“Logan,” I called out. “Why don’t you have a couch?”
I’d been meaning to ask that, but honestly, I’d had other things on my mind, and at the time, a couch wasn’t the top priority.
Logan came out of the room with his phone to his ear and a wary look on his face.
“Because Tasia seems to fuck me over every single time she can, the couch being one of those fuck-overs,” he told me. “And you have to have money to buy a couch. I don’t have very much of that thanks to Tasia.”
I hated her.
And I wondered how a cute girl like the one I was holding could come from a fire-breathing monster like Tasia.
“What’s this kid’s name?” I suddenly asked.
“Logan,” he grumbled.
“She named her daughter after you?” I asked.
He opened his mouth to answer, but the phone to his ear stole his attention away.
“Mr. Maxwell?” Logan said, sounding tense.
I went to the stools at the counter and watched him talk to the grandparents of the kid I was holding.
A kid who was sweet smelling, soft and snuggly. Something that would likely change the moment that she woke up and found herself in an unfamiliar place.
Holding the baby was also making me wish that our lives were different.
I wanted kids, and I wanted them badly.
But, unfortunately, without medical intervention, I wouldn’t be having children of my own.
Which sucked because I’d always wanted them and had dreamed of being a mother longer than I’d dreamed of doing autopsies on the dead.
“It’s Logan,” Logan said, beginning to pace. Something that he hadn’t done for a week. “I know you said to wait until this summer but…something’s happened.”
Then Logan went on to explain everything, not leaving a single detail out about his life over the last two years, and how the Maxwell family played a role in that.
At one point in the conversation, Logan stopped and bent over at the waist, looking ill.
I bit my lip and tried to force myself to stay on the stool.
It was hard, though.
Seeing Logan look that defeated made something inside of my heart feel broken and battered.
It was long minutes later that Logan said, “Yes, sir,” and hung up the phone.
My eyes had never left him, so when Logan finally turned and looked for my gaze, I witnessed the devastation there.
“Nina and Darius Maxwell are on their way with Paydon in tow.” Logan dropped the phone from his ear. “And they’re justifiably pissed.”
“They didn’t know any of what happened?” I asked in surprise.
“They knew that something had happened and that something had sent their son into a tailspin,” Logan confirmed. “But the particulars they didn’t know, because they refused to let me tell them.”
“So why do you look like you’re about to throw up?” I asked. “It sounds like none of this was your fault.”
“I could’ve tried a little harder to let them know,” he admitted.
“I’m fairly sure you’ve given up enough when it comes to this family and this child,” I said. “You’re looking out for her. You’ve allowed Tasia to put you into an impossible position just because you wanted to keep tabs on the child’s life until such time that the Maxwells pulled their heads out of their asses. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve done everything that you could’ve done, and more. More than any other man would’ve done if put into this type of situation.”
Logan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I’m not sure that I did enough, to be honest,” he admitted. “I know that they would’ve gotten their heads screwed on the right way if I’d just said that they had a grandchild on the way.”
“But you didn’t. They asked that you give them time, and you did. As far as I’m concerned, you did your duty.” I paused. “But saying that, I don’t think that you did anything wrong. In fact, you did more than even I would’ve done. I would’ve hung Tasia out to dry.” I squinted. “How much is she getting out of you in child support?”
“Fifteen hundred bucks a month,” he answered.
My mouth fell open.
“What?!” I practically screeched. “That’s robbery!”
“Tasia has a lawyer for a dad, a lawyer for a sister, and a judge for a brother. Though we didn’t use the judge that happened to be her brother, we used a judge that knew her brother well. He was already half sold on Tasia before we’d walked in the door, and I didn’t give him any reason not to give her everything that she wanted.”
No wonder he couldn’t afford a couch, or a decent motorcycle.
Holy shit.
Fifteen hundred bucks was likely three-quarters of his paycheck!
“I’ll have to go back to court and get it reversed,” he said. “Because I have a feeling that in the next couple of days, everyone will be knowing who the real father is.”
I had no doubt that he was right.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked curiously.
Logan bit his lip.
“I have no idea whatsoever.”
That was when the child in my arms woke up. And went absolutely ape shit.
Chapter 17
Let’s bake a cake.
-Things you shouldn’t say to a dead person.
Katy
“Let’s go get her something to eat,” I suggested. “Maybe that’ll make her happy.”
“You don’t think that she’d like a sandwich?” he asked, holding up the small amount of turkey that he had among the next week’s worth of meal prep meals.
“Um, no,” I said. “I think that turkey isn’t good enough to make her stop crying.” I walked to the door and came to a stop. “We don’t have a car seat.”
Logan scratched his head.
“We could walk,” he offered. “If we go down the trail that way, it’s only about a half mile until you reach the McDonald’s.”
I grinned and turned to him.
