The Haunting of Secrets by Shelley R. Pickens Page B

mattered.
    “Well, just sit on down, boys. It wasn’t like
I was working or anything,” Leah teases.
    Logan and Tyler smile the same lopsided, sexy
smile as they make themselves at home in the creaky wooden chairs
that Starbucks calls seats. Leah wonders how in the world some guys
can be so comfortable in any situation. She may feel most at home
in the cyber world, but Logan and Tyler make wherever they are,
home. Logan’s presence especially warms the room. There’s just
something about him, something about the way he treats people that
make them feel like they’re special. It doesn’t matter whether
they’re a jock, a geek, or an outcast, Logan immediately is the
friend they always hoped to find. Even now as they sit here with
Leah, every girl in Starbucks is gawking at the two hotties and
shooting daggers at Leah. Surprisingly, neither seems to notice
they have an audience. Strangely, both Logan and Tyler are silent,
neither in a hurry to divulge the reason for this impromptu
visit.
    “So, you boys gonna tell me why you’re here
so I can get back to work?”
    “Ok,” Logan laughs, “I get it, we interrupted
you. Sorry about that, but we were passing by and saw your car
outside. We wanted to check on you. I know these past few days have
been hard and Tyler told me that you didn’t go to Daniel’s
funeral.”
    Not liking at all where this conversation is
going, Leah tries to interrupt, but is waylaid by Logan’s next
comment.
    “He was a good friend of ours and I know he’d
come back and haunt us if we didn’t at least touch base with you,
see how you were holding up.”
    Grief slices her heart like a knife;
rendering her unable to answer for a minute. She’d like nothing
more than to let loose and cry against Logan’s shoulder until she
can’t cry anymore, but Leah doesn’t see the point in that. She
believes Daniel is still with her and can see everything. She
doesn’t want him to see her broken down. That’s why she didn’t go
to the funeral; she isn’t ready to say goodbye. Leah uses every bit
of her willpower to push back her anguish and not show weakness in
front of Daniel’s friends. Daniel was her world; the least she
could do is try to make him proud of her.
    “Thanks for checking on me, but I’m fine. You
both can go forth in life knowing that you did right by Daniel. Are
we done now?” she asks, her voice catching a bit.
    Tyler and Logan share a look. It’s obvious
they don’t believe her. Since Logan crashed and burned, Tyler
figures it’s his turn to try.
    “You didn’t go to his funeral, Leah. You even
missed the candlelight service we had that night for the
thirty-seven who died. Why wouldn’t we think that’s strange? Daniel
talked about you all the time. He loved you and he wouldn’t want
you sitting here alone, typing on your computer, and ignoring the
people that care about you in the real world.”
    The truth behind Tyler’s words stings. Leah
was clinging to the cyber world to cope, to the detriment of her
so-called real life—or what’s left of it. How can she explain to
Tyler and Logan, to anyone, that Daniel’s loss is simply too much
to bear? Would they understand how devastating it is to lose the
only person that anchored her to the real world in the first place?
That’s one reason she loved Daniel so much; he made a world she can
enjoy living in, where she was the only thing that mattered. Or
rather could live in. Now that Daniel is gone, that world
holds no meaning for her anymore. Before melancholy threatens to
drown her, Leah pushes down her grief and focuses on the
present.
    “The ‘real world’, as you call it Tyler, was
destroyed for me that day the bomb went off in the cafeteria.
Nothing matters anymore, except finding who did it. Now, unless you
boys have gained some computer wizardry that I’m not aware of,
you’re no help to me.”
    Again, the boys share an uncomfortable look,
like they want to leave, but loyalty to their fallen friend