CHAPTER 12
R ory watched Logan behind the bar. Her muscles were working in that T-shirt, and she couldn’t look away as Logan lifted a case of beer onto the bar and began pulling the bottles out of it to put them away.
“You’re staring,” Candace noted.
“Huh?” Rory asked as she turned toward Candace, who was sitting in a booth across from her, looking over the receipts from the previous night.
“You’re staring at my bartender.”
“No, I was just… wondering what the noise was,” she lied.
Candace laughed and said, “Sure you were. You talked to her last night, and you left with her. How did it go?”
“We talked as she walked me to my car. Well, technically, her car was parked closer, so I walked her to her car, really.”
“Okay… Nothing happened?”
“No. What was supposed to happen?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But it’s obvious that you like her.”
“I think she’s attractive,” Rory admitted.
“So, it’s just a lust thing?”
“No. And keep your voice down, Candace.”
“There’s music playing. She can’t hear us. Is it just that you think she’s hot?”
“She is hot.”
“Obviously. I have eyes,” Candace said. “Do you maybe want to ask her out?”
“No way.” Rory shook her head. “What about me gives you any indication that I’d ever be able to ask a woman like her out?”
“Rory, you’ll have to ask someone out someday.”
“No, I won’t. I’m hoping someone will ask me out one time only, and we’ll live happily ever after.”
Candace shook her head and said, “Well, I’ll hope for that for you, but Logan seems nice enough. Maybe just keep talking to her and see if she asks you out, then.”
“She won’t.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she prefers to keep things casual.”
“So, you’ve talked about this with her?”
“Not about me; just about how she took a woman home the other night. That’s what she likes.”
“She’s a player?”
“I guess. She said she likes to keep things casual. I don’t want casual.”
“I know,” Candace replied. “Well, I guess there goes my dream of putting you two together all the time just to make you fall madly in love with one another.”
Rory laughed and said, “I don’t see that happening anytime soon, no. My guess is she’ll have another woman flirting with her tonight, and she’ll end up taking her home, too.”
“Her loss, then,” Candace remarked. “You’re an amazing person.”
“I’m going to get back to my studying if you’re done asking me about my non-existent love life.”
“I need to go put these with the bank deposit, anyway,” Candace said before she stood and gathered up her receipts.
When she left, Rory returned her attention to her textbook, highlighting a paragraph that she needed to remember.
“Hey.”
Rory looked up to see Logan standing behind the bar, holding what looked like a Shirley Temple.
“Extra grenadine. It’s horribly sweet.”
Rory smiled and asked, “Is that for me?”
“Yeah. You look thirsty,” Logan said and set the glass down on the bar.
“Thanks,” Rory replied.
She was about to stand to get the drink when she noticed Logan moving around the bar and picking up the glass instead before she carried it over to the booth and set it in front of her.
“So, what are you studying?”
“Boring stuff,” she said, closing her book.
“Not to you, right?”
Logan sat down in Candace’s empty seat.
“Sometimes,” Rory said with a small laugh. “I want to be a social worker, not read about it.”
“Do you have to have a grad degree?”
“Pretty much. You can get a bachelor’s in it and a certification in some places, but I decided to get my graduate degree just in case. It was also a convenient way to delay paying off my student loans.”
“I guess that’s what’s nice about trade schools: they’re a lot cheaper. My parents paid for me to go, but there are also companies that pay for their plumbers and electricians to get trained and certified. It’s nice.”
“Maybe I should’ve been a plumber, then,” she replied before taking a sip of her drink.
“You’d make a very cute plumber.” Logan chuckled. “I can just see you trying to hold a pipe wrench.”
Rory tried not to blush because Logan had just called her cute. She probably didn’t mean it how Rory hoped that she meant it, but it was still nice to hear.
“Have you ever even had to fix a clogged toilet?” Logan asked.
“No, I have a maintenance guy for that. It’s why I pay so much for rent on my apartment. Right now, I have a garbage disposal that barely works, and I need to call him, but I keep putting it off because he smells a little funny.”
“He smells funny?”
“Like cigars and sweat,” Rory explained.
“I can fix it for you,” Logan offered.
“How he smells?”
“No, the garbage disposal; I can fix it.” Logan laughed a little.
“What? No, I just need to call him.”
“Rory, it would only take me about twenty minutes if it doesn’t just need to be replaced, but you’d avoid cigar and sweat smell. I don’t smoke, and I showered this morning.”
“Today?”
“Why not?”
