16
I cannot make myselffall asleep. Instead, I lay in my bed and listen to the air unit turn on and off, while the rest of the house sleeps silently. Rolling over, I grab my phone and check the time. It is still too early to get up and start my chores. I let out a sigh and throw the covers off me as I slide out of bed. I grab my house coat that lies on the end of my bed and quietly walk out.
I notice Megan and Collin’s doors are shut, as I make my way to the stairs. I pause as I am halfway down, noticing the lights on in the kitchen. I continue down the stairs, more slowly with each step, and turn toward the kitchen. It is then I see Margaret sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.
“Margaret?” I ask and she looks up at me. Her eyes widen and she jumps out of her chair. Tears fill her eyes, and she runs and hugs me.
“Maggie!!” she cries, “It’s you!” My heart sinks. Oh no, not you too!
She hugs me tightly, like Jefferey did, and pulls me closer. “Maggie! You came back to us. We always prayed that you would.” She pulls back and kisses my cheek. Her sobs and tears start getting louder.
Megan comes running down the stairs, “Grandma!” she says, “What is going on?” She looks at me.
I shrug my shoulders and mouth to Megan, “She thinks I’m Maggie.” Megan looks back nervously at her grandmother who is taking out her notebook from a drawer.
She hands it to me, and I look at her confused. She grabs my free hand and squeezes it. “There are more upstairs in my closet- a box full. I wrote them all to you, my sweet, sweet, Magnolia.” She smiles at me, and I tear up from her happiness.
“I am going to call an ambulance. Something is clearly wrong” Megan says, grabbing the phone, “She’s obviously not in her right mind.” Megan dials 9-1-1 and I stand with Margaret while she still holds my hand and smiles at me. I am starting to think Maggie is a real person and someone who they tried to go on living without, for some odd reason.
Collin comes rushing down the stairs in that moment, “What is all the commotion?” he asks half asleep.
“Something’s going on with Grandma,” Megan says, “I’ve called an ambulance. Go get Logan.” She turns to me as Collin runs out the door, “Can you and him get along long enough to keep the farm alive?” she puts her hand on my shoulder and tears fill her eyes, “We need to go with Grandma.” She stands wiping away the tears from her eyes.
I nod teary eyed and give her a sympathetic look with a half-smile. Parts of me wonder if this is what she meant when she mentioned her grandmother has been sick lately. She’s been showing signs of Alzheimer’s, or dementia, and Megan had not wanted to believe it, until now.
––––––––
***
Eight minutes is allwe have to wait for an ambulance to arrive. They put Margaret on a stretcher and load her in the back while we all watch from the porch. Megan gets in the ambulance with her, and Collin follows behind in the farm truck, leaving Logan and I to tend to the farm. Just the two of us.
Logan and I watch as the truck drives out of sight and he steps off the porch, walking away towards the barn. “Do you want some breakfast?” I ask, breaking our silence. He stops and halfway turns, not looking at me, but nods approvingly at the thoughts of breakfast, even though the sun is not up yet.
I yawn and pull my robe tighter around me walking into the house with Logan not far behind. I pour out the remaining coffee left from the last brew and start a new one. Logan pulls open the fridge door and takes out eggs and orange juice, along with flour and sugar from the cabinets.
I watch him closely and when he grabs a bowl down from the cabinet. I turn to him, “What are you making?” I ask him as I take down a coffee cup from the cabinet above the coffee maker.
“Biscuits.” he says softly as though he is afraid to talk around me. He pauses then looks at me, “Do you know how to make homemade biscuits?” I shake my head and pour me a cup of coffee. He gestures at the ingredients, “Come here. I”ll show you.” I watch as he measures the flour, “Margaret taught me one morning a few years ago.”
I watch in amazement as he mixes all the ingredients together. He pours some flour onto the counter and takes the dough out of the bowl placing it directly on the loose flour. He hits it over and over with his fist. He then grabs a cup from the cabinet and uses it like a cookie cutter for a perfect biscuit shape. Once all the dough is shaped, he lays them in a cast iron skillet, greased and ready to go in the oven.
“Wow,” I say as he loads all the biscuits in the skillet in a particular fashion. “I have always wanted to ask her to show me, but I never got the nerve. It looks easy.” I put my hand on the dough, but at the same time he touches the same place, and our hands meet. Logan’s eyes look at me and I stare back. Instantly, the place between my legs starts to warm, and I look away quickly. I can feel his gaze still on me, only breaking away when the preheating alarm sounds. He refocuses on the skillet, and places them into the oven.
