Eating breakfast with Carey and Logan was almost as awkward as them discussing their sex lives in front of me. Maybe awkward is the wrong word, though it definitely fit last night. Simply put, I felt like a third wheel at times. I need to talk about Carey with Suzanne to see if I’m crazy or if I have a reason to feel uneasy.
“You never want to go shopping with me,” Suzanne says as we walk into the mall. That’s because she can literally spend all day long shopping and at some point, I get tired of it. “What’s the occasion?”
“I met one of Logan’s best friend’s last night.”
“So?”
“She spent the night.”
“Oh, so it’s a girl. Is Kayla jealous?” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“No, not really. She slept on the couch, but that was, in Logan’s words, ‘because Kayla is sleeping over.’ She normally sleeps in his bed with him, Suzanne. That’s weird, right? And he’s seen her naked. And they talk about sex with one another. They did it right in front of me. I mean, I’m no prude, but if Logan’s going to talk about sex like that, or sex with girls from his past, he could at least do it when I’m not around. I don’t know. I just felt out of place and uncomfortable around those two. Am I overreacting?”
Suzanne seems to think about it. “Yeah, I think so. Logan acted fine, right?” I nod. “Then he obviously has nothing to hide and you should trust him.”
I guess she has a point. Logan seemed at complete ease with her around.
Suzanne tugs on my arm. “Come on. Let’s shop and forget all about boy-men!”
That’s exactly what we do, too. We stuff our faces at the food court, buy things we really don’t need, but will sure look good in, and I snag some chocolate for Logan for Valentine’s Day.
“Hey, whatever happened at that party? I called you, but you didn’t answer and I’m tired of you avoiding the topic.” I’ve asked and asked and she does what she’s about to do now.
Suzanne shrugs. “Oh, it was nothing. The usual one-night stand.”
“With who?”
“A guy.”
“Suzanne! You know you’re only making something out of nothing by avoiding it. You never avoid it.”
“Maybe it’s because I want to forget about it.”
“Why?” I ask. She normally shares these things with me and she isn’t, which is why I want her to tell me more than what she is.
“Because,” she groans. “It’s nothing. It’s not like I’ve heard from him or that I plan to hear from him or that I want to hear from Axel.”
My eyes widen. “Axel? It was Axel!”
“You know him?”
“Yes! That’s who the party was for! Dax is his little brother.”
“Yeah, Dax was nice.”
Wow. How did she go from talking to some guys to sleeping with Axel and then poor Dax had to be the one to take her home?
“He’s just another boy-man, Kayla. It’s nothing and let’s forget it happened.”
“Okay.”
I still find it odd that she wants to forget it all. That seems unlike her, but I’ll do as she wishes and let it go now that she’s given me some details. As shopping comes to a close, I allow myself to think about Logan. He’s supposed to see his mom at some point today. Hopefully, that goes well for him. As if my thoughts can conjure him, he texts me.
Logan: Survived. Watching your newest video online because I miss you. And I have nothing else to do right now.
“You’re thinking about that boy-man! Stop it, Kayla.”
“He texted me. It’d be rude not to text back.”
“He can wait.”
I give her a pointed look. “We’re leaving, so why can’t I text him?”
She keeps her mouth shut at that, and I return to my texting.
Me: You like it?
Logan: Yes. You’re always amazing.
Logan: You don’t read the comments, do you?
Me: No. Too many trolls.
Logan: Too many creepers, too. Let me know when you’re home, so I can call you.
Me: Will do.
“How’s paradise?” Suzanne asks with a grumble.
“Don’t be grumpy with me. You’re the one with the issue with all the boy-men. We’ll find you a lover boy eventually.”
“Before I’m seventy would be great.”
I laugh. “That is totally doable.”
She glares at me before finally laughing herself. She soon drops me off at home. Dad is sitting on the couch with Gregory, who is playing a video game.
“Kayla! I’m glad you’re here. Tell your knuckle-headed brother he needs to start working with me in the shop. It’ll be great to know about cars, and,” at this, he looks at Gregory and slaps him across the back of his head for attention, “money.”
“Wait a minute.” Gregory pauses his game to look at my dad. “You didn’t mention money before. I’ll get paid?”
