Chapter 10
Logan
“What are you doing here?”
Great question.
Do I tell her that I tossed and turned all night, consumed by the fact she never received my message? That I paced my kitchen for more than an hour after Shannon picked up Travis and Anna, waiting for it to be an appropriate time to call? That after running every possible scenario and their outcomes, I decided that the best course of action was to show up at her door, unannounced, so we can deal with the misunderstanding. Just rip the bandaid off and start fresh?
That’s too honest, even for me.
I decide to approach this the way I expect Rilla would. Attempt a joke and hope for the best.
“I’m here for our meeting. You know what they say; better fifteen hours late than never.”
She laughs. It’s a pleasant laugh; light and carefree. Her curls bounce as she shakes her head and I take her in for the first time. There is a small pillow-crease on her left cheek, as though she’s just rolled out of bed even though it’s after noon. Her light purple tank top, while not low cut, is painted on, making me painfully aware of her lack of a bra. Torn jeans hug her long legs and bare toes complete the look.
“Stunning.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but I exhaled and it came out anyway. Her brown eyes widen and I clear my throat, looking anywhere but at her. “The architecture in these older apartments is stunning.” My eyes study the hardwood floor thinking now would be a good time for it to swallow me whole.
Rilla steps forward to join me in the hallway, closing the door behind her. I get a faint smell of coffee and that sweet scent I still can’t identify.
“I’m very sorry for standing you up.” We both straighten, the implication it had been a date hanging heavy in the air. “What I meant to say is I’m sorry that I didn’t show up. I had drafted you a text yesterday evening, but–”
“It did not send due to an error on your part. Yes, I listened to your message. It’s fine.”
“It is?”
“Of course.” Her slight shoulders shrug like my absence was barely noticed. “You really didn’t need to drop in. I was going to reach out and reschedule.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. My professional relationship with this woman has been so tenuous from day one, I was legitimately concerned this would undo any progress we’ve made.
“I have some time now, if you’d like to talk about how things are going with your revisions.”
She spares a brief glance at her apartment door, before shrugging again and dropping down to sit on the hallway floor.
“You don’t want to go inside?”
“Nah,” she says looking up at me with a smirk. “I operate under a sort of Buffy the Vampire Slayer code of conduct. You can’t come in uninvited.”
I nod slowly, as if what she’s just said makes sense and isn’t completely ridiculous. She gazes up at me expectantly and I force myself to keep my focus on her face despite the fact that I can now see down her top. The valley between her breasts looks warm and inviting.
Jesus, man. Be professional.
Suddenly, the hallway is too warm and I shrug out of my wool coat, setting it down on the floor before cautiously crouching down to join her. It’s awkward, considering my size. I’m still a bit confused as to why we’re sitting out here and not inside her apartment where there is, presumably, furniture.
“How are the mage revisions coming along?” I ask once I’ve made myself comfortable. Or as comfortable as I can be on a cold, hard floor.
“Fine,” she answers quickly. Too quickly.
“Great. And the elven revolu–”
“I’m struggling.” There’s something different about the way she says it. It’s her usual bluntness, but it’s lacking her trademark confidence. I watch her, sitting cross-legged, picking absentmindedly with a frayed edge on her jeans.
“Completely normal. Many of the writers I’ve worked with find this to be the most difficult part of the process.”
“I’ve been writing since I was in high school. It’s always come so easily. Ideas flowed freely, storylines were seamless, dialogue basically wrote itself. I wrote all these books–” she pauses, her eyes flitting to mine, “I mean pages, and it never felt like work. And now it does. The changes I need to make everyone happy feel forced, and I’m worried that the writing will, too.”
There’s a vulnerability I haven’t seen in her before. She’s been nothing but a fireball of confidence since I met her and the change is startling. Her head rests against the door behind her and her shoulders sag, revealing the toll this is taking on her. I find myself wanting to ease her burden, and not just for the sake of our professional relationship. “Your writing is excellent, Rilla.” Mistrust clouds her expression like she’s waiting for me to deliver the punchline. “You have to know that. Do you think publishers would waste their time if it wasn’t? You seem to be taking any criticism of your work as a criticism of your writing and that’s simply not the case. You’ve already hit it out of the park. The rest is just you running the bases.”
“The man loves his sports references,” she mutters, but I see the smallest of smiles on her lips. “Do you follow any sports, or just use their terminology to prove your point when it suits you?”
“I follow most of them, actually,” I admit.