I scramble our eggs in a pan on top of the stove. Once they are done, I place them on the table while we wait on the biscuits. We both take a seat at the table, but Logan will not look at me. I sigh and look out the kitchen window, noticing the sun is finally rising.
The house phone and oven timer go off at the same time, breaking the silence and startling us both. Logan gets the biscuits out of the oven while I run into the den and grab the phone. “Hello?” I say quickly, hoping it”s Megan or Collin.
“Ivy!” Megan’s voice is on the other end, and she sounds like she”s been crying. My heart sinks, anticipating the worst.
“Megan! How is she?” I ask and I hear the hesitation in her voice.
“They are doing tests, but she”s being hostile. They have had to sedate her.” She takes a deep breath and I sigh. “We know for sure they are keeping her overnight, so Collin and I will not be home. Are you okay to take care of everything for us?” I can hear her trying not to cry again.
“Hey, hey, it’s going to be okay.” I say into the phone, trying to calm her down, “We are partners, remember? Not only that, but you are also my best friend. Do not worry about the farm, I have it under control. You take care of Margaret. Keep me updated.” I take a deep breath, hoping I can hold up the end of my deal.
“Thank you, Ivy. I don’t know what I would do if I had never met you. You are like the sister I never had.” I smile at the thought. She is definitely the sister I wish I had grown up with. Not Courtney.
We say our goodbyes and I hang up. Walking back into the kitchen just in time to see Logan putting the biscuits on the table and fixing us both a glass of orange juice.
I smile at the view. If this had been another life, I could see it being a life I would have chosen for myself. Logan and I, together in the kitchen, cooking breakfast before morning chores. Right now, I feel too broken to deserve it.
***
Normally, we distributeour chores differently to even the load between the four of us. However, with Megan and Collin being gone, Logan and I are doubling the work. While I do the feeding, stall cleaning, and take Tiny around the pastures checking fences and the mama and baby cows, Logan is riding colts and fixing things that need to be fixed around the barn. We got an early start once we ate breakfast, and we got a lot of things done. It is another sweltering day. I’m debating on taking my jeans off while I clean these stalls, but then I think about all the places this dust could get, and that makes me keep them on.
I hear a horn honk outside the barn as I am shoveling my last stall. I lay my shovel against the wall and walk out wondering who is out front. It’s Logan, and he has a big smile on his face.
“Come on, city girl.” He smiles, and I see the Logan that I knew before we went on our trip. “It’s hot as hell out here. Jump in. Let’s go swimming!”
I laugh as I run to jump into the passenger side of the truck. I am happy to see the guy I first met, and I am not giving away an opportunity to cool off.
“Red Dirt Road” by Brooks and Dunn is playing on the radio, and I let my hand hang out of the window as we head towards the pond with the magnolia tree beside it. The dogs run alongside the truck, following us. I smile looking at Logan, who appears more relaxed now than I’ve seen him in a while. His tan arm is hanging on the steering wheel and his other arm hangs out the window, feeling the wind as he drives. His ball cap is on backwards and his sleeveless t-shirt really shows off the curves in his muscles.
Peeling my eyes from him, I look at the land in front of us. It is heaven on earth. I have been amazed at this piece of paradise since I arrived. The pond is coming up into view and I, again, imagine what it would look like with a house on the other side. This would be the driveway and I could pasture in this whole place. We could move some of the breeding program to this side. It would be a place I would never want to leave.
Logan pulls the truck up to the dock and he gets out. He pulls a cooler from the bed of the truck. I give him a curious look and say, “What do you have planned?”
He smirks. “We need lunch after all the work we’ve done.” He walks onto the dock all the way to the end. I follow closely behind. “Then we can swim. After waiting twenty minutes, of course.” He chuckles at the rule and sits the cooler down beside a bag of towels he has already dropped.
He brought sodas and fixed each of us a turkey sandwich for lunch. I smile at the planning he has put into all this and take a big bite. I am starving. He grabs a bag of chips out of the bag and hands it to me. I smile as I open them and grab a chip, popping it into my mouth.
“May I have a chip?” he asks me with big puppy eyes.
I laugh, “Oh, you have learned your lesson, have you?” I ask, remembering the time we met when he took my nachos without asking.
