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Logan arrives at Addison's apartment complex ten minutes later. He texts her, but when he hits send, she is already walking down the sidewalk. He gasps—she looks beautiful.

Her usually straight brown hair is now in waves and it looks natural. She's in a red dress—the dark red dress he loves so much. She knows he loves it. This time she's wearing black tights and some sort of black heel. She looks effortlessly flawless. She finally reached his car, and entered, away from the blistering cold. Logan sits and stares at her for a moment. Her green eyes stand out so much more because of her makeup; her face shows no physical flaw.

Addison wonders if there's something on her face. Logan keeps staring at her forehead and she thinks she has a massive zit there. When he finally looks away, she subtly reaches a hand up to feel around. Relieved, she doesn't feel a bump.

"So, uh..." Addison begins, stopping when she looks at Logan. His almost-brown hair is combed nicely and he is wearing black pants and a black button up. He looks paler than usual and his brown eyes seem impossibly dark. When he glances over at her, she realizes she doesn't finish her question. "Oh! Um, what all can I expect, I guess?"

Logan lets out a nervous laugh.

"I wish I knew. You've met my mom. My dad is pretty laid back. My brother, though... oh, goodness. Please steer clear of him. He's a pain." He smiles slightly, focusing on the road. "I know they'll like you. The hardest to please is my mom and you've got that down." Addison smiles and then remembers what she wanted to ask.

"Oh, yeah. About that..." Logan's heart drops. He knows exactly what she's going to ask. "Remember when I met your mom?" Logan nods slowly, wanting to draw this out as far as possible. "Uh... can you tell me what she meant?"

Logan sighs. He's wondering when she's going to ask; anyone with any type of curiosity would. How could he even word it? It's sad. And today isn't supposed to be a sad day.

Logan's silence disturbs Addison and she suddenly fears she's crossed an unknown line. "You, uh, you don't have to tell me. It was a stupid question." She awkwardly laughs and fumbles with her black nails. Logan looks over at Addison and sees her guilt-stricken face.

"Addie, hey, it's okay. It wasn't stupid. You have every right to know, it's just, I don't know how to say it, I don't want the mood to be dark and heavy." Logan reaches over and grabs her hand; they're ice cold. He immediately lets go and turns the heat up, only to return his hand to hers. Taking a deep breath, he begins to speak.

"My sister Lilly passed away when I was ten. She was five," Logan pauses, swallowing, "she was hit by a car." Silence fell over the two and Addison's heart broke. Logan continues, "My mom was always excited to have a girl. And then hers got ripped away." Addison regrets ever asking, and now all she wants to do is cry and hug him.

"My brother and I haven't really brought any girls around, so she doesn't have anyone to really fill that gap Lilly left. So, when she saw I had a girl at home, she assumed..." Addison nods, tears welling in her eyes. Neither of them says anything.

Logan sighs after a few minutes. "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen."

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize—God, I'm so stupid. I always mess things up." Addison hastily runs a shaking hand through her hair. They've arrived at their destination.

Logan shuts the car off, unbuckles himself, and turns toward Addison. She hangs her head down, refusing to look at him.

"Addie," he says sadly. He hates seeing her like this, and he hates hearing her be so hard on herself. It's not her fault. "Please look at me." Her mop of hair slowly moves with her as she turns. Her face is red and her eyes are watery. She refuses to cry, especially not now. "You didn't mess anything up and you're not stupid. Okay? It's okay. Everything is fine." He grabs her hand again and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

Christmas Miracles | ✓Where stories live. Discover now