Eight Years Earlier - Nick

“I knew I would find you out here,” Logan said, stepping onto the porch.

I looked up from the joint I was smoking. “I think your mom wouldn’t approve of me doing this in the house.”

“She wouldn’t approve of you doing it at all,” she said, taking a seat next to me on the steps. “I take it life is treating you well?”

“Well enough.” We both knew that my excessive drinking and drug use was because of my inability to cope with life. It never really bothered me, except for when Logan looked at me with disappointment in her eyes. “I know why I’m hiding out here, but why are you?”

“Mom keeps asking me about school.” She stared hard straight ahead. “It’s been a rough semester. I made some stupid mistakes.”

I knew Logan well enough to know that she wasn’t just being dramatic. If she said it had been rough, something bad had happened.

“Want to talk about it?” I asked carefully .

“Usually, no. I don’t know why, but I always want to tell you things that I don’t want to tell anyone else. Even Michael.” She glanced at me. “Why is that?”

I shrugged. “Hell if I know, but I feel the same way. So what happened?”

“I got pregnant,” she said quickly, looking away. “It didn’t last long. I miscarried two weeks later, but it was long enough that I saw my whole future go up in flames.”

“Shit,” I said, failing to think of anything better to say. “Who was the guy?”

“Nobody, literally. Just some guy I met at a party. I was an idiot.” She reached over and took the joint from me, taking a hesitant puff.

I wasn’t sure if she was looking for me to agree with her or not. “Everyone acts like an idiot at least once in their life. I guess that was your one time.”

“Thanks,” she said with a wry smile. “Don’t tell, Michael. He’ll flip his shit.”

“Your secret is safe.” I leaned back, feeling bold. “I’m thinking about selling the company.”

“What?” she stared at me, stupefied. “But everything is just starting to take off. Why would you do that?”

I didn’t know why I was telling her something that I had only just admitted to myself. “Because I’m not smart enough to run a company. I’ve been a screw up my whole life and it’s only a matter of time before I screw this up, too.”

“Don’t say that.” She looked directly at me, something she rarely did for reasons I didn’t understand. “You are a lot of things, Nick, but you aren’t a screw up. You’re a good guy when you don’t let your cockiness get in the way.”

“Thanks.” I chuckled. “But you’re just saying that because it’s the polite thing to say under the circumstances. We both know that you think I party too much, make a lot of stupid decisions, and that I’m a bad influence on Michael.”

She paused before agreeing. “Maybe so. But you are also his favorite person in the whole world. Michael never cared about school or had any idea of what he wanted to do before he met you. Now he is motivated and driven. He has dreams and aspirations. That’s because of you.”

“Does this mean you don’t find me completely deplorable?” I teased.

I wasn’t expecting the serious response she gave me. “Quite the opposite, actually. I find you utterly intriguing, Nicholas Kingston.”