“Well, isn’t it normal for a woman not to get along with her mother-in-law?” Logan asked.
“It’s not that we don’t get along. We do. But if she keeps trying to micromanage my wedding, I think I might kill someone.” She sighed. “Does it ever feel like that with Jacob’s mom?”
“Honestly, I’ve only ever met Jacob’s parents once, and that was for about ten minutes.”
“You’re kidding.”
“They were in Dallas for something, and Jacob took me up there to meet them. He introduced us and told them we were getting married. They said their congratulations, and then a few minutes later they had to leave or they’d miss their flight.”
“Wow, I wish Darren’s mom could live across the country…just for a few months. It must be so nice to be able to plan everything without a pair of judging, opinionated eyes over your shoulder.”
“I guess,” Logan mumbled. Truth be told, she hadn’t done much of any planning at this point. She still hadn’t even set a date. It wasn’t her fault; she’d tried. But anytime she attempted to sit herself down and make any actual decisions about this wedding, she’d find something else that seemed to need her attention more presently.
“How’s the big bet going?” Carly asked carefully.
After a week of not talking to each other, Carly had shown up at Logan’s front door two mornings ago with a box of their favorite doughnuts from Byrdie’s bakery and café downtown and a huge apology. They’d easily forgiven each other before devouring their deliciously fattening breakfast while Carly begged for all the details from the different challenges so far.
“The same. I’ve still got one more letter than him.” Logan had been avoiding Wade’s the last few days, not wanting to see the scoreboard and the very clear HOR under her name.
“And you haven’t heard from Cole? He gets to pick the next one, right?”
Logan’s stomach tightened, something it had been doing more and more lately. She was used to having a physical reaction to the name or thought of Cole Tucker. When she first got back to town it was easily a feeling of dread or disgust. But in the last week or so, that yucky feeling had started to morph into one of an addict about to get his next fix—a feeling she hadn’t associated with Cole Tucker since she was a kid plotting her latest revenge. It left her unsettled.
“Not since lunch at the bar. But between his schedule at the fire station and whatever he does in his free time, it could be a while before I do,” she said with a frown. “And it’s not like his life revolves around our bet.”
“Mm-hmm,” Carly said.
The doorbell rang downstairs. Logan pulled her cell phone from her ear and checked the time.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Carly, I have to go. Jacob just got here for dinner, and I’m not even close to ready.”
“Okay, have fun, and tell Jacob I said hey.”
“I will. Bye.”
Logan raced to her closet.
*
“Mrs. Kase, this is the best meal I’ve had in a long time,” Jacob said, wiping his mouth with his napkin.
Momma smiled with delight. Her dark hair was perfectly done, and she was wearing her favorite light blue dress. Logan didn’t doubt that her mother had put more effort into her appearance tonight than even she had. “Aw, thank you, honey. And I told you to please call me Cindy.”
“Yes, sorry.” He smiled brightly at Logan, clearly pleased with how well the evening was going. It was sad that this was the first time the four of them had sat down together for a dinner.
“I’m not even sure the last time I had a home-cooked meal,” he went on. “With me working most nights and neither of us being much of a cook, Logan and I usually go out to a restaurant when we’re together.”
“It’s true. Unfortunately, Logan did not inherit my love for cooking,” her mom teased.
“Or your talent, it would seem.”
Momma was beaming.
The topic of Carly’s wedding—was Jacob going, was he in the wedding party, how did he like Carly and Darren?—managed to take up a good twenty minutes of conversation.
The chief sat at his end of the table, nodding, but otherwise adding nothing to the conversation, too focused on devouring his chicken, potatoes, green beans, and dinner roll. He was already working on his second plate when the subject turned to Jacob’s reasons for not consuming red meat, alcohol, or anything with refined sugar. At that point, her father just stared down at his plate, shaking his head. Luckily, Jacob didn’t notice.
“Tell me about Logan,” Jacob said as he pushed his empty plate away from him. “What was she like as a kid?”
There was a collective silence as three pairs of eyes shifted around the room. “What is there to tell, really?” her mom said, moving the potatoes around on her plate with a forced smile. “She was just a normal, sweet little girl. Spent her time around the house mostly, helping me with this and that.”
“And taking care of Aunt Caroline, of course,” Jacob added.
Logan grimaced as both of her parents looked at him, equally lost.
“Right,” Logan jumped in. “Great-aunt Caroline, whose initials I got tattooed on my wrist after she passed.”
“Yes, of course,” her mom said. “Aunt Caroline…”
“Teague.”
“Yep, Caroline Teague. My grandmother Jeanette’s sister. That’s right,” she said, nodding. Daddy rolled his eyes and took another bite of his green beans.
“Do you have any other family here in town?”
“Oh, no, just us,” her momma said. “I’ve got some extended family up in Virginia that we try to go visit every year, but other than that we don’t see much of them. Marshall’s sister Lynn is up in New York, though, and they stay in touch. Her daughter, Darby, is just a few years younger than Logan.”
“What about your family, Jacob?” The chief grabbed his sweet tea and took a sip. “I don’t think we’ve heard much about them.”
“Yes, tell me all about them. I can’t wait to meet everyone,” Momma said.
Jacob smiled. “Well, my mom and dad are both surgeons in San Francisco. That’s really all there is to my family. I’m an only child like Logan, so there are no brothers or sisters to tell you about. And my parents didn’t stay very connected with the extended family. Other than my grandparents, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else in maybe ten years.”
“Oh, that’s a shame,” her momma said.
Jacob shrugged. “It’s not that bad. I think, if anything, it’s just made my mom, dad, and me feel closer. And as much as they work, it’s not like they would be able to contribute much to a big family.”
“So, was it your parents who made you want to become a doctor?”
