13. Introduce Me To His Family
Logan standsbefore the imposing white picket fence that encases Aaron and Josie’s house. The midday sun casts a golden hue across the perfectly manicured lawn, infusing the scene with tranquility, but not Logan. I’ve known him for less than a week, yet I can tell there’s turmoil brewing under the surface.
I join his side, and though his expression doesn’t shed light on how he’s feeling, the fact that he’s been motionless for several minutes now can only mean he’s dreading this lunch as much as I am, maybe more. “You okay?”
He blinks. “Just need a minute.”
I nod, turning to the house nestled between its neighbors on a tree-lined street. Its brick facade exudes a timeless charm, and the entrance steps lead up to a polished wooden door. A trimmed garden frames the front, featuring bursts of vibrant flowers in carefully arranged pots.
Perfect, if it wasn’t for the fact that this lunch will mostly likely be a shitshow that will land us both in prison.
As a gentle breeze rustles the leaves of the nearby tree, Logan finally turns to me. “List?”
I look at his open hand and extract the list from my bag. “What for?”
He pats his pants, then pulls a pen out of his pocket. “Number thirteen.”
Introduce me to his family.
Has he been...reading my list? I’ve left it on the bookshelf overnight, next to my plane ticket, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s studied it. Unless he’s been seeing it online, the one time he’s read it, he had it in his hand for a handful of minutes—there’s no way he’s memorized every single item. But why would he even care?
“At least this shitshow gets you to check one of the items off your ridiculous list,” he says as he strikes through number thirteen, then hands the list back.
“Is there any way we can not do this?” I hush out.
“No. I promised Josie we’d come, and if we bail, she’ll get suspicious. But I wouldn’t worry if I were you. With me and my brother in the same room, the focus won’t stay on our relationship for too long.”
With a resigned nod, I follow him up the paved path to the front porch. Once he stands at the door, he straightens the collar of his black shirt and exhales. “You good with everything?”
“Yup. Act affectionate but don’t use words like ‘obsessed,’ talk about our sexual life, or mention kicking,” I say, repeating the speech he gave me back home word by word.
“Great.” He knocks at the door, and nerves get the best of me too. “This is a great chance for us to convince her we’re madly in love. Let’s take it home.”
I nod, but he’s too ill at ease for me to relax. I’ve seen him uncomfortable before—at the mall, or every time I fire my questions at him. Sometimes, just seeing me seems to make him tense up. But he looks downright terrified now, and I can’t help but wonder if the issue is his relationship with his brother, or if he knows there’s a high chance I’ll screw this up.
How can I put up a convincing show? I’m a shitty liar, and Josie is trained to sniff out the truth. She and Aaron know Logan much better than I do, and I’m sure it won’t take them more than a couple of pointed questions to find out this is a sham.
And once they do, the police will piece together everything else.
After what feels like an eternity, the door opens and Josie appears wearing a simple yet tasteful black dress. “Hey, guys! Come in, come in.” She gestures at us to enter, the excited twinkle in her eyes matching the fiery red hue of her hair.
The aroma of a home-cooked meal wafts through the air, instantly making my stomach rumble with anticipation as Logan and I step into the entryway. After exchanging a glance with him, I offer Josie the bottle of wine we bought for today. “For you. It’s?—”
“My favorite. I can’t believe you remembered, Logan,” she says with a grateful smile. Then, she puts a hand on my arm. “Thank you so much.”
“Of course. I also made some candy.” I hand her the small transparent bag with a shrug. “For you or—Logan said you have a daughter.”
She turns the colorful candy in her hands. “Sadie is going to lose her mind over this. Thank you so much.”
A moment of awkwardness settles, and turning the bottle in her hands, she says, “Look, I know these circumstances are...peculiar. But I’m off the clock, and we won’t discuss anything related to Derek or the piglets, okay?” She squeezes my shoulder. “Let’s just have a nice family lunch.”
Logan and I both nod and follow her into the large living room. The walls are painted in soft, earthy tones, complementing the gleaming hardwood floors that reflect the light streaming through lace-curtained windows. In the center of the living room, there’s a vintage wooden coffee table displaying books and a vase of freshly picked wildflowers, and an inviting armchair sits by the fireplace, its mantle adorned with family photos and knick-knacks.
Aaron rises from a plush sofa, his tight-lipped smile accompanied by a doubtful expression. He and his brother look astonishingly alike, with their gray-blue eyes, dark hair, and strong jaws—it’s almost like watching the same person before and after a five-year gap.
