“I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Where have you been?” my dad asks in his most accusing tone as I step onto the elevator, wait for another person to step on, and then press the button for my floor.
“What do you mean where have I been? I’ve been working.” The week has been long and boring without Kayla, even with seeing friends or visiting Sydney or keeping the kids for her. Kayla’s at the coffeehouse tonight, but then, she’s coming here to spend the night. I can’t wait.
“I’ve done something, and you’re going to be pissed.”
“This have to do with Mom?” I have missed calls from her, too.
“Yeah. I’m sorry, son. She asked where you live, and I thought maybe she wanted to send you something, but...” His voice trails off as I finally step off on my floor. The view of my apartment door is visible.
“What the hell?”
A much older version of my mom stands outside of my apartment door and she turns at the sound of my voice.
“She’s there, isn’t she?” Dad asks in a resigned voice. “Be nice to her, Logan. She’s trying.”
“Unannounced, Dad,” I remind him.
“She’s been calling you from what she’s said.”
“I gotta go.” I hang up without saying anything more. “What are you doing here?” I ask as I approach her.
“You didn’t want to visit me, so I thought I’d visit you.”
“Without telling me first? Trying doesn’t mean anything.” I shove the key into the lock and a second later, we enter my apartment.
Before I can close the door, I hear from the hall, “Logan!”
Oh, fuck.
“What are you doing here?” My tone is more accusatory than I’d like and Kayla takes a step back with it. Her eyes dart over my shoulder and widen at seeing I have company.
“I thought I’d surprise you. I’m sorry. I’ll go.”
I reach out, grab her wrist to pull her inside, and finally shut the door. “You shouldn’t be sorry for surprising me. It’s her.” I glare at my mom. “You stay here. I need a minute with the only wanted guest here.” I drag Kayla to my room.
“Logan, what is going on? Who is that?”
“My mother. I’ve been ignoring her calls, but she decided to come anyway since I wouldn’t go see her!” I release her hand and begin to pace around my bedroom. “She doesn’t even look the same anymore! She’s older. Her hair is a different color. It used to be brown, not blond. Who shows up unannounced like that?”
Kayla is suddenly in front of me and she grabs my hands. “Let’s focus on the positive here. You said yourself the only way you would see her is if she came here. She’s here. She didn’t do it in the way you wanted, but she’s here.”
“I haven’t seen her since I was thirteen, Kayla.”
“Then it sounds like you should get out there and I should leave because you have a lot of catching up to do.”
“You’re leaving me here?”
She gives me a be serious look. “You can’t talk to her if I’m here. Is she staying here or at a hotel?”
“Hotel.” I didn’t see a bag and even if I did, she wouldn’t be staying here. This is a one-bedroom apartment. She’s not about to have my couch and I’m not giving up my bed for her.
“Okay. Text me when she leaves and I’ll come back, all right?”
I nod, though I don’t want her to leave. That woman in there is essentially a stranger. Shouldn’t someone be with me? I don’t want to adult. Kayla wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek.
“It won’t be too bad,” she says. However, there’s too much hope in her voice and not enough confidence for me to agree with her.
“Thanks for attempting to surprise me.”
“Welcome.” She tries to pull away, but I don’t let her. “Don’t stall, Logan. Rip off the bandaid.” Kayla wiggles away from me, leaving me no choice but to follow after her. She waves goodbye to my mom and walks out without a second glance.
“I’m sorry to barge in, Logan, but I didn’t know how else to get you to talk to me.”
I sit on the arm of the couch and study my shoes. “I don’t even know if I want to talk to you, and now, you’re giving me no choice.”
“I want to get to know you again.” At that, I snort. “Give me the chance, please.”
“Why? What do I get out of it?” I look over at her. Her face pales, like she didn’t expect me to ask. “I’ve been without you for a long time. I have a mother figure in my life. Why should I give you the chance? What caused you to actually want something to do with me anyway?”
“I’m retired now, and I have a child, but I don’t really because of my choices. That bothers me, Logan. I want to fix it.”
“Fine. Let’s go somewhere and eat. I’m hungry.”
She relaxes immediately since I’m giving in. Not sure it’s the right decision, but she’s here and despite being a bit harsh with my questions, I can’t find it in me to send her on her way yet. The car ride is uncomfortable and silent all the way to Bagels and Butts. Once we’re seated and begin to eat, I notice she’s wearing a wedding ring.
“You’re married?”
“Yes. I got married last year, but I’ve been seeing Elliott on and off for years until we finally tied the knot. He’s nice. Maybe one day you can meet him.” I don’t respond to that, so she says, “The woman your father married is a good woman, then? I’m assuming she’s the mother figure you mentioned.”
