Then, laughing at her foolishness, she walked on. Logan was here temporarily. Once he was gone, her life could go back to, well, whatever it should be.
She bounded up the steps and knocked on the door of the darkened house. No answer. A quick glance at her watch told her that she was right on time.
Just as she was about to knock again, the door opened, and the light in the cabin was turned on, throwing out rectangles of golden yellow on the lawn.
Framed by the door, backlit by the light in the cabin, stood Logan.
His hair was unkempt, and whiskers stubbled his firm jaw, accenting the slight indentation in its center. His eyes were bleary with sleep. He was dressed, however, in a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans. No khaki pants tonight.
“Hi there,” he said, his voice still husky from disuse. Sandra felt a peculiar little thrill at the sound.
“I’m not early, am I?” she said quickly.
Logan yawned, scratching his chin. His fingers rasped over his whiskers. “Nope.” He glanced at Sandra, blinking. “How do you manage to look so perky at this ridiculous time of night?”
Sandra shrugged, warmed at the offhand compliment. “I don’t need much sleep.”
Logan yawned again. “Lucky you. Well, come in. The girls are just getting ready.”
Sandra stepped inside. Logan closed the door behind her and ambled toward the kitchen.
He stumbled, muttered something under his breath and stood for a moment, glaring at the offending table.
Sandra stifled a laugh at the sight and was rewarded with a bleary look from Logan.
“Sorry,” she said, with a quick shrug of her shoulders.
“I somehow doubt that,” he replied. But his grin belied the gruffness of his voice.
“We’re ready to go,” Brittany called, stepping out of the kitchen.
“So am I,” Sandra said. “Now we just have to get your uncle Logan ready.”
She glanced pointedly at Logan’s bare feet. He stared at her as if he didn’t understand, then looked down. “Oops. Sorry.” He yawned again, trudged to his bedroom and came back a few minutes later holding his shoes.
Rubbing his eyes, he sat in the nearest chair, dropped his shoes on the floor and stared into space.
Sandra waited for him to put his shoes on. But he didn’t move.
“Logan?” she asked, taking a step nearer. She glanced at the girls, who merely lifted their shoulders in puzzlement.
“Hey, let’s get going.” She reached out, grasped his shoulder and gave it a little shake.
He blinked, then, looking at her, smiled. It was a smile with no reservation, a smile that held no hint of his usual asperity. “Hi, Sandra,” he said, his voice husky, lowered to an intimate level. Then, to her surprise, he lifted his hand, resting it on hers. His hand was large, engulfing hers, his fingers warm as they lightly caressed her own.
Sandra swallowed as her heart rate jumped. She pulled her hand back as if burned. “Logan? Are you awake?”
He blinked, frowned, then blinked again, and Sandra realized with a beat of disappointment that he hadn’t been.
“What’s up?” he asked, looking around, puzzled, completely unaware of what had just happened.
“It’s time to go,” Sandra said stiffly, grasping her knapsack strap with both hands.
“Okay.” He nodded and slipped on his shoes. As he bent to tie them, Sandra looked away, directly into the smirking faces of the twins.
“Well, girls,” she said briskly, covering her confusion, “get your things together and we’ll leave.”
“We have everything, Sandra,” Bethany said, still grinning.
“Good. That’s good.” Sandra took a step back as Logan stood up and blinked. He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. A frown wrinkled his forehead then he shook his head lightly and turned away.
“I’ll go start the van,” he said, slipping on a denim jacket.
Sandra nodded. She avoided meeting his eyes, wondering if he had truly forgotten what he had done.
The drive through the hills would have been silent if it had depended on Logan or Sandra to make conversation. Fortunately the girls had more than enough to talk about. They asked Sandra questions about what they were going to see, even though they knew.
“I can’t guarantee we’re going to see a lot of meteor activity,” Sandra said as Logan parked the van at the top of the hill on a graveled turnout. “But from what I know, this is an ideal time.”
“One-thirty in the morning is anything but ideal,” Logan muttered, getting out of the van.
“Hey, you didn’t have to come.” Sandra angled him a quick glance.
In the reflected glow of the van’s headlights, Sandra caught his eye, and she once again remembered the feel of his hand on hers. She looked away.
“C’mon, girls, get the stuff we’ll need and then we can get this show on the road,” she said.
Sandra pulled her sweater closer around her. The daytime temperatures were hot, but in the open prairie, the middle of the night was always cool.
“Where do you want us to be?” Logan asked, carrying the blanket that Sandra had taken along.
“I’d like to go just beyond the gravel. The hill is open to the south, and I’d like to face that direction.” Sandra led the way, the beams from the van illuminating her path through the brush.
They came to an open hillside, protected from a faint breeze by the trees that fanned out on either side.
“Perfect,” Sandra said with satisfaction. “Okay, girls. Lay out your bags right here.”
“I’ll go and shut off the van’s headlights,” Logan offered, handing Sandra the blanket. Her eyes were still semiblinded by the van’s lights, so she couldn’t see his expression. He waited a moment, then turned and left.
“Here, girls, help me lay out this blanket,” she said to the girls, pulling herself into the moment. Concentrate, concentrate, she thought.
She wished she hadn’t asked him along. It was going to be an awkward event.
“We remembered our flashlights and pens and paper,” Bethany offered as they laid the blanket out.
“Good for you. I’m hoping we’ll see a lot of meteors right now.”
A rustle in the bushes brought her senses to alert, then she realized it was Logan coming back from the van, and she felt even more tense.
Her eyes were slowly becoming adjusted to the
