Chapter Twenty-Nine
T here were thunderstorms Sunday morning. With no plan until my friends arrived in town, we stayed cuddled up in bed talking for most of the morning again.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you something.” I linked my fingers through Logan’s. “What made you decide to change the dynamic between us? I mean, I assume the drunken kiss was a trigger, but there must be more to it, right?”
He looked embarrassed to answer. “My mother had a lot to do with it.”
That was not a response I’d been expecting. “Say what now?”
“The morning of the 11th, she called me. She does every year because she knows I’ll be hungover. She likes to tell me to stop wallowing in memories and keep living my life.”
Logan fell silent.
“Sounds like a smart woman,” I prompted .
“I was, in fact, hungover. I came home and had a few more drinks that night after I left the bar.”
I winced but his lips quirked.
“I was trying to push away a new memory I was obsessing over…”
He kissed me, clarifying exactly what the memory had been, and I grinned against his mouth.
“You’re stalling, sir.”
Logan let out a resigned sigh. “Fine. So she and I were bickering. Not in a bad way, it’s just our thing, all in love. I wanted to get her off my back so I told her I kissed someone and that she could lay off. It might be the first time Silvia Shepard Harper has ever been rendered speechless in her life.”
I’d heard several stories about his formidable mother and couldn’t form a mental picture of her being struck silent in my head. I was already intimidated to meet the woman.
“When she started talking again, it was a barrage of questions. I told her what I already knew about you and your family. She asked why I kissed you. I told her I’d been attracted to you for a while and gave in to what I wanted when you comforted me that night. And no, it wasn’t because I was drunk. The drinking just made me loosen up enough to drop my guard and kiss this beautiful damn mouth” —Logan ran his thumb over my bottom lip— “that I’d already been fantasizing about tasting for a long time.”
My lips spread again under his gentle touch. “Stop trying to distract me and finish the story. ”
“We have already established my main mistake that night was not being sober enough to make sure you were okay with participating. So when she said it sounded like I’d found a fine woman to get to know, I fessed up and told her it hadn’t exactly been a mutually agreed upon kiss and that I ran away after I did it. There was silence again, then she said my full name and I knew I was in trouble.”
I laughed, intimately familiar with that exact show of motherly displeasure.
“I was instructed to find my manners and first apologize for being a horse’s ass, and then I needed to pursue you if you’d let me. She said I’d be an even bigger horse’s ass if something was there and I didn’t do anything about it before some other man got the chance. In March, all I settled on was apologizing. Which I know you recall I did rather clumsily.
“I started thinking about what my mother said a lot over the next few months. I couldn’t get you out of my head either. I started realizing that living my life fully again could mean becoming a part of someone else’s. I think Natalie would have wanted that for me… Thinking about that someone being you felt good, and the idea of you showing up for vacation someday on another guy’s arm really pissed me off. So that afternoon I saw you at the cafe, I decided to go for it.”
Logan kissed me softly and rubbed his nose against mine. “The rest is history. Well, you know, several weeks’ worth at least.”
“I guess I owe your mother a thank you. ”
He chuckled. “Please don’t give her the satisfaction. She’s already going to demand one from me when she meets you over the holiday.”
He had gotten a call from her on Friday. She was coming for a visit the first week of July after she returned from Italy, a trip she was on currently.
I’d been nervous about it since he told me.
I chewed my lip. “I hope she likes me.”
Logan gave me a reassuring nod. “She said she was looking forward to meeting the reason she could hear a positive change in my voice.”
I sighed happily, enjoying the feeling of his hand running up and down my spine.
“And she will most definitely be obsessed with the girls.” His smile dimmed a little. “She misses getting to be a grandmother. I bet you a hundred bucks she tells them to call her Gigi.”
“Oh yeah? Say… could I borrow a hundred dollars for an investment opportunity recently brought to my attention for consideration?”
“It doesn’t work that way!” Logan exclaimed as he started tickling me.
I tried to squirm away. “It was worth a shot, Mister Monopoly!”
His fingers stopped and his features turned playfully shocked. “Are you only after me for my money, Ms. Cage?”
I stroked his stubbly cheek. “I’d count myself extremely lucky just to have the handyman you know. ”
Logan smiled again while I tried to keep my face serious.
“BUT, if you ever decide to branch out into boutiques, that adorable one we stopped by in Ormond the other day was—”
I giggled as Logan tickled me again until I accidentally bumped my forehead against his nose. “Oh no, I’m sorry!”
He wiggled it around for a few seconds. “That one was my fault, Crash.”
“By the way, what is your middle name?”
Logan sighed dramatically and exaggerated an eye roll. “If you must know, it’s Henry.”
I started laughing. So hard.
“Yeah, yeah. I saw that coming. Don’t forget… it isn’t Cavill who knows all the right places to touch your body.” Logan moved his nose a safe distance away as his eyes filled with mischief. “For various reasons.”
“Oh no, you” —I started edging away— “better n—”
I squealed as Logan went for my armpits.
Once the rain stopped, we went to The Beach Brew for brunch. Logan left me at my usual booth while he checked in with the staff.
