Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Olivia
The enemy is within our gates.
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“I see. Okay. Well, thank you.”
I sigh and stare out the panel of windows running down the length of our office. This building has an open concept, with a spacious, shared workspace—the kind that’s all the modern trend. The design is intended to fuel creativity and collaboration, with beanbags strewn across fluffy rugs at the far end and more structured metal and formica tables along the wall, sofas and seating areas throughout the long room, and a few drafting tables at the other end.
At times like these, I crave an old-fashioned cubicle. I’d settle for a janitor’s closet … or a phone booth … preferably a TARDIS. Anything but my coworkers’ eyes collectively fixed on me, each one of them pretending not to look.
I just got to work. And, so far, this Monday is living up to its reputation as the least pleasant day of the week. I’m on the call I wish I hadn’t answered—the one telling me the apartment … Gran’s apartment … my apartment … has already been let to another tenant. I don’t know why I feel like crying. I’m not a crier. I’m a fighter. Or at least a solver. Right now, I just want to throw in the towel and …
“We do have another apartment open, though.”
“What?” I don’t know if I heard her right.
“We have another apartment available. Apartment 2O. It’s on the same floor as 2B, obviously … I mean, it’s not like we’d put 2O on the third floor of the building or up on the roof, would we? No. It’s definitely right there. On the same floor as 2B.”
“2O.” I repeat the number, remembering seeing it on one of the doors on the opposite hall from Gran’s apartment, near the stairs, I think.
“Yes. It’s actually slightly less rent than 2B since it’s a tad smaller and … Well, the view is … different.”
“I’ll take it!” I shout. My office mates all turn and look at me. I smile at them and lower my voice. “I’ll take it. What do I need to do to lock it in?”
“I’ll send you an email with all the details. It’s yours once you pay your deposit.”
“Great. I want it. Don’t give it to anyone else, okay?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who wants this one.”
“That’s great.”
“Well, welcome to your new home.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll be looking for your email.”
“I’m sending it now.”
I thank her three more times for good measure. Then we hang up. I look around my office.
“I got the apartment I wanted!” I shout. “In The Serendipity!”
People cheer. It’s the whole office camaraderie thing. I guess I’ll save hiding in the janitor’s closet for another day.
Then I mutter under my breath, “Sorry, Monday. I didn’t mean to bash you so severely. Looks like you redeemed yourself this week.”
I shoot a quick text to Megan.
OLIVIA
I got the apartment. Well, not the one I wanted. Gran’s old place went to someone else. But I got one on the same floor. 2O. Not 2B. It was this whole 2B or not 2B situation. And the answer is not 2B.
MEGAN
Yay! I’m so glad. It’s not Gran’s place, but I guess that wasn’t meant 2B.
I laugh.
OLIVIA
We need to get out more often.
MEGAN:
I’m always saying that. But first, a housewarming is in order. When do you move in?
OLIVIA
Not sure. The woman who works for the owner is sending me all the details in an email. I’ll get on it right now. She says it’s mine as soon as I turn in my deposit. But, good news … the rent is a little lower because it’s a tad smaller. So, everything worked out.
MEGAN
I told you. It was your good luck.
OLIVIA
Sure. Let’s go with that.
MEGAN
I’m going to quote you on that.
I smile and set down my cell just as a hush comes over the room. It’s odd, like the feeling just before a tornado touches down to demolish everything in its path.
Every eye in the room turns toward the door—including mine.
Right there, just inside the doorway, stands my boss, Darwin. And next to him, with a deceptively warm but cool look on his face stands Logan Alexander. At my workplace.
Okay, Monday. This is just cruel. A genuine bait-and-switch. I take it all back. You’re the Mondayest Monday that ever Mondayed .
Darwin clears his throat. Lydia, our sweet but fierce head of HR, comes through the door just behind Darwin and Logan. Logan’s features never change. Of course they don’t. He’s always got that Mona Lisa look about him—like he’s half smiling, half plotting your death, half constipated. Yes. That’s three halves. There’s more to Logan Alexander than meets the eye. He doesn’t math.
And his presence for sure doesn’t math. Why is he here? Why is he here ?
“Good morning,” Darwin says with a beaming smile. “I’ve got some great news for our team.”
He claps Logan on the back, and my ears start to ring. I feel dizzy, so I sit down on the stool at the worktable. When did I stand up? I don’t even know. Everyone else is standing, as if they’re in the presence of royalty. Unbeknownst to them, they’re in the presence of a royal pain in the tush, as Gran used to say.
