Their Second Chance Love. Kat Brookes

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      “Thank the Lord for that,” Logan breathed, his relief, as well as the faith he steadfastly clung to, evident in his voice. A faith she herself no longer looked to when times were bad. “I’m sorry to bother you on your cell phone again, but when I tried Jack’s it went straight to voice mail. I forgot that I had shut his phone off after calling you this morning.”

      “You added my number to your contact list?”

      “No. I would never presume to do that. It’s in my head,” he explained.

      “You still have a knack for remembering things others would more easily forget,” she said with a wistful smile.

      “You don’t have to worry about my calling you after you’ve gone back to California. For now, if need be, I know I’ll be able to reach you. The reason I called was to let Jack know that I’m gonna swing by Hope’s Garden on my way home from Carter’s to check on things. I didn’t want either of you to worry yourselves over it tonight.”

      She started to tell him that his call wasn’t a bother, then decided it best that he believed that it was. Especially because the sound of his voice was something she could get far too used to hearing. So caught up in her thoughts of keeping a wall up with Logan, it took a moment longer than it should have for what he’d said to settle in. Hope shifted the cell to her other ear. “You don’t have to do that.”

      “I don’t mind.”

      He had already done more than enough for her daddy. Now that she was home, it was her responsibility to step in and see to things until he was back on his feet again. “I know you don’t,” she said. “But as soon as I can round up a taxi, I’ll be able to head home and see to those things myself.”

      “A taxi?”

      How else did he expect her to get home? “While I could probably make the walk from here to Braxton, it might take a while, and doing so in the dark and in the pouring rain might be pushing it.”

      A warm chuckle sounded at the other end of the line. “You’ve been living in the big city for a mite too long, little darlin’, if you think you’re gonna round up a taxi around these parts, with the exception of the airport, with any ease,” he said with an amused chuckle. “That’d be like trying to find an ocean of in the middle of the Sahara Desert.”

      Those two words wrapped around her, making her heart ache—little darlin’. She had to wonder if Logan even realized that he’d called her that. The nickname he’d given her back in high school when he’d first started working for her daddy at Hope’s Garden. Not that she was all that little at five-foot six-inches tall. But to a boy well over six feet in height back then, and to the even taller man he’d grown up into, it was easy to see why Logan considered her little. But she was no longer his darlin’. No matter what her heart still longed for.

      “I hadn’t given it much thought,” she answered honestly. Not with her focus centered for the most part on her daddy and the long road to recovery it sounded like he was going to have ahead of him.

      “No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” came his muttered reply on the other end of the line.

      What exactly did Logan mean by that? She opened her mouth to ask and then closed it, deciding it best to let it go. He had every right to be angry with her. Truth was she was surprised he’d been as cordial as he had been, considering how she’d ended things between them.

      Logan wasn’t one to quit on those he cared about, and if things were different, they’d more than likely be married with a few little ones running around. But things weren’t different. And she’d had to break his heart to ensure he’d have those Cooper sons and daughters he’d always longed for.

      “Hope? You still there?”

      His voice pulled her back to the present. “Yes. I’m here.”

      “Thought maybe we got cut off there for a second. Phone service can be iffy inside hospitals.”

      She didn’t correct his assumption. It was better he think her silence was due to phone service issues rather than her troubled thoughts.

      “If you’re ready to head back to your daddy’s place,” Logan said, saving her the need for any response, “I could run on over to Coopersville and pick you up. Then we can see to the nursery together before I head home for the night. I left in such an all-fire hurry this morning once the ambulance had gone, I didn’t shut the register down or see to the plants.”

      “I would have done the same thing. And thanks for the offer, but I’ll give Autumn a call to come get me.”

      “Still doing your best to avoid me, I see,” he said evenly.

      “I think we’re beyond that now,” she said, wishing it were true. But avoiding Logan kept her heart from wanting things she couldn’t have. From wanting him. “Besides, I wanted to let Autumn know about Daddy and maybe do some catching up.”

      Autumn and Summer Myers, Braxton’s only claim to identical twins, had been her closest friends all through school. After high school graduation, they’d all gone off to different colleges. And with everything that had been going on in her life at that time, the breakup with Logan, dealing with health issues and her anger with God, Hope had withdrawn from everyone she’d been close to, even her dearest friends.

      “If you’re counting on Autumn to come get you, you might be in for a long wait,” he told her. “She’s in Atlanta for some sort of Realtor conference this week.”

      How did he know that? A heart-pinching thought passed through her mind. Were the two of them seeing each other? It wasn’t as if she expected Logan to spend the rest of his life pining away after her. She ended their relationship just so he could make his life with someone else. He deserved someone who could give him children. That would make him happy. Still, the thought of her best friend and the man Hope had given her heart to being romantically involved sat like a boulder in the pit of her stomach.

      “Oh,” was all she could manage. She should have thought to have the taxi she’d taken from the airport drop her off at home first. Then she could have driven her daddy’s truck into Coopersville. But she’d been in such a panic that all she’d wanted to do from the moment her flight landed was get there to see for herself that he was all right.

      A heavy sigh sounded at the other end of the line. “I’ll come get you.”

      “No,” she blurted out in a panic. “I mean, don’t worry about me. I’ve got my suitcase with me. I’ll just spend the night here.”

      “And how do you plan on getting home tomorrow?”

      Hope frowned. That was a good question. There was no one else she could think to call. She had pretty much cut everyone she’d known growing up out of her life.

      “I can leave the past in the past where it belongs if that’s what you’re worried about,” Logan said.

      “Why are you doing this?” she replied, her guilt at what she’d done to him all those years ago pushing to the surface. “Offering to give me a ride when you of all people should wanna stay as far away from me as possible.” Her words ended on a quiver as she fought the urge to cry over his unexpected kindness.

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