Whenever Mom did call, I never mentioned my new family. It wasn’t any of her business. This is the first time she’s ever asked, too. “Yes. Janet is great. I have a stepsister, too. Sydney’s my age, married, and has two kids, so I’m an uncle. She lives here in Raleigh as well.”
Mom smiles. “That’s great. If I may ask, who was the girl who surprised you?”
“That’s Kayla, my girlfriend.”
“She’s pretty. Tell me about your life.”
I do. She learns about my new job, a few highlights from high school and college, and I talk more about Dad, Janet, Sydney, and her little family. She starts to tell me about her husband when a little voice rings out in the restaurant.
“Lo-Lo!” Savannah runs my way with an irritated Sydney three steps behind her.
I scoot my chair back and pick her up the moment she’s close enough. “What’s up, Savannah? What are you doing leaving your momma behind? Don’t you know you’re supposed to stay with her at all times when you go places?”
She turns to look at Sydney who is now at the table. “Sorry, Momma.” She faces me. “Are you eating with us, Lo-Lo?”
“No, I just ate.”
Savannah frowns and looks at my mom. “Who are you?”
“This is Beth.” I glance at Sydney and mouth, my mom. I don’t know if Savannah would get confused if I called her my mom, so I’m steering on the side of caution here.
“Where’s Kayla?” Savannah asks as my mom says hello to Sydney.
“She’s at home.”
“Savannah, say goodbye to Lo-Lo and let’s go. Lizzy is waiting on us.” Sydney holds out her hand and that’s when I see a very pregnant Lizzy Polinski, the wife of a Carolina Rebel, standing by the counter.
Savannah throws her arms around my neck and smacks a loud kiss on my cheek. “Miss you, Lo-Lo. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Be good for your mom and no more running away, okay?”
Once she nods, I set her on the ground. Sydney takes her hand and tells me to call her later.
“So, that was your stepsister and her kids?” Mom asks once they are back with Lizzy.
“Yes.”
“The little girl is cute. She obviously loves you, too. Why does she call you Lo-Lo? Where is her husband?”
“She couldn’t grasp Logan when she was little; I’ve been Lo-Lo instead. Syd’s husband, Ian, is a professional hockey player. He’s probably out of town if she’s here with the kids and she’s with one of his teammate’s wives.” I pause for a moment. “Are you ready to go?”
“Oh, yes. Sure.”
We begin to walk back to my car. “How long are you in town?”
“Just for the weekend. And I know Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I don’t expect you to spend all weekend with me, especially since I came last minute.”
I don’t have any Valentine’s Day plans for the weekend. My plans are on the actual day. She’s not going to know that just yet, though. “What do you want out of this trip, Mom?” I ask once we’re inside my car.
“I want to know that when I go home, I can call my son, visit my son, see him over the holidays, and that one day, you’ll come to California and see where I live. I want you to meet my husband. I want you to want to talk to me and call me and see me. I want to leave knowing that a relationship with you is possible. You’re my only child, Logan. I need to fix this.”
My head shakes before she ever finished talking. “You abandoned me. You decided your career was more important than staying in my life.”
“I know,” she interrupts. “I know, Logan. I can’t go back and change that, but I can be here now and in the future. If you give me the chance. There’s no rush, Logan. I’m not going to stop trying. I showed up like I did because I felt like it was the only way to get you to finally talk to me.”
Well, she has a point there. I had been ignoring her calls with no plans on answering or returning them. Her sneaky surprise attack plan worked. We don’t say much of anything until I park and we’re out of the car.
“I’m going to head to my hotel. Will you call me if you want to talk some more while I’m here?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Mom stands there like she’s waiting on something. “Can I hug you?” Before I can get a good solid nod completed, her arms are around me. It’s awkward, which both saddens and infuriates me. “See you soon, Logan.”
She walks away and I walk toward the elevator. I text Kayla to come over, but while I wait on her, I call my dad.
“Well? What’s going on?” he asks as soon as he answers.
I recap the evening, giving him the highlights and most important details. “Dad, I don’t know if I should do this,” I tell him honestly.
“She’s your mother,” he begins.
“Yeah, she is. A mother who left me and who, before today, I hadn’t seen since I was thirteen, Dad. I don’t know if I can trust her or if I should. You were married to her. You knew her better than I ever did. What am I supposed to do here?”
Dad sighs. “Your mom has always been a good woman. She never figured out how to balance her life between us and working. She was a workaholic easily, Logan. The fact that she has retired and was able to make that decision when she could still be working speaks volumes to me. Did you enjoy spending time with her tonight?”