Gran knew all about Logan. Of course, in her naive and amiable way, she’d occasionally ask me if I was sure Logan was as malicious and conniving as I imagined him to be. I’d regale her with the latest tale of his undermining antics, and she’d recant all hope.
“Logan Alexander has come to join our team,” Darwin says with the same enthusiasm and pride as a winner of an Academy Award. “We scooped him up from Omnipresent as a digital marketing specialist. He’ll be taking Justin’s place.”
The people around me cheer as if they all just got the day off with pay. They have no idea.
Time slows.
Logan’s eyes meet and hold mine. I stare back, my face a mask—hopefully a mask as impenetrable as his. The room melts away. Sound ceases. I’m locked in, unable to tear my gaze from his. I don’t even know if I’m blinking. Those eyes—grey-blue with specks of what looks like navy around the iris. I know. I’ve stared him down innumerable times over the years, in debate team, on race day, during speech class, and at graduation, when we both were applauded for our accomplishments on the same stage in front of our classmates.
Logan breaks the staring match, which in the animal kingdom would mean I won. But of course it doesn’t mean that here. He chose to look away, to smile at Darwin instead of holding my gaze. He took the power and chose not to acknowledge me any further. With one minute gesture, he swatted me away like the pest he thinks I am.
I sit on my stool, wondering if I actually woke up this morning. Maybe this is a lucid dream—or more accurately, a lucid nightmare. I pinch my thigh and say, “Ouch,” causing a few heads to turn.
“Nothing,” I whisper. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.” If by fine you mean my life just crashed in the equivalent of a near-fatal accident.
At least I got the apartment. I only work here at Barnes. It’s been a happy place for me. I still have all the other hours of the week when I’m not at work to live a Logan-free life of bliss.
Okay. You know what? No.
Just no.
Logan has won everything all our lives. He doesn’t get to take this too.
I’m a fighter. I was at Barnes first.
I’m not letting him waltz in with that business-casual look and his ruffled hair, the crisp cotton shirt unbuttoned just enough to show a peek at his perfect clavicle. Nope. Those rolled up sleeves, revealing forearms that appear a bit thicker than they were in college, will not dominate my world. He thinks that’s going to do something for him? No. It isn’t. I’ve been working here for six years. This is my domain. He’s not going to saunter in here with that jawline and those eyes and his mad skills and take over.
For once, I’m claiming my territory.
I nod my head to myself to confirm the seriousness of my resolve.
Oh, Logan Alexander. You chose the wrong place to come to work.
Darwin prattles on about Logan’s achievements—most of which I know about but definitely not because I’ve obsessively tracked his life. We work in the same industry. I hear things. Maybe I check every so often. Just to make sure he’s safe and sound, practicing his excellence in another county.
I thought I’d be a jump ahead of him. I never imagined Logan would show up in Serendipity Springs again, let alone here.
Finally, Darwin finishes his lengthy and effusive rhapsody recounting Logan’s resumè.
I love Darwin. He’s an awesome boss. We have a good rapport.
I’ve just had the rug ripped out from under me.
If I were Darwin, I’d gush too. But I’m not Darwin. I know Logan way better than I wish I did.
The usual hum of conversation resumes after Darwin, Lydia, and Lord Voldemort leave the room. I stare ahead, processing the facts.
Logan Alexander moved back to Serendipity Springs.
Logan Alexander works at Barnes.
Logan Alexander will be in my life—daily—from this point forward, indefinitely.
I shake my head as if coming out of a daze. My coworker, Suze, walks over to me.
“Are you okay? You look a little lightheaded. Did you run fifteen miles this morning and forget to eat protein? I’ve got Reese’s in my purse. They’re the closest thing to a protein bar you’ll get from me, but they taste way better.
“No. Thanks. I’m good.”
“You sure?”
I glance around. “Yeah. It’s just … you remember that guy I told you about from high school and college?”
“Yeah? The nemesis?”
“The antithesis of all human decency. Yes. Him.” I glance toward the door Logan walked through only moments ago.
“Waaaiiit …” Suze says, following my gaze and looking back at me with her lips in an “O.”
“Yep.” I pop the P sound.
“Oh, girl. You need those Reese’s. Hang on.”
Suze briskly walks away and takes her purse off a hook on the freestanding wall in the middle of the room. Sometimes there’s a donut wall hung there, other times we affix a dartboard. A mechanical screen is mounted overhead which we lower down for video presentations. Cubbies line the other side so employees can stash their belongings. It’s all part of the open, shared workspace concept.
