll set you up with a woman, and you can forget that Emily even exists.”

Logan had been witness to Mason’s idea of a date too many times. He didn’t go for the same kind of girls his friend did. Mason just wanted to have a good time. Logan didn’t have enough time to date as it was, so he wasn’t about to waste what little he could eke out on something with no possible future.

“I screwed up.” He turned to Mason. “I really screwed up.”

Mason sighed. “You’ve got it bad for her, don’t you?”

Logan looked into his friend’s eyes. “I think I…I’ve never felt like this about anybody before…We might have been good together. But now I’ll never know.”

“Listen. The reason she wasn’t at church this morning was because she sprained her ankle. She’s off her feet for a couple of days.”

His heart sped up. “How did she sprain her ankle?”

Mason shrugged. “Abby said something about her slipping on wet grass. I guess if Findley hadn’t seen her, she’d have had a real problem making it back to her motorhome.”

Paul Findley. He had helped Emily, and she thanked him with a kiss. That must have been what he’d seen from the Rec building. It sank in. She didn’t want to be with Logan anymore. She would have never stayed with him once they were back to their normal lives, anyway. He was finished feeling sorry for himself.

“Is Seth out here?” Bo stumbled from his tent, rubbing his eyes.

“I haven’t seen him,” Logan answered.

“He’s not in the tent.” Bo was suddenly wide awake and frantic. “I woke up, and he’s gone!”

Mason and Logan stood up. “He couldn’t have gone far. We’ll help you look for him,” Mason volunteered.

“I’m going to get some more guys out here. We can cover more ground that way.” Bo headed for one of the tents.

“Hold up, Bo,” Mason softly called. “Let’s look around a little first. There’s no sense in scaring the other kids if we don’t have to.”

Bo stopped and seemed to consider Mason’s words before he nodded. “Okay. I’ll take the playground and Rec building.”

“I’ll check the pits and playing field,” Mason offered.

“Let me get a flashlight and I’ll check the trails. I doubt if he would have gone on one of them in the dark, but I’ll check just in case.” Logan headed to his tent. “I just hope I don’t wake Trevor up.”

“Get the flashlight out of my tent,” Bo told him. “I’ll use my phone app.”

“I can get my own flashlight,” Mason volunteered. “Spencer wouldn’t wake up if a bear rolled around in there.”

A few minutes later each of them set off in a different direction.

Logan was glad he had Bo’s flashlight. Once he was in the woods, the trees would block out most of the light from the moon and it would be pitch black. He looked at the names listed on the sign at the trailhead and wondered which one to try. His gut instinct told him to start with the shortest one—the Sweet Gum Trail—the one he and Emily had walked on those few nights. He couldn’t let himself think about her right now. He was looking for a lost child.

“Seth?” he called as he began walking on the trail. “Seth?” He shone the flashlight around the trail as he walked. He figured he’d made it about halfway through when he thought he heard something. He froze and listened. There it was—muffled crying.

“Seth?” He headed toward the sound of sobbing, steadily aiming the flashlight where it originated. There he was—a huddled ball of arms and legs, wearing only a pair of undershorts.

“Whatcha doing out here, buddy?” he softly asked, as he cautiously approached the boy.

Something that sounded like words was mixed in with the sobs, but Logan couldn’t understand him.

“Listen, Seth. Bo and Mason are looking for you. Will you come with me so they know you’re okay?” He was within an arm’s length of him.

The child looked up through his tears at Logan. “Bo don’t want me to be his boy.” His sobs had become hiccups.

“Yes, he does. He’s happy to be your big brother,” Logan assured him. “He wouldn’t trade you for anything.”

“He don’t want me to be his boy forever.” Oh. What could Logan say to that? Seth had become as attached to Bo as Bo was to him.

“Why don’t you come back to your tent with me, and you can talk to Bo about it? He’s really scared ‘cause you’re not there.” He was getting Abby as soon as he could. He had no idea how to help Seth and knew Bo wouldn’t be able to promise him what he wanted, either.

“I’m cold.”

“I bet you are.” Logan searched for the right words. “You know, I’m a little afraid to be out here in the dark. I might get lost. Can you help read the signs so I can find my way back out?”

Seth slowly nodded. “I read the signs for Bo and Miss Scott once.”

Bo and Emily had walked on this path—
their
path together? This wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“Thank you.” He hunkered down in front of the child. “Do you think I could carry you? I know you’re really too old to be carried, but I’m cold, and since my legs are longer, I can walk faster. I’ll walk while you read the signs.” That would keep Seth’s bare feet from receiving any more scrapes than they already had.

