Finn watches him go. It’s not unusual for Finn to stop by on night shifts. The guy goes out any night he’s not working at the restaurant, and he also isn’t big on sleeping. He’s shown up here at four in the morning sometimes just to shoot the shit because he can’t sleep. But I know tonight he’s not here out of boredom or just to hand out in-person breakfast invites.
“So tomorrow afternoon…”
“You don’t need me there,” I reply. “I give you my proxy or voting rights or whatever the hell it is. You can vote for me.”
“Nope. Not going to do it,” Finn shakes his head. “I want you there.”
“And I want to not be there,” I say firmly and sigh. “Fine I’ll give my vote to Terra.”
“Already talked to her and she refuses to take it too,” Finn replies, and I feel my blood pressure spike.
“You two need to stop being dicks,” I shoot back. “Look, we both know Declan doesn’t care what I have to say about the family business.”
Finn frowns. “It’s called a family business because it includes the entire family. It’s not bossy big brother’s business.”
“Yeah but honestly, Finn, he’s the only one who has devoted his entire life to it,” I remind him and his frown deepens.
“Fuck that,” he retorts, his blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. “I’ve devoted my life too. You think I love being behind that counter every day up to my armpits in lobster meat and smiling pretty for all the whack-a-doodles in this town?”
“Yes.”
He pauses and bites back a sheepish grin. “Okay I do, but I mean, I have other things I want to do too and have sacrificed to keep the business going. Declan doesn’t get to claim ownership here. Besides, Mom and Dad are still in charge, and they want you there.”
Ugh. He pulled out the one thing that will get me to the damn family business meeting Declan called for tomorrow afternoon. The parental units. I cross my arms and glare at him. He shrugs his shoulders but gives me a sympathetic smile. “They told me specifically to make sure you show up this time. You’ve blown off the last two.”
“Fine,” I growl. “Why the hell are we doing this again anyway? Is this about the Seafood Festival? Does Declan still have his tighty-whities in a wedgie over the fact we took second place in the chowder competition last year?”
Finn rubs the back of his neck, a clear sign he’s bothered by something. He’s been doing that since we were little. I swear he did it when we were in diapers. “We’re still having a bit of trouble getting ahead.”
My heart plummets and my stomach constricts as guilt runs cold through my veins. “Oh.”
“Look, it’s no big deal. It’s not like we’re near bankruptcy or anything like that,” Finn says quickly. “We are getting by fine, we just aren’t earning back the savings as quickly as we’d hoped.”
“Because of me,” I mumble, because five years ago my family gave up almost everything when I made a horrible, drunken mistake and they had to ship me off to rehab.
“Logan, the business is fine and the family is better than fine because you’re here with us,” Finn reaches out and grasps my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. “Don’t make me drag you to the bathroom and stick your head in the toilet like when we were kids.”
He tried to do that every time we fought as kids. He managed to pull it off once, when I had the flu and was weak. He will never stop talking about it though. “The fact that one ridiculous moment is the highlight of your life is bloody sad, baby brother.”
“The fact that you keep clinging to the silly fact you’re six minutes older than me is sadder,” Finn replies and gives me his trademark sarcastic grin. “So you’ll come to the meeting tomorrow?”
“Yeah. For Mom and Dad,” I say through gritted teeth. “But I’m not promising to stay the whole damn time. If Declan pulls his passive aggressive bullshit, I’m out. I don’t need him to make me feel guilty.”
“I know. Hell, if he starts in on you, I’m out too,” Finn promises even though I don’t want him to stand with me because then Terra will too, and it’ll just make Mom and Dad upset if we all walk out.
He grabs my half-finished coffee from my hand and starts walking toward the door as I call, “Hey!”
“What? You shouldn’t drink too much caffeine while you’re working. It’ll make you jittery,” Finn says and sips my coffee. “No one wants a paramedic who shakes when they’re saving your life, dude. It’s disconcerting.”
“It’s right across the street,” I remind him. “Get your own damn coffee.”
