Chapter Twenty #2
“Did this minx tell you about fooling me? We had lunch a couple of weeks ago and I thought she was Lily. Alike as two peas in a pod.”
Emma smiled at the words, her father hadn’t forgotten.
“She fooled me, too,” Logan said slowly, his eyes on her.
The repentant woman of eleven days ago was gone. She glowed as she smiled at her father.
“I’ve heard of twins doing that. Did you two do it as kids when we all lived together?” Damien asked, studying his daughter.
“A time or two in Mrs. Savalack’s second grade class. Usually Lily would pretend she was me to escape punishment for something she’d done. I remember missing recess one day for her note passing.”
“Hi, Dad.”
Lily joined them, carrying a small container. She handed it to Logan and went to kiss her father. He studied her, then Emma.
Logan felt a bit surprised Damien didn’t appear to be at all upset about his daughter’s impersonation. He seemed to be almost proud of the fact.
“What children do is a bit different from grown women,” he snapped.
“No one got hurt, so what’s the harm?” Damien replied jovially.
For a split second Logan thought he caught a glimpse of pain in Emma’s eyes, but then she flashed a smile as wide as her sister’s.
“Right, no harm done. Think how often we might have done this if we had grown up together.”
“I shudder to think. Ready, my dears?”
Logan moved, gesturing with the plastic container.
“Thanks, Lily.”
He hesitated a moment, then walked past. There was nothing else to say. He’d seen everything he needed to see.
The morning sunshine streamed into the bedroom window as Emma turned this way and that in front of the mirrors.
“Do you think you can pull it off?” Lily asked from her position lounging on the bed. She wore a mint green negligee that revealed more than it concealed.
Tossing her head, flashing a smile as she tilted her chin down and swept her lashes up, Emma nodded.
“Even a condemned man gets one last request, doesn’t he?” Her eyes sparkled in determination. “And if he refuses, I’m no worse off, right?”
Lily laughed. “Right. Go get him, tiger.”
Emma grinned.
“I studied you every day of our trip. I’m going to think confident, think competent. And he’d better listen. But if not, then at least I tried.”
“He said goodbye.”
“He didn’t need to come by last night. And I really thought he was going to stay. Might have if Dad hadn’t shown up. I don’t for a second believe he was out of coffee. Or if he was, that he needed to borrow some from you.”
“So you’re going to go over there and do what? Ask for the coffee back, check out his kitchen to see if he was lying?”
Emma paused and slowly turned to her sister.
“If he isn’t out of coffee, he would have been lying, wouldn’t he? Would he do something like that? He’s so adamant against lying.”
“A small fib, no big deal,” Lily dismissed.
Emma gazed off into space.
“Maybe to you or me. Still, it’d be interesting to see if he has coffee, wouldn’t it? Maybe I can use that as the excuse, coffee patrol. Lily, I’ve got to do this. Otherwise I’m leaving in the morning and won’t come back.”
“I thought you were getting over him. Thought it was merely infatuation. Three days into the trip to San Francisco and you stopped crying.”
Emma sighed and sat on the edge of the big bed.
“I hoped at one point it might be infatuation, but nothing went away. I have this huge achy hurt where my heart should be. I think about him all the time, want to share things with him. Want to know what he’s doing.
Several times last night when you and Dad were laughing at something, all I could think about was how much Logan would enjoy that joke.
And I wanted to share it with him. I don’t think I’m going to get over him soon. ”
“Too bad he didn’t laugh it off like Dad did.” Lily looked at her sister. “You okay with Dad, now?”
Emma nodded.
“I enjoyed last night. And when we were dancing at the party, we had a chance to talk. He said he’d never had much luck with long-distance relationships, but he had always loved me.
I watched him last night. He needs the spotlight and the adulation he gets from crowds.
I don’t really suppose he needs another daughter hanging around.
But I’ll see him from time to time. At least I know he loves me—in his own way. ”
“Not like most fathers,” Lily murmured.
“No. But it’s enough. And I still have Gerald, who’s been the most wonderful stepfather a girl could have. So I’m lucky, I have two dads.”
“So get lucky with that obstinate man next door.”
She stood up resolutely. “You’re right. This is the only way I can leave. If he really doesn’t feel anything for me but contempt, I’ll learn to live with it. But his visit last night made me think there might be something left.”
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Emma had hatched this plan before falling asleep last night and wanted to make one last attempt. She got herself into the situation, she had only herself to make it right.
