“Your dad broke your phone?” he asked.
I nodded. “He was working on my car, changing the oil. I’d left a coffee cup full of coffee and my phone on top of the roof while I went inside to pee. During that time, he let the car down off the hoist and everything slid. My phone fell into the crack between the windshield and the hood, and then coffee poured all over it. I’m just lucky that it works at this point.”
He grunted. “Go get changed. Don’t forget to come back.”
I snickered.
“I’ll come back, Logan. I promise.” I held my left hand up and my right hand over my heart.
He set the girl down on the floor in the hallway and handed her my phone.
Then stalked toward me and pulled me into his arms.
“Thank you,” he said, pressing his lips to mine. “I’m lost without you.”
Something in the pit of my stomach started to swell. Butterflies erupted, and I bit my lip as I said, “You’re welcome…and I’m beginning to feel the same way.”
He pressed a deep kiss to my lips, and when he let me go, I was panting.
“Go get dressed,” he ordered. “And I’ll do the same.”
When I arrived back at Logan’s apartment ten minutes later, it was to see both dogs panting and lying on their sides next to the mouth of the stairs.
I grinned and whistled at them as I stepped over them, knowing they’d follow. Or at least knowing that Lou would follow. Sister, I assumed, would follow based on what Lou did.
They’d been out for thirty minutes now, and it was more than obvious that they really adored each other.
The dogs came barreling up the stairs just as the door to Logan’s apartment opened.
“Got your phone,” he said as he waved it at me.
I grinned and stopped mid-way up the stairs. “It’s not any more broken than it was, is it?”
He shook his head. “No, but she did throw it. I don’t notice any new cracks.”
I took the phone from him and held my hands out for the girl.
Logan handed her off willingly.
“If this situation is any indication of how parenthood is going to be, I’m not sure that kids are for me,” he told me.
I snorted. “I think that it’s different when they’re your own kids. Since Logan’s not yours, I’m assuming she is just scared.”
“I was assuming that Tasia turned her exactly into herself. Meaning she’ll hate anyone and everyone,” Logan muttered.
“Or maybe Tasia doesn’t hate everyone. Maybe she just hates you?” I said.
Logan’s snort followed us down the stairs.
He held onto my free arm, helping me descend them, and making my heart melt right along with his attentions.
He really was sweet, and I didn’t think that he had any idea that he was.
When we reached the bottom of his apartment stairs, I handed the girl over.
“Here, Logan, hold Logan,” I teased.
Logan rolled his eyes but took the girl with gentle fingers.
Then, I did what any smart woman would do. I called my mother.
I moved a little farther away from the screaming child so my mother would be able to hear me, then waited for her to pick up.
It didn’t take long.
“Hey, baby,” my mother sang as she answered the phone. “Do you want to come to lunch with me and Daddy?”
I grinned wide.
“Actually, that was why I was calling. Can you make it breakfast?” I said. “Would you meet us at the McDonald’s at the end of the road near my house?”
“Your dad doesn’t like McDonald’s,” she said. “How about the steak place just a little farther up the road?”
A ‘little farther up the road’ was actually a mile up the road, and you had to cross heavy traffic to get there.
“That’s fine…as long as you can fit a toddler into a car seat. A car seat that you go and buy before you come pick us up,” I said.
She hesitated.
“How about we meet you at McDonald’s and go from there,” she suggested.
I grinned.
“Did anyone tell you about our visit from the cops?” I questioned.
There was a pause. “No. And I don’t think your dad knows, otherwise he would’ve told me…right?”
The way her voice rose at the end, I had a feeling that my father hadn’t shared the previous day’s events…or today’s for that matter.
“How long will it take you to get to McDonald’s?” I asked.
“About five minutes,” she said.
I looked at the length of trail that we had left to walk.
“You’ll probably beat us there since we’re walking. But we’ll see you there,” I said. “Love you.”
My mother said ‘I love you’ back and hung up, but not before she started to yell at my father.
Grinning, I looked at the man that had gotten about thirty yards in front of me.
He was typing out a text while he walked.
I skipped toward him.