Chapter 7 #2
“Smart girl.”
“Yup. She’s set to come live with me as soon as she turns eighteen.
She’s out of patience with them. But that’s a different topic.
” Logan shifted into a higher gear, picking up speeds as we hit Highway 96.
“Anyway, when I turned twenty-one, I knew my grandfather was thinking of retiring. I idolized the man most of my childhood and I wanted to take over his bar. When I asked him about it, he looked me dead in the eye and said I couldn’t be trusted with it. ”
I winced. Ouch. The rejection had to have hurt.
“It broke something in me. I didn’t say anything to him, just got up and walked out.
I drove to my shitty apartment and really reflected on what I had become.
Yeah, my parents did me dirty, but I was an adult.
My actions were my own damn fault at that point.
I didn’t know what to do or even where to begin, but I started with getting a new phone number the next day.
Cut off my friends completely, as they were all just as bad as me.
They’d suck me back into their lifestyle if I let them.
I got a job at a bar so I could learn the business, drove Uber in the early morning hours for extra cash, and saved every penny I could.
It was brutal. Positively brutal. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t fall asleep at the wheel from sleep deprivation.
I stuck with it, and in the end, I had enough money to rent a building and start my own bar. ”
No wonder. No wonder he’d given me advice about Cooper, then.
It was because he knew from his own personal experience what it took to straighten someone out.
His version had been losing the trust of one of the few people he’d loved most. Hard as it was, saying no was probably the best thing his grandfather had ever done for him.
It made me wonder, what would be the final nail for Cooper?
Would it be losing me entirely? Somehow, I couldn’t give myself that much credit, but I wished for it.
I wished I meant something to him after years of cleaning up after him.
The realistic side of me knew better. Cooper would never respect what I had done for him.
I could kiss that dream on the ass goodbye.
“That’s just sad all around, man. Thank you for sharing it, though. I feel like I understand you a little better now. What about your relationship with your grandfather?”
“I still don’t speak to him. He’s gotten even more bitter and cruel in his old age, so I don’t think anyone speaks to him anymore.
Sadly, I don’t really connect with anyone on my father’s side.
They don’t have much good to say about me.
Even with my siblings, it’s mixed. Half forgave me for what I did, and we’re in a better place now, we actually talk and shit.
The other half…I talk to on occasion. I’m still making things up with them.
The only sibling I’m on good terms with is Erin. ”
“Is your grandmother on your mother’s side, then?”
“Yeah. She’s widowed, has been for years, and I stop by on the regular to do things for her.
Yard work, or handyman work, as she’s not got the strength for it.
She’s always been mad at her daughter for how she raised us kids.
She was overjoyed when she realized I’d straightened myself out.
Actually paid for my therapy. I owe her a lot. ”
“Good for you, going to therapy.”
“Three years, man. Took me three years to get to where I am now. I’m a lot less angry, to start.
I’ve tried getting my brothers into therapy too, and one of them started at the beginning of this year, at his wife’s urging.
I’ve got high hopes for all of them.” Logan blew out a breath.
“Sorry, that was a bit heavy for the first date.”
“Don’t say that. I want to know you. I can relate, to a degree, having been on the opposite side of the problem. I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the bratty brother problem. It gives me some hope that maybe Cooper will turn out like you, although I’m not holding my breath.”
“Ah, true. My story would put things in perspective for you, wouldn’t it?”
“It really does. So you’ve been running the bar for how long, now?”
“Coming up on five years.”
I tried to do the math. “Which makes you…?”
“Thirty. I can’t place your age either.”
“Also thirty.”
Logan laughed. “You do not look it. I would have put you at five years younger.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“Oh yeah?” His eyes shot to me, and he gave me a sweep from head to toe, mouth kicking up on one side. “You give me so much to work with, too. This will be quite fun. Ah, one more heavy topic, sorry. Just got to know, but with a business name like Gay 4 Renovations, I assume you’re out?”
“Very, very out. You?”
“Also very out. Came out at fourteen, actually, mostly to spit in my parents’ faces, as they’re uberconservative. Half the family cared, half of them didn’t. I’m not the only gay one, though. Erin is too.”
“Wait, if your parents are conservative, are they okay with her being gay?”
“She hasn’t told them. They’d lose their collective minds over it. She’s supposed to be barefoot, pregnant, and in a kitchen, according to our mother’s plans.”
“Oh shit. Well, uh, good luck with that inevitable explosion.”
“I’ll warn you when to duck and cover. It’s going to be nuclear for sure. That aside, feel free to swing by my bar and flirt with me.”
I snickered and lifted his hand to kiss the backs of his knuckles.
I loved the feel of his calluses against my fingers, and my fantasies were trying to rear their heads.
I kept imagining those fingertips running over sensitive skin, how they might feel, because my brain liked to make things difficult on a first date. “Like this kind of flirting?”
“You damn tease,” Logan grumbled. He shifted in his seat, as if his pants were suddenly a bit tight. “Of course you do that when I’m driving.”
Because I was evil, I leaned over to whisper into his ear, “You can kiss me later.”
The sultry look in his eyes was downright intoxicating. “You can bet I will.”
Some people might think twice about Logan after hearing his personal history.
Me? He was even more of a green flag. Anyone who could pull themselves up by their bootstraps, who could make something of themselves against all odds, was the kind of man I wanted as a boyfriend.
He’d earned grace by straightening himself out.
He did it right, too, through hard work and therapy.
I wasn’t about to give him grief over not always being perfect.
I had a new question, though. “So have you lived in the area your entire life?”
“Basically, yeah. Grew up in Canton, for the most part stayed in the area. When downtown Plymouth started taking off, I took a chance and opened the bar on the main square, and that paid off in spades. Is your company actually in Plymouth?”
“Yup, the old shoe factory. We bought and restored it, too.”
“So you can swing by for lunch sometimes and let me flirt with you?”
“I’m all for lunch dates.” Look at him, already trying to charm me into more dates. Anticipation and a sort of euphoric feeling built up in my chest in response. Please oh please, I wanted him to like me as much as I liked him.
Since he was throwing out lures, I chose to throw out one myself. “You obviously like DnD, so would you like to join my crew for a game? We’re having a one-shot in a couple weeks. We typically play on Mondays.”
“Yeah? Great timing, I have Mondays off. That said, weekends can happen too. Give me enough of a heads-up and I can make sure my night manager has got things covered. Weekends aren’t always off the table for me.”
“That’s great. Helps with planning things. We normally play Monday nights, starting at about eight.”
“Noted.” He wore a happy smile. “Man, I haven’t gotten to play in ages. Used to play a lot when I was a teenager.”
“Got dice?”
“Ha, no, I have nothing left from that time. Not even a player’s handbook.”
“Well, we’ve got enough dice to open a store, as Riggs keeps collecting the shiny math rocks that go clack clack. I’ll print off a character sheet and lend you my handbook so you can put a character together.”
Logan batted those long lashes of his. “You won’t help me?”
“You’re entirely shameless, you know that?”
“I do, but it works to my advantage.” He upped the puppy eyes.
I played the part of put-upon, but my mouth rippled under the effort of trying not to laugh, and it seemed he knew it. “Fine, keep your eyes on the road. I’ll help you. Maybe during lunch.”
“It’s a date,” Logan purred.