Chapter Thirteen
T he dinner rush wasn’t too bad, even for Tides, which was always busy. We told the hostess the patio was fine which got us a table right away. Logan pulled out a chair for me and I bit my tongue to control my face as we settled at the table. The woman handed us menus, took our drink order, and said our server would be with us shortly.
“Is it my turn to ask some questions?”
Logan looked a bit uneasy but agreed.
“Where did you grow up? I’ve never been able to place your accent.”
“Chicago.”
I started to nod, then shook my head thoughtfully instead. “Well, that doesn’t seem right.”
“My mother is from Savannah. I spent a lot of summers and vacations there. The South influenced my sound as well. So I’ve been told.”
The odd mix of his speech pattern made more sense now .
“When did you move to Florida?”
Logan looked down at his hands and cleared his throat. “About three and a half years ago.”
I paused, recalling what he’d told me that night at Hank’s. So, he moved here after losing his family. I filed that away as I cleared my throat as well. Then I searched my thoughts for a different direction to something less heavy.
“What did you do for a living in Chicago?” I grinned and couldn’t help but tease him. “No surf shops there.”
Logan opened his mouth to respond when the waitress arrived with our drinks.
“Well, hey there, handsome,” the blonde purred as she sat down the glass and bottle, then put her hands on her hips, pushing out her chest as she beamed at Logan.
I studied the waitress who hadn’t even acknowledged there was a second person at the table yet. Her long hair was pulled up in a tight ponytail, her skin was golden brown, and her makeup was flawless on an already pretty face. Her tank top was overflowing with large breasts pushed up further by a bra working overtime. Her cut-off jean shorts were barely long enough to cover her perfectly shaped backside. Her name tag read Candy.
Logan smiled back at the waitress. “Hello.”
She glanced my way for a moment before focusing on him again as she started reciting a typical greeting and talking about the fish of the day .
I chewed the inside of my lip. A waitress flirting with a man dining with a woman would never make sense to me…
They were meeting for lunch on their third wedding anniversary. She was running a little late; her daughter had spilled apple sauce on her dress and needed to be changed.
She hurried into the restaurant, smiled at the man working the host stand, and pointed to where she could see he was already seated as she headed to him with the toddler on her hip. A waitress was already at the table and as she got closer, she heard the girl laugh as she reached out and touched his arm.
“You are so bad.” The waitress giggled again before noticing her standing there. “Oh… Hello.”
“Hey, sugar.” He picked up his soda. The smile he’d been giving the waitress seemed a little less bright for her.
“Hi.” She slipped into the booth and stared at the waitress’s hand still on his uniform sleeve.
The girl finally dropped her arm. “What a pretty little girl. Is this your daughter, handsome?”
She blinked in surprise at the waitress still openly flirting with him right in front of her.
He grinned at the girl again. “Sure is.”
“Adorable! Gets her looks from her daddy.” The waitress looked back at her, stone-faced. “Drink?”
“Water, please.”
She shook off her nagging thoughts and asked him about his day as she gave the child her juice cup and picked up the menu. They chatted and laughed together as their daughter made cute faces with him until the waitress returned with her water.
“So did you decide on food?” the girl asked him.
“Yeah, I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries. No pickles, no onions.”
The waitress wrote down his order. “And for you?” she asked, not even looking up from her pad.
“A cheeseburger sounds tasty.” She glanced down at the menu again and then at his raised eyebrow. “Uh, but I think I’ll go with the Chef salad please.”
“Dressing… on the side?”
She self-consciously pulled at the sleeve of her shirt. “Yes,” she responded in a small voice.
“Be back shortly with your delicious burger.” The girl told him before leaving the table.
She frowned at him while he took another sip of his drink and then he looked at her again. “What?”
“She’s awfully friendly,” she said sarcastically.
He put down his glass. “Yeah, seems like she is.”
“To you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t start, Maddie. She is doing her job. You could stand to be a little nicer.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I’m being as polite as I can to a chick that’s flirting with my husband.”
He shook his head as he took her hand. “Just stop already. It’s our anniversary. I love you.”