“Three o’clock tomorrow,” Finn calls out still walking away with my coffee. “You can tell me how your date went then!”
“Or not at all,” I call back as the doors swish shut behind me.
I don’t want my family reading too much into this pseudo-date or making me overthink it. Last night she was in a desperate situation, and I helped her out. Tomorrow’s brunch invite is just her way of trying to thank me. The fact is though, I find her fascinating, and I like the way I feel when she smiles at me, so I’m excited to spend time with her when it’s not medically necessary or a landlord-tenant situation. I don’t need anyone else knowing that right now, though.
9
Logan
For the first time in a long time, I get out of work on time. I call Terra as I am walking across the snowy parking lot to my car. She answers sleepily on the third ring with nothing more than a “Mmm…”
“Hey sleepy head,” I say and bite back the urge to ask if she’s okay. Terra was diagnosed with Lupus as a teen, and it hasn’t been an easy road. She’s had lots of medical hurdles, but she’s persevered. Lately, she’s been in a good spot, or so I thought, but it makes me nervous she’s not up and on her second cup of tea by seven in the morning. I don’t ask her about it though because she hates when we fuss over her. “I’m just calling to ask if you can keep Chewie a while longer?”
“You woke me up to tell me you won’t be waking me up by coming to get your dog?” she says.
“Well, yeah. Which, when you put it that way, makes me feel like an asshole,” I say with a sheepish chuckle. “I just didn’t want you to worry if I didn’t show up after my shift.”
“I guess I would have worried…if I woke up and you weren’t here, but I’m planning on sleeping until next Tuesday, so no worries,” she replies and yawns audibly into the phone.
“I really want to ask you if everything is okay, but I don’t want to get punched when I see you,” I can’t help but say.
“I’m fine. I stayed up late last night,” she replies. “Jake Facetimed and we had a very…heated discussion.”
I stop abruptly a foot from my car. “You guys fought?”
“Not that kind of heated. The better kind. The kind that requires nudity.” She lets that hang between us and I scrunch up my face and swat the air in front of me like I can swat away the words, or at the very least the images they conjure up. “Why can’t you get your beast?”
“I have a date,” I blurt out, and I blame the burning desire to change the subject.
“Jesus, have locusts started falling from the sky? Are their headless horsemen trotting around Ocean Pines?” She snickers at her own apocalypse joke. “With who?”
“Nope,” I say as I unlock my car and get inside.
“I’ll get the details out of you eventually,” Terra promises. “See you later today at the family meeting, right?”
There’s trepidation in her voice but also a challenge. As if she’s daring me to say no. She’s the best at manipulating me into doing what she wants. “Yeah. Yeah. See you at three. Go back to sleep.”
I hang up and start my car. Traffic is non-existent, and I get home without an issue. I figure I should power nap for an hour or two so I’m not yawning through the whole brunch date. I tear off my shoes and peel off my clothing as I make my way to the bedroom, leaving each piece where it falls. I stop briefly in front of the empty spare bedroom. Well, empty as in my son isn’t in it. I d
id decorate it with that cool bed shaped like a boat, a small bookshelf filled with books, toys and stuffies, and a Montreal Canadiens hockey poster. It will kill Finn and my Dad when they see it because their souls belong to the Boston Bruins, but River’s favorite team is their oldest rival. He hasn’t seen the poster or even the room yet, but he’ll be so excited when he does. I try not to worry about the fact that the social worker hasn’t popped by to visit yet, and keep heading down the hall to my own room. By the time I cross the threshold into my bedroom, I’m naked and I drop onto the unmade bed and pull the cover up over me. I keep my eyes open just long enough to set the alarm on my phone.
When it starts ringing, I swear it feels like I’ve been asleep fifteen minutes, but it’s been hours, and it’s now almost eleven in the morning. I pull myself out of bed and into the shower. After, as I’m standing in my bedroom pulling a shirt out of the drawer, there’s a knock at the door.