Suze returns with the telltale orange wrapper extended like a security blanket.
“Eat. Chocolate makes all things better.”
I smile at her. “Chocolate won’t make this better. Trust me.”
“Maybe he’s … changed?”
I look at Suze with an expression I’m certain tells her that’s not possible. There is no way. Logan Alexander is who he is, a dominant, perfect overachiever whose silent mission is to relegate me to second place wherever he sheds his radiant light.
“Okay. Okay,” Suze relents. “But still, Barnes is a big place to work. He specializes in another aspect of project work. It’s not like you two will actually be working together.” Suze’s face is soft and pleading. “At least we can hope for that, right?”
“Yes. Right. Sure. Of course. Anyway, I’ve been here longer. Darwin knows me and my work. I’m good.”
“Darn straight you’re good.”
I tear open the Reese's package and hand one to Suze. Then I slowly let my teeth sink into the other cup and close my eyes. Chocolate might not make everything better, but it’s definitely not hurting anything right now.
Chandra walks over. “What’s shakin’?”
Suze lowers her voice, to a conspiratorial level. “That guy? The hot one who Darwin just paraded around like a prize steed? He’s Olivia’s nemesis.”
“Whaaat? Shut the front door. Oh, Liv. Sorry, girl.”
They’ve all heard. Not that I sit around talking about Logan all the time, but he has come up in conversation here and there. And I didn’t hold back in telling my work besties about him. They had their own tales to tell—older siblings who overshadowed them or always let them take the fall for trouble around the house. Chandra has an ex who always compared her to other women. They get it.
“He looks so … harmless,” Chandra says.
“Those arms, wheweee . And that hair,” Suze says. “And he can wear a shirt, am I right?”
“Everyone’s wearing shirts,” I say, waving my hand around the room.
“Not like him,” Chandra adds, unhelpfully. Then she must see my irrepressible grimace, because she adds, “But in a very creepy, ugly, evil way. He’s hot until he opens his mouth, I’m sure.”
“Don’t be deceived,” I warn them.
They both nod in unison.
Thankfully, HR keeps Logan out of the main workspace for the duration of the day. He probably filled out forms and schmoozed Darwin right up until the moment they stepped onto the elevator to head home.
I had bigger things to focus on, like my actual job, so I spent the day working. I even worked through lunch with Suze, calling out for a DoorDash of quinoa bowls mid-day.
I’m halfway way home when I realize I never even told Megan about Logan’s reappearance, like a vampire who just won’t die. And I’m not talking Edward Cullen. If he showed up, I’d actually put some thought into what I wear to work. No. This is more of the Dracula version of vampires.
Maybe I ought to start wearing a garlic necklace to work.
I call Megan.
“Hey.”
“Hey. I’m so excited about your apartment!”
“Me too.” I almost forgot about that windfall after Logan showed up. Leave it to Megan to remind me of the sunny side of my life. “You’ll never guess what happened today at work.”
“You got a raise?”
“No.”
“A promotion?”
“No.”
“They’re selling the building?”
“I didn’t mean for you to actually guess. I’ll tell you.”
“Oh. Okay. But I like guessing. It’s fun.”
“I know. You’ll never guess this. It’s not good.”
“Well, from your tone of voice, you’d think Logan Alexander showed up at your workplace, and we all know that didn’t happen since he’s successfully climbing his way up to the pinnacle of marketing grandeur in Boston. He’d have no reason to come back to Serendipity Springs.”
“Right, well … wait. How did you guess?”
“What? Wait. What? Are you serious? No. You’re joking!” Megan has a half-laugh in her tone. And she’s shouting.
“I wish I were,” I lament. “How on earth did you guess?”
“I don’t know. There’s this particular note of doom in your voice that basically only shows up when he’s involved. I thought I was stabbing in the dark.”
“Why should you have to stab in the dark when he’ll be stabbing in broad daylight in no time?”
Megan’s words ring through my head like a repeating gong. He’d have no reason to return to Serendipity Springs . She’s right. Logan has no reason. Unless he does. For one split second, I worry. Are his parents okay? Something must be wrong. He’s been doing great in Boston. Coming home is the equivalent of a step down the ladder—something Logan never does. I almost feel concerned for him. No . I’m sure Logan’s fine. He had that trademark smug look on his face the whole time Darwin was regaling his triumphant entry.
I’m not concerned. There’s never reason for concern where Logan’s involved. I’m just curious. Very, very curious.
Why is Logan back here, and what will happen now that he is?