“Sorry… I shouldn’t be so sensitive and jealous. I love you too.” They enjoyed the rest of the time through their meal, chatting and playing with their child. When they were almost done eating, the little girl went to stick one of his fries in her mouth and ketchup plopped onto her shirt.
“Ah, darn it.” She wiped up what she could with a napkin. “That’s casualty number two today.”
“Potty, Mommy.”
“Good timing, my dear.” She stood and grabbed the bag with snacks and changes of clothes, then picked up her daughter.
“I need to get back to base soon. I’m going to take care of the check and get going,” he told her.
“Okay, we will see you at home later.” She leaned down to kiss him before heading to the restroom.
“Bye, bye, baby,” he called as the little girl blew him kisses over her mother’s shoulder.
Several minutes later, she left the bathroom and headed down the hall, back toward the exit.
She stopped when she saw him at the host stand talking to the waitress. The girl bit her lip as she touched his arm again and held a small piece of paper between two fingers. When he reached for it, she pulled it away playfully. She let him grab it when he snatched at it a second time.
He stuck it in his pocket as he went to the door, winked at the girl, and left.
The waitress turned back to the kitchen with a grin on her face.
Neither had noticed her standing there.
That night she conveniently forgot to empty his uniform pockets as she started his laundry, but stuck her hand in them as she was transferring to the dryer. She threw a ball of wet paper crumbs in the trash as she turned off the light, closed the door, and went to read a bedtime story.
“So do you know what you would like this evening, or do you need a few minutes to decide?” the waitress finished. She moved her body as if trying to get Logan to look at her again, practically offering herself as an item not on the menu.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll both do endless crab legs, right, Madison?”
I picked up my menu, chewing my lip again. “Oh, I don’t know. The Surf Salad sounds yummy.”
Logan shot me a perplexed look. “That is crazy talk, too much sun for her today. Executive decision—crab legs and lots of butter for us both, please.”
He took my menu and held them both out to the waitress and gave her a polite nod as she took them then he focused on me again.
A look of disappointment crossed the girl’s face, then she turned back on the smile as she looked directly at me. “I’ll have that started right up for you all.”
Logan winced and pointed after her as she walked away. “That was really rude. I can have her come back so you can order whatever you want.”
I shook my head. “You were right.” I spun my finger around my ear and crossed my eyes while humming the looney tunes song as I picked up my wineglass.
Logan grinned at my silliness, lifting his beer toward me. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” I echoed as I clinked my glass against it.
We made small talk until our first round arrived, and then our focus shifted to cracking shells. Logan was more animated than I’d ever seen, eagerly bursting open the legs and shoving the crab in his mouth, making sounds of pleasure as he chewed.
He was almost done with his first plate when he glanced up and saw amusement on my face. “Hum?” he inquired around a mouthful.
“Your chin.”
He lifted a finger, felt the butter dripping down the side, and grimaced as he picked up a napkin. “I’m making a wonderful impression.”
I laughed. “You’re fine.”
“I can still act a little more civilized.”
I raised a brow. “We’re breaking open a creature’s body to eat its flesh. You’re good.”
We both grinned as we grabbed another leg.
As we worked on our second plates, Logan teased me about how awkward I was with the crackers.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “It took me forever to try shellfish. I always felt so guilty about how you do it.” I dipped another piece in the butter. “You have to tear it apart to get to the meat. I know it’s not the same thing, but say you equate the shell to a cow’s coat.” I paused to pop the piece in my mouth, licked my finger, and chewed. “If our steaks were still covered in hair and we had to cut through it first to get to the beef inside, would that be very appetizing, and would we still want to eat it?”
I took another sip from my second glass of wine and glanced back at Logan, seeing his soft smile, I cringed and picked up another leg.
“That sounded pretty dumb, huh?”
“It was kind of cute actually.”
I grabbed the crackers again. “But then I eventually tried fresh crab right out of the shell.” I burst open the leg, dropped the utensil, and used both hands to break it apart. “And now I say a prayer for their crabby souls before I dig in because these poor little guys are insanely delicious.”