He grins, “I don’t feel like being on your bad side this go around.” I hand the bag of chips to him, and he takes one popping it into his mouth. I gulp suddenly, weirdly wishing I was in between his lips instead of that chip.
I think he feels the same way because he quickly looks away toward the pond and gazes over the land. “So...” he starts after a moment, “would you be up to talking to me about Rylee and everything that happened?” he asks but does not look in my direction. He seems nervous, as if this pains him as much as it does me.
I take a sip of my drink and sit it down, taking a deep breath. “I was being a brat.” I say first and I think it shocks him because he whips his head to me so fast, I think it could have snapped. “My trauma was still fresh,” I sigh, “I was not actually mad at you,” I take a bite of my chip, “I was mad at myself.” This time I avoided looking at him.
He leans on his arm behind him and turns his whole body to me. His eyes glare deep into me. “What do you mean?” he asks, and I tear up.
“I don’t know, Logan. I just had my entire world turned upside down and you’re a gorgeous guy,” I see him put his hand on his chest, playfully acting shocked and attempting to be bashful. I giggle and roll my eyes. “I did not think a guy like you would give me the time of day. I mean, when we first met, you seemed to hate me.” I pause to take another sip of my drink. “Then, you let me in telling me about your parents and your emotions. I was truly just trying to find something wrong with you because I’m not used to how you treated me.” This time I get an embarrassed blush, “When Rylee kissed you, I got jealous, and I didn’t like that you could make me feel that way so quickly.” I roll my eyes again when he bats his eyelashes at me. “So, I didn’t want to deal with those emotions until I healed my own.” I sigh and press my lips together, shooting him an apologetic look.
He stays silent for a minute and turns back to investigate the pond. My stomach does a nervous flip, unsure what he was about to say. Suddenly, he gets up to stand and pulls his shirt off over his shoulders. My heart rate spikes and my eyes scan over the muscles in his stomach. They glisten perfectly in the sun with the sweat running over them. He takes a step back on the dock and runs, landing a cannon ball into the pond, going under the water.
I gasp and stand up fast watching him come back up. “You idiot! You just ate! Get out before you get a cramp! What happened to the twenty minutes?” I scream at him, and he laughs.
“Get in, city girl, or I’m coming after you.” He says with a flirtatious smirk. I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head in a determined “no”. He swims over to the ladder and right before he grabs it to come up, I put my hands out with a shaky voice, “O-okay.” I roll my eyes and lift my tank top off over my head and slide my jeans off, leaving me in my bra and panties. Thank God I wore granny panties.
I follow suit, taking a step back and running, just like Logan, jumping into the pond, going completely under water. The cool water sends a shock to my system. I needed this! When I came back up, I feel a hand go around my waist. I open my eyes and meet Logan’s stare as they darken with desire. His jaw is clinched, and his nostrils are flaring. He pulls me to him, and I instinctively wrap my legs around him.
His stare drops to my lips and then back to my eyes. “The only thing I could think of the other day when you were on Collin’s shoulders was that I don’t want any other guy between these legs but me” he rubs his hands upward along my thighs, and I bite my bottom lip, slowly.
He sighs and lays his forehead to mine, looking down between us. “Rylee and I were serious at one time. We had even discussed marriage but when my mother died things changed. I ended things needing a new start. We were two kids in puppy love, we would have never survived marriage. She was too controlling. I didn’t know where she ended up or who she was with. I changed my cell number soon after getting here at the farm because I wanted a fresh start and realized it wasn’t going to be with her. Then I met you.” He leans his head back looking into my eyes again and continues. “From the moment I met you at Hilltop, I knew I wanted to be with you.” He smiles at me, “Soaked from beer, and all.”
We both laugh.
Logan exclaims, “I promise you, Ivy, I haven’t been with anyone since we met. I told Rylee how I felt about you when you stormed out of the barn that day. That’s why she gave you the refund check. She knew that I was leaving with you. I needed to give her that closure.” He says searching my eyes, “I’ve been yours the entire time.”
I didn’t give him time to continue, as I plant my lips on his. A deep and passionate kiss that lets a moan escape my lips. I have been praying for this moment for so long and parts of me were unsure it would ever happen.
Logan pulls back from our kiss and trails kisses down my cheeks, my neck and my shoulders. My nipples harden and I think he can sense it by the way my breathing sharpens.
“Wait! I can’t believe you were jealous of Collin!” I say pulling back from him and splashing him, laughing.
Logan makes a face at my joke and splashes me back playfully.
I think I love Logan Parker.