Taking It Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book two

by Erin Nicholas

  “Yes! And then our last name will be the same as the baby!”

  And it all became clear. Quickly. Dana felt shock rock through her and she had to work to keep her face composed. Had it come up while they’d been wandering a cemetery or something? Chloe was standing behind Grace, and Dana focused on her. “You were talking about last names tonight?” she asked.

  Chloe nodded. “Jada said that Logan can’t help with dance because he’s not a real dad and that he’s only helping because you’re having a baby and that he’s the baby’s dad, not ours, and that we won’t have the same last name.”

  All of that came tumbling out, and Dana was surprised to see Chloe’s eyes fill with tears. “Oh, honey,” she said, reaching for Chloe. She came forward and let Dana wrap her arms around her. “It doesn’t matter what our last names are,” she said against Chloe’s head. “You know that we love you and of course Logan will still help with dance. Jada is just confused.”

  Chloe shook her head. “No. Her mom said that only real parents can help.” She pulled back and looked up at Dana. “But it’s okay. Logan told her that he’s going to help anyway and that you’re going to get married so he will be our dad and it won’t matter.”

  Dana wondered why she wasn’t more shocked to hear that Logan had made such a declaration. But it was exactly the kind of spontaneous thing he would do without thinking through all the consequences. Like how her girls would take that information. She sighed. Of course, she also wasn’t surprised that Tiffany had run her mouth and that it had gotten to Logan. That woman rubbed her the wrong way too, but it had been funny to see how much she’d bothered Logan.

  Though, maybe not so funny now…

  “Logan wants to help out because he cares about you,” Dana said. “And he would hate it if someone was making you mad or sad. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to get married.”

  Grace frowned. “But what will the baby’s last name be then?”

  Okay, well…that wasn’t a bad question. They hadn’t talked about that. They hadn’t talked about first names either, for that matter. “We have some time to figure it out,” she said.

  Grace’s frown deepened. “You have to give the baby a last name,” she said. “Our baby can’t not have a name!”

  Dana smiled at Grace’s sudden protectiveness of the baby. “The baby will have a name,” she assured her. “Logan and I just have to talk about it.”

  “But I want the same name as the baby,” Grace said.

  “I understand, but—”

  “I want the same name as Logan,” Chloe said quietly.

  Dana looked down at her oldest. She gathered her thoughts and worked on sounding calm. “You don’t have the same last name as your grandparents from Lafayette,” she said. “But they are still your family and love you. You know that. Last names don’t matter that much, sweetie.”

  “But when you have the same last name, people know you belong together,” Chloe said.

  Dana blew out a little breath.

  “I want to belong with Logan,” Chloe added.

  Dana’s heart squeezed in her chest. She hadn’t been expecting any of this and she had no idea how to respond.

  “I do too,” Grace said, flinging herself forward.

  Dana wrapped her other arm around her youngest.

  “I want to belong with Logan,” Grace said against her shirt. “He said we can have the same last name. He likes that idea.”

  Dana held her girls, her mind spinning. Dammit, Logan. Why did all of this have to come up like this? They needed to talk about some things, and maybe she should have warned him about being careful about how he worded things about the baby. He was great with the girls, but he didn’t have vast experience in talking with them and explaining things in a way they could understand, that they wouldn’t blow up into a…wedding.

  Then again, she had no trouble believing that he’d jumped right into that conversation with both feet. Logan didn’t hold back. Which made her really wonder about the rest of that conversation with Tiffany Custer, come to think of it.

  Her stomach twisted a little and she sucked in a quick breath. Lord, she’d already thrown up three times. Why couldn’t that be enough for one night?

  “Hey, ladies, can you head in and start getting ready for bed? I need to talk to Logan.”

  “He’s making us pump-up songs,” Chloe told her. “And he told Tiffany he’s doing hair at the competition no matter what she says.”

  Oh, Dana bet he did. “Pump-up songs?”

  “Discs of songs that will get us excited about the competition.”