The waitress returned while we were still laughing to check on us and ask if we were ready for another round.
“Let’s do it,” Logan told her.
I’d been draining my glass and quickly put up a hand. “I’m finished. One more glass of wine would be great though please.”
“You sure you’re done?” Logan asked as he wiped his fingers on one of the wet napkins the restaurant provided.
I finished wiping my own hands. “I’ve had my fill. Anything more would be gluttonous and I don’t want to start putting weight on again.”
“That reminds me. I hope I didn’t seem rude when you got to the condo in March.”
I waved my hand. “I know it can be surprising to see such a big change. That’s why I have to be careful not to overdo it sometimes. I’ve struggled with my weight since I was a kid and the last thing I want is to be in a bigger body again by next Spring Break.”
Logan’s shrug was dismissive as he picked up his beer. “Being healthy matters, but people can be healthy at different sizes. What matters the most is if you’re happy.”
I tried to smile, feeling uncomfortable with the topic all at once. The alcohol had likely relaxed me enough to casually start talking about my weight to begin with.
“Yeah, but I assure you, most people enjoy looking at this version a heck of a lot more. I mean, you never tried to kiss me when I was—”
I clamped my lips shut, embarrassed my mouth had run away. Maybe that third glass of wine coming was a bad idea.
Logan didn’t say anything, seemed to be thinking something over, then he took out his wallet. He pulled out a photograph, its edges worn from age. He paused to look at it then extended his hand to me and I took it from him carefully.
“That’s my Natalie,” he told me softly.
It was an image of a younger Logan with his arm around a pretty blonde woman. She had a beautiful smile and large green eyes that were almost feline-looking. She was wearing a cute sundress with a daisy print on it. She also happened to be what looked like a solid size 14/16 .
Surprised, I looked back at him. “She was extremely pretty. Is this after Riley was born?” I asked, wondering if maybe baby weight was part of the equation.
Logan smiled sadly. “That photo is from our engagement shoot. Riley was born in our fifth year of marriage.”
I studied the image again, feeling like a complete jerk. I’d spent the majority of my life feeling judged for my weight and now I was doing it to this woman I never met because of the image I’d formed in my head of who Logan must have loved. I understood he was sharing the photo to make a point.
I handed it back and he returned it to his wallet as I struggled with what to say. I was saved as the waitress arrived with his next plate and my wine.
“Can I get some water instead, please?” Logan requested when she asked if he wanted another beer, then he excused himself to go to the restroom.
I watched him walk to the door to go inside and he opened it for a woman coming out who gave him a look of recognition. She stopped to say something to him as she touched his arm, smiling broadly. Logan threw me an uneasy glance before he responded.
I quickly averted my eyes and focused on the tablecloth instead. They were too far away to hear and it wasn’t my business. I picked up my new glass of wine and took a big sip. Logan probably ran into people he knew all the time …
They were out with a group to celebrate his unit winning a combative tournament against another. It was one of the rare occasions he asked her to come along since everyone else was bringing their wife or girlfriend.
She was having a great time as they sat around a table in a restaurant downtown and listened to the men’s banter while she chatted with the women.
They ordered another round when the appetizer platters came out. She drank her wine and started cracking jokes with one of his buddies, Rogers, who was the type to laugh hard and loud when he was amused.
When the food was gone and they were about to order more drinks he returned from the bathroom. She looked up when he didn’t sit down beside her.
“We’re going to head out,” he told everyone.
The table responded with groans and jabs, telling him to stop being a lightweight and stick around for a few more rounds.
He glanced over his shoulder before grinning at the group. “Shut up, Barnes,” he told his skinny friend who had bright red hair and a face covered with freckles. “I’ll drink you under the table again next time.” He pulled some bills out of his pocket to cover their share. “I’ll see you pussies Monday morning for PT. Come on, Maddie.” He grabbed her hand and started heading to the exit.
She called her goodbyes and turned to see him eyeing the bar as he opened the door and pulled her outside.
As she looked back through the glass, a woman was hurrying to the exit.