“You can carry me until we get out of the woods.” That was something, at least. It would mostly be grass and soil between the trailhead and tents.

“Come on, then. Up you go.” Logan carefully lifted Seth, shocked by how light he was. He could easily jog back to their campsite carrying him without losing his breath. He’d made a deal, though.

He walked as quickly as he could, making sure that Seth saw every sign along the way so he could point them out to Logan. They were almost to the trailhead when he saw a bobbing light and heard Bo’s voice.

“Seth? Logan?”

“We’re here,” he answered, walking into the clearing.

Without another word, Bo pocketed his phone and took Seth from Logan’s arms. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” He frantically examined the teenager’s scrawny arms and legs.

“I think his feet might be hurt, Bo,” Logan gently told him. “He scraped them up pretty badly walking without shoes.”

“Let’s go have Miss Scott look at you.” Bo headed toward the campground host site, Logan beside him. Logan couldn’t help but notice Seth hadn’t offered one single protest about being carried after Bo had him.

“Is he okay?” Mason asked as he ran up beside them. “I saw your flashlight heading toward Emily’s camper and figured you’d found him.”

“He hurt his feet,” Logan told him. “We’re just having Em check them out.”

“I’m going back to our sites, then. If anybody wakes up and finds all four of us gone, they’re liable to freak out.” Mason turned and headed toward their tents.

Logan had to knock on the door twice before Abby, an afghan wrapped protectively around her, opened it.

“What in the name of all that’s holy do you…is that Seth?” Her anger immediately turned to concern.

“Can Emily look at his feet?” Bo asked, his voice shaking. “He was barefoot on one of those trails.”

“Let me go tell her what’s going on. You’ll have to take him in there, though. It’s too hard for her to get up.” Abby let the three of them in as she rushed into what must have been Emily’s bedroom.

It wasn’t long before she was back out, a huge t-shirt hanging to her knees and a smaller one in her hands. “Bo, bring Seth over to the sink. We need to get this shirt on him before he freezes, and Em told me to wash his feet before she looks at them. She doesn’t want to take any chances with him getting an infection.”

Bo carried Seth to the kitchen and set him on the counter so he could slip the t-shirt Abby handed him over his head and arms. Then he lifted him over the kitchen sink and held him so that his feet dangled in it. Abby used a wet cloth to gently wash his feet, both tops and bottoms. Logan saw her grimace a couple of times while she was tending to them.

“Bring him on back,” she told Bo once she had patted Seth’s feet dry. She opened the bedroom door. Bo and Seth disappeared behind it.

Abby closed it and turned to face Logan. “I think we have it covered from here. You can leave.”

“Abby, I…”

“Leave, Logan. There aren’t any photo opportunities tonight—unless you want some poses of a nurse with a sprained ankle taking care of a half-naked boy’s bloody raw feet! That’d get Sloopy’s some publicity, wouldn’t it? And we all know that’s the most important thing to you.”

“Listen to me for a minute, Abby. This isn’t about me. It’s about Seth.” At least she had stopped ranting. “He ran away tonight. He told me Bo doesn’t want him to be his boy forever. He’s become so attached to Bo that he doesn’t want to leave him at all.”

Abby’s frustration dissipated in her concern for Seth. “What did you tell him? Please tell me you didn’t promise him he could always be with Bo.”

“Of course I didn’t,” Logan told her. “Even I know not to make promises that can’t be kept.”

“Sure you do.” Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure how to handle this, but he needs help. That child has had enough turmoil in his life.” She paced the floor. “I think I have to call his caseworker and let her decide what to do. It might be in Seth’s best interest to get him to his aunt right away. I’m not trained to counsel children, you know.”

Logan knew it would kill Bo to lose Seth that soon, but if it were what was best for the child, his friend would accept it.

“Thank you, Abby.” Logan walked to the door and opened it. “I won’t force my company on you any longer. I’ll wait outside for Bo and Seth.”

Abby didn’t stop him as he walked out the door and down the steps. He sat on the bench of the picnic table. The first time he’d sat there, he had been ready to make love to Emily—with no regard to where they were or who was around them. And she had been right there with him, lost to her feelings and more responsive than he would have ever thought possible. He had never experienced that strong of feelings for a woman before and he feared he never would again.

“Brody asked me on a date,” Abby told Emily as she marched into the Rec building, her grin nearly splitting her face apart.

“That’s a shocker,” Emily replied drolly. “When’s the big day?”

“He has a business dinner at Butlers next Friday, and he wants me to go with him.”

