“Yeah, it looked like it. So, well, he had his tongue down her throat.”
Sarah put her hand on his arm again. “It was just a first date, Logan.”
“I know, but I couldn’t stand it, Sarah. He left, and I went right to her, opened the door, and when we got inside, I-I…” He closed his eyes and got another replay in his head. “I kind of pushed her against the door and kissed her.”
“Oh, my! Um, how did she react?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I’m pretty sure she kissed me back. But I was drunk, and my memory is a little hazy. This morning, when we were having breakfast, I wasn’t even sure it had happened, and Harriet never mentioned anything.”
“Seriously?”
“Not a word. It was like it never happened.” He paused and tried to recall the details. “Except, there was this one second, when she looked at me, and… oh, I don’t know. I’m confused because I am pretty sure I did this, but she hasn’t called me out on it.”
“Hmm, maybe she is waiting for you to bring it up, or perhaps she realized you were drunk and is letting you off.”
He shrugged. “Things get worse. You remember I showed you we matched on Tinder?”
“Yes. What did you do?”
“I liked her back.”
“And?”
“And she sent me a message.”
“Which you ignored and then blocked her?”
He shook his head. “We’ve been messaging for a few weeks.”
“Logan!”
“I know. You see, at first, I thought she’d realize it was me. Honestly, I wasn’t trying to trick her. It was just innocent stuff. Exchanging likes and dislikes. A couple of messages a day.”
“But it didn’t stay that way?”
“The messages became more frequent, a little more personal. Nothing heavy, still getting-to-know-you stuff.”
“Okay. Well, no harm done. Logan, why are you doing this?”
His face reddened. “I like her, Sarah, and not just as a friend. I want more.”
“Hmm. Do you think she does, too?”
“She does with L.J. She sent a message this morning suggesting we meet.”
“Do you think she now knows L.J. is you?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.”
“Did you reply?”
“I stalled.”
“Logan! Don’t you see, this is your chance to come clean. If she didn’t say anything about the kiss, perhaps she wants to explore this, too.”
“You think?”
“Well, let’s face it, she must know it is you on Tinder, or at least suspect it. Let me see that profile picture again.”
He handed his phone over to her with the app opened. Sarah stared at it for a minute. “Huh, I’m not sure I’d recognize you from that picture. Maybe she doesn’t. Ooh, what if she has known all along? Maybe she wants this, too? She could be playing you at your own game.” Sarah stood up and glanced at the clock on the wall. “I think you should do this, Logan. What do you have to lose?”
“My best friend.”
“It takes more than that to break up an eight-year-long friendship. Seize the day, Logan! If you don’t do this now, you never will, and then you will go through life wondering what might have been.”
Logan was already dwelling on that. Maybe Sarah was right, and they should get this out in the open, so Logan could explain everything to Harriet. Their friendship was solid, so they could get past this if she didn’t feel the same way.
Except Logan wasn’t sure he could take her rejection.
After the lunch crowd died down, Logan went upstairs to take a nap. He was closing tonight, and between the lingering hangover from last night and the anxiety over kissing Harriet, he was exhausted.
As he lay on his bed, he kept wondering if Harriet had replied to his message. Unable to sleep until he checked his app, he snatched up his phone.
I’m flexible. Name a day and where.
He chewed on his lip. He toyed with the idea of wiping their messages and blocking her, but he couldn’t do that. Perhaps he should type back ’surprise’ and then clear the air by admitting it was him. But he couldn’t do that, either.
Instead, he closed the app and looked up at the ceiling. There had to be a way to turn this around, one where he could make his feelings known, but where things wouldn’t get awkward if Harriet didn’t think of him that way.
His phone buzzed, and he picked it up, surprised it was Lori.
Is Sarah working tonight?
Yeah, why?
No reason.
He frowned at the message, but tossed the phone aside. He had more pressing things on his mind, like getting some much-needed sleep, or dwelling on that kiss he and Harriet shared.
God damn it. There was no way he was sleeping, he might as well get up and read, try to take his mind off his roommate.
13
Harriet
The ride to the office went by in a blur as Harriet found herself obsessing about Wesley and Logan’s kisses… and L.J.!
When she arrived, she rushed straight inside and closed her door. It was no good, she needed to talk this through with her girlfriends. Grabbing her phone, she typed into their group text….
I need advice. Who’s up for dinner?
RoryLynn was the first to reply. Squee, is this about the date with Wesley?
Harriet chewed on her lip. For a brief, few minutes after Wesley had kissed her, she’d felt the butterflies and that spark of excitement that goes along with the beginning of something new, but Logan turning up and them kissing had left her confused. Actually, if she was honest, all thoughts of Wesley had shot out of her head, and they’d been replaced by new thoughts—ones she should not be feeling for her roommate.
But what did that kiss from Logan mean? He’d said, “Shouldn’t have fucking waited… I should have told you when I had the chance. Before, you found someone else.” His words were going around and around her head, and the more she thought about them, the more she was reading into them.
And then there was L.J. She really expected he would want to meet her,