“It wasn’t terrible.” I’m not at a point to admit I enjoyed it. “She hugged me and it was weird,” I add.
“Give her a chance. If it doesn’t work out, then at least you tried. And don’t cut her off at her first mistake either. People make mistakes all the time, so make sure it’s a bad one before you cut her out of your life.”
There’s a knock on my door. “Okay. I gotta go. Thanks, Dad.”
“Any time, son.”
We hang up and I open the door to see the only person I’ve wanted to see all day. “Let’s not talk about it tonight, okay?” I grab her hand and pull her inside, kicking the door closed behind us. My phone rings, but it’s a call from Sydney. I let it go to voicemail and text her that I’ll call tomorrow.
“Have you missed me?” Kayla asks as we get comfortable on the couch, which mostly involves me propping my feet up on the coffee table, throwing an arm around her, and pulling her close.
“More than what should be possible. I’m sorry you surprising me got ruined.”
“It’s okay. My dad got off work at a normal time and Gregory is over this weekend, so we all went out to dinner. They’re off bowling now.”
“Did you want to go with them? You didn’t have to rush over.” As much as she wishes her dad would work normal hours, I don’t want her to give up spending time with him to be with me.
She rests an arm over my stomach and squeezes. “I’m right where I want to be, handsome.”
“Good. How come you didn’t sing tonight?”
“There was some new guy they wanted to give a shot, and they asked if he could take my place for tonight. I didn’t mind. Plus, I wanted to surprise you as a thanks.”
“Thanks? For what?” I ask.
“Because you sent me flowers.”
What is she talking about? “I didn’t send you flowers.”
Kayla sits up to look at me. “What do you mean you didn’t send me flowers?”
“I mean, I didn’t send you flowers. You got flowers today?”
She frowns. “Yeah. I was at home and someone delivered flowers for me. The card simply asked ‘Be my Valentine?’, and I assumed it was from you. Maybe they delivered it to the wrong house. They didn’t actually say they were for a Kayla.”
“Sorry you got all excited when I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s okay. I probably shouldn’t assume we’d do anything for Valentine’s Day either.” Her cheeks turn pink as she leans into my side once more.
“Oh, we’re definitely doing something, baby. You can always assume. But I should warn you that while I may plan things, I’m not much of a romantic.” It’ll be good for her to keep her expectations low. Then, it’ll be less likely I’ll disappoint her, right?
Kayla grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers. “We’re doing something? What are we doing?” Her voice, all soft and sweet with surprise, makes me smile.
“You’ll see.”
“Are we exchanging gifts?”
“If my gift can be chocolate and you, then absolutely.”
She laughs. “Consider it done.”
We sit like that and watch TV in silence. I already know how her week was because I talked to her every day. We’re not talking about tonight, obviously. It’s nice to relax with her. Even better, I love that she doesn’t try to fill the silence. Some girls I’ve been with seem to think there should never be this peaceful serenity. That, or they simply talk way too much. Don’t get me wrong, I love conversation, but there are times, like tonight, when silence is better.
“Logan? Can I ask you something?”
“What’s up, buttercup?”
Her free hand tugs and twists at my T-shirt. “If I were to invite you to eat with my mom and her boyfriend, would you go with me?”
“Sure thing, Puddin’ Tang.”
She laughs. “That’s you, ding dong.”
“The point is I said yes. Why? Are you about to ask me?”
She shrugs. “I had to go over there earlier this week and Mom mentioned it. I don’t know if I’ll do it. Or if I’ll drag you with me.”
There’s a knock on my door and I groan. “If that’s a family member, feel free to find something to knock me unconscious.” With great reluctance, I leave the comfy couch and her warm body to open the door. “Carey?” I say with surprise at seeing one of my and Sydney’s best friends. “What are you doing here?”
She walks past me, leaving me to close the door. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you had company.”
“It’s fine.” She doesn’t show up unannounced for no reason. “Carey, this is my girlfriend, Kayla. Kayla, this is one of my best friends, Carey.” They say hello and Carey faces me, which is when I notice she has a tote bag with her. That’s never a good sign. I already know what it means, but I ask anyway, just in case I’m wrong and she and Jerry didn’t get into an argument tonight. “What’s going on?”
“Can I crash here tonight?” she asks. “I’d go to Sydney’s, but she’d want to talk about it and I don’t feel like doing that just yet.”
“Kayla’s staying over, so you’ll have to sleep on the couch.” This isn’t the first time she’s asked to crash over here because she and Jerry got into an argument. Normally, we share my bed, her on one side and me on the other. Saves having to drag out blankets for the couch, putting them up again, and the bed is always comfier.