“This is my husband, Aaron,” Josie says as she walks past him to a small table. “And this is Sadie.” She ruffles the brunette child’s hair, and her big brown eyes stare back at me as if she’s seeing something incredible. “Look what Prim brought you.”
Sadie’s eyes become bigger than the moon as she reaches for the bag of candy, and as I turn to Logan with a grin, I notice his hateful glare is set on his brother.
Aaron’s eyes flicker briefly to meet Logan’s, and the room seems to hold its breath, caught in the tension that weaves a web around the brothers. “Hello,” he says, and Logan answers with a light jerk of his head.
This lunch is going to last forever.
“Lono!” Sadie cries from a colorful, furry carpet next to the couch, and he walks to her and picks her up. I busy myself with checking out the mounted frames featuring Aaron and Josie over the years and Sadie as a baby. There’s even one of her with Logan, and it must be from a decade ago. His beard is short, his body thinner, and his grin innocently happy, as if life hadn’t broken him down yet.
Josie walks to me with two glasses of white wine. “Here,” she sets one in my hand, then glances at Logan. “Let’s get some alcohol inside those two immediately.”
Probably a good idea.
“Lunch is almost ready—do you like falafels, Prim?”
“Love ’em,” I say as I follow her into the dining room. “Can I do something to help?”
“Nothing to do,” she says before disappearing into the kitchen.
Logan sits at the table, Sadie now in his lap, and I take a seat at his side.
“How old are you?” I ask when Sadie keeps staring at me, and with a timid voice, she whispers back, “Four.”
Logan kisses her cheek. “Don’t lie. You’re one year old. Two tops.”
“No!” She stands on Logan’s thighs, then smacks his shoulder. “Four!”
He gives her a dry look. “Is that so? Then show me with your fingers.”
Sadie pulls up five fingers, and he tucks her thumb against the palm of her hand. “This is four.”
Holding on to his shoulders, Sadie starts hopping up and down, as if bored with their exchange. It can’t be too pleasant, but Logan chuckles, hands gripping her sides to make sure she won’t fall.
Damn him. Why does he have to be cute? And with a kid, of all things?
That’s playing dirty.
“What?” he asks in a soft voice as he turns to me. He must have noticed I was staring.
“Nothing.” I sip from my glass of wine, relieved when Josie walks back into the dining room with a casserole and squeezes it among the other trays and bowls.
“Here we go,” she says. “Aaron. Take Sadie, please?”
“She’s fine here,” Logan interjects. Josie begins serving the casserole and describing one delicious dish after the other.
“And, of course, everything’s vegan.”
We all begin eating, the only noise provided by our cutlery and Sadie, who’s telling Logan some rambling story about her favorite toy at kindergarten.
The tension is almost unbearable.
“So, how are you liking Pinevale?” Josie asks. “It’s a pretty big change from Mayfield, huh?”
Setting what Josie said was pasta primavera on my plate, I nod. “Yeah, it’s different. Especially the farm. Everything’s so silent there, and I’m used to noisy, crowded places.”
“Oh, well. If silence bothers you, I’m happy to bring Sadie over. Give it a night, and you’ll be missing the peaceful cows.”
We chuckle lightly, but as the laughter dissipates, she turns to Aaron where he’s bending over his food and eating in silence. Then to Logan, whose full attention is devoted to Sadie, currently squishing his cheeks as he kisses her nose.
“You know, I can’t believe you’re doing long distance,” Josie tells Logan, and she must realize it sounded like she doesn’t think he could possibly do that, because she shakes her head. “I mean, that’s great. You must care about each other a lot.”
Is she referring to his ex? Logan said he was very resistant to being in a long-distance relationship with her.
Figuring my safest bet here is silence, I turn to Sadie and offer her another piece of pita bread.
“Yes. We’re two lovebirds,” Logan says.
I wish he would make more of an effort to sound like he gives a shit.
“So how did you meet?” Josie asks, ignoring Logan’s obvious bad mood. “I know you met in Roseberg, and that you were there for work, but how exactly did it happen?” She elbows Aaron as if to invite him to join the conversation, and with a long sigh, he sips whatever hard liquor is in his glass.
I share a look with Logan, then bring the fork to my lips.