Over the sound of the little girl in my arms crying, I said, “Whose bright idea do you think it was to put a McDonald’s at the end of an exercise trail?”
“No idea,” he admitted, looking at the kid worriedly. “Do you think she needs a diaper change?”
That’s when I started to worry.
“I’ll have to call in reinforcements,” I said. “I don’t think I’m equipped to handle a kid.”
“Who are you going to call?” he asked.
“The obvious choice of who a girl would call first,” I told him. “But I need to go change. Can you handle this for ten minutes while I go get some jeans on?”
He looked at my nightgown and grinned.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll get something more suitable on, too. Like some underwear.”
I winked and started for the front door, picking my keys up as I moved past the table.
The kid in Logan’s arms wailed louder.
“Just put her on the floor in the hallway while you get dressed. Give her this.” I wiggled my phone.
“She’ll throw it and shatter the screen,” he said.
I snorted. “My screen is already cracked, and I’m slated to get a new one in about a month since that’s when I’ll have the money to pay for it. She can shatter it all she wants, and I’ll just borrow some money from my dad, who offered to pay for the phone since he was the one to break it.”
“Your dad broke your phone?” he asked.
I nodded. “He was working on my car, changing the oil. I’d left a coffee cup full of coffee and my phone on top of the roof while I went inside to pee. During that time, he let the car down off the hoist and everything slid. My phone fell into the crack between the windshield and the hood, and then coffee poured all over it. I’m just lucky that it works at this point.”
He grunted. “Go get changed. Don’t forget to come back.”
I snic
kered.
“I’ll come back, Logan. I promise.” I held my left hand up and my right hand over my heart.
He set the girl down on the floor in the hallway and handed her my phone.
Then stalked toward me and pulled me into his arms.
“Thank you,” he said, pressing his lips to mine. “I’m lost without you.”
Something in the pit of my stomach started to swell. Butterflies erupted, and I bit my lip as I said, “You’re welcome…and I’m beginning to feel the same way.”
He pressed a deep kiss to my lips, and when he let me go, I was panting.
“Go get dressed,” he ordered. “And I’ll do the same.”
When I arrived back at Logan’s apartment ten minutes later, it was to see both dogs panting and lying on their sides next to the mouth of the stairs.
I grinned and whistled at them as I stepped over them, knowing they’d follow. Or at least knowing that Lou would follow. Sister, I assumed, would follow based on what Lou did.
They’d been out for thirty minutes now, and it was more than obvious that they really adored each other.
The dogs came barreling up the stairs just as the door to Logan’s apartment opened.
“Got your phone,” he said as he waved it at me.
I grinned and stopped mid-way up the stairs. “It’s not any more broken than it was, is it?”
He shook his head. “No, but she did throw it. I don’t notice any new cracks.”
I took the phone from him and held my hands out for the girl.
Logan handed her off willingly.
“If this situation is any indication of how parenthood is going to be, I’m not sure that kids are for me,” he told me.
I snorted. “I think that it’s different when they’re your own kids. Since Logan’s not yours, I’m assuming she is just scared.”
“I was assuming that Tasia turned her exactly into herself. Meaning she’ll hate anyone and everyone,” Logan muttered.
“Or maybe Tasia doesn’t hate everyone. Maybe she just hates you?” I said.
Logan’s snort followed us down the stairs.
He held onto my free arm, helping me descend them, and making my heart melt right along with his attentions.
He really was sweet, and I didn’t think that he had any idea that he was.
When we reached the bottom of his apartment stairs, I handed the girl over.
“Here, Logan, hold Logan,” I teased.
Logan rolled his eyes but took the girl with gentle fingers.
Then, I did what any smart woman would do. I called my mother.
I moved a little farther away from the screaming child so my mother would be able to hear me, then waited for her to pick up.
It didn’t take long.
“Hey, baby,” my mother sang as she answered the phone. “Do you want to come to lunch with me and Daddy?”
I grinned wide.
“Actually, that was why I was calling. Can you make it breakfast?” I said. “Would you meet us at the McDonald’s at the end of the road near my house?”
“Your dad doesn’t like McDonald’s,” she said. “How about the steak place just a little farther up the road?”
A ‘little farther up the road’ was actually a mile up the road, and you had to cross heavy traffic to get there.
“That’s fine…as long as you can fit a toddler into a car seat. A car seat that you go and buy before you come pick us up,” I said.
She hesitated.
“How about we meet you at McDonald’s and go from there,” she suggested.
I grinned.
“Did anyone tell you about our visit from the cops?” I questioned.
There was a pause. “No. And I don’t think your dad knows, otherwise he would’ve told me…right?”
The way her voice rose at the end, I had a feeling that my father hadn’t shared the previous day’s events…or today’s for that matter.
“How long will it take you to get to McDonald’s?” I asked.
“About five minutes,” she said.
