Hello Stranger

“Logan? Can you come in a minute, please? I’m out of juice.”

Her voice was weak, but full of character, even in that one sentence. I paused, just out of view, wondering what the hell I should do. Should I rush down and grab him and tell him his mum was shouting out? Should I stick my head around the door and say sorry, I’ll get him?

She answered the question for me.

“Logan? Is that you out there?”

I cleared my throat and took a breath before I poked my head around the door. Then I answered her question.

“Hey, sorry, no. He’s, um, downstairs I think.”

The woman sitting up in bed looked amazing. She had a wild-coloured scarf on her head, and her bedcovers had flamingos on them, and her room was full of trinkets and pictures on the wall – a massive contrast to the neatness of Logan’s room along the hall. But it wasn’t that. It wasn’t the surroundings she was sitting in, or the scarf, or the flamingos. It was her.

Her eyes were so alive against the tiny body she was sitting up in. The tubes going into her nose didn’t take away from the smile that lit her up as she saw me standing there, and she was beckoning me over, holding out such frail hands with such enthusiasm.

They grabbed hold of mine as soon as I was close enough, and squeezed tight, and she was looking me up and down with a grin that lit up my heart.

“That’s Logan’s shirt,” she commented, and I felt my cheeks flame up as usual. “That means you’re a very special person. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Chloe,” I said, and I was smiling right back at her.

She relaxed against her pillows. “Chloe.” She paused, her hands still squeezing mine. “It’s nice to meet you, Chloe. Please tell me I’ll be meeting you again.”

My hands squeezed hers right back, and I knew something. Just from her smile, I knew something. I liked her. I liked her a lot.

“I hope so,” I said. “I really hope I’ll be meeting you again.”

“My name’s Jackie,” she told me. “I’m Logan’s mum.” She let go of my hands to gesture to a carton of juice in a mini fridge on the other side of the room. “Be a darling and pour me a juice, please, would you? I’m dry as a witch’s snatch.” She laughed then, a crazy little cackle.

I couldn’t help grinning at her as I grabbed her glass from her bedside table. I could feel her watching me while I crossed the room and poured her drink, and even though I felt as examined as I’d ever felt, I didn’t feel judged by her. Not in the slightest.

I gave her the drink and she thanked me and took a decent glug before she spoke again.

“Wasn’t expecting to find a pretty young thing in here this morning. Where did you meet with my boy?”

I didn’t have the chance to reply before footsteps sounded on the landing. My nerves shot up, right the way through me, and I’m sure my eyes were like dinner plates as I turned around.

There he was, and it was weird to see him like that, in a pair of casual trousers with a t-shirt on the top. To be honest, I’d never have imagined him like that, not in a million years.

He had a plate in his hand, and on it was a slice of what looked like peanut butter on toast with no crusts on the edges.

“Love you, darling,” she said as he handed it over. Then she grabbed my arm with her other hand. “He takes real good care of me, you know. I’m one lucky lady.”

His eyes were on mine, and they were burning dark again. “There’s breakfast downstairs, if you’re hungry.”

Yeah, I was hungry. My stomach was rumbling at the peanut butter. I nodded with a thanks and it was a whole new weird to be in that space with him.

“Lovely to meet you, Chloe,” his mum said as I took a few steps away.

“Lovely to meet you too, Jackie,” I said back, and gave her a stupid little wave that I’m sure made me look like a dumbass as I left her room.

I could feel Logan following me until his mum’s voice shot out at him. “Don’t you go anywhere yet!”

She was laughing that cackle of a laugh. I turned back to face him and he was smiling at her and then at me.

I loved to see him smile like that.

His eyes were so intense as they fixed on mine. “Head on down. I’ll be there in a minute.”

I nodded, and did that stupid wave again, and he smiled harder.

“I’ll be downstairs,” I said, stating the obvious.

I went down the stairs and found my shoes positioned neatly on the shoe rack, and my coat hanging neatly up above.