“You need money for gas and all that food you eat with your friends, don’t you? Money for movies, games, whatever else you want to do and buy. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
“How much money?”
Dad’s sly smile slides right off his face. “You think your dear old dad wouldn’t pay you a good rate?”
Gregory shrugs. “Trying to make sure it’s worth the effort.”
Dad snatches the game controller from Gregory’s hands. “It’s worth it. Go change your clothes. We’re going to work. You can come work with me after school and on weekends.”
“All the time?” Gregory’s eyes widen, making me chuckle.
“I said can. Meaning, you come when you want and you’ll get paid for when you come. Don’t come, don’t get paid. I’m not making you come every day and every weekend.” That seems to satisfy Gregory, so he heads to his room to change into some clothes acceptable for working in Dad’s shop. Dad turns toward me and my bags. “Looks like you had a good day.”
“Yeah. I did.” And because I can’t let it go, I ask, “What do you think about guys being just friends with girls?”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “What about it? Is it possible, you mean?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Real answer, or the answer you want to hear?”
My shoulders fall because that doesn’t sound good. “Real answer.”
“The guy at some point has probably wanted to sleep with her, but that doesn’t mean he will or that she’ll want him. This have to do with the jackass?”
I nod. “Apparently, he has a best friend who is a girl. I met her last night. I felt weird about them.”
Dad sighs, leans his head back on the couch, and stares up at the ceiling with his hands clasped over his stomach. “What does your gut say? I didn’t ask how you felt, but what that gut feeling is.” He turns his head to look at me.
“My gut says he’s a good guy.”
“Then let it go for now.” He pats my leg as Gregory returns. “I can still kick ass for my little girl if I need to and I definitely need a reason to hate the jackass, so you keep me posted.”
I laugh. “Thanks, Daddy.”
He stands and kisses me on the top of my head. They say goodbye and soon, I’m in the house all by myself. With a sigh, I walk to my room with my new items in tow. I call Logan and put him on speaker phone while I pull things out of the bags and tear off the tags.
“Hey, sugar. How was your day?”
“Good. Suzanne and I went shopping. How did it go with your mom?” I ask.
“Fine. She’s leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I don’t plan to see her before she goes. We went out to eat again and she asked more about my life. There’s years to catch up on, so there was a lot to tell. She told me more about her husband, too.”
“Are you going to answer her calls from now on?”
“Yeah.” It comes out like a sigh or a defeated answer. “We’ll see how it goes. Hey, do you want to go skating one day this week or wait until Saturday? We can’t do Friday or Sunday because Ian has games.”
“Whenever you or Sydney want to go. I’ll make it work whenever it is.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, just let me know something soon.”
“Okay,” he says. “I’ll let Syd pick since their schedule is more complicated than ours. Is your dad working again?”
I sigh. “He’s talked Gregory into working with him to earn money, so now he has an excuse to be up there on the weekends.”
“I’m sorry,” he says genuinely. “I know you worry about him.”
“Yeah, but I’m giving up. Dad always does what he wants to do, and it’s about time I accept that. What are your plans for the rest of the weekend?”
“Going out with Axel and Dax tonight and having lunch with Syd and Carey tomorrow. You?”
“Catching up on homework and the coffeehouse tomorrow.”
We chit-chat for a few more minutes before hanging up. The doorbell rings throughout the house, but it takes me a minute to get up because I’m covered with the clothes and other mess I bought today. Then, I nearly trip over a new pair of boots. By the time I get to the door, I pull it open without thinking to look and see who it is. It doesn’t matter, though. I frown at the empty porch. Someone had to push the button. I step out onto the porch and glance around, but everything looks normal. When I step back into the house, I make sure to lock the door.
“I can’t believe you’ve dragged me out here,” I mutter as Logan helps me onto the ice. Ian stands nearby with little Andrew in some kind of contraption that has him nestled against his chest since he’s the only one who can skate without losing his balance. Sydney holds his free hand since the other pats the little baby’s bottom. Savannah skates circles backward around them.
“It’ll be fun. Just remember, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and if it wasn’t for you, I’d be babysitting those two.” He nods his head toward the kids.
“That’s supposed to make me like you more? The fact that I’m your pass out of babysitting?”
