Chapter 12

The next morning Veronica arrived at the offices of CLM and was greeted by a woman just a few years older than herself. "Hi Veronica I'm Rebecca Knott, you'll be working with me today."

"Oh, is Mr. Shepherd ok?"

"He called in sick" Rebecca used air quotes and her tone told Veronica that this happened quite a bit.

Veronica thought it best not to pry and followed Rebecca into her office and spent the rest of the day neck deep in cases dealing with patent infringement. It was not very exciting but at least her past wasn't going to come running through the door and smack her upside the head again. Veronica was grateful when Rebecca Knott decided to call it day by 4pm. When the elevator doors opened on the 30th floor and Gant Publishing Veronica took it as a sign and stepped out in to the lobby, not sure what she was going to say or what she was going to do, she just knew she needed to try.

"Good Afternoon and welcome to Gant Publishing. How may I help you?" It was the older woman from the elevator ride Monday morning.

Veronica smiled hoping the woman might remember her and help her out. "Yes, I'm actually looking for Mr. Echolls."

"Did you have an appointment?" the woman asked as she started flipping through the appointment book on her desk. "I swore I called everyone."

"Oh, no. Actually I went to school with Mr. Echolls and Mr. Gant and I'm new in the building and I thought I might just stop by and say hello."

The receptionist smiled at Veronica. "Hello school friend of Logan and Casey's. I'm Sarah."

"Hi Sarah. I'm Veronica."

"Well Veronica I'm sorry to say Mr. Echolls is out of the office for the next few days."

Veronica tried to hide the disappointment. "Oh, I hope everything is ok."

Sarah leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper "He said it was deal with L.E. Lester, you know the writer of the Betty March books. Apparently Lester is dealing with a bad case of writer's block. But if you ask me Mr. Echolls is taking some time to nurse his broken heart."

Veronica's eye grew wide as she matched Sarah's lean and whisper. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean yesterday that little pop tart of a girlfriend of his broke up with him and walked out of here not like she had just ended a ten month relationship but like she had picked up her dry cleaning. Poor Logan looked shell shocked when he came out of his office. Then he said he had to take care of things and that I should clear his schedule for the rest of the week."

Veronica was having a hard time hearing because her heart was pounding in her ears. "Are you sure?"

"Dear, I am the eyes and ears of this place, nothing gets by me." Sarah sat up with a smile. "Do you want to leave a message for Mr. Echolls when he checks in?"

Veronica thought for a moment, "You know what, it's no big deal, I'm sure I'll see him at the reunion this weekend. Thank you for your time Sarah."

"Glad to help."

Veronica held her breath until the elevator doors closed and she was alone. As she exhaled she smiled "Logan doesn't have a girlfriend." The words rolled off her tongue and she couldn't help but start a small victory dance in the elevator. "Logan doesn't have a girlfriend." She would have skipped to her car, but she was an adult and she didn't want to scare the locals.

Back in Neptune, Logan Echolls had not slept in 24 hours and that was ok because he was writing. It was true he had writer's block, he had been stuck half way through the 3rd Betty March book for months, unsure of where to go. Logan was frustrated but the popularity of the books meant Casey was breathing down his neck to get his "writer" Lester working. But everything changed yesterday with just a simple phone call.

Logan had been sitting at his desk trying to come up with ways to keep Carol calm during her meeting with Don Shepherd at CLM when his phone rang. He answered and thought nothing of the silence until he heard that exhale, the one seared into his memory and the phone slam as he said her name proved he was right. Then he saw her in that conference room, she was different but so much the same that he physically ached being so close to her. But that was the jolt to his system that he needed. And once Carol released him from their relationship it was like the dam busted.

Logan cleared his schedule and drove home to his beach house and his hidden office where he kept his computer with the Betty March stories and started writing. Everything he was feeling, the excitement, the fear, the betrayal, the hope, and all the other things that came with Veronica Mars started pouring out onto the page.

Logan rubbed his eyes as he stood and stretched. He walked over to the window and looked out over the ocean. He still had a ways to go before he was finished with the book, but he was happy with the progress his was making and he finally felt like he had some direction. The exhaustion was starting to get to him so he decided to get some sleep. He knew he needed to talk to Veronica and soon. Lord knew where her head was right now. Logan laid on his bed and closed his eyes and smiled. He was back, because she was back.