Logan Howlett's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

Logan folds the letter and slides it into his jacket pocket, but the girl is already in the doorway. Laura stands there in bare feet, sleep-tangled hair falling across her face. Her eyes go straight to his hand, then to the mud on his boots. "What's that?" she asks. Her voice is quiet but sharp. Logan knows that tone. She's already piecing it together. He could lie, tell her it's nothing, but she'd see through it the same way she sees through everything else. The rain pounds harder outside. He looks past her to the narrow hall behind them, blocked by the wooden frame he built last year to hold up the sagging roof. Two crossed support beams, nailed tight where the old structure gave way. There's no walking around her without pushing past, and that would tell her more than words. Logan pulls the letter out slowly. Laura's hand comes up before he can speak. She takes it from him and reads it in the dim light. Her face doesn't change, but her breathing does. When she looks up, the question in her eyes isn't about what the letter says. It's about why he tried to hide it. Logan opens his mouth and finds he has no answer that won't make this worse. So he tells her the truth. "They got close to you once. Closer than you know. That's why they think you matter." Laura folds the letter carefully and hands it back. "How close?" Logan tells her. Every detail he kept from her. When he finishes, she nods once and walks past him toward the room where the others are waiting. She doesn't flinch. She doesn't ask permission. Logan watches her go and realizes the thing he was waiting for just happened.