  “Ah,” Dana said with a nod.

  “He said that he’s okay being the only dance dad. And he said something to Tiffany that made her really mad,” Chloe added.

  “What did he say?”

  “I couldn’t hear it,” Chloe told her. “He said it quiet. But Tiffany’s face got really red.” Chloe giggled. “And then Tiffany took Jada home.”

  Great. Tiffany was mad. It wasn’t like Dana’s path crossed Tiffany’s much, but the dance team had to be, well, a team. The weekend competition in Baton Rouge could be a long three days if people weren’t getting along.

  Chloe was new to this team. She’d just moved up. It wasn’t good to cause waves just before competition season.

  “Okay, I’m going to go say goodnight to Logan. You two get jammies on and stuff. I’ll be back up in a little bit.”

  She headed downstairs. Logan was pacing the foyer. He looked up as she hit the middle of the staircase.

  “Tiffany Custer is a bitch.”

  Dana sighed and came the rest of the way down. “What happened?”

  His eyes flickered to the steps behind her. “What did the girls say?”

  Dana wanted to smile. Oh, he wasn’t going to volunteer any information she didn’t already have, huh? But she lifted a brow instead. “Why don’t you tell me your side?”

  “She made Chloe cry.”

  “Who did?”

  “Tiffany. Well, Jada. Because she was repeating things Tiffany had said.”

  Dana frowned. “She was crying?”

  “Yes. And she said she hated dance.” He blew out a breath. “Jada told her I couldn’t be involved and that I wasn’t her real dad and she wouldn’t have the same last name as the baby and that I was there helping only because we were having a baby together.”

  Dana sighed and turned, heading down the short hallway to the kitchen. She needed to get out of earshot of little girls who might hang out at the top of the steps. Logan followed her. She crossed to the fridge and got a bottle of water. Her stomach was queasy, but she wasn’t at risk of throwing up all over him at this point. She took a drink, then met his eyes across the middle island. “I thought you and Grace were going to go do something instead of sit in on rehearsal.”

  “We did. I took her to Muriel’s. I thought she was going to faint when she saw the sarcophagi.”

  Dana lifted a brow. “Wow. She didn’t even mention Muriel’s. She was so caught up in the wedding we’re going to be having.”

  He winced slightly. “Well, some girls are really into weddings.”

  Dana nodded. “Right. So how did you end up talking to Tiffany if you were ghost hunting?”

  “I went into the school after Chloe came out to the truck crying.”

  Dana frowned, feeling her heart squeeze. “And you confronted Tiffany?”

  “I actually talked to Jada first.”

  “You confronted a ten-year-old?”

  “I told her, and the other girls, that I would absolutely be at the competition, with pump-up music, because that’s what a good dance dad does.”

  Dana felt a prick of trepidation at that. Her phone dinged and she reached into the pocket of her bathrobe. She swiped the screen and saw a message from Amy and another she must have missed from another mom, Leslie.

  Heads-up. Some moms are riled up, Amy’s said.

  Leslie’s read, I don’t think your boyfriend should
be telling the girls that the other dads don’t care about their daughters just because they don’t show up for rehearsals.

  Well, shit.

  She looked up at Logan. “You told the girls that their dads don’t care about them because they don’t come to rehearsals?”

  He frowned. “What? No. Of course I didn’t say that.” He paused and added, “Though…”

  Dana’s eyebrows went up. “Though? What’s that mean?”

  “Just saying that you can’t tell me a couple of those guys couldn’t show up once in a while if they wanted to.”

  “Maybe it’s just easier for the moms to be there. Or maybe the moms don’t want the dads there because the moms are the ones who need to be in charge of the costumes and stuff. Or maybe the girls want their moms there. You don’t know the situations.”

  Logan shook his head. “The dads could do it sometimes. It’s not brain surgery. Which of those ladies wouldn’t like a night off? If they’re not working, they could go to dinner with friends or…just do nothing. They could sit at home and read a book. I mean, seriously.”