“Is it because you like the little matching outfits they wear?”
“I find them all interesting in their own way. Each one has a unique framework and clearly defined rules and regulations. Then you take that structure and add in athleticism, technique, strategy, and often luck.” I look up to find Rilla looking at me incredulously. “And some of the uniforms are really nice.”
She laughs again, leaning her head back against her apartment door. I don’t mention that I always associate sports with my brother. When I finally caught up to him in height, it was the first time I remember being on equal footing with him in anything.
“Is your family okay?” Rilla asks, as if reading my mind.
“Pardon?”
“You said you had a family emergency. Is everyone okay?”
I did say that in my message, I realize. I’ve always strived to keep what little of a personal life I have separate from my professional one. It feels odd to talk about my family with a colleague.
“Emergency may have been a strong word. I was watching my niece and nephew for my sister-in-law. They got sick and their childcare…fell through. I ended up keeping them for the night.”
“How old are they?”
“Travis is nine and Anna is seven.”
“Are they feeling better?”
“Yes,” I chuckle dryly. “They ate crackers, drank flat soda, and watched a Spider-Man movie.”
“Nice! What one?” Her smile is so bright it almost blinds me. I’m not used to her smiling at me, but I’d like to be.
“Across The Spider-Verse.”
“I loved that one! Even more than the first. That cliffhanger, though…”
“Yeah,” I admit. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“So good.”
This is also good. At this moment I’m more at ease around her than I’ve ever been. And I suspect the feeling is mutual. It feels as though one of her many walls has come down. Perhaps one of mine has as well.
“Well, I have a lot to get done before work later.” She pops up to standing with no difficulty at all while I clamor awkwardly to my feet.
“I can come back later if you’d like to work on things together?” I dust the dirt off my black dress pants trying to remember the last time I sat on the floor.
She shakes her head. “Not that work. I bartend part-time at a place close to here. It’s called Dive.”
This is news to me. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that much. Most writers have to work to support themselves and their writing, especially those just starting out.
“I’ve never been. Do you enjoy working there?”
“Sure,” she leans back against her apartment door and it’s impossible to miss everything her tank top is doing for her breasts. “It’s a pretty laid back place. Tonight will be dead, seeing as it’s Sunday. They’ll be paying me to talk to myself and make sure the place doesn’t burn down.”
I find myself wanting to see her in this new environment. Pouring drinks and chatting easily with patrons. Or maybe it’s just that I want to make some actual progress on the manuscript. Either way, I want to spend more time with her.
“Maybe I could stop by this evening? If it’s slow we can talk about the revisions. And if you’re busy, I’ll just have a beer and watch the hockey game.”
She quirks her head to the side, amusement dancing in her brown eyes as she looks up at me. “I didn’t peg you for a beer guy. When I think about you unwinding with a drink, you’re in a smoking jacket with a snifter of well-aged brandy.”
Now it’s my turn to smirk. “How often do you think about me, Rilla?”
Her cheeks redden, but she doesn’t look away. “Wow. You didn’t know I had another job and I didn’t know you had a sense of humor. Look at us, getting to know one another.”
Before I can respond the door of her apartment opens, sending her toppling backward into the two women in the doorframe.
“Oof,” the small brunette says as she catches Rilla around the waist. “Where did you…”
Her question hangs in the air as the two women stare up at me. Now I know why she didn’t invite me in.
“Hi!” They say brightly, in unison.
“Your coffee is getting cold, Rilla,” the taller woman says. “Would you like a cup? I’m Maggie, by the way.”
“I’m Betty,” the other one pipes up.
“It’s nice to meet you both. I’m Logan.” I smile at them, partly because it’s the polite thing to do and also because they both seem so friendly.
My name definitely gets a reaction. Both women seem to come to the same realization and their grins get even bigger. Their amused eyes flick between Rilla and myself several times.
“Ohhh,” they say again, so in sync it’s downright impressive. Did they rehearse this?
“Okay, creepy Shining twins,” Rilla says as she pushes them back into the apartment. I can’t help but admire how well her ass fills out her jeans as she does. “Logan doesn’t want to play with you.” Her face is flushed and her eyes are bright when she looks back up at me. “I start work at six.” Her expression is almost apologetic and I realize something.
Embarrassed Rilla is adorable.
“I’ll see you then.” Before she can close the door I add, “I’m sorry again. For being late.”
“At least you showed up.”
She leaves me in the hallway, still puzzling over her mystery scent, amongst other things.