Chapter 20
TWENTY
Elizabeth
It’s been three weeks since I moved in with Logan. We were both a mess at first, nervous about possibly getting on each other’s nerves, but it hasn’t happened yet. I know it’s still very early days, but I hope that nothing changes for the worse.
On that first day, after he helped me clean up the living room, I took a look at the spare bedroom he offered to me to use as an art studio. It wasn’t big at all, but it did have the right lighting.
“You think it’ll work?” Logan asked as soon as we walked in. “If the master bedroom is better, we can switch,” he rushed to add when I didn’t answer his question quick enough.
I stared at him in shock. “Logan, please, I will die if you switch the bedrooms.”
“I just want to help you.”
Shaking my head at him, I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist. “You’ve been amazing, and I can’t ask any more of you. This is perfect.”
He didn’t believe me right away. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.”
That is a promise I intend to keep going forward. Not like I ever lied to him, but guilt still eats at me over how I came back into his life, despite all his reassurances.
Now, as I stare at myself in the mirror, I wish I could be prouder of the person I am slowly becoming.
The only problem is that I still can’t stand on my own two feet.
Not that sure that I ever will. It is ironic that I felt so liberated when I left New York, thinking that I would show my father that I can do whatever I want and thrive while at it.
All that, just for me to now depend on Logan’s kindness so that I can get my career moving.
On the bright side, I did call a couple of high-end galleries in downtown Austin.
They both asked to see my portfolio, and I sent them pictures of some of my work that I left back in New York.
I also threw in the pencil drawings Mona encouraged me to do.
They seemed to like those the most. One of the galleries said they would be in touch to check in as I had more pieces done.
“Hey, ready to go?”
I jump in front of the mirror, my right hand going to my chest. I’ve been so deep in thought, I didn’t hear Logan walking into the bedroom. He walks over to me and hugs me from behind and puts his chin on my shoulder, his hands resting on my middle.
“You look incredible,” he tells me. He runs his hands up and down my hips before they go back over my slightly rounded stomach. “I can’t wait to get you out of this dress as soon as we get back home tonight.”
I put my hands over his, loving the way he stares at me in the mirror. “You look pretty dashing yourself,” I say.
Logan straightens up and makes sure his bowtie is in place. We are attending a charity event tonight, a very formal event that required him to wear a tuxedo.
He steps next to me and grabs my hand to hold while he never takes his eyes off the mirror in front of is.
“We’re going to be the hottest couple there,” he declares. “I can’t wait to see the guys’ faces when we walk in together.”
I feel slightly nauseous at the idea of meeting everyone again, but now in the capacity of Logan’s girlfriend as opposed to an employee of the Aces organization.
“Do you think they’ll stare at me?” I can’t help myself but ask.
“Oh, they’ll stare alright,” Logan laughs.
He becomes serious when he notices my stricken face.
“Only because you’re beautiful, baby,” he assures me.
“Absolutely no one cares about anything else that might’ve happened with your job.
Besides,” he rolls his eyes at me, “trust me when I tell you that they all have enough personal problems of their own. They won’t have time to worry about yours. ”
I smile at hearing that, but it feels forced. He’s just trying to be nice and make me feel better, which seems to be his thing. He’s become my main source of emotional support in a very short period of time.
“I’d rather stay home with you.” He runs the tip of one finger up and down the side of my face. “Or at least totally take advantage of you in this dress before we leave,” he teases. “But I’d mess it up, and your makeup would have to be redone. Besides, I promised we’d be there…”
I take a step forward and wrap my arms around his waist while trying to keep my face away from the material of his tux. I’d hate to leave makeup marks on it.
“Logan Mantei, you are the sweetest, and you always know how to distract me to make me feel better about myself. I am proud to walk in there with you tonight as your date.”
He brings his face down like he wants to kiss me, but I pull back. “It took me a while to get my lipstick in place.” I bring a hand down and place it on his growing erection. “How about you get to see it around this when we get back?”
I laugh at the way his eyes about pop out of his head at hearing that, but he does let me step away from him. I grab my small bag and make sure that I have in it my phone, a tube of lip gloss, some mints, and also my driver’s license.
“See, that’s what I mean about you,” he says while following me out of the bedroom. “You have this side of you that only I get to see, and I love it so fuckin’ much”
We get in his truck, and he starts driving toward where the charity event is held. He teases me all the way there while I have no problem teasing him back. It is easy banter that we both enjoy. I realize that I feel relaxed and at ease for the first time since way before I left New York.
The drive to our destination is supposed to be close to an hour, but I swear it feels like only minutes. We are both surprised when we arrive.
They have valet parking, so we don’t have to look for parking. Instead, we hand over the key fob and prepare to walk inside.
Logan grabs my hand, intertwining our fingers together. He brings it up and kisses the back of it while giving me a sexy wink just as his lips touch my skin.
“We really look hot together,” he murmurs against my hand, and I about melt into the pavement.
We spend the next few minutes getting checked in. Someone gives us the rundown of the event and how the auction portion of it works. Logan has already signed up for it, so we don’t have to do much beyond that.
As soon as we step into the ballroom where everyone is gathered, we hear soft music being played by a live band. Waiters walk around with trays full of champagne and appetizers, stopping every so often when they notice someone who might enjoy whatever they have to offer.
“Very glitzy,” Logan whispers into my ear, and I giggle.
It is glitzy, but not anything I haven’t attended before.
