by Sierra Rose
It looked so much better this way. Elegant, yet relaxed. Why did he bother with the gel?
Just a few minutes later, he was out the door. Feeling alive, refreshed, and animated as he paced cheerfully down the street. Waving to the neighbors. Shooting jealous sideways glances at the neighbors’ much smaller dogs. (why couldn’t Dylan have gotten one like that?!)
He felt like he was in some sort of sunny children’s book. The kind where there was an ice cream cart on every corner, things like leprechauns and true love really existed, and herds of wild ponies pranced merrily down the road.
That happy mood carried him all the way into the coffee shop where he’d gone the other night with Lacy. The smell of espresso hit him hard, and his mouth watered automatically as he slipped into place at the back of the line. Back in Florida, Millard woke him every morning with a scalding hot cappuccino. It had somehow become a tradition—one they never broke.
Maybe he can make this instead, Logan thought absentmindedly, as he moved up person by person to the counter. Maybe I could find out what kind they brew.
He moved ahead slowly, inching his way to the counter. Watching what seemed like a statistically unlikely number of happy couples drift in and out of the store. By the time he made it to the front, a new plan was forming. One that thrilled him and terrified him at the same time.
“What can I get for you, sir?”
Logan looked up suddenly to realize that he was standing in front of the counter. A young man was waiting for his reply, fingers poised over the register.
“Espresso, please. The signature blend.”
“Coming right up.”
The guy started punching numbers into the computer, but before he could finish, Logan spoke up again. “You know what...make it two.”
A few minutes later, he was back outside again—pacing briskly down the street. A quick internet search had located his destination, and before he would have thought possible, he was staring up at a grey awning with wide lettering scrolled across the front.
Verum Investigations
It was small, but elegant. Classy. Exactly the kind of place that Logan would expect after having spent some time with Lacy. He took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, then strolled boldly inside—a cup of coffee clutched tight in each hand.
He was hoping to run into Lacy. He was hoping she’d be sitting behind a desk, and would look up in surprise the moment he came in, like he was her own caffeine-bearing hero.
Not the case.
Not only was Lacy nowhere in sight, but there were no desks. Just a small table pushed into the side of the room, where a young woman was texting—glued to her phone.
Logan hesitated a moment, then cleared his throat. When that didn’t work, he tried again, a little louder. The third time was the charm. The girl lifted her head slowly, furious to have been interrupted, before her jaw dropped to the floor in pure, unadulterated shock.
“Oh. My. Gosh.”
Logan froze in place and resisted the urge to glance behind him—to see if some kind of ‘oh my gosh’ worthy moment was happening out on the street. If only that was the case.
The woman’s eyes bugged out from behind her glasses, as she pushed shakily to her feet—sucking in quick, comical breaths. She had yet to close her mouth, and judging by the pallor of her skin, she was just seconds away from passing out altogether.
“You’re him. I can’t believe it...you’re actually him.”
Logan shifted nervously. It had been thirty seconds and she had yet to blink.
“Yeah, hi. My name’s—”
“Dylan Stone,” she gasped. Saying each word with a kind of reverence. “I know who you are. I just can’t believe you’re here.”
Of course Dylan would have a cult following amongst the PIs in downtown Cleveland.
Logan’s shoulders relaxed, and he was quick to suppress a smile. “Uh...yeah.” His eyes flickered briefly around the room. “I guess I’m like ‘enemy number one’ around here, huh?”
Before she could answer, a door opened from somewhere in the back and Lacy’s voice drifted into the room. “Quin, do you have that file I was asking for...” She stopped cold when she entered the room, staring blankly in Logan’s direction. “What are you doing here?”
Not exactly the hero’s welcome he was hoping for. It didn’t help that Quin was just seconds away from starting to actually drool.
“Uh—hi.” He cleared his throat quickly, trying to find some of that tee-shirt and jeans confidence he’d been cultivating since he woke up. “I mean...good morning. I came to see you.”
Lacy lifted her eyebrows, taking a cautious step forward. “I can see that.” The hint of a smile flitted across her face, but she maintained a stoic calm. “Was there a particular reason?”
Quin was appalled—that was no way to treat her idol! Logan was crushed—she wasn’t at all happy to see him? In an act of desperation, he offered out one of the cups in his hands.
“...I brought coffee?”
Perhaps it was the fact that he’d phrased it as a question. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so thoroughly undone, he hadn’t noticed how Quin had started taking shameless pictures on her phone. Whatever the reason, Lacy’s face softened into a warm smile.
“Espresso, right? From that same place?” He nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and she smiled again. “Thank you.” She took the cup and lifted it to her lips, eyeing him over the rim. “No work today?”
He hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head.
“No, I’m taking some time off.”
She nodded slowly, eyes twinkling into his.
“Finding some of those quiet moments?”
A flush warmed his face, followed by an instant grin.
“Yeah, something like that.”
For a moment, they both simply stood there. Taking carefully measured sips of their espresso. Watching each other with secret smiles. Then a loud voice shattered the moment.
“I have a picture of you in my bedroom.”