I have no idea who it might be. I wander into the hall and glance toward the front door and then I hear a bark I’d recognize in a room full of howling mutts. Chewie. I assume Terra must have decided to bring him to me instead of waiting for me to pick him up, so I walk over to the door in my towel and swing it open. But it’s not Terra.
“Nova! Hey!” I’m a little shocked to see her there. Chewie jumps up and almost knocks me over. I pat his head with one hand and hold my towel in place with the other. “Down, buddy.”
Chewie gets down and trots past me into the apartment. I hold the door open for Nova, who is holding a Tupperware container full of something. “I told Terra I made cookies for River, and she gave me your new address and asked me to deposit Chewie. I sent you a text about it.”
“Didn’t see it. I was napping,” I explain and close the door as I follow her into the kitchen. Her dark brown eyes sweep the place, her brows knitted as she takes in every detail.
“It’s still a work in progress,” I say self-consciously because I haven’t fully furnished the place yet. “I could go to Ikea and fill it full of crap, but I’m looking for vintage pieces. Stuff with character. It’s my first real home. I’ve always had roommates or squatted with Finn and Mom and Dad.”
She turns to me with a smile. “Look at you, using big, designer words like vintage and character. Declan must be rubbing off on you.”
I try not to frown at that. She hates the rift that exists between my brother-slash-her husband and me, and she constantly tries to find things we have in common. Like the fact that we both are into furniture or both like cookie dough ice cream should somehow overcome the bigger differences. “Well, your house is incredible. You guys did a great job.”
She nods. “It’s all Declan. I know nothing about complementary paint colors or crown molding or what furniture is from what period,” she says as she puts the Tupperware of cookies on the counter by the microwave. She proceeds to open the lid and offer one to me. They’re snickerdoodles, River’s favorite.
“I can’t. I’m just getting ready to go out for brunch,” I explain and run a hand through my damp hair. Nova acts surprised. She’s the best bartender and waitress I’ve ever met but a terrible actress.
“Oh. Really? Meeting Jake and Finn or…someone else?”
“Shut up. I can tell Terra told you I had a date,” I say and Nova’s innocent face turns sheepish. “She probably sent you over here just to get it out of me, but it’s not going to work. Thanks for the cookies, River will love them. And thanks for bringing Chewie home. I know Declan hates dog fur on his leather car seats. Now out.”
“Can you at least give me a hint so that Terra thinks I tried harder?” Nova asks, her whole face lighting up in eager expectation. “Personally, I don’t care who you’re going out with, I just hope you have a good time. You deserve a good time.”
“Thanks.”
“So has River spent the night here yet?” she asks, changing the subject and leaning back on the countertop. “Do you want me to talk to Bethany?”
I shake my head. “No and no, but thank you. The courts will figure it out. Besides, you two aren’t exactly friends anymore.”
Nova sighs and tips her head back to the sky, closing her dark eyes briefly. “She was like a sister to me before she became so vindictive. Yeah, it didn’t work out between you two and that sucks, but you gave her River. I couldn’t imagine ever hating someone so completely who gave me a child. I mean, he’s perfect. He’s a gift.”
Her tone is off. She’s a bold, sometimes loud, and very fiery person who always speaks with confidence. Right now, she sounds…melancholy. I take a step toward her.
“Everything okay with you? It’s been a while since we’ve really talked.”
“Yeah, I’m working a ton and so are you,” she says and I can see the struggle on her face to put on a smile. “It’s all good. I’m just…I just think Bethany is lucky and even if you are her ex, there are worse exes to have.”
I smile. “You’re biased. I’m family.”
“You’re a great dad. He’s a great kid because he’s half you and she should, at the very least, acknowledge that fact,” she replies and bites her bottom lip for a second before she blurts out. “If Declan and I had kids I would forever be grateful to him, no matter what happened between us.”
Whoa. I suddenly stop worrying about the time, and my date, and focus completely on Nova. She just dropped a bomb. “I thought you didn’t want kids.”
“I didn’t,” she admits and nods but it’s shaky. She sighs. “I was sure of that. But now…I’m not as sure.”