Emily didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but she had to point out, “That’s not a very romantic first date, Abby.”

Abby giggled. “It’s across the parking lot from the inn, Em. He has a suite reserved for us.”

“Isn’t that kind of fast?” It wasn’t like her friend to just jump into bed with a guy.

“I realize we’ve only known each other for a week and a half, but I feel like I’ve known him forever, Emily. He says he feels the same way, and I believe him.” Abby’s eyes were glowing with happiness. “I already know in my heart—he’s the one.”

“Please don’t get mad at me, but don’t you think you should wait awhile and see how you both feel after you get back home?” Emily really didn’t want to rain on her friend’s parade. “You know how I’ve always called Boone’s my oasis?”

Abby slowly nodded, her smile rapidly fading.

“The past ten days we’ve been in our own little world with these guys. There haven’t been any other commitments, schedules, or…people. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” Like Emily had.

“Oh my gosh, Emily.” Abby sank to one of the chairs in front of the washing machines. “What was I thinking? I’m not going to bed with him on our first date! And our first date isn’t going to be some stuffy business dinner with a bunch of other lawyers and their wives or girlfriends.” She was building up a head of steam. “If Brody Gaines really wants to be with me, he’d better plan on some serious wining and dining.”

“Don’t you think you should let Brody know that instead of telling me?” Emily asked.

“I will—after I give Bo the good news.”

“What good news?” Abby must have had a busy morning.

“Vanessa called. It turns out that Seth’s aunt loves fast-pitch softball and knows who Bo is. She’d love for him to be a part of her nephew’s life, especially since Seth won’t have any other male role models. She works to support herself and isn’t married.” Abby looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary.

Emily was truly happy for both Bo and Seth. Those two had bonded to more of an extent than Pastor Rhinehart could have ever anticipated. He had sat down with Seth and tried to explain why Bo couldn’t be his father. If Bo hadn’t caught him and talked him through it by promising to spend every moment they could together right now, the boy would have run off again. Thinking of them reminded her that she should probably go over and check his feet as soon as she was finished with the towels.

“Maybe Seth will get to watch all of the Slammers’ games this summer,” Emily observed.

Abby’s brow wrinkled. “There isn’t going to be a Slammers team this summer, Em.”

“What?” That didn’t make any sense. “The men participated in this program, much more enthusiastically and successfully than I ever thought they would, and Logan…well, we both know what he did to keep them sponsored.”

“You’d better sit down.” Abby patted the chair next to hers.

Using a crutch under her right arm to keep most of the weight off of her still-healing ankle, Emily hobbled over and sat down. “Tell me,” she ordered her friend.

“Remember, I told you they all know what Logan did to you?”

Emily nodded unhappily.

“When they found out why, it was the last straw. They decided they’d had enough of Sam Haynes’ blackmail. They told him what he could do with his sponsorship. It’s too late for them to get another sponsor, so they’re sitting out this season.”

“But that’s not right,” Emily protested. “They’re champions. After all they’ve done, they deserve to play ball.” She could only imagine how disappointed Logan must have been when his teammates made that decision. He certainly wouldn’t have given up the season—for anything.

“Em, you should know.” Abby hesitated. “Logan insisted that he be the one to call Haynes and tell him off. He’s as fed up as the rest of them.”

Emily’s heart soared for a moment before reality brought it crashing down. “It’s too bad he didn’t decide that before he tricked me, isn’t it?”

“I  think maybe he feels the same way, Emily.” She’d better not be taking Logan’s side again. “I believe he really cares about you.” She was.

Emily slowly shook her head. “I’m finished with the Slammers, so they’re going to need you. The next three days are all yours.” It was Wednesday, and they were leaving on Saturday morning. She would just avoid them. “As far as I’m concerned, Logan Taylor was never here. Nothing happened.” Her eyes met Abby’s. “Will you do that? Will you take over the program until they leave on Saturday?”

Abby’s eyes were troubled. “Are you sure? What about the kids?”

Emily considered it. Seth’s feet should be fine with Bo watching over him like a hawk. “I’ll be at their bus to tell them goodbye when they leave, but that’s as much as I can do. I just can’t handle any more of this. I’ll take care of the regular campers and campground chores while you take care of them.” She would beg. “Please?”

“Okay, Em, if you’re sure that’s what you want,” Abby answered her, “but the rest of those guys, especially Bo, will want to see you. Are you absolutely certain?”

“The Slammers were never here, and I haven’t seen Logan Taylor since graduation.” Abby had no way of knowing how much Emily wished that were true.