I laughed at her disgruntled tone. “I promise we’ll go to Vegas for your bachelorette party.”

Emily snorted in disbelief. “I don’t think Vegas will be as much fun when we’re in walkers, which we’ll probably be using by the time I ever get married.”

“Oh, please,” I said dismissively. “You have plenty of fawning admirers to choose from. You’re just determined to be a career woman and take over the world.”

“That’s true,” Emily said, laughing. We talked for a while about the wedding, as well as Emily’s life in New York. By the time we got off the phone, I heard the key turning in the front door.

Lola ran to the door, her tail wagging. “Hey, girl,” Logan said, reaching down to scratch her head. He looked up at me and smiled, and for the millionth time, I told myself I was the luckiest girl in the world. It didn’t matter that he still hadn’t regained his memory. Amazingly, his love for me was constant, despite not remembering our past.

“Hi,” he said, dropping a kiss on my mouth before taking his jacket off. “I missed you.”

I smiled at him. “We’ve only been apart for nine hours.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Only? That’s nine hours too long.”

I rolled my eyes at his cheesy line, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I watched as he took off his tie, his shirt stretching across his wide chest as he lifted his arms. I wondered if it would always be like this between us. That I would see him and instantly want to jump his bones. Luckily, I had a lifetime to find out.

“What do you want to do for dinner,” he asked, oblivious to the fact that I was drooling over him.

“Want to be really bad and eat a big plate of nachos?” I asked, knowing he would never refuse the suggestion. “I know I should be worried about fitting into my wedding dress next week, but the call of chips smothered in cheese and sour cream is just too tempting.”

“If your body is the result of too many nachos, I think you’ve found the next fad diet. Eat nachos all day long and have a body that any man would want to fuck.” Logan raised an eyebrow. “Of course, I’m the only one that’ll ever be inside you again.”

I blushed at his comment, but waved him away. “Hurry up and change so I can do my part in keeping my bangin’ body,” I joked.

After Logan had changed and we had given Lola her dinner, we went to the Half Pitcher. It was crowded, which was the norm for a Friday night, but luckily we were able to snag a table. I leaned back in my chair after we had ordered the nachos and gotten our beers. Life was so good right now, I was afraid to blink and miss any moment of it.

“Anything interesting happen today?” Logan asked as he took a swig of his beer.

“Not really. I was chained to the computer most of the day,” I said. “I did talk to Emily. She’s pretty excited about next Saturday.”

“Hey, I’m pretty excited about next Saturday too, considering I’m the groom.”

“I know,” I said, smiling. “It’s just the first time she’ll be back in Chicago since she moved. It’ll be nice having her back.”

“Do you know if Cassie’s parents are coming?”

I sighed. Mrs. Brooks had been making progress, but it had been very slow and steady up until about a month ago. She had made a breakthrough in admitting that Cassie was dead and never coming back. I hadn’t visited her since she had been committed because Mr. Brooks thought it best, but I had invited them both to the wedding.

I shook my head. “Mr. Brooks still hasn’t said anything about the wedding and the RSVP date passed a while ago. I just never felt comfortable bringing it up during our phone calls. I think it’s safe to assume that they won’t be there.” I took a sip of my beer. “I really didn’t think they would come, anyway. It just didn’t feel right, not inviting them.”

“Do you think the date has anything to do with them not responding?”

Friday was the anniversary of Cassie’s death, and I had hesitated in choosing a wedding date just a day after that date. But it was the only day available at the church where we wanted to get married for the next two years. I had come to terms with it, telling myself that Cassie would always be with me in spirit, and dates didn’t matter.

“I hope not,” I finally replied. “I can understand that it would be kind of jarring to see that we’re getting married the day after the anniversary of her death, but I don’t want that one day to rule my life. I’d rather celebrate the happy days, like her birthday. It’s this Monday.”

Logan reached across the table and took my hand. “Do you want to do anything for it?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I want to go to the amusement park where we spent her last birthday together.” I pressed my lips together. “We were so happy that day.” I frowned as I thought about my statement. “Actually, I wanted to be happy that day, but I was too guilt-ridden to enjoy it. I want to go this year and just let loose and have fun, the way I would have if I had known it would be our last moments together.” I looked at Logan. “Does that sound crazy?”

“Of course not,” he said, squeezing my hand. “We’ll go.”

“What about your work?”

“Screw work. Sometimes there are more important things than work.”

Before I could express my gratitude, the waitress came over with our nachos. We dug in, and for the rest of the night we kept the topics light, but my mind kept straying to Cassie. I knew in my heart that she would be happy for me on my wedding day. I just hoped her parents understood.

Last visited: Page 78 of Of Loss & Betrayal (Madison & Logan 2)

Of Loss & Betrayal (Madison & Logan 2) - Page 78