Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Logan
Time spent playing with children is never wasted.
~ Dawn Lantero
Charlie leans across the table toward us. “You two are pretty cute together.”
I glance at Olivia, planning to tweak my response based on whatever she needs me to say or do.
She’s blushing but still smiling at Charlie.
“Thanks,” I say, not adding anything to my simple acknowledgement.
Olivia smiles at me and takes a bite of her salad.
Our main dishes arrive, and no one else mentions the obviously new connection between Olivia and me. She seems to ease up the longer we’re immersed in conversation about the Untethered account.
We’re about halfway through the main course when Rick stands and pings his water glass with his fork.
“I’ve got an announcement.” He looks around at all of us. “My family and I have loved our time on the east coast, but we’re ready to escape the winters here. I have accepted a position in Los Angeles and will be leaving in three weeks. I just want to say I’ve enjoyed working with each one of you. I’m proud to be leaving on the high note of what we’ve accomplished with Untethered. And if any of you are ever in California, feel free to look me up.”
Everyone claps and a few make comments like, “Oh my gosh!” and “We’ll miss you.”
I’m quiet. Darwin already told me Rick was potentially moving on. I’m not shocked. I’m actually prepared—eager to shoot my shot for Rick’s vacancy.
Darwin doesn’t stand. He glances around the table and his eyes land on me, then Olivia, then back to me.
“I’ll be promoting a new manager in Rick’s place,” Darwin announces. “I’m giving a lot of consideration to this promotion. We have some strong candidates. I’ll be looking at past projects, considering initiative and creativity, and I’ll be evaluating each prospective manager for strong leadership skills as well as the ability to think on your feet.”
Olivia looks over at me and smiles.
Maybe she sees what I see. I’m the obvious choice for the manager position. Had I stayed on in Boston, I might have been in line to move into a management spot in the next few years. I didn’t have those years to wait. And the tug to return to Serendipity Springs was nearly relentless. Now, I’m certain Olivia was the source of that tug, pulling me back here, even though I didn’t realize it at the time.
On our drive back to Olivia’s car, I ask her, “Do you have plans Friday? I’d love to take you out.”
“On a real date?”
“Yes. One not sponsored by Barnes and definitely not accompanied by all our coworkers.”
She laughs softly. “I’d love to, but I already told Lynette I’d babysit Cassidy on Friday at my place. But I’m free Saturday.”
“Well, I have plans to go to Gil’s for dinner on Saturday. Maisy’s always secretly behind these invitations Gil extends my way. She seems to come up with something at least once a week to ensure I’m not home alone seven nights straight.” I glance at Olivia then back at the road. “Why don’t you come with me?” I pause and add, “And I can come over Friday with some pizza dough and toppings so we can make dinner with Cassidy … unless that would be me intruding on your time with her.”
“I’d love that. She’ll be so excited to make pizza, too.”
“I don’t like going too long without seeing you,” I confess.
“Really?”
I nod. “You’ve got me under some sort of spell, Pennington. I’m not asking you to break it. Just humor me.”
“Okay,” she says softly. “It’s not like it’s a hardship to make time to see you.”
“So you’ll come to Gil and Maisy’s?”
“Check with them first. I don’t want to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be. They haven’t stopped talking about you since you came over. Gil has been texting me relentlessly. They’re dying to see us together. Gil is unofficially dubbing himself the matchmaker of the century.”
She laughs. And I nearly hold my breath. I can’t believe we’re finally dating. The ease between us feels so right, yet simultaneously tenuous. I guess Olivia’s not the only one who has to settle into our new reality. It’s going to take me a little while to believe she really wants me the same way I want her. I also don’t fully trust myself not to inadvertently chase her away again.
I show up Friday evening with a grocery bag full of pre-made dough, pepperoni, cheese, sauce, and other toppings in one arm, and Rhett on his leash looped around the other.
I tap Olivia’s door with the toe of my shoe, and Rhett barks.
“Noisy!” the macaw squawks. “Bark. Bark. Bark.”
I chuckle. The door swings open and Cassidy is standing there looking up at me. Then Olivia appears just behind her.
“Oh, here. Let me.” Olivia reaches out for the grocery bag.
Cassidy reaches out for Rhett’s leash, looks up at me, and says, “Here. Let me.”
I chuckle and hand my dog over to her.
I follow Olivia into the kitchen, resisting the urge to pull her into my arms for a proper greeting. She surprises me by turning and standing on tiptoes to place a kiss on my cheek after she sets the grocery bag on the counter.
“Is that your boyyyyyfriend ?” Cassidy asks.
“He is, actually,” Olivia says plainly.
“When I’m older, I’m getting a boyfriend with a cute dog too.”
“Much older,” Olivia says. “But the dog is a perk.”
“A perk?” Cassidy’s face scrunches up.
“He’s like icing on a cupcake.”
“The kind you don’t lick,” Cassidy says.
“Definitely the kind you don’t lick.”
“Let’s take his leash off,” I suggest. “I brought treats so you can train him after dinner.”
“Like, real tricks?” Cassidy asks.
“Yep. Real ones.”
Olivia and I set out the toppings and spread the dough onto pizza pans while Cassidy and Rhett play in the living room. Then Cassidy washes her hands and sits on a stool at the island to help assemble her pizza.
“When is Rhett’s birthday?” Cassidy asks when we’re putting the pizzas into the preheated oven.
She’s got the most random and delightful brain. She seems to say every thought that comes into her mind. The unfiltered thoughts of a child are something I don’t experience very often in my life. Maybe that will change now that Olivia and I are officially together.
“I don’t really know Rhett’s birthday,” I tell Cassidy. “I got him from a shelter.”