My father used to take me to events like this one, especially the ones organized by the hockey team.
In fact, me and Logan met at an event similar to this one, so, in a way, it’s like we’re coming full circle, except that we don’t have to hide our attraction to each other now.
It feels liberating but scary as hell. I wish I had at least one other person here that would be in my corner, someone I could talk to if Logan needs to step away for a bit.
I run my eyes over the crowd, like I am looking for someone in particular. All I see are people laughing and having a good time. At some point, I hear someone calling Logan’s name.
He squeezes my hand. “It’ll be just a second. I have to sign something for the team.”
I nod and smile, then find myself in the exact situation I was worried about only seconds ago.
When a waiter walks by with his tray full of glasses of champagne, I stop him and grab one.
I take a small sip, then another one, praying that the alcohol will calm down this weird feeling I have in the pit of my stomach.
It’s odd that I feel this way. Besides the fact that I worked for this organization for a brief period of time, I don’t owe these people anything, nor do they care about me.
I had an entry level position there, which shouldn’t mean anything to anyone, so I doubt that I will be approached to talk about it.
But still, I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen, a premonition of sorts.
“Maybe I’m just hungry,” I say to myself just as another waiter heads my way with a tray full of small appetizers. I stop him and awkwardly grab two, hoping they’ll help with me drinking. It would be awful if the alcohol went straight to my head.
I take a bite out of the first piece of food in my hand. It’s really good, so I stick the rest in my mouth. Maybe it was too much, because now I feel weird chewing it. My cheeks are puffed, and I pray that no one comes to talk to me right this second.
Finally, after almost chocking while trying to get it down as quickly as possible, the food is gone, and I take another sip of champagne to wash it all down. Just as I bring my glass down, someone catches my attention out in the distance, more to the side of the crowd.
“Oh my God!” I press a hand to my stomach, now understanding why I had this feeling of foreboding. There really was something not so good heading my way.
“Okay, I’m back.” Logan pops at my side. “Sorry I left you here all alone. I promise not to do it for the rest of the night.”
I turn to look at him, and he must notice the panic in my eyes because now he looks extremely worried as well.
“What’s going on?” He grabs my elbow and gently pulls me to the side, away from the main part of the crowd. “You don’t look so good,” he says. “Are you feeling okay? You weren’t sick earlier…”
He stops talking when I clutch at his forearm. “Logan,” I whisper yell to get his full attention. “My father is here.”
He automatically turns his head to look behind, then around the room.
“I don’t see him,” he says. “But even if he’s here, no big deal, babe.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, ready to cry. “I haven’t talked to him in months,” I say. “We fought so hard before I left New York. He wasn’t nice about it, and I did say some not very nice things to him,” I confess.
Logan’s eyes widen in surprise, but then his entire body relaxes, encouraging me to do the same.
“Lizzie,” he says. “You are an adult. An independent adult now,” he grins at me. “You can meet with him and have a civil conversation. It doesn’t all need to be the end of the world.”
I take a deep breath in as my brain tries to process all the things he’s told me.
He is right, but I always had this deep fear of disappointing anyone, especially my father.
The only thing that changed that was me falling in love with Logan.
I fought my father for my right to be with Logan, and when he tried to stop me, I just left.
That was not how our relationship used to be.
We’ve never gone this long without talking, and now that I know he’s here, I am scared to face him.
“Are you sure it was even him?” Logan questions as he runs his eyes over the crowd. “There are so many people here, maybe it was just someone who looked like him.”
His words give me hope. “You think?”
“Why not?” he shrugs. “Sometimes, our brains can make us think we saw something that wasn’t there. It’s when your subconscious works overtime. Have you been thinking about your dad lately?”
I frown, concentrating to think. “I don’t think so. At least not while awake,” I joke.
Logan’s eyes light up at that. “Maybe you had a dream about him, and you just don’t remember.”
I feel instantly better. That’s a very good explanation. “That has to be it!”
“There you go!” He opens his arms, waiting for me to step into them.
He hugs me close before letting me go just enough so we can mingle. There are two waiters heading our way at the same time, one has the booze, the other the food. Logan signals for both of them, making me laugh.
“These things are ridiculously small,” he mumbles as he grabs some appetizers. “It’s like toddler food.”
“Well, they do call in finger food in some circles,” I tease him.
Logan holds one up. “These are smaller than any of my fingers, Lizzie!”
I burst into laughter, letting go of the tension from a few minutes ago.
Every so often, I glance around, trying to locate whoever I saw who looked like my father, but I never come across him again.
That convinces me that Logan was right. It had to have been something in my head, some image of my father that overlapped with someone here who maybe is the same build.
“They’re calling for the dinner to start soon,” Logan mentions as we stroll around.
At some point, he sees a group of his teammates, so we head their way, having to pass by what seems to be a dancefloor, disco balls and all.
“Oh my gosh, you have to dance with me, Logan,” I squeal in his ear. “I love to dance.”
“Yeah?” He grins at me in approval. “You’re in luck, babe, because I love to dance, too.”
Feeling lighter than I have all day, I smile from ear to ear, ready to have some fun tonight. Things are looking up, that’s for sure. I am in a good place with Logan, and I have some prospects for my art.
We are only feet away from his group of friends when someone steps in front of us, stopping us both in our tracks.
“Daddy,” I gasp in shock.
I knew I wasn’t crazy.