“Oh.” Yep, that’s definitely a bomb. Declan and Nova have both always said no kids. “Have you talked to Declan about this?”
“Declan is still certain we’ve made the right choice,” she replies and her tone evens out suddenly. “He’s probably right. I’m probably just having some weird hormone imbalance. I swear I don’t even like kids, well except yours. And Declan and I don’t have the time or the energy for kids. I’m at the restaurant twelve hours a day, and he’s spending so much time in Boston networking and going to marketing conferences. And in his spare time, he’s training for marathons, and I do love my lazy mornings sleeping in when I don’t work. It wouldn’t be fair to throw a baby into that. I’m just romanticizing the whole thing because River can be so cute.”
She turns away and walks toward the door. I stare after her for a second, struggling with what to say next. I can’t tell her the truth, which is that you find the time and the energy because it’s your kid and you love it more than you even realize is possible right now. I can’t tell her I wasn’t ready to have River when I did and definitely didn’t think I was capable of being a father, but yet I am, and it is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t say those things because it’s not what she needs to hear, because it’s not what Declan wants, and it will create more problems, not less. She wants to want what her husband wants. I can see it in her doe-like brown eyes and the forced ‘everything is fine’ smile on her full mouth.
“I should go and let you make yourself all pretty,” she says and her boisterous tone and bold smile are back. She opens the front door but before she steps out, she turns back to me. “Just tell me if she’s a blonde, brunette, or redhead so I can give Terra something.”
I walk toward her with a small smile and reach out to hug her good-bye. She melts into my embrace and I can feel the sorrow in her. “Are you and Declan connecting on other levels?”
“When I see him, yeah. We’re the same as always,” Nova replies. “Like I said, we’re both busy, but he’s still my best friend, and I’m happy. Really.”
I feel her head against my shoulder give the smallest, weakest little nod and then I hear someone else. Chloe. Her voice is happy and bright and getting louder with every word. “Logan? Hey, I was thinking you should totally—”
Time stands still. Chloe is frozen on the cobblestone path just outside the open front door. Her eyes are wide, and her mouth is open in a weird shape as she stopped speaking mi
d-sentence. Nova tenses in my arms as if she turned to stone. The weight of how this looks—I’m holding a woman in the middle of my apartment in nothing but a towel—has me unable to move as well.
Chewie breaks the tension of the entirely awkward situation when he barks in excitement at seeing Chloe. She jumps. Nova steps away from me and I leap back from her.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt. I…I just…I’ll go,” Chloe babbles. “Just wanted to say you can bring Chewie. Okay, see you later. At noon or whatever. Bye!”
Nova gives me a dumbfounded stare. Chloe scurries around the corner of the house, out of view, and without thinking, I run down the path. “Chloe! Hold up a second.”
She teeters to a halt and starts to spin to face me. I can fix this. She won’t think I’m some player douchebag who is doing something illicit with another woman before going to see her. But then Chewie bolts past me. Evidently, barking wasn’t a big enough greeting and he wants to say a proper hello to Chloe. As he bolts past me I reach for his collar to stop him from jumping on her but he’s running full tilt and it’s not that easy to stop a hundred pound puppy in bare feet on an icy sidewalk. He ends up pulling me with him and I lose my balance instantly. I let go of my towel and my dog in an attempt to use my arms to break the fall that is coming. Chloe reaches out for me, trying to keep me on my feet, but it’s futile. After a quick, panicked moment of flailing limbs, we both end up in the snow bank.
I go down first, my naked body sinking into the cold, wet snow. Chloe lands directly on top of me. She tries to stop the impact, her arms darting out to stop her fall. But her hands land in the snow on either side of my neck and they sink until her body is flush with mine, nose to nose.
Our eyes lock. “Are you…”
“Naked? Yes,” I reply because I can’t exactly hide that fact. “My towel went flying one way and I went the other.”
The Winter We Collided: A Small Town Single Dad Romance (Ocean Pines Series Book 2) Page 9