They were nearing the corner of the building when she glanced over her shoulder. The blonde with a pixie cut was standing outside the restaurant now, one hand still holding the door, looking in the other direction. Then her fair head turned and the woman put her free hand on her hip when she spotted his back.
The blonde noticed her curious look, gave her a little smirk and shrug, then turned to walk back into the restaurant, the door closing behind her.
He pulled her around the corner toward their car.
“Did… do you know that woman with short hair in a green dress?” she asked.
He didn’t even look at her as he kept walking. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, sugar.” His hand tightened around hers. “But we do need to talk about why the fuck you think it’s okay to flirt with Rogers when I’m sitting right there.”
I eyed the door as Logan and the woman waved goodbye and he continued inside. I absently sipped from my glass again until I heard my phone buzz. I pulled it from my purse and saw a message from Grace.
Logan came back to the table and started cracking another leg. “Do you mind carrying the conversation so we have something other than my bad table manners to focus on while I finish up?” he asked with a self-deprecating grin.
I put my phone down and took another sip of wine. I was still trying not to think about the woman Logan had been talking to and why he’d given me that look. I knew it was none of my business who she was or what they’d said to each other. It was the uncomfortable glance he’d made my way that was eating at me. I forced myself out of my head.
“Well, I’m not just going to start blabbing again. I’ve done enough of that for one evening. Is there something specific you would like to hear? I’m pretty boring honestly.” I pointed at my phone and gave him a saucy smile. “I can google and start reciting directions on proper surfboard maintenance… if that’s the type of thing that turns you on.”
Logan eyed me with surprise. “I never realized what a smart ass you can be.”
The wine had evidently loosened me up and was probably hitting harder since my last carbs were at breakfast.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” I shook my head as if disappointed in him. “You never talked to me much before.”
He chuckled. “I’m really glad we’re talking now.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Well, that makes two of us.”
Logan took a drink of his water before picking up another leg. “You were with your ex for a while, right? I’m curious how you got together.”
“Uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I met Drew when I was 17. He was 21.”
“Through friends or work or…?”
I pulled a playful, guilty face. “We met online,” I whispered.
Logan looked surprised again. Meeting people that way might be the norm now, but he was also a teenager when the internet was still rather new, at least when the social aspect was still in infancy. We were both in the first generation to deal with dial-up and experience the popularity of chat rooms and instant messages.
He’d most likely heard the same things from his parents and teachers about how it wasn’t safe to meet people from the internet and to never give out your personal information.
Logan gave me a mischievous grin. “You rebel.”
“I prefer to think of myself as a digital pioneer.”
He chuckled. “So, little Miss Maddie was a bad girl, meeting strangers when she was supposed to be studying at the library, huh?”
I scrunched my nose in distaste. He noticed so I answered the question in his eyes.
“It’s… just that Drew is the only person who ever really called me that.”
Logan scrutinized me before nodding. “Understood, Madison.” He broke the shell in his hand. “So tell me more about your days living on the wild side. ”
I don’t know if it was the wine or that Logan was becoming easy to talk to, but I found myself narrating my life again, this time of a much younger me.
“Well, the World Wide Web was rather exciting for a teenage girl such as myself. When I started chatting at 15, it became part of my daily life. Other girls my age were wearing makeup and starting to go after boys they liked. I had those same hormone-fueled feelings, but none of the boys at school I crushed on noticed me at all. I was the chubby, funny girl everyone liked, but no one ever asked for more than friendship.
"The internet let me have a mask. It felt exciting, talking with guys in a chatroom, or when they sent requests to message me. I didn’t have to worry about them caring what I looked like. I could say and be who I wanted through the computer. I could be witty and flirt without fearing rejection because they were just words on a screen. The only guy I ever met was Drew.”
I sat up straighter, reflecting on some of my better memories of my ex-husband as I took another sip of wine.