Both Logan and Lacy turned to Quin at the same time. One with a look of incredulous disbelief. The other with carefully contained exasperation.
“Quin, honey,” Lacy forced a smile, resisting the urge to strangle the girl with her bare hands, “why don’t you go work on some filing for a while.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a command.
The girl pushed slowly to her feet, looking like Lacy had just told her there wasn’t going to be a Christmas, but skulked obediently away—shooting backwards glances at Logan all the while. Lacy waited until she had gone, before turning back with an embarrassed smile.
“Sorry, she gets a little...obsessive when she gets a crush.”
Obsessive. That was a delicate way of putting it.
Logan just smiled. He could care less about the girl. He was just thrilled that they were talking. That his brilliant coffee excuse had gotten him through the door.
“She’s fine,” he said dismissively. “I was actually wondering...”
He almost asked the question, but at that moment he glanced down and made the extreme mistake of looking into her eyes. The words trailed off and he found himself momentarily speechless, just as he’d been the first time they’d met. The newfound confidence melted clean away, and he found himself fidgeting like a boy on the playground—trying to talk to a girl.
Get it the fuck together! You go out with women all the time!
A few seconds went by, then a few seconds after that. Finally, when his humiliation could drag on no further, he took a deep breath and just lay it all out on the table.
“They’re playing a movie about a giant gorilla and an army of colorblind aliens at a theater downtown. Naturally...I think we should go.”
Whatever Lacy had been expecting him to say, it certainly wasn’t that. She lowered the cup in surprise, staring at him like there had to be some further explanation. When he didn’t say anything, she shook her head in amazement—trying hard not to grin.<
br />
“You get that I’m at work, right?”
“Yeah, but you’re the boss.” He flashed her a coaxing smile, finding it easier to breathe now that the request was out there in the open. “Maybe the boss can take off a few hours to see a movie with her friend?”
She threw back her head with a laugh.
“Is that what we are now? Friends?”
A fair point. But Logan surrendered not an inch of ground.
“What would you call us?”
It looked like she had several sarcastic things she was ready to say, but she kept them to herself. In the end, she merely glanced down at her coffee—growing unexpectedly quiet.
“...an unlikely combination.”
It was Logan’s turn to speak, but he didn’t. He kept the ball squarely in her court, forcing her to give him a straight answer either way. Finally, when it became clear he wasn’t going to budge, she threw up her hands in exasperation.
“Well if it’s a movie about gorillas and colorblind aliens, how could I resist?”
“That’s the spirit!” He abandoned the coffees altogether and caught her by the wrist, pulling her excitedly out into the sunshine. “Come on, I already bought tickets.”
Chapter 19
If Logan had been hoping to act more his age, he definitely undershot it by a little. He and Lacy paraded down the street like a couple of giggling teenagers. Laughing at jokes that weren’t funny. Casting each other secret sideways glances from the corners of their eyes. Loudly betting on who could eat the most popcorn—both swearing it was themselves.
“Perhaps you don’t understand this, so let me speak slowly and make it clear.” Logan took her by the shoulders, bending down to look in her eyes. “You’re fucking tiny. Like a little bird. If I threw you in the water—you’d probably float. No way could you eat more popcorn than me.”
She wrenched herself free, laughing out loud as the movie attendants watched with secret, knowing smiles. They were standing in front of the theater’s concession stand—too amped up by their ongoing competition to actually buy any snacks.
“Popcorn is about determination, not size!” she insisted, stretching subconsciously up on her toes to bring them closer to the same height. “It’s a task of charisma. Are you saying that you have more charisma than me?”
“Please,” Logan scoffed, “I could beat you at charisma in my sleep—”
“Dylan!”
Lacy turned around, gazing curiously at the man walking towards them. A second later, Logan remembered that was his new name, and he hurried to turn around too.
“Hey—thank goodness you’re here!” The man grabbed his hand for a quick shake, before flashing a polite smile at Lacy. “We’re having a problem with one of the mounts you installed for the projectors—I think the lever is jammed. Could you take a look at it?”
Logan froze dead still, as the smile faded slowly from his face. A second later, he felt Lacy watching and was quick to recover. “Oh...the lever?” He stalled, his mind racing for a simple escape. “You know, I don’t really have any of my tools with me—”
“That’s okay!” The man clapped him on the shoulder, steering both him and Lacy deliberately towards a door leading into the back. “We have everything you could need.”
The room seemed to get smaller the closer they got to the door. The walls were closing in, and there was nothing Logan could do to stop them.
He dug in his heels, straining casually against the man’s arm as he dropped his voice to a low murmur. “Listen, I’m kind of on a date—”
“It’ll only take five minutes. Please, Dylan.” The man’s face shone with scarcely contained panic as he gestured to the door. “You know Eric will blame me if it’s not fixed.”
Okay, I thought Cleveland was a big city. Why does everyone seem to know each other?
When he hesitated again, Lacy nudged him in the ribs. “I don’t care,” she said easily. “I can stand in line and get snacks while you figure it out.”
“...are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” Her face brightened as she turned on her heel and headed back toward the main entryway. “Maybe I’ll get some...popcorn.”