  Dana took a second to marvel that playboy bartender Logan Trahan was currently lecturing her on equal co-parenting.

  “Okay, that’s all fair. But you can’t make those decisions and judgments about other people.” Dana blew out a breath. “Tell me how this conversation went.”

  Her phone dinged again. Logan won’t start anything with the other dads, will he?

  That was from Amy, but Dana suspected the question had been asked of Amy by another mom. Or three. Or more. Oh, geez. She looked up at him. He looked pissed. And stubborn. She didn’t think he’d start something, but…four months ago, she wouldn’t have thought that he would be standing here telling her any of this either.

  She finally typed back. I’m handling it.

  Okay, Amy responded. But then she added, Congratulations, btw. I think he’s going to be an amazing step-dad.

  Dana pulled in a deep breath. Then looked up at Logan. “So the girls are not just assuming there’s going to be a wedding? You told other people that too?”

  Logan’s jaw tightened and he drew himself straighter. “I don’t think I’ve ever made it a secret that I want to marry you.”

  She sighed. “Logan—”

  “If you would just marry me all of this would be taken care of. The girls would be mine, we’d have the same last name, the baby would have the same last name, I could go behind-the-scenes and everything.”

  “Is that what this is really about? You can’t go behind-the-scenes and do hair?”

  “No. This is about people denying me the chance to be involved with things that are important to my—” He broke off and swore under his breath.

  Dana crossed her arms. “Your what?”

  Again, he clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, but met her gaze directly. “I was going to say daughter.”

  Dana felt a sharp stab in her chest. It wasn’t unpleasant, exactly. It was just…surprising. She’d expected him to be good with the girls. He was good with all females. But when she’d actually seen him with them, and the way they responded to him, she’d realized that she’d completely underestimated him. Or the girls. She supposed that she’d thought the girls would be a little slower to warm up to a new man.

  And maybe they would have been, with any other new man.

  She swallowed hard. “You think of Chloe and Grace as your daughters?” she asked.

  “I’ll tell you this, I would take a bullet for either of them. And if someone makes one of them cry, they are going to hear from me.”

  Dana felt her throat tighten. “That’s…so…nice, Logan.”

  “Nice?” he repeated. “This isn’t nice, Dana. I’m not doing this to get on your good side. This isn’t a show or me playing around or trying to get laid or just doing something silly for fun.”

  She pressed her lips together.

  “That’s why I do ninety-percent of the things I do,” he admitted. “But now, with them, I’m all-in. And the way to keep them is to marry you.”

  Dana blinked at him. Then frowned. She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened her mouth again. “So now you’re with me so that you can stay with the girls?”

  He frowned. “Not exactly. But yeah. Maybe.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. But I don’t like Tiffany and Jada telling Chloe how they think things are with us. I want Chloe to feel secure and if she and Grace want my last name, then, dammit, they can have it.”

  Dana shook her head. Part of her was completely turned on by this possessive, protective side of Logan. The other part of her was concerned. This was happening fast. He was getting in deep. The girls were getting in deep. She loved the idea that he really wanted to be around and involved, but…this was the tip of the iceberg. And this issue, the first one that wasn’t fun and games that he’d handled, well, it was a little sticky.

  “I appreciate what you’re saying,” she told him. “I really do. I know that this was the first time you’ve seen Chloe upset and that tears are probably not your thing—”

  “Goddammit, Dana!”

  She sucked in a breath. “Logan.”

  “I’m not overreacting here.”

  “You’re sure? It’s a little girl’s dance competition.” She tried to keep her voice calm and even like she did when the girls were upset.

  It didn’t work.

  “It’s so fucking much more than that!” He was looking at her like he couldn’t believe what she was saying. “That bitch told her daughter who told the rest of the girls a bunch of shit about us because she was trying to put me down because she’s jealous of us.”

  “So let her be jealous,” Dana said. “That’s on her, not us.”

  “It’s on us when it affects Chloe.”