Logan laughs as we shuffle our feet toward the family of four. “Okay, you make a good point.” He gives me a quick kiss. “If you fall, I promise to go down with you, baby.”
I laugh, though I certainly hope that doesn’t happen. At least he’ll make sure I don’t go down alone.
“Lo-Lo! Do this!” Savannah circles around her family backward once again, causing Ian to chuckle.
“Little Miss, that’s not something they can do just yet. Go grab his hand and start teaching them how to skate.”
Savannah gets a perplexed look on her face as she takes Logan’s hand. “All you do is move your feet, Lo-Lo. C’mon.”
“You’re a great teacher,” Logan tells her, though it’s a lie.
“Don’t walk,” Savannah chastises me. “Skate! You’re on ice.” The duh is silent, yet loud and clear.
She shows us the correct movement and we copy her. It really isn’t that hard, but we’re slow moving due to my lack of confidence. The motion is odd and I really don’t want to fall. Ian and Sydney are a few paces ahead of us, going at about the same speed.
“Lo-Lo?” Savannah’s voice sounds serious and she looks a bit concerned as she glances up at Logan.
“What’s up?”
“Are you going to marry Kayla?”
Logan’s hand tightens in mine as my nails dig into his skin with surprise. “What? Why are you asking me that?”
“Daddy kisses Mommy and they got married. So, are you? You can!” Savannah gasps while Logan stares at her. “You could have a baby, too!”
His eyes nearly pop out of his head and it takes everything not to giggle. “Syd!” he calls out. Ian and Sydney skate over. “She’s asking questions her parents should answer.”
“Lo-Lo’s gonna marry Kayla and have a baby, Mommy!”
“I didn’t say that!” he rushes to say to her before looking up at her parents.
Savannah frowns as Ian laughs and holds out his hand for her. “C’mon, little Miss. Let’s give Lo-Lo some space.”
“Why won’t they get married?” she asks with complete confusion as they skate away.
“Sorry,” Sydney says with a little laugh. “I need to catch up with him.”
I laugh the second Sydney turns her back. “That little girl is adorable, even if she is like a little marriage matchmaker.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you totally panicked over a three-year-old asking you to marry me, but you had no trouble proposing to me before you knew my name. It’s hilarious.” I clutch my stomach. “And you should’ve seen the color drain from your face when she asked if we’d have a baby. I thought you would faint!” I snort, and I’m laughing too much to be embarrassed.
“She’s almost four,” is the first thing Logan says, which only makes me laugh some more. “She’s worse than your dad, wanting to know what my five-year plan is.” That cracks me up.
“She’s just a little girl,” I point out.
“Who wants me to have a kid! Your dad didn’t even go that far. He only brought up marriage.”
Savannah comes up from behind us. “Lo-Lo, race me!”
“You think I’m ready for that?” Logan asks her and she nods. He looks at me. “You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, I have the hang of it for the most part.”
“Remember, if I fall, you fall, even if I’m way over there.”
I laugh and nudge him as Savannah tugs on his hand. They round the curve and it looks like Savannah gets a head start. Watching Logan exaggerate his efforts whenever Savannah looks back at him makes me smile. He’s a great uncle and will make a great dad one day.
“I win!” Savannah shouts loud enough for everyone in the building to hear her. She skates back to Logan and drags him along until they’re back with me.
“You’re really good,” I tell her.
“Thank you!” Savannah gives me a big smile.
“Are you going to teach your brother how to skate?”
“No!” Savannah looks like she just tasted something gross. “He can’t skate!”
“Why?” Logan asks. “You aren’t going to teach him once he can walk?”
“Nope!” Savannah folds her arms over her chest. “Only Daddy and me can skate good. Andrew has to be like Mommy.” A snarky tone emerges.
Logan picks her up and pokes her gently in the chest. “Hey, that doesn’t sound too nice. What if Andrew wants to learn? What if he wants to be like his big sister? You don’t want him to learn from you and be like you?”
She props her arm on his shoulder like it’s an armrest while she thinks about it. “Okay.” Ian and Sydney skate to a stop next to us. “Andrew can skate too, Daddy,” she tells Ian without any enthusiasm whatsoever.
“She didn’t want him to learn,” Logan explains.