“You’re working.”
“I was an hour early. I can just clock out, take care of it for you, and clock back in. Candace was nice to just give me the extra hour of work.”
“I don’t use my garbage disposal all the often anyway.”
“Hey, Candace?” Logan asked.
Rory turned to see Candace coming back into the room, and she silently prayed that her best friend needed Logan to do something very important for the bar right about now.
“Yeah?”
“Rory’s garbage disposal is messed up. Mind if I take an hour and go fix it for her? I’ll be back after.”
“Your maintenance guy can’t fix it?” Candace asked Rory.
“He can. Logan just offered. I can call him, though, and he’ll take care of it.”
Candace gave Rory a look of confusion before she gave Logan a nod and replied, “Sure. We’re good here for an hour. Can you make sure to be back by the time we open?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Logan said. “I can drive.”
She stood quickly, and Rory wondered if it was even her choice anymore. She packed up her things, and off they went to the back parking lot, where Logan actually opened the passenger door for her. Rory was surprised, but she smiled and thanked Logan. She gave Logan directions, and they joined traffic without saying much. The radio was on, but the volume was low, and Rory couldn’t make out the song that was playing.
“So, do you like driving people around?”
“Not really,” Logan said. “It pays decent money during the tourist season, though, and I can choose my own hours, take breaks when I want, and if I don’t want to work, I don’t have to.”
“I guess there’s something nice about that,” Rory noted.
“Are you not working tonight?” Logan asked.
“No, I give myself one day a week where I don’t babysit. I had a class this morning, and I need to study.”
“Are you working at the bar, then?”
“It’s been pretty busy, so I was planning on it.”
“Cool,” Logan replied.
That was all they said until they arrived at Rory’s apartment, and the closer they got to the building, the more nervous Rory got about having Logan in there.
“So… I wasn’t planning on having any visitors. It’s not exactly spotless.”
“It’s okay. You’ve never seen my place,” Logan replied. “You do have basic tools, though, right? If not, I won’t be able to do much.”
“Oh, yeah. I have a toolbox. My dad bought it for me when I moved out on my own. I think it’s pretty stocked.”
“You think?”
Rory unlocked her front door and went inside.
“Yeah. I don’t use it very often. I used the hammer to hang up a few pictures when I first moved in.”
Logan followed her in and closed the door behind her.
Rory dropped her keys into the little dish on her kitchen counter and said, “This is it.”
“It’s nice,” Logan noted.
“It’s okay,” she replied.
“No, it’s nice, Rory,” Logan said and looked around the open kitchen that led to the small dining table on the right.
The living room was on the left, and the door to Rory’s bedroom was off of it. It was also open, which meant Logan could see her unmade bed and probably the dirty laundry she had in the hamper, which she’d pulled out earlier, meaning to do laundry, and hadn’t put it back when she’d changed her mind.
“I’ll just be…” Rory walked over that way and closed the door. “Toolbox is under the sink, I think.”
“Oh, right,” Logan said.
“Sorry. I’m being rude. I should’ve offered you a drink or something.”
“I’m okay,” Logan said. “May I?” She nodded toward the sink.
“Yeah. What do I do? Do I help?”
“I think the best way you can help is to stand far away and maybe just talk to me or something.” Logan knelt down and opened the cabinet, where she found the toolbox. She pulled it out and added, “So, these apartment disposals are usually pretty cheap. Sometimes, they’re easy to fix, but other times, it’s better just to replace them. I’ll see what I can do, though.”
“Thank you,” Rory replied.
Logan opened the toolbox, looked at what was inside, and lifted the interior compartment to reveal more tools that Rory’s father had insisted he buy her underneath.
Rory just stood off to the side, watching her work.
“So, do you volunteer to rescue all the girls when their garbage disposal breaks?” she asked.
Logan chuckled and said, “Not usually, no.”
“Why me, then?”
“You mentioned it, and I could help.”
“Oh.”
“Plus, you’re Candace’s friend.”
“Oh,” she let out again in a different tone, which had Logan turning her head to her.
“Not like I’m trying to suck up to my boss. I meant that you seem like you deserve a little help.”
“I do?”
“You help your friends whenever you can, don’t you?”
“I don’t have that many of them, but yeah, I guess.”
“So, I’m helping you,” Logan said and did something with a tool before she changed that one for another tool and leaned into the cabinet.
“Well, thank you,” Rory replied. “I can pay you back in cookies or something.”
“You bake?” Logan asked.