  “But she’s right!” Dana exclaimed. He wasn’t listening.

  “What the fuck do you mean by that?” Logan asked, his eyes narrowed.

  “You are not my husband. You’re not Chloe’s father. You are, at best, my boyfriend. We are having a baby together. And we haven’t talked about first names, not to mention last names.”

  Logan gave a low growling noise.

  She ignored it. “And the baby is why we’re together, right? Tiffany is a bitch and I’m pissed she said that stuff to her daughter and that Jada repeated it to Chloe. I’m upset that Chloe is upset. But…it’s all true. The last name stuff, the reason we’re together…all of it.”

  “So, I should have just ignored it? Just gone along with it all? Just told Chloe ‘yep, Jada’s right?’”

  “Of course not.”

  “What would you have liked me to do?” He leaned back against the counter behind him, gripping the edge until his knuckles were white.

  “Come home. Tell Chloe that you care about her and that we will all sit down here together and talk it out.”

  “Let Tiffany, or anyone else, just say whatever the fuck they want about us?”

  “It’s just…hard.” Dana sighed and pressed her hand against her stomach as it twisted a little. “There are a lot of battles we have to fight. There are a lot of hard discussions we have to have. I don’t worry about arguing with people who don’t really know us and don’t get us and who, frankly, don’t really matter.”

  “You don’t care what Tiffany is saying?”

  She shrugged. “No. I don’t care what she’s saying or what she’s thinking. I just care about what we think. What we know. We know the truth about us and who you are to us.”

  “Do we?”

  The way he said it, low and sharp, made her wince. “Of course we do.” They did. Kind of.

  “So never stand up to people? Never explain it? Never say to other people what we are?” Logan asked.

  “Not never. But I just don’t want to get into…who’s doing barrettes.”

  “That’s bullshit, Dana. She shouldn’t—”

  “Is it really that important that you’re the fun dad?” she exclaimed, “that you
’re better at this than the rest of us? That they like you best?”

  He stared at her. “Whoa.”

  Dana pressed her lips together. She hadn’t meant to say that. But really? He had to be the popular one no matter what?

  “Honestly?” he finally said. “Yeah. Kind of. I like being great at something that matters. And making Chloe and Grace feel accepted and laugh matters.”

  Dana sucked in a little breath. Damn. This guy…what was she going to do with him? It had started out as him being someone who could just help her out. But he’d gone all-in. He’d fallen in love. With her daughters. And in his insistence to love them fully, he was making things complicated.

  “It’s hair,” she said quietly. “You can and will be fun for something else. Fighting this is…exhausting. You can do Chloe’s hair and—”

  “It’s not about the hair!” He pushed away from the counter.

  “Then what’s it about?” She suddenly felt like she could just lie down right here on the floor and go to sleep.

  “People knowing that I’m…legit.”

  Surprise shot through her. She hadn’t been expecting that. She studied his face. He looked completely earnest. “People knowing…or you knowing?”

  “Yeah. Okay, maybe that.”

  She swallowed hard. “You only have to be legit to us.”

  “And am I?”

  Dana’s chest tightened. “You are—”

  “Just fucking marry me,” he interrupted. “That’s the way to fix this all. None of it will matter if we’re married.”

  “That is not a solution.”

  “Of course it is.” He spread his arms wide. “I don’t like being on the outside of this, Dana. I won’t have it. That baby will be mine and I want the girls too.”

  “You won’t have it?” she repeated, her eyes wide.

  “I’m going to help raise those girls. It only makes sense—”

  “Whoa.” She put a hand up. “We haven’t talked about any of this. We got pregnant, Logan. Accidentally. And there is a lot we need to figure out. But we can’t just rush in because your feelings got hurt tonight.”

  “That’s not what this is.” His voice was low and firm, and he looked completely pissed.

  She took a deep breath. “I understand that you’re out of your element when things aren’t fun and easy, but you can’t go off on emotion here. We have to think—”