“That’s fine. Thanks.” She steps forward and hugs me. “You’re the best best friend, Logan.”
“Yeah, whatever. There’s ice cream in the freezer.”
She smiles and walks into the kitchen to the carton I always have stashed for her while I sit next to Kayla. This weekend just got a lot longer, between Mom coming into town, trying to spend time with Kayla, and now Carey having trouble with her boyfriend again. Trouble is probably the wrong word, too. They have blowouts every so often, but I think they like them. They get to have angry sex at some point during the argument and then once Carey goes back home, there’s makeup sex. At this point, I don’t worry about their arguments. Hell, they probably find ways to instigate some of them.
My quiet night is officially over as Kayla learns a little about Carey, and Carey learns about her and us. It gets even worse. Carey apparently brought nail polish. Soon, they are doing their nails with their feet propped against my legs. This is not what I signed up for.
“What are you two doing sitting at home on a Friday night anyway?” Carey asks.
“Logan’s mom surprised him.”
Carey gasps and I glare at Kayla. “What? She’s here? You’ve seen her? What happened?”
“Sorry,” Kayla whispers to me. “He doesn’t want to talk about it yet.”
“I need to just get everyone together or on a group call, so I only have to say it once,” I grumble.
“Well,” Carey starts. “We’re both here. You can recap to us. I can relay to Sydney.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be moping over your boyfriend?”
She rolls her eyes and pinches my side. “Just tell us. You know you want to.”
“What I really want to do is take Kayla to my bedroom.” Kayla slaps my arm at that. “What? We used to be roommates. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s heard sex from my bedroom.”
“Unfortunately,” Carey mutters. “The most memorable would be when he had his leg broken. Nothing was going to stop Logan from getting his booty calls.”
“You would do the same thing, Carey, only you never had a broken leg hindering you.” I chuckle. “Although, there was that one time that guy left you tied up and I had to untie you. Would that be considered a hinderance?”
“Uh, excuse me.” Kayla stands and walks toward my bedroom.
“How do you have a girlfriend?” Carey asks.
“What do you mean? I’m awesome. She’s awesome. We’re meant to be. I rock at being a boyfriend. It’s like being a best friend, but for a girl, and I get to have sex with her.”
Carey rolls her eyes. “If you say so. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I’ll be out of your hair in the morning, promise.”
“You can stay longer if you need to.” I pat her knee. “I’m going to grab blankets and a pillow, so I don’t have to do it later.” Which is how I find Kayla in my bedroom. “Hey, what are you doing in here?”
“I think I’m going to head home.”
“Home? I thought you were staying here tonight.” Why would she go home if she was planning to stay?
“You have your friend over and I don’t know, Logan. It feels weird.”
“She can go to Sydney’s,” I immediately say, closing the distance between us and grabbing her hands in mine. I don’t know why it’s weird, but sometimes, girls can be complicated to say the least. If I have to choose between Kayla and Carey? Well, sorry, Carey. No way am I about to do something where Kayla doesn’t come first or where she goes home when her plan was to stay.
“You already told her she could stay. You can’t ask her to leave.” Kayla frowns at the thought of that.
“Yeah, but you were here first. Don’t go, Kayla. Please, baby. Sweetheart? Pookie? Sweet cheeks?”
She laughs. “You and your names. Fine. I’ll stay.”
I kiss her. “Thank you. Let me get Carey settled and I’ll join you.”
She grabs her bag and disappears into the bathroom. I rummage through my closet to find blankets and a pillow. The pillow is what’s hard to find. I apparently don’t have one. I grab my pillow and head for the living room.
“As it turns out, I don’t have an extra pillow, but here’s mine. I’ll share with Kayla,” I say as I hand her the blankets.
“No, you keep it. I’ll use one of these throw pillows. It’s fine.”
“Need anything else?”
She shakes her head, so I leave her alone, letting her know the bathroom will be free soon. After my own trip to the bathroom to get ready for bed, I finally crawl into bed next to Kayla. She faces away from me, and for some reason, that has me feeling hesitant tonight. My hand hovers over her hip, my body itching to move closer to hers.
“Can I...can I hold you, sweet cheeks?” I ask, holding my breath for her answer.
Kayla twists to look at me over her shoulder. The smile on her face causes me to relax. “This body was made for holdin’ and cuddlin’, handsome.”
I grin and scoot closer to her. “I might not have made it through the day if it weren’t for you.”
She scoffs as if she doesn’t believe me. “You’d have been fine.”
“Nope. Definitely would’ve gone crazy.” I kiss her neck. “Thanks for staying.” All I wanted was for her to stick around. Her presence is enough to do someone’s soul good, and she does mine a hell of a lot of good.