“One night I was making jokes in a favorite chatroom when I got a message request from him. We hit it off and continued chatting regularly. We had similar humor and our banter was so much fun. We talked and flirted for months before he finally convinced me to meet him in person. My best friend, Claire, went with me to the mall. Drew was sitting outside the Gloria Jeans Coffee on a bench we had agreed to meet at. Claire went and did some shopping while we walked around and talked .
“He was cute and I was excited to meet a guy I liked a lot. I was also nervous that he might reject me when he saw me in person, but he didn’t. He continued talking to me and flirting the same way he had online. Drew was funny, charming, and sweet. All the things teenage girls dream about. The next weekend we went on our first real date.”
“So, he was your first boyfriend?” Logan asked as he picked up his last crab leg.
I sipped my dwindling wine again then bobbed my head. “Yep.”
Logan shook his. “You should’ve been asked on dates in middle school. Those boys missed out.”
“Ha! No, thank you. Middle school boys were seriously mean. A group of the popular ones in my grade liked to play a game of pretending they liked me. I’d walk into class and they’d hoot and whistle, then argue over who I should go on a date with over the weekend or say things like they couldn’t wait until field day to see me in a bikini. It was funny to them because I probably weighed more than most of them.”
I took another sip, realizing I was rambling again, but the alcohol was making me care a lot less.
“I was a smart ass and that was my shield. I’d usually say something snarky, maybe like ‘I can’t go out with any of you over the weekend because I’ll be too busy making out with Tony’s older brother,’ or ‘What a coincidence, I can’t wait to see James in his bikini also.’ Juvenile but effective stuff. I could usually get the other kids to laugh at them instead of me.”
Logan’s mouth thinned into an unhappy line.
“I was like any other girl that age. I stupidly had crushes on some of those boys at times. At the end of eighth grade, it was Eric Warren; he was on the football team.” I rubbed my finger over a small hole in the tablecloth. “One day when I walked into algebra, he and his friends had their heads together. I was just thankful they hadn’t noticed me come in and took my seat quickly before they could.”
Logan wiped his hands as he sat back to listen.
“Mrs. Williams asked for a volunteer to turn off the lights and start the screen projector. Eric jumped up and said he would. I was getting my notebook out when he turned it on; I didn’t look up until the room was full of laughter.”
I stared over Logan’s shoulder for a few seconds before continuing.
“It wasn’t a math problem… obviously. It said ‘Madison, will you be my girlfriend? ’ in red marker. Do you remember those notes? There were boxes and you were supposed to check one. Beside the first was ‘Yes’ , beside the second was ‘No’, beside the third was ‘No, I would rather eat you’ and… that box was already checked.”
Logan glowered. “Those little bastards.”
I couldn’t help it and started giggling. “Eh, kids will be kids.”
“Sure, but they shouldn’t be scarring each other.”
“Oh, I’m fine.” I shrugged.
“But the memory is still with you. Our memories can cause us pain; they can hurt us… a hell of a lot.” Logan took a drink of hi s water, still noticeably irritated. “I hope they never did something like that again.”
“That summer, my mom got remarried and we moved to a different town. New school and group of kids. That was the summer I hit puberty hard and got taller and thinned out some thankfully. It made me less self-conscious and it was easier to make friends in high school. I met Claire freshman year and we pretty much became inseparable. Then, like I said, I found the internet.”
I grinned, thinking of better memories from high school.
“I also started crushing on TV and movie stars at that point like most teenage girls. We saw The Count of Monte Cristo in the theater and I became obsessed with Henry Cavill.”
“Superman, huh?” Logan raised a brow. “So that’s what turns you on?”
I met his eyes as I lifted my glass and emptied it; then I let mine travel slowly down his body and up again before giving Logan an enticing smile. “I might have a type.”
Alright. So, I was definitely a little tipsy.
Logan looked amused but I saw a gleam of something else in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something when the waitress showed up with the check.
She smiled at each of us. “Hope to see you again soon, have a nice night.” She walked away without a final attempt at flirting with Logan. She seemed to figure out it wasn’t hitting the mark and decided to direct those efforts elsewhere.
He put cash on the table and gestured to the exit. “Shall we?”
I gave him a big nod. “We shall.”