Georgie sauntered up to the table after a few minutes. “Well, hey, girlfriend. Welcome back in.”
“Thank you, Georgie. Are you enjoying your summer? ”
“Oh, you better believe it. My man and I are eating up the beach. I see the sun is being kind to you as well, that tan is getting gorgeous. You know what you want to drink, lovely?”
“Coffee, please. Two cups and some cream would be great.”
He glanced around. “You got one more coming?”
“Just Logan. I think he’s in the back talking to Cora.”
Georgie grinned as he clicked his tongue. “I’ll be right back with that for you.”
He headed for the counter and stopped as Logan exited the kitchen. Georgie purposefully glanced back at me over his shoulder before giving him a raised brow. “Hi there, Boss Man. Be right back with your coffee.”
“Did you and Claire decide on a place for dinner?” Logan asked as he slid into the booth across from me.
“Not entirely. We have it down to The Cabana or Caribbean Daze because she loves live music. Do you have a preference?”
Georgie came back with our coffee. He cocked his head to the side and shifted his eyes between us. “What do you pretty people want to eat?”
“The turkey club please, strawberries for the side,” I requested.
“Strawberries. Do you like strawberries a lot, Madison? You eat them often?” Georgie questioned.
I pursed my lips, trying to hide my amusement at the way he was watching my face intently. “Umm, yeah. I eat them most days when they are in season.”
Georgie shifted his focus to Logan. “And you, sir? ”
Logan grinned openly at Georgie’s inquisitive expression. “Let me get the egg benedict croissant with a side of bacon… and strawberries, please.”
Georgie tapped his pen against his pad rapidly as he stared at Logan. “Mmmk, be out soon.” He quickly walked behind the counter and rushed into the kitchen.
“I think we have the little hamster in his head sprinting on its wheel,” I pointed out.
“He is probably talking theories with Cora as we speak. They have noticed me taking berries home lately.” Logan gave me a wink. “And perhaps the improvement in my mood.”
“Is that so?”
I slipped my foot out of my sandal and ran my toes up the inside of his hard calf. “I’m happy to do whatever I can to keep you in a good mood.” His eyes heated as I inched my toes higher and grazed the inside of his thigh. “You didn’t answer my question about dinner.”
Logan reached below the table and ran his thumb up the insole of my foot and I shivered.
“It doesn’t matter to me. I know what I want for dessert though,” he told me, his voice a sexy invitation.
The kitchen door swung open again and I quickly dropped my foot back to the floor.
“Chicken,” Logan teased under his breath as Georgie returned with two bowls .
Cora was close on his heels but stayed behind the counter as Georgie delivered them to the table. “Thought you might like your fruit first.”
We thanked him and Georgie bee-lined back to Cora. They put their heads together, talking low as they kept eyeballing us.
Logan picked up a strawberry. “Should we put them out of their misery?”
I grinned and nodded with enthusiasm.
He reached across the table, holding the berry in front of my lips. Our audience was staring at us silently now as I leaned forward to bite it while Logan said loud enough for them to hear, “Hey guys, do you want to come meet my girlfriend?”
I chewed around my smile as Georgie and Cora grabbed each other’s arms and did a little dance with their mouths open as if silently screaming before they both practically flew over to the table.
“I told her! I told her something was up when I saw you two together a few weeks ago!” Georgie looked pleased with himself.
Cora smiled at me fondly. “You better treat this lovely lady well, Logan. You are a lucky man.”
I blushed and gave her a grateful nod then glanced at Logan. His expression was serene as he laced his fingers with mine on the table.
“I know,” he told Cora.
After our meal, we decided to visit the hospital and heard the wonderful news that Toby had been discharged to go home. We chatted with a few patients, then settled into Riley’s room and I listened to Logan have a one-sided conversation with the little girl as usual, his arm around my shoulder as we sat close beside the bed. He’d just picked a story to read when a nurse came in and asked if he had a few minutes for some paperwork.
He sat the book on his chair. “I’ll be right back.”
It was the first time I was alone with Riley.
I studied her features more closely, wondering if she would grow up to look more like her beautiful father if given the chance. I felt such sadness gazing at the poor child, suspended in sleep, maybe forever, or at least until her little body decided to give up.
I hesitated, then gently rested my hand on top of hers.
“Hi, Riley,” I said softly. “This is Madison, your daddy’s… friend. I’m so happy to see you again. I hope you don’t mind me tagging along sometimes when he comes to visit you. Your daddy loves you so much and wishes he could be with you all the time. Since that isn’t possible, I hope you are okay with me keeping him company. I think it helps him be less sad and less lonely. I know how much he misses hearing your voice, seeing your smile… watching you play. And he misses your mommy so much and always will.”
I turned my face to wipe away a tear and saw Logan standing in the doorway. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, his expression unreadable .
He walked back to the chair, picked up the book, and sat down again before leaning back with a soft smile. Then he held The Velveteen Rabbit out to me.
“Would you like to read to her?”
I swallowed emotion to find my voice. “I would love to.”