She’s just asking to make conversation, I’m sure. She’s desperately trying to fill the awkward silence or learn about her brother-in-law’s life. Plus, we’ve prepared a meet-cute story about the two of us reaching for the same book at the library. My idea, of course.
But sweat forms on my lower back, and I remain silent, too scared to utter a word.
“She tried to kill me.” My eyes nearly pop out as I turn to Logan. “Accidentally, or so she says. That’s how we met. Right, snickerdoodle?”
My lips part. Is he serious right now? This is not the time to kid around.
“Kill you?” Josie’s eyes narrow on me, a cautious smile taking over her lips. “How so?”
“It was a very windy day, and an orchid vase fell off the bannister of my hotel window,” I blurt before he can say anything about the accident. He must have lost his mind, because Josie would definitely connect the dots between my rental and his bike. “I, uh...I noticed that it had almost hit Logan, so I”—I glare at him as he chuckles under his breath—“I ran downstairs to apologize.”
“Apologize?” His face scrunches. “More like, scream at me.”
Eyes widening slightly, I purse my lips.
Why is he making me sound like a lunatic?
“Well, to be fair,” I hiss, “You did throw the vase at me.”
A playful twinkle brightens up his eyes. “I was having a terrible day.”
“Yes, you mentioned something about being headed for the strip club.” With a wiggle of my brows, I purr, “Didn’t you?”
“Uh-huh.” He faces Josie, holding both hands over Sadie’s ears. “Imagine my shock when she offered to give me a lap dance herself.”
He did not.
God, I’m going to kill him.
“Imagine mine when he just burst out crying while I was—” I gesture at Logan to cover Sadie’s ears, and once he does, I hiss, “grinding on his lap.” With a satisfied jerk of my chin, I give him a pointed look. “Right, Bun-bun?”
Logan’s lips are curled up, his eyes stuck to the table as if he knows the moment he looks at me, laughter will burst out of his lips. Josie and Aaron, instead, don’t seem to be all too amused as they watch each other with horror and confusion.
“Then I kissed her,” Logan offers. His voice has taken a softer edge now, and the amusement on his face has vanished in favor of a nostalgic sort of look. “It was the worst moment of my life, and I needed a...” His eyes search my face, and it occurs to me that he might no longer be joking, but actually talking about our first real encounter.
“An anchor?” I ask. We never talked about that kiss—not besides a joke here and there—and though I’m surprised he’d bring it up right now, I also want to know his thoughts.
“Yeah. I felt this overwhelming need to escape, to run away from it all. Then you took my hand. You were there, looking at me with these big, beautiful eyes filled with concern and guilt.”
I remember, and I fight hard the urge to entangle my fingers with his right now.
He huffs out a laugh. “I don”t know what came over me,” he says, the words spilling out like a confession. “My heart was racing and my mind spinning, and all I could see was you. It just felt natural to kiss you.”
The memory washes over me, vivid and raw. I can taste his lips on mine, feel the rush of emotion that followed.
“It wasn”t about trying to escape the panic, you know?” he continues, his voice charged with emotion. “It was about finding something real, something to hold onto. And kissing you...it felt like coming up for air after being underwater for too long.”
I swallow, blinking fast, and I forget all about Josie and Aaron and Sadie. I forget about our alibi, about Marisol, about Derek. For a moment, Logan is all I can bring myself to care about, and it’s such a sudden, terrifying realization. That I care about him. That I hardly know him, but after six days, he matters to me in a way a few people in my life do.
“Well, that’s...unconventional,” Josie says, dragging me back into the moment. “But beautiful. Really.”
Logan seems to wake up from a similar trance, and clearing his throat, he focuses on Sadie. “Yeah. I knew then and there that she was special. And I tried to run away from it, because...because I was scared, I guess. But, uh...I’m glad I didn’t manage.” He playfully pulls at her braids, then meets my gaze. “I’m glad we ended up here, Dumpling.”
Everyone has stopped eating but Sadie, and she’s too focused on her piece of pita bread to make any noise, so silence spreads like a thick blanket around us.
Does he mean all of that?
He looked sincere, but that stupid nickname he threw in is making me doubt the whole thing. Maybe he’s just saying all of this because Josie is here—in fact, he probably is, and I just can’t tell the difference between a heartfelt speech and a bald-faced lie.
This is a great chance for us to convince her we’re madly in love. Let’s take it home.
Thinking of the words he said before we came in, I decide it doesn’t mean anything and resume eating. “So am I, Sweety-pie.”