Emma walked across the grass, quickly, trying to reach his house before she changed her mind.
The door was open, the screen in place. She rapped sharply.
“Come on in, I’m in the kitchen,” Logan’s voice called.
She took a deep breath, opened the door and walked quietly down the hall. A bright smile lit her face as she stepped into the kitchen. She hoped he couldn’t see how shaky her legs were.
“Got any coffee for a neighbor, especially since it’s ours to begin with?” she asked breezily.
The words almost caught in her throat. What she would truly like to do is sit and stare at the man or throw herself into his arms and kiss him until tomorrow.
Logan wore cutoffs that rode low on his hips. His bronzed chest looked a mile wide, the muscles in his arms drew her gaze, tantalized her fingers. His hair was tousled and there was a shadow of a beard. She thought he looked wonderful.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his gaze trailing down her bare legs, back up to her face.
“Sometimes people do things that turn out differently than they expected.”
“I’ve heard the explanation.”
“So hear it again. I was all alone in my sister’s house, indulging in the harmless fantasy of pretending to be her.
Wearing her flashy clothes, driving that wild car, gazing out over the edge of the world.
It was fun and totally new to me. I thought she had such a glamorous life.
And it’s certainly different from mine.”
“So you continued the charade—”
“I’m telling this,” Emma interrupted. “Besides, I’m leaving tomorrow morning. If you don’t want to see me again, you can rest easy after that.”
Logan paused, just a hitch really, as he reached for a cup. Continuing the motion, he took one from a cupboard and filled it with hot coffee.
“So?” he said. “You probably can’t wait to get home.”
Emma was a bit disappointed at the reaction. She’d hoped for more.
“Maybe. At least David will be glad to see me,” she muttered.
Logan spun around.
“Who’s David?”
She shrugged and tried to act nonchalant, tilting up her chin defiantly.
“He’s the man who asked me to marry him before I came to California.”
Not every man thought she was a pariah.
“So you not only fooled all of us, you cheated on your fiancé.”
“No.”
Emma almost screamed in frustration. She had hoped to spark some jealousy in the man, not have him jump to conclusions that she was like Crystal.
“No. He asked me, I told him that I couldn’t possibly marry him.”
“Because you thought you found a better prospect?” Logan said sardonically, shoving the cup of coffee across the counter toward Emma, as if he couldn’t bear to hand her the cup directly.
Emma reached for it and managed one sip. Placing it carefully back on the counter, she hoped he didn’t notice how nervous she was. This wasn’t going at all as she had wanted.
“I think you’re being unreasonable.”
He advanced on her. “I’m unreasonable?”
Stopping so close he almost touched her, he drew a breath to continue. His eyes peered deep into hers, his entire body seemed on the alert.
“I don’t believe this,” he said softly. “You’re trying to put some of the blame on me.”
He stepped forward and Emma backed away from the glint of anger that appeared in his eyes.
When she reached the wall, she pressed into it as if to push herself through. He placed a hand on either side of her, fencing her in. There was no place to turn, to run. She could only stand still and face the music.
“Well, it’s true. You believed what you wanted to believe.
You even questioned me a couple of times.
But instead of pushing the issue, you reveled in what there was between us.
The glamorous Lily Rambeau consorting with you.
You’re so hung up on surface things you never looked below it.
Get off your high horse and look beneath.
I think you want a way out of commitment.
It’s much safer that way, isn’t it, Logan?
Don’t forgive me, cut the tie that binds and move on with life. ”
She pushed against his chest. He was like an immovable wall. Her hand registered the warmth of his muscles long before her brain could think. Heartbeats pounded against her palm. Heat enveloped her. Swallowing, she bravely met his gaze.
Licking dry lips, she cleared her throat.
“I wanted to see you again before I left,” she said. “I wanted to see you once more.”
She slowly moved her hand until her fingertips rested on his arm, rubbing against the taut muscle, the warm sleek skin.
“I know you didn’t want to see me again,” she said, looking into his green eyes.
“You said goodbye the other night at the beach. I thought it was final. You sounded final. But then you came over last night. And for a minute, just a minute, mind you, I thought maybe you had something else to say to me. Then Dad came and the moment was gone. So I thought I’d come over and give us that moment.
Only if you don’t have a moment for me, then I guess I’ll leave. ”
He rested his forehead against hers.