Carolyne Aarsen - Twin Blessings and Toward Home - Twin Blessings / Toward Home

She had been passing through, she had said. Stayed overnight in Medicine Hat. Logan’s partner told her where he was. She thought, since she was in the neighborhood, maybe she would stop in and see how Logan and the girls were doing.

Brittany and Bethany stayed close by as they walked, as if unwilling to give Karen and Logan the space they always gave him and Sandra.

“Your partner, Ian, tells me that you’ve got an important project due,” Karen said, breaking the silence.

Logan nodded. “I’m submitting it on spec. A few other architects are submitting plans, as well. If the client likes what I’ve done, we have a good chance at more work.” He bit his lip, thinking of the project that just wouldn’t obey. He’d never had this hard a time coming up with ideas. Nor had so much been riding on one project, he reminded himself.

“I heard it was the Jonserads that you might be doing this work for.” Karen angled him a questioning glance. “They’re a pretty big company. Family business.”

Logan nodded. He didn’t need the reminder.

“My parents know the Jonserads,” she added coyly. “If you want, I could put in a good word for you.”

Logan stiffened at the suggestion. All his life he had worked for everything he had. Nothing had come easily. He had managed without anyone’s help, and he was proud of that.

“Thanks for that, Karen. But I would just as soon earn the job based on my own merit.” He smiled at her to ease the harshness of his words. But he could tell from the suddenly brittle smile that she was hurt.

“The girls seem to be settling down,” Karen said with forced brightness as she wrapped her sweater around herself.

Thankfully Brittany and Bethany had gone a little ahead, talking and laughing.

“It’s taken a bit of doing, but it’s coming along.” Logan slipped his hands in his pockets, squinting against the glare of the sun off the lake. He wondered again why Karen had come.

They arrived at the boardwalk that led partway around the lake. Karen’s steps slowed. She was letting the girls get even farther ahead.

“I know my coming here is a surprise,” she said quietly, looking straight ahead. “I’m sure you thought, after I broke up with you, that you’d never see me again.”

Logan said nothing, letting her do all the talking. Their break had caused him a measure of pain, but in retrospect, he realized that his pride had hurt more than his feelings.

“This is a little awkward for me.” She sighed and stopped, turning to face him, lifting her exquisite face to his. Her short blond hair framed her features perfectly, emphasizing her delicate cheekbones, the fine line of her chin. Logan recognized her beauty almost as an afterthought. Which surprised him, considering that at one time he’d been attracted to her.

“I realized how much I missed you, Logan,” she continued, her soft green eyes holding his. “When the girls came, I made a rash decision. I see that now.”

“It was a while ago, Karen,” he gently reminded her. Eighteen months, to be precise, he thought.

“I know. That’s what makes this so awkward.” She smiled at him, tentatively reaching out to him. “I tried to date other guys. I thought I could forget you.” She shrugged her dainty shoulders, wrapped by her finely knit cardigan. “I couldn’t.”

Logan nodded, wondering how to extricate himself from this situation. Karen might have been yearning to try again, but he had no inclination to renew the relationship. Not with his work and his nieces occupying most of his time.

Where were those girls when he needed them?

As if on cue, he heard Brittany call, “Uncle Logan, look who we found.”

He glanced up with a grin of relief that faded when he saw their reluctant escort.

Sandra Bachman.

Brittany had one of her hands, Bethany the other, and they were pulling her along the boardwalk.

The girls stopped in front of Karen and Logan, looking at Sandra like they had just snagged a prize.

“She was coming this way already,” Bethany said, bestowing an angelic smile on Logan.

“I was just heading home, actually,” Sandra said. The soft breeze coming off the lake teased her loose hair, made her long flowing skirt sway. She looked soft, deceptively gentle. Logan couldn’t look away.

Her dark eyes flicked over Karen, then to Logan, one eyebrow quirking when she noticed his regard.

Covering up, Logan turned to Karen. “I should introduce you to the girls’ tutor, Sandra Bachman. Sandra, this is…Karen.”

Karen seemed to catch his momentary hesitation over her official title, but recovered and put on a polite smile, extending her hand to Sandra.

“Nice to meet you,” Karen said smoothly.

Sandra shook her hand, her gaze assessing. “Likewise,” she said, one corner of her mouth curling into a smile.

Logan braced himself for one of Sandra’s comments, but she said nothing more.

“So the girls must keep you quite busy,” Karen said.

Sandra glanced at each of the girls. “They’re a challenge that I try to rise to every day. But I think we’re making some progress.”

Karen murmured a vague response, then looked at Logan, as if expecting him to end this conversation.

But Logan knew what faced him if he was alone with Karen again. He didn’t feel inclined to reopen the topic of Karen and her feelings on their relationship.

“Out for some exercise?” he asked Sandra, slipping his hands in his pockets, projecting the image of someone with nothing better to do than chat up his nieces’ tutor.

“No, just a walk,” Sandra replied with a sparkle in her eye. “I get enough exercise just pushing my luck.”

Logan couldn’t help his answering grin. “And here I thought you were the kind of person who would spend hours in aerobic classes.”

Sandra waved that comment away. “I’d sooner spend my money on chocolate fudge sundaes than pay someone to put me through pain.”

“If you’ve experienced pain while doing aerobics, that could be the fault of your instructor,” Karen informed her.

Logan glanced sidelong at Karen, feeling a faint flush of shame at how completely he had ignored her.

“Could be,” Sandra agreed, her grin fading as she looked at Karen. “Or it could be that I just wasn’t doing things right.” Sandra took an abrupt step back, and Logan recognized the first movement toward departure. The quick glance at her watch was the second.

He didn’t want her to go.

“It’s been nice meeting you, Karen,” she said, formal. Polite.

Karen smiled in return.

But the girls weren’t happy. “We just got here. You can’t go now, Sandra,” Brittany wailed.

Sandra laid a hand on each of their shoulders, still grinning. “I have two legs, and in spite of not taking aerobics, I can walk quite well. No ‘can’t’ about it.”

“Then you shouldn’t go,” Bethany corrected, grabbing Sandra’s hand.

“And shouldn’t is a moral imperative, Bethany.” Sandra tapped Bethany’s nose. “I’m on my day off, so I’m not under any obligation to follow it.”

Logan couldn’t help but smile at the word games Sandra so easily indulged in. But it was better for all concerned, himself included, if they kept their relationship arm’s-length.

“Let’s go, Bethy, Brit,” Logan said, hastening the separation. “We shouldn’t waste Sandra’s time.”

In spite of his reflections, he couldn’t help another glance in her direction and was disconcerted to see her looking at him, as well, her expression serious.

Then, with a quick wave and a toss of her head, Sandra was striding down the boardwalk toward the beach, her hair and skirt swinging in time with her steps.

“So, that’s the new tutor,” Karen said, a prim note in her voice. “She seems very…vivacious.”