6. Logan
Chapter Six
LOGAN
I hate not telling Grayson about me and Meredith, but at the same time, there’s really nothing to tell. Not anymore.
And even then, it wasn’t like she ever took me seriously. I can’t help but be annoyed when she glares at me as if I shouldn’t say anything to Grayson, and I have to grit my teeth to get through the rest of the day.
I end up knocking off early, and Grayson meets me outside.
I blink. “Thought you already headed out.”
He grins. “Was waiting for you. Want you to meet the family.”
“I’ve already met Lillian.”
“But not the kiddos. I’m a dad now.”
I laugh. “As you’ve said. I bet you’re like a big kid with them.”
“Come to dinner. I’ll call Lillian and have her make enough for all of us.”
I can’t see a reason to say no, and I’ve missed Grayson, so I nod.
I follow him in my car to his new place.
It’s not as big a mansion as the Whitlocks, but a pretty big place, nonetheless. Looks to be about six bedrooms.
Grayson’s always liked the finer things in life, so I’m not surprised. What I am surprised by is the interior of the house. It certainly has a woman’s touch. Fresh flowers on the tables, bright wallpaper, photography art on the walls.
“This place is beautiful,” I murmur.
Lillian comes into the room with a big smile.
“It’s been a long time, Logan.” She hugs me.
“Hands off the merchandise,” Grayson grumbles, so I pick her up in a bear hug, laughing.
Lillian giggles and wriggles until I put her down.
“Where are the rugrats?” I ask, and then I see a little girl peering out from between Lillian’s legs. “Oh, hello. What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Kylie. I’m three.”
“Three? I thought you were sixteen!”
She giggles and comes out from behind her mother. “I have a brother.”
“You do? Is he mean to you?”
“Sometimes.”
The boy comes down the stairs after his father calls him, and he’s just like Grayson, with his blue eyes.
“You must be the man of the house.”
He grins. “That’s me. I’m Max.”
“Max and Kylie, huh?” I glance over at Lillian, and she smiles.
“Both my ideas.”
“Lovely names.”
“Quit flirting with my wife,” Grayson growls, and I laugh out loud.
“Dinner will be ready in half an hour.” Lillian heads back to the kitchen.
“You want a tour of the house?”
“I wanted to hang out with the kids,” I complain when he starts walking away, but they’re trailing behind, anyway, as Grayson shows me the greenhouse and the pool area.
“My landscaping guy is a genius, I’ll have to give you his number.”
“I don’t even own a house, Grayson.”
“You will.”
I look at him. “You think I’m going to move here because of the new business I bought?”
“I think you will come back home.”
I snort. “I don’t know if this city is home anymore.”
“It always will be. We ran these streets when we were kids, Logan. Don’t you want your kids to have the opportunity to do that?”
I glance at Max, who looks to be about seven or eight. “I don’t know that we should talk about us running the streets around your kids.”
Grayson chuckles. “You were the bad influence.”
“I know.” I laugh, remembering the time we were caught at the railroad tracks with a six-pack of my father’s beer, shirtless and singing off-key.
Of course, Grayson’s father had gotten us out of it even though we were underage.
My father had beaten me six ways from Sunday.
I draw in a breath, not liking thinking about my father, and Grayson gets a phone call.
He takes it by walking over to the terrace, and I’m standing there with the kids.
Kylie scratches her arm. “Do you think we could go to the pool after dinner?”
“Uh, I dunno, kid?—”
“Come. We’ll ask Mama.” Max grabs his sister’s arm and drags her back to the house. Kylie keeps looking at me as he takes her away.
I chuckle.
She’s the spitting image of Lillian, so I’m sure she has Grayson wrapped around her little finger.
Grayson returns with a big smile. “Dad is coming over for dinner.”
Shock washes over me, and I rub at the back of my neck. “Should I leave? Seems like a family thing...”
“You are family, Logan. Dad was over the moon when I said you’d be dining with us.”
“He was?”
I never thought that Samuel Whitlock liked me very much, but then again, he doesn’t know how I’ve defiled her daughter.
“Let’s go see if Lillian needs help with dinner.”
I follow Grayson back to the house, into the back door of the kitchen where Lillian is cutting up tomatoes and peppers.
I inhale, and delicious aromas flood through me. “Smells good already.”
She grins. “That’s the roasted chicken. I’ve learned a lot about cooking in the past few years.”
“Those cooking classes we took helped a lot,” Grayson says, and she elbows him. He winces. “Not that your cooking was bad , it was just...”
“It was bad,” Lillian admits flatly, and I laugh.
I don’t remember laughing this much in years, and I’m grateful that I’ve reconnected with Grayson.
I’m glad he got his happy ending, even if I didn’t.
