Chapter 21

Logan

If I’d learned anything in life it was that if you didn’t go for what you wanted, you didn’t get it. That was all there was to it.

I’d spent six weeks waiting for Katie’s call—thinking about her, jerking off to memories of her, imagining what it would be like to taste her again. My patience had run out. There wasn’t a fucking chance this woman didn’t want me in her life.

She’d felt exactly what I had. She’d sworn she was mine. And she still hadn’t called.

I had to know why.

I jogged up the front steps to her apartment building, then rang the number on the intercom. Yeah, I’d done my research and tracked her down. It hadn’t taken much, given that I knew her full name and where she worked.

If she told me to fuck off, I’d do it. I’d leave her alone, but I wasn’t the guy who sat back and did nothing when I knew, I fucking knew, that what we’d had had been life-altering.

The past weeks had been colorless without her. Tasteless. The fact that we weren’t actually married had disappointed me, and that, in turn, had shocked me shitless. The last engagement hadn’t exactly ended well.

I buzzed again and a woman’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Hello?”

“Hello,” I said, briskly. “I’m looking for Katie Hendrickson. Is she there?”

“No, I’m sorry, she’s not. Can I help you with something? Take a message?”

“Shit,” I muttered, then raised my voice. “Just tell her that Logan Wright came by and that I’ll be waiting for her call.”

“Logan Wright?” The woman’s voice lifted. “Hold on a second, I’ll buzz you up.” The front door buzzed as the lock clacked, and I let myself in, then took the stairs up to the first floor. Whoever the woman was, clearly she knew who I was. Did Katie have a roommate?

I halted in front of the door, knocked once, and waited impatiently.

The latch drew back and a woman appeared a second later. She was an older version of Katie, with blonde hair tied back and a kind smile, crow’s feet around the eyes. “Logan,” she said, “Please, come in, I’ve heard so much about you.”

“You’re Katie’s mom?” I asked.

“Anna Hendrickson,” she said and presented her hand for a shake.

I took it and smiled at her. “I want to say I’ve heard a lot about you, but I can’t. Only that you mean a lot to your daughter. And that you have a dog named Butch.”

A bark rang out behind her, as if on cue, and a Labrador bounded into view, pink tongue lolling out of the corner of his mouth. He licked my hand and barked again, then nuzzled my palm. I stroked his head and fluffy ears, grinning.

“Sorry, he’s a little rambunctious.”

“And not Butch at all,” I replied.

“Ah, and you see the irony in the name,” Anna said and stepped back to allow me entrance.

I walked into the apartment and admired the cozy space which greeted me. It was so Katie, to a T, or at least the impression she’d given me. A comfy sofa next to two armchairs beside a dark-wood bookshelf, groaning under the weight of her favorites.

“Please, take a seat,” Anna said. “I dropped by to bring Katie dinner. We make a point of having a home-cooked meal together at least once a week. Would you like something to drink? Beer? Coffee?”

“Coffee would be great, thanks.” I walked through to the sofa, then took a seat.

Anna disappeared and left me with Butch, who promptly sat on my foot, wagging his tail like a fanatic. He was pretty fucking adorable. I ruffled his fur and took some time to take in my surroundings. Katie’s apartment was nothing like mine. Everything here was unique, it had its place or its memory.

A photo frame sat on a walnut coffee table, next to a couple of copies of the Business Breakdown and a National Geographic. The TV was small, a flat screen, but definitely not the focus of the space, and a pair of candles sat on one of the end tables beside the couch.

Where her place was homey, mine was cold, possibly because I spent hardly any time in it. Over the course of the last six weeks, I had been home more often than usual, and the apartment had seemed cavernous, empty. Lacking something. Lacking her.

I stopped stroking Butch and the dog barked and thwacked his tail against my head, nuzzling my palm for more attention.

“Sorry,” Anna said as she bustled back in, carrying a tray with two cups, two spoons, and small containers of sugar and milk. “He’s a bit of an attention whore. He’ll do anything to get a couple of pats.”

“No need to be sorry,” I replied, and stroked the doggo some more. He was too cute – made me want to punch a hole in a wall to get my manliness back.

“Well,” Anna said, and brushed her hands off on her jeans. She touched a finger to her nose, slightly upturned just like Katie’s, then pointed to the coffee. “How do you take it? Black? With cream?”

“Black,” I said. “I’ll get it, thanks.” We settled back with our coffees, me stroking Butch one-handed now, and the silence grew. It wasn’t particularly tense or awkward, but it was still quiet.

Anna sipped her coffee and gave me another one of those warm smiles. It was the type of smile I’d always wished my mother would give me as a child, the one she never had. “It’s wonderful to have you here,” she said. “Like I said, I’ve heard a lot about you. Katie’s been talking nonstop, ever since she got back. I— I must apologize, Logan. I was part of the problem. When Marino contacted us—”

I waved it away. “You don’t need to apologize, Mrs. Hendrickson. I’m a firm believer that everything that happens, happens for a reason.”

“Me too,” she said. “But I do feel guilty that Katie went instead of me. I tried to make her stay, to take her place, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. The stress of it damn near killed me.”

“I was going to ask about that. The last I heard, you were in the hospital.”

“I collapsed after Katie’s call. I was just so darn relieved that she was safe, I guess all the stress and pressure that’d been lingering over the past few days built up and, well, you know—”

“I’m sorry to hear it.”

“All better now,” Anna said and drank deeply. She put her cup down, then rubbed her palms together and gave me the up-and-down look that only mothers could pull off. “So,” she pronounced the word as an accusation.

“So,” I said.

“I won’t skirt around the topic, Mr. Wright, I’m not good at making small talk. I’ll be honest with you; Katie is everything to me. She’s my daughter and I will always want what’s best for her. For a very long time, it’s just been her and me, and Butch too. I want very desperately for my daughter to be happy and to start a little family of her own.” She waved before I could cut in. “Now, I know that sounds a bit hasty and I’m not trying to put that on you. I’m just saying that if you’re going to come into Katie’s life after everything that’s happened, be sure of it.”

I nodded once and waited. She clearly had more to say. She brimmed with it.

“I don’t want my daughter to wind up like me. I don’t want her life to be nothing but work and coming home to an empty apartment.” Butch barked and Anna gave a little laugh, tilted her head, and wiped tears from under either eye. “I mean both of us, Butchie. Don’t take offense.” The doggie whined and left my side, ran over to her and hopped his front paws into her lap, proceeded to lick her senseless.

Anna fought him off, laughing instead of crying now, then gave him a hug. “Do you understand what I mean, Logan? If you’re here because you want to mess her around or have a fling then I—”

“Mrs. Hendrickson, I’m not here for either of those reasons. I came to find Katie because she didn’t call me. I gave her my number when we left Isla Santa Maria. I wanted to hear from her.”

Anna clicked her tongue and gave a long-suffering sigh. “That girl. So typical. The minute she feels something, she gets scared and pulls back. She reminds me of me when I was younger.”

“That’s hardly an insult,” I said, kindly.

Anna blushed and patted her hair. “Well, I’m sure you and I will get along fine. We’ll just have to wait for Katie to come back to figure out whether you and her will get along.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I said, “to make this work.”

Whatever it takes.