He kisses her forehead and sets her back on her feet. The rest of our time at the ice rink goes pretty much like that. Savannah steals the show and conversation. A fussy Andrew sends Sydney off the ice to feed him, which means Ian is asked to race with Savannah. It’s a lot of fun. We go out to eat afterward. I almost expect Savannah to sit next to Logan, but she takes a seat in her dad’s lap.
Logan and Sydney talk and I glance around. Most of the tables have at least two people, but it’s always the table with only one person that catches my attention. There’s an elderly man sitting alone, a woman with her phone in one hand and her fork in the other, and then there’s a guy a little bit older than me, I guess. He hasn’t gotten his food yet and his attention isn’t stuck on his phone either. He kind of looks familiar for some reason. He’s probably been in the coffeehouse at some point. I wouldn’t think he’d be someone I’d walk by on campus. The guy glances up, catches me looking, and smiles.
“Kayla?”
“Yeah?” I shift my focus to the table, which is when I notice the waitress standing at the opposite end. “Oh, I’m sorry.” I place my order with only mild embarrassment.
“You okay?” Logan asks.
“Yeah, I just got distracted.”
“Kayla?” Savannah looks at me. “Want to color with me and Daddy?”
“Absolutely!” Anything to keep my focus here.
Savannah hands me a crayon and we color our hearts out. Time passes a lot faster by coloring with her. Ian doesn’t seem as irritated with her around either. Which the last time I saw him, he saw me making out with Logan on his couch, so he may have had a reason to be irritated.
“The girls miss seeing you,” Sydney says to Logan. “They want you to come with me the next time we go out for dinner.” Her eyes flit to mine. “You would really make their day if you brought Kayla.”
“They don’t miss me,” Logan says.
Who are the girls she’s talking about? They should obviously know I don’t know who they’re talking about. It would be nice if someone would clue me in.
“Don’t throw her to the wolves, babe,” Ian tells Sydney with a shake of his head. “You remember what it was like when you met them. Don’t do that to her.”
“Who are y’all talking about?” I finally ask.
“Spouses of his teammates. Sorry,” Sydney explains. “Logan would tag along with me sometimes when the guys are out of town and we decide to get together.”
“How about we just tell them she exists and let them gnaw on that for a while? They can meet her at Savannah’s birthday party next month when it’ll be easier for me to whisk her away if needed,” Logan suggests.
“What are we doing about her birthday?” Ian asks.
I listen to them discuss what to do since Ian will be out of town the day of and he has a game the day before. It takes all of five minutes for it to hit me that a month from now, Logan is totally expecting us to be together and for me to attend his niece’s birthday party. Thinking about it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Logan: Wear a dress.
Okay, that makes me nervous. We’re going somewhere for Valentine’s Day where I need to wear a dress? At least I can break out my new boots! I find my classic little black dress, a pair of tights, and finally, my boots. This is the one time I’m glad Dad isn’t home. I’m nervous and I don’t want him eyeing me as I leave. I’m considering this my first official Valentine’s Day outing. Those in high school don’t count and I’ve found myself alone in the Valentine’s since.
I hear a door slam shut and don’t bother giving Logan the chance to knock or ring the doorbell. Peering through the peephole, I do wait until he’s on the other side of the door to open it.
Logan grins, but then he gives me a once-over. Then a twice-over. And a third. When he motions for me to turn around with the twirl of his finger, I laugh while turning for him. He’s all dressed up, too. He’s even wearing a tie!
“Oh, yes, baby. You’ll make a good Valentine’s Day date.” He pinches my butt while I lock the door.
“Don’t get handsy. Save that for later, handsome. Where are we going anyway?” I ask as he takes my hand and leads me to the car.
“Out to eat.”
We make small talk until we park and walk through the heart of town toward a restaurant. A restaurant where reservations are needed, and Logan made some! Maybe I’m easily impressed, but if so, that’s okay with me. The place is full and teetering with couples. The last thing I expect from Logan is to stand and hold out his hand after we’ve placed our order.
“Come on, sweet thing. There’s a dance floor up there and we need to be on it.”
“You dance?” My surprise can’t be helped.
“Oh, yes. Let’s go.”
I take his hand with a smile. Logan is full of surprises and I hope the night has more to come.