Grayson wraps his arms around Lillian’s waist, leaning down to kiss her on the shoulder.
“You’ll distract me, and I’ll burn the chicken. Get out of here.” She pulls away and shoos us out.
Grayson chuckles. “Time for a pre-dinner drink, I think.”
He leads me upstairs into his office, which has a bar on the corner.
“Whiskey, neat?”
I nod, and he pours me a small glass which I nurse. I definitely don’t want a repeat hangover.
“The kids are curious about you.”
I look up from my drink. “About me?”
He nods. “I talk to them a lot about you.”
I snort. “Do you tell them I was a bad boy?”
He smiles. “Not exactly. I just tell them you’re my best friend.”
My heart swells. “I’m sorry I haven’t kept in touch.”
Grayson just shrugs. “I could have called you, too, but life just got crazy with business, and then Lillian and Max...”
“I can understand.” I desperately want to ask him how he has a seven-year-old when five years ago, I had no idea he had a son.
“I didn’t know about him.” He knows I'm curious, I guess. “Not until he was four.”
My eyes widen as Grayson continues, telling me the whole story about him and Lillian.
“I could have used a friend, then.”
Guilt claws at me, but I clap him on the shoulder. “Well, you have one now.”
The doorbell rings just as I finish my drink, and Grayson nudges me.
“Go answer that, will you? I’m going to check on the kids.”
My palms sweat. I don’t know why. I spent more time at the Whitlock mansion than my father’s trailer growing up.
But it’s been years, and I don’t know what Meredith has told them. I assume she didn’t mention a word about us, since she’s always been so ashamed of me.
I open the door wide, and Samuel walks inside.
“It’s been too long, Logan.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Lillian announces, and I’m glad that it brings me out of my darkening thoughts.
We all go and sit down, with Grayson at the head of the table and the kids next to him. I sit next to Samuel and Lillian, and Samuel looks at me curiously as Lillian serves the food.
“Tell me everything, Logan. How have you been?”
“Working, mostly. I recently bought a small business to expand into the city.”
“Does that mean you’ll be moving back? Meredith will be thrilled!”
I clear my throat, and Grayson gives me a sharp look as if to remind me not to mention she’s my employee.
“Haven’t talked to her yet.”
“I’m sure she’ll be excited. You three were like a little team growing up.”
Guilt washes over me at how I have lied to both Grayson and his parents, but it can’t be helped. Meredith was just slumming it with me, and it was never going to go anywhere.
“I’ll be happy to see her again.”
“Oh, maybe I'll text her to come to dinner!”
“You really don’t have to do that—” I start, but he’s already texting. I let out a huffed breath.
“I didn’t tell her you were here. It’ll be a happy surprise,” Samuel says, and I would like to crawl under the house and die.
Meredith will not be happy to see me, but I suppose we have to be in close proximity due to work, so we should get used to it.
“This chicken is delectable,” I tell Lillian, and she beams at me.
“Can you taste the rosemary?”
“Yes, it’s wonderful.”
“I said stop flirting with my wife,” Grayson jokes, and the whole table cracks up.
A little while later, we are all laughing as Grayson is telling us stories about when Kylie was born when the doorbell rings.
Lillian gets up and answers it, and I go silent, looking down at my lap.
Lillian and Meredith come back into the kitchen, and Meredith is smiling until she lays eyes on me. Her face falls.
“What are you doing here?”
“That’s so rude, Meredith!” Samuel scolds. “Don’t you remember Logan? You two were pals back in the day.”
“I don't know if I'd say pals,” she grumbles, sitting down next to her father. “Hi, Daddy.”
Samuel smiles at her, patting her hand. “Hi, Mere.”
Lillian makes Meredith a plate, but she’s oddly silent for the next several minutes as the rest of us chat. Finally, I look over at her.
“We need to catch up,” I tell her.
“Not much to catch up on.” She hardly even looks my way.
Even with her father’s prodding, she doesn’t speak up.
“What about you, Logan?” Samuel finally asks. “Do you have a girlfriend? Someone to invite us to dinner with?”
Meredith’s eyes shoot to mine.
I shake my head. “Nothing like that.”
Meredith looks over at me, like she’s annoyed I’m even here. That doesn’t surprise me. But there’s something about the way she’s glaring at me that makes arousal settle in my stomach.
Meredith has always been a spitfire and a bit of a princess, but this is different. It’s like she hates my guts but wants to devour me at the same time, and I have no idea why that turns me on, but it does.
Plus, she’s aged so well, her auburn hair darkening a bit. Tonight, she’s wearing it curly, which was always my favorite. I used to bounce the curls around with my fingers.
I bite my lip, looking over at her, and for the first time since we reconnected, she flushes.
I can’t help but grin.