though her voice was hardly more than a whisper. He looked up then, his eyes meeting hers and holding them. It was a long moment that passed between them, millions of things each of them wanted to say—memories and desires flowing between them, all revealed through their gaze.
A voice disturbed them though, shocking them from the moment and bringing them back to the present. Abby looked away first, shifting her eyes to the ground. “I’ll get those,” Logan offered, turning his back and returning to the window to retrieve their ice cream cones. He handed the loaded cone to her before perching against the picnic table beside her. Abby didn’t speak for several moments, concentrating all of her attention on the treat in front of her.
“This is really good,” she finally admitted, breaking the silence. Logan chuckled, nodding his head.
“I told you it was.”
“You were right.” She sighed, lifting her eyes and looking around. They were surrounded by people—lots of couples, a few families. Across the way, she saw a young family of three. “They look so happy.” She said, something hidden in her tone. “Hayley and Blake would have been such good parents.”
“They would have.” Logan agreed. “You remember when we thought we were going to have one of those?”
She did remember. In fact, it didn’t even seem all that long ago. She was still in school then—Logan had been talking about starting. They had been reckless one night—just one night, they’d gotten carried away. She hadn’t thought anything of it until a few weeks later. She was late.
“It was pretty scary,” he spoke and Abby looked over at him, finding his eyes.
“I wasn’t scared.” It was the truth. She had known having a baby then would have been challenging—but she’d had faith that the two of them could do it, so long as they were together.
“You weren’t?” He asked, and Abby shook her head.
“No. In fact, I was almost disappointed when it turned out I wasn’t pregnant.”
“You never told me that.” Abby shrugged her shoulders.
“I didn’t want to scare you away.” She laughed at the irony. A year or so later, he’d left anyway. “But I mean—the thought of a baby—of our baby?”
“You want to know the truth?” Logan asked after a few moments of silence. Abby found his eyes again. “I was a little bit disappointed, too.” And all Abby could do was nod, a ball forming in her throat. “I mean, I was terrified—I was so unprepared to take care of a family. But I don’t know…I’d never really thought about having kids until I found you.”
“I wish you would have told me that then. Maybe it would have made it a little bit easier…” She hadn’t even told Hayley how disappointed she’d been.
“There are a lot of things that I probably should have done differently, Abby. That’s only one of a million.” She reached up and touched her finger to the corner of her eye, so as to keep the tear from falling.
“We would have had beautiful children though.” She could see them now, standing in line there at the ice cream parlor. Hayley and Blake would be with them, their little girl on Blake’s shoulders. Logan would be holding their own little boy in his arms—their little dark-haired boy with unruly curls. And she and Hayley would be standing side by side, taking in what a beautiful picture their families made.
“Any child of yours is going to be incredible, Abigail Lewis.” Abby’s smile faded as she thought about what he said. Oh, if only she could tell him.
“Yours won’t be too bad themselves,” she whispered.
“I don’t think that’s in the cards for me either, Abby. The whole family thing. Not now, anyway.” It actually pained her to hear his words. Logan was going to make such a great father some day—why wouldn’t he take advantage of it?
“You told me you wanted enough kids to fill the starting line-up of the Red Sox.” She stared at him, her brow furrowed with concern. His laugh was very sad as he traced a circle into the ground with his shoe.
“Things change.”
“Sometimes, I really wish they wouldn’t.” She thought of their current situation. Their friends gone, their hearts broken. Why had their paths taken such a sour turn?
“I agree.” Logan was disappointed to see the sadness returning to Abby’s eyes. He thought he might try a change in subject, as the current topic was bringing him down, too. He hadn’t even wanted a family until he and Abby’s