“I’m okay at it,” she replied. “Simon, one of the kids I babysit for, really likes my peanut butter cookies, but his sister says my chocolate chip cookies are the best.”
“Can I have a few of each?” Logan asked as she worked.
“You can have a dozen of each, if you want.”
“Will you eat them with me? There’s no way I can eat two dozen cookies before they go stale.”
“Um… Sure,” Rory said.
“Okay. Give me, like, five minutes to focus, and I should have this fixed for you.”
Rory left her alone in the kitchen and sat down on her sofa, trying to think about how she’d ended up with a beautiful butch former plumber in her kitchen, fixing her garbage disposal for her. About five minutes later, Logan stood up, flipped the switch, and the disposal whirred to life.
“All good,” she told Rory.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’ll break again – this is the cheapest model you can get – so I give it a month before it goes down again.”
“Well, that’s disappointing.”
“I’ll fix it then, too, if you want, but it might be better to have the guy come in so that he has a log of it breaking down often. That’s the only way you’ll get a replacement. Of course, it’ll be the same model, so I’m not sure how much that gets you. I still know a few suppliers. If you want, I can get you a deal on a better one and install it for you.”
“No, that’s too much. This is more than enough, Logan. Thank you.”
“No problem. Let me just wash my hands and put the tools away, and we can go.”
Rory watched her wash those strong and still so feminine hands and tried not to think about them touching other women. When Logan finished up, Rory stood up from her sofa and was ready to go back to the bar.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Logan spoke.
“Sure.”
“Would you–” Logan stopped, and for the first time ever since Rory had met her, she looked a little nervous. “Would you maybe want to go out with me sometime?”
Rory thought she’d heard that wrong and said, “Sorry. What?”
“On a date. Would you want to maybe go on a date with me?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you,” Logan said with a soft laugh. “There’s no one else here, Rory.”
“But I’m me .”
“What? Of course, you’re you.”
“But I’m me, and you’re…” Rory motioned to her with an open palm. “I mean, look at you.”
“I’d rather look at you . Maybe I could do that over dinner sometime?”
“You’re really asking me out?”
“Yes. Why is this confusing?”
“I just told you I’m not even fully out yet, Logan.”
“So? I don’t care about that. We can go somewhere private if you’re worried about being seen or something.”
“I’ve never…” Rory faded out as she sat back down. “You’ve…”
“Can you finish either of those sentences for me?” Logan requested. “Preferably both.”
“I have no experience with this.”
“Dating?”
“A woman, yes.”
“Okay. I don’t have much experience with that, either.”
“You said you liked casual.”
“I do,” Logan said with a shoulder shrug.
“I don’t,” Rory replied.
“Well, I’m not proposing or anything. I just thought we could go on a date and maybe a second one after if the first one goes well. That seems at least somewhat casual to me for now.”
“And for later?”
“We’d play it by ear.”
“You like picking up women at the bar, Logan.”
Logan nodded and moved to the chair opposite Rory, sitting down across from her.
“I know this came out of the blue. I just… I thought maybe you felt something, and we could grab dinner and see if there’s something here.”
“What about the other thing?”
“What other thing?”
“I’m not going to sleep with you, Logan. I mean… I wouldn’t right away. I’d want to maybe take my time to get there.”
“And you think I’d want to sleep with you on our first date?”
“I don’t know what to think. You’re taking me by surprise here.”
“I’m trying to… I guess I’m trying to figure out what I want, and I like you. You’re cute. And you blush a lot, which is adorable. I like that you can’t tap a keg to save your life and that you have no idea what’s in your toolbox. You wore a fancy dress in a bar, and you didn’t do it because you wanted someone to take it off you later. You like Shirley Temples and help your friends. You’re sweet, Rory. I’m not. I don’t know how to be sweet; I don’t think.”
“You just came over here to do plumbing work for me. That’s pretty sweet, Logan.”
“Nah, that was easy. I can fix things.”
“Logan?”
“Yes?”
“I’d like to.”
“But?” Logan asked.
“I think we should just be friends. I’m not sure we really want the same things.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Logan stood up. “Um… Are you ready to go?”
“Are we okay?” Rory asked, standing up as well.
“Of course. I just have to get back by the time the bar opens,” Logan replied.
Rory’s heart was pounding. Logan had just asked her out, but as much as she wanted to say yes, there was something holding her back. Picturing a date with Logan was easy. But then, she’d see Logan with a woman at the bar and her leaving with her after her shift. That was hard.