“What’s a shelter?”
“It’s a place where dogs without homes go to wait for someone to adopt them.”
“So he doesn’t have a birthday?” Cassidy’s face falls.
“Not one I know of.”
I wish I had a better answer.
“That’s almost as sad as a butterfly.”
Olivia steps behind Cassidy and rests her hands on Cassidy’s shoulders.
She looks into my eyes. “I’ll explain later.”
“We should give Rhett a birthday. Like … today!” Cassidy exclaims, looking instantly relieved. “Today could be his birthday. But we need cake and hats and decorations.”
“Sounds good,” I say.
I’m ready to drive to the party store and rent a bounce house if it will keep that sad expression off Cassidy’s face for the rest of the night.
I glance over at Olivia for her approval.
“Sure. We can throw him a party,” Olivia tells Cassidy. “After you eat your pizza and wash up from dinner.”
We pull our pizzas from the oven and sit around Olivia’s dining table to eat our creations. Cassidy fills the mealtime with stories about her friends at school.
After dinner, I wash the dishes while Olivia pulls out what she calls The Birthday Box. It has candles and a H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y streamer. She passes out cone-shaped birthday hats, which we each put on. Cassidy tries to put one on Rhett. He’s a good dog, but even he has his limits.
“What’s this, Aunt Olivia?” Cassidy holds up a fortune cookie that was buried in the birthday box.
She pulls out another and then another.
“You have Chinese cookies in here. Just like when we get Chinese food!”
Olivia and I exchange a look. It’s obvious she didn’t put those cookies there. Unless she did after a party where there was Chinese food involved.
“Here!” Cassidy says, handing me a cookie. “Open it.”
She hands another to Olivia. “This one’s for you. And this one”—she holds the third cookie up between pinched fingers—“is mine.”
I tear open my wrapper. “I’m getting good at this,” I say to Olivia.
“Practice makes perfect,” she says, tearing into hers.
“You go first,” Cassidy orders me.
“Okay. Mine says, When someone wins your heart, don’t let her go. ”
Cassidy’s face scrunches up. Olivia smiles at me. I smile back.
“Okay, Aunt Olivia. You go,” Cassidy says in her commanding five-year-old voice.
Olivia cracks her cookie and reads, “ Look closer—the person who drives you crazy might also drive you wild. ” Olivia looks at me and raises her eyebrows. “I mean, it’s not wrong.”
Cassidy tears into her wrapper and cracks the cookie. She pops half into her mouth and holds the strip of paper out to Olivia.
“You can sound it out,” Olivia says.
“Okay,” Cassidy says, holding the paper and reading. “It says, You br … br … eye … I don’t know that word.”
Olivia stands behind Cassidy. “You bring …”
Cassidy says, “I know this one. Joy . It says, You bring joy .”
Olivia finishes the sentence for Cassidy. “It says, You bring joy wherever …”
Cassidy says, “. .. you go! You bring joy wherever you go! ”
Olivia smiles down at her niece. “That’s true.”
“Are fortune cookies true?” Cassidy asks.
“They can be like the truth,” Olivia concedes. “But they don’t make things true. They aren’t magic.”
“I don’t know about that,” I say softly.
Olivia sends me a gently scolding glance.
We spend the rest of the night singing Happy Birthday to Rhett and giving him treats, and I teach Cassidy how to make Rhett lie down, roll over, and give a high five.
There’s a knock at the door about an hour after we’ve finished dinner.
Olivia jumps up and answers it.
“Hey!” she says to her sister.
Lynette answers Olivia. “Hey, thanks for watching Cass.”
I’m on the other side of the living room with Rhett and Cassidy, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Lynette obviously doesn’t see me at first.
“I needed that more than I knew.” Lynette sighs a contented sigh.
I stand up to make my presence known.
“Logan?” Lynette says as soon as I come into view.
“Lynette.”
She looks at Olivia. “What’s he doing here?”
“Mister Logan brought pizza!” Cassidy jumps up and runs toward her mom. “And we each made our own one. And I put as many pepperonis as I wanted and so much cheese! And he brought Rhett!”
“Who is Rhett?” Lynette’s usually carefree face has turned skeptical and guarded.
“My Boston terrier,” I tell her.
On cue, Rhett runs over to greet Lynette.
“Oh! I remember you. Hey there, cutie pie.” She bends and scruffs his chin and then rubs between his ears.
Lynette stands and looks me in the eyes. “I think I owe you a thanks.”
“For?”
“A certain three months.” She glances down at Cassidy.
“Don’t mention it.”
“I have to mention it. I should have said something sooner. I’m not sure why you did that, but—well, thank you.”
“What did Mister Logan do, Mommy?” Cassidy looks up at Lynette with wide, innocent eyes.
“He gave us a present, honey. A big one.”
“Can I see?”
“Yes. When we get home.”
“Yippie! I’ll get my backpack.”
Cassidy skips in toward the living room.
“Really, Logan. I’m a little overwhelmed. I don’t know what to say,” Lynette says.
“You already said it,” I tell her. “Thanks is enough.”
Olivia slips her arm around my waist and smiles at Lynette.
Lynette’s eyes bounce between us. Then she smiles and nods as if she’s just decided something.
“Just don’t break her heart, Logan. I don’t care how much rent you paid. She’s worth everything to me.”
I’m quiet for a beat.
Olivia is not. She nearly shouts her sister’s name. “Lynette!”
I turn to Olivia. “It’s okay. I get it.” Then I look at Lynette and promise her, “I have no intention of breaking Olivia’s heart. That’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.”
“Good. Then, we’re good. And I really can’t thank you enough.”