“Are you okay, ma’am?”
“Yes, officer, I locked my keys in the car by mistake.” I beamed at him. “I’m such a ditz.”
“This is your car?” He looked at me suspiciously and grabbed his radio from his belt.
I felt the blood rushing from my face as I stared at the officer and nodded. “Yes, of course this is my car. What do you think?”
“Do you have your license on you, ma’am?” His face softened a bit but he still looked suspicious.
“Uh, yeah.” I opened my purse and pulled out my wallet. “Don’t mind the photo, it was a bad hair day.”
“You from River Valley?” He looked down at my license, and I nodded. “Far away from home, aren’t you?”
“Well, I came to get some items from Walmart.” I smiled weakly. “They didn’t have them in my home store. And you can’t beat a rollback bargain.”
“Maddison Wright, hmm, any connection to James Wright?”
“Yes.” I smiled outwardly but groaned inwardly. “Mayor James Wright is my dad.”
“Oh, why didn’t you say?” He grinned at me as he handed back my license. “We love Mayor Wright around here.”
“Thank you.”
“He’s a great guy, takes care of his people, he does.”
“Yes.” I smiled at him. “He sure does.”
“Well you have a good day, Ms. Maddison Wright. You let me know if you need any help, you hear?”
“Yes, officer, thank you.”
“Oh, you can call me Tommy.” He nodded. “I’ll be up at the garden center if you need any more help.”
“Thanks, Tommy.” I blushed at his changed demeanor and he grinned back at me before walking away and back to his parked car.
“What do we do now?” I made a face at Logan, who was staring at me thoughtfully.
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t he going to expect me to leave in this car?” I groaned. “And now he knows my name as well. What if he tells people I was with this strange guy and word gets back to my dad? He’ll know that I was lying in my voicemail.” My voice trailed off as I saw Logan’s lips twitching. “I sound like a mess, don’t I?”
“A little bit.” He smirked at me. “You’re not even close to a bad girl, are you, Maddie?”
I ignored his words and glared at him. “Are you going to get us into this Lincoln or not?”
“Calm down, sweet pea.” He rolled his eyes at me and went back to doing whatever he was doing before to get the door open. “This time please be a good lookout and tell me if anyone is coming.”
“You were the one who kissed me and distracted me.”
“Excuses, excuses.” He laughed and then I heard a click, and he opened the door. “Go around the other side and hop in.”
“I thought we weren’t going to steal it?”
“We have no choice now. Now hurry up and get in.”
I ran around to the passenger side and he opened the door for me. I jumped in and he was looking in the glove compartment for something. He looked up and saw my curious stare and smiled. “Spare key. You’d be shocked at how many people leave their spare key in their car. Aha!” He grinned as he pulled a key out. “Here we go.” He put the key in the ignition and the engine purred smoothly. “Buckle up.”
“Where are we going?”
“Wherever we want.”
“No quickie in the backseat?” I pouted and his eyes darkened as he stared at me.
“No,” He shook his head. “No quickie and no trip either.”
“What?”
“You’re going back home tonight.”
“What? Why?” I stared at him, and my stomach did a double flip. Was he done with me already? What had I done now?
“It wasn’t a good idea.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t thinking properly when I suggested us being a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.”
“I want to go, though.” I frowned. “You’re not making me.”
“Just now, what you did, it was great. It was brave, and you saved my ass, but you also put your own ass on the line. You could have been in a lot of trouble.”
“I did it for you.” I shook my head in confusion. “I didn’t want the cop to arrest you.”
“He could have arrested both of us if he hadn’t believed your story.”
“But he did believe it. And if he hadn’t, well, I would have just had to deal with the consequences.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” He pulled out of the parking lot, and glanced at me quickly. “You had my back.”
“Of course I had your back.” I looked at him in shock. “Did you think I would turn you in?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You’re not that kind of person.” His voice was full of wonder and regret. “You’re a good person, Maddie Wright, you deserve better than to be messed up with someone like me.”
“What are you talking about, Logan?” I was worried. He sounded like he was second-guessing everything again. “Are we going down this road again?”
“I want to take you somewhere, and then we’ll go home.”
I felt tears well up in my eyes at his words. It seemed that no matter what I tried to do or say, something always popped into his head that made him back away from me.
“I already told my dad I’m going away; what do I say when I get home?”
“You had a change of plan.”
“I don’t want a change of plan.” I wanted to scream, I was so frustrated.
“Trust me, Maddie. It’s for your own good.” He shook his head. “You’re a good person. You make a good friend.”
“So, I’m just your friend again?” I sighed.
“It may be for the best.” He nodded. “I do like you, Maddie. It’s just complicated.”
I wanted to ask him what was complicated, but I knew I just had to be patient. If I really wanted to be in his life, I just had to accept what he was willing to give me. Friends wasn’t bad; in fact, it was pretty darn good. It meant that he was on his way to trusting me and letting me in, and that was all I could ask for. A part of me was relieved that I was going home, not because I didn’t want to spend time away with him but because a part of me was still a little unsure of exactly what he wanted from me. I didn’t want to be his goodtime girl who he just used and threw away. I wanted more than that. I needed more than that. And I also needed to make sure I knew what I was getting into as well. Everything had been so fast and so dramatic already. I was putting everything on the line for a guy I didn’t really know. And so even though my heart told me I was on cloud nine whenever I was with him, my brain sometimes begged to differ.