I looked at the length of trail that we had left to walk.
“You’ll probably beat us there since we’re walking. But we’ll see you there,” I said. “Love you.”
My mother said ‘I love you’ back and hung up, but not before she started to yell at my father.
Grinning, I looked at the man that had gotten about thirty yards in front of me.
He was typing out a text while he walked.
I skipped toward him.
All the while, I watched his ass flex in the tight, worn blue jeans that he’d slipped on instead of his sweatpants.
He also had on brown work boots, a black t-shirt, and a black ball cap.
Overall, he looked very handsome…and very different from his work uniform.
“Was that the Maxwells?” I asked as I shoved my phone back into my pocket.
Chapter 18
Time has a way of slipping away from you. Especially when you’re on season seven, episode four of Supernatural.
-Logan’s Secret thoughts
Logan
The sound of Katy’s voice behind me had me grinning as I turned to watch her skip toward me.
Shoving my phone into my front pocket, I nodded once and shifted the weight I was carrying to my other arm.
The girl didn’t look like she weighed much, but the longer that I held her, the heavier she got.
“What did they have to say?” she asked as she pushed her phone into the back pocket of her jeans.
I winced when the girl in my arms hit a particularly loud note.
“They said that they were leaving Alaska,” he said. “They’d be here in about six and a half hours, give or take.”
She blinked. “That was fast.”
“That’s what money gets you,” I told her. “They live in Anchorage. Darius owns his own oil company. Nina works for him. Needless to say, they have more money than the entire town of Anchorage combined. Hell, probably more than their town and our town, plus Dallas.”
Her brows rose.
“They’re rich.” I chuckled.
“So, they have the money to fight for this one?” Katy asked. “We should start calling her a different name. It’s weird calling her Logan.”
“Tasia calls her Gibby,” I said. “We could call her that.”
Katy looked at the child and said, “Gibby, do you want my phone?”
Gibby hiccupped, but her crying had slowed.
“Huh,” she said.
A couple pushing their quiet kid in a stroller nodded at us as we passed, looking at us with sympathy.
“It gets better, man,” the male said. “Soon they’ll only cry when you tell them no.”
The woman, who I assumed was his wife, snickered.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem,” the man saluted. “Good luck.”
I grimaced down at Katy.
“She doesn’t look like you at all,” she said softly. “How did anyone ever believe her when she said that Gibby was yours?”
I thought about that long and hard.
“Everyone at the station was more than aware that we were trying to have kids. Tasia told everyone everything. Whoever would listen she would tell that we were struggling to have kids. They probably assume that we used a donor.” I shrugged.
“Does she look like Paydon?” she asked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly navigated to Facebook. From there I went to search for Paydon.
When I had a picture of him up, I held it beside the screaming child’s face.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. “Holy shit!”
I nodded once. “Every bit her father.”
“Holy shit!” she repeated.
I grinned and looked at the little girl who now had snot running down her face.
I pulled out the tissues I’d stuffed into my back po
cket for this very reason and cleaned her face.
She screamed even louder.
“We’re almost there,” she told me, taking my phone from my hand and tapping away, I assumed looking at the other pictures.
We were rounding the last bend of the walking trail when the McDonald’s came into sight.
And so did her parents.
“They’re already there,” I said to the woman at my side.
“Good,” she said without looking up. “Who’s this woman?”
She showed me one of the women that I worked with.
“Sheri Tucker. Cop. Why?” I asked.
“She’s pretty. And she’s in this picture with you.” She showed me the picture.
I grinned.
“That was taken last year at a charity function before everyone started hating me because I left my wife,” I said.
She turned to me.
“Everyone hates you?” she murmured.
I shrugged. “They don’t like me, that’s for sure.”
I was just lucky to be at the new station at this point. Everyone that was at that particular station either A, didn’t care or B, didn’t know me that well, meaning they didn’t know my history.
And those that did know, knew the whole story, not the one that Tasia had let loose far and wide.
“Logan,” she sighed. “Is that why my dad has such a problem with you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t pretend to know what goes on in the chief’s mind,” I admitted. “But other than the things that I’ve already told you about…I have no idea. Those aren’t enough?”
She scrunched up her nose and waved at her parents.
“Katerina Roberts, get over here!” Katy’s mother, Reese, ordered briskly.
She was holding a Happy Meal in one hand, and a kid’s drink in the other.
Her eyes were on the three of us, and she did not look happy.
“Mom,” Katy said as she rushed forward, throwing her arms around Reese’s shoulders. “What do we do to get her to stop?”
Katy pulled back just as I arrived at the small huddle.
Luke’s eyes cut to me, and he narrowed them on me.
I offered him the small child.
Luke hesitated for all of a second before taking her into his arms.
Gibby stopped crying instantly.
It was such blissful silence that I wasn’t offended in the least.
Hide Your Crazy Page 15