He grinned automatically, but it faded as he turned back to the door. Ask Logan ten things he knew nothing about, and how to fix a lever would be right up there on the list. But the man was looking at him expectantly, and he stepped forward with a little sigh.
“Sure...I can take a look.”
TWO MINUTES LATER, Logan was crouched on the floor of the projection room. A chair had been wedged under the door for good measure, and his hand was cupped over his phone.
“Come on, come on...” he muttered. “Pick up.”
‘Hey, it’s Dylan. Leave me a message.
Or if you happen to be of the female persuasion, you could always come by...’
Logan rolled his eyes, gripping the phone tighter in his hand. “Dylan—it’s me. I know we said no contact, but I’m kind of in a bind here. I’m locked in the projection room at the local theater, and there’s this guy outside the door asking me to fix some kind of lever.” His eyes flickered nervously around the room. “I have no idea how to do that. To be honest, I’m not even sure which part the lever is. You need to call me back as soon as you—”
There was a loud beep as the phone cut off his message.
“—get this.”
He leaned back against the wall with a sigh, bringing his knees up to his chest.
Perfect. Just perfect.
A loud knock on the door startled him, as a man’s voice filtered through the walls.
“How’s it going in there? You need any help?”
Logan scrambled to his feet, checking to make sure his barricade was holding steady.
“Uh...no! I got it, thanks!” He cast a panicked look back at the projector, wiping a drip of sweat from his forehead. “Just another minute or two, and it should be good to go.”
Okay, plan: Is there a window in this place? Maybe I can crawl out to safety.
“Dylan?” Logan’s eyes snapped shut, as Lacy’s voice joined the man’s. “Hey, you almost done? The movie’s about to start.”
“Yeah, just...just a minute!”
Her voice propelled him into action, and he turned back to the machine—pacing around it in a tight circle with a fiery determination flickering in his eyes. After deciding that the silver stick poking out of the side was most likely the lever, he gave it an investigatory shake.
...it broke off in his hand.
Oh shit.
He tried desperately to jam it back into the hole. Crossed himself and said a prayer. Cursed in about ten different languages. Nothing was working. In the end, there was nothing left to do but own up to it...and hope he was long gone by the time they found out the truth.
With a grand flourish, he pushed open the door to find Lacy and the movie attendant waiting on the other side. A debilitating wave of panic crashed through him, but he held out the lever with a confident smile, slapping it into the man’s waiting hand.
“That should do it.”
AS STRANGE AS IT WAS, the movie was somehow forgettable. Logan spent the first half terrified the door was going to open and the manager was going to bludgeon him to death with the broken lever. He spent the second half having that notion happily distracted by Lacy.
The girl was adorable. There was no better way to say it. Everything she did, everything she said...he was completely smitten.
As it turned out, they had both been completely bluffing about the popcorn. She’d arrogantly bought two large tubs, but they’d both only eaten a few inches before lifting their hands in preemptive defeat. The rest of the film was spent ‘watching’ the screen, while really watching each other. Their hands sneaked ever closer on the armrests. He stretched up his arms about a dozen times, trying to work up the courage to wind one around her shoulders.
By the time the credits rolled around, they were both worked up into such a state, they didn’t noti
ce the theater empty around them, until they were the only ones left in their seats.
“Shit—we should go.” Logan looked around in alarm, his fear of discovery rising up all over again. “Before that guy comes back with...another problem for me to fix.”
Lacy nodded and pushed to her feet, only to clap a hand over her stomach with a laugh.
“Okay—truth? I never eat movie theater popcorn. It’s so buttery, it makes me sick!”
Logan stopped looking around for the attendant, and chuckled under his breath.
“I’m exactly the same way. Why couldn’t you have made the competition about coffee or something like that? I’d be sure to win.”
She smiled briefly, then turned around suddenly to face him.
“Well how about we do that next time?”
He froze where he stood, staring intently into her eyes.
“Well why don’t we make ‘next time’ tonight? My place? Seven o’clock?”
She considered for a moment, then flashed him a bright smile.
“Sounds perfect.”
Yeah, it does.
They left the theater behind them and headed out onto the sidewalk, squinting up at the bright sun. While both seemed incredibly reluctant to leave the other, it was inevitable.
“This is me.” Lacy cocked her head one way.
Logan grinned, watching her hair blow back and forth in the breeze.
“This is me.” He cocked his head the other. They stared at each other for a moment, before he leaned in suddenly and kissed her on the cheek. “See you at seven?”
“Yeah...” She backed away with a wide grin, blushing to high heaven. “See you then.”
The two of them headed off in opposite directions. Both with the same fluttering heart-beat. Both with the same dreamy smile.
Something was happening here. Something was just getting started.
And it was something that neither one of them could possibly expect...
Chapter 20
“Back you beast of hell! Back!”
It was five minutes to seven, and Logan was lying on top of the refrigerator. The same place he’d been for the last three hours. On the way home from the theater, he’d had the brilliant idea that he would bring a peace offering to Spartacus. A slab of raw meat to ease tensions and allow him to sleep the next two weeks without keeping one eye open.