“Yes, ma’am…I mean, Cindy. Seeing all the good they did to help people, I knew I wanted to do exactly what they did.”
“It takes quite a commitment to get through that kind of education,” the chief said with approval. “Did you ever consider taking a different route, trying something else?”
“No, sir, not really. I’ve never felt like there was any other option. I’ve always wanted to do something good in this world, to save people’s lives.”
Momma smiled. It was the answer her parents wanted to hear, but it was also a far cry from the truth. Logan knew well enough that Jacob’s love for his job was due more to the income than anything else. If her parents only knew the number of patients he’d accused of being redneck, hillbilly idiots, they’d start spouting Bible lessons on the Golden Rule right here at the dinner table.
It had never really bothered Logan before. It was just one of those things she learned to accept about her significant other. It was how he was raised, after all, no fault of his own.
But for some reason, watching him work his way into her parents’ hearts at dinner with how much he cared about his patients was really grating on her nerves, especially when there were other people out there who really did care and deserved her parents’ praise a lot more than Jacob
at this moment.
“And what schools did you go to?” her dad asked.
“Stanford and then to UCSF med school. After that, I completed my residency at Dell Med in Austin before I took the job at St. Mary’s.” Jacob calmly took a sip of his water. He didn’t seem at all bothered by the third-degree.
“What made you choose to go to Dell Med?” Mom asked. She took a bite from her barely touched plate before she set it aside, resting her elbows on the table while she listened.
He smiled at her. “My parents thought it would be a good idea. They have some connections with the faculty and made it happen. Not that I can complain. If I hadn’t been in Austin, I wouldn’t have met Logan.”
“Aw, that’s lovely. So, now that you’re in Athens, you’ll be staying for a while, I assume.”
Jacob’s eyes lit up, but Logan gave him a sharp look.
“Actually, Mom—”
“I’ve applied for a job at San Francisco General,” Jacob’s voice came in louder. “We’ll be moving there as soon as I get it.”
“Jacob!” Logan yelled across the table. She suddenly wanted to throw her dinner plate at her fiancé’s head.
Her mother’s startled eyes turned on her. “You…what? San Francisco?”
“I’m sorry, Momma. I’ve been trying to find the right time to tell you. And I planned for a gentler delivery than that.” She glowered at Jacob, who shrugged like he didn’t understand her anger. How could he possibly have thought that blurting it out like that would be okay?
The chief set his fork down for the first time, abandoning the food on his plate. “Now, Jacob, you said you applied. But what makes you so sure that you’ll even get this job?”
“My parents have friends on the board of directors, so it’s all but a done deal. We just have to go through the formalities.”
“Is that how life works for you?” Dad asked, his voice unforgiving. “You want something and your parents just go off and get it for you, just like that? Is that how you plan to take care of my daughter? Having your mom and dad call in favors for you?”
“Daddy.” Logan said his name softly. She couldn’t blame him for being angry, but that didn’t give him the right to take it out on Jacob. “It’s not his fault. I’m the one who kept putting off telling you guys.”
Her mom stood quickly, grabbing her and the chief’s plates from the table. “I’ll just take these into the kitchen,” she murmured.
“Here, Momma.” Logan picked up her own plate. “Let me help you.”
“No, no.” Without looking at anyone, she took Logan’s plate from her hand. “I’ve got it, honey. You just stay seated, and I’ll be out with dessert in just a minute.” She picked up Jacob’s plate last and left the dining room.
Logan took one look at her father, who closed his eyes and nodded toward the door. She followed her mother into the kitchen. Her mom let the plates fall loudly into the sink as her hands gripped the edge of the counter.
“Momma? Are you okay?”
At the sound of Logan’s voice, her momma stood tall and ran her hands over her face. “I’m fine, baby.” She turned around, smiling at her. But Logan could see where her eyes were turning red with tears. “It’s just a bit of a shock is all. California is a long ways away, and I feel like I only just got you back.”
Logan stepped around the island and put her hands on her mother’s arms. “I know, but I’ll call you every day. And it’s just a plane ride away. I’ll come visit you all the time.”
“Like you have the last four years?” The words slapped Logan across the cheek, and her momma’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
Logan’s heart ached, but she had no right to be upset. Her momma was right. She hadn’t once visited home when she lived in Austin. How could she be trusted to visit when she was on the opposite side of the country?
“You know why I stayed away before,” she said quietly. “But I promise you, nothing’ll keep me away this time.” Not even Cole Tucker. Logan couldn’t be that selfish again, not when it came to her mom and dad.
“And besides, you guys can come out to us anytime you want. Jacob makes plenty of money as it is, and the pay there will only be better after this promotion. We could fly you two out and give you the vacations y’all never really got to have before.”
Her mom nodded. “We’ll see. Now do me a favor and grab some silverware while I get this pie,” she said, taking out the fresh apple pie she’d made only a few hours ago just for Jacob.
“When you said Jacob didn’t drink sweet tea, I didn’t realize it was because he doesn’t eat sugar at all.” She frowned. “It’s a shame. I bet he would have really liked this.”
“Don’t worry, Momma.” Logan pulled open the silverware drawer and grabbed a handful of spoons and forks before going to the freezer and pulling out the half gallon of vanilla ice cream. “I’m pretty sure he’ll make an exception tonight.”
At least he would if he didn’t want one of her pointed leather boots shoved up his ass while he drove home.
*
“I think that went really well, don’t you?” Jacob asked, rubbing his stomach as Logan walked him out to his car. “Although, I think I could have done without the three slices of pie you practically shoved down my throat.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she whispered, turning on him and forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. “You had no right to spring it on them like that. I was finally ready to ease them into it. And then you go and pull a bullshit move like that one?”
His eyes widened. “I know, but I thought it would be easier for you this way. If I didn’t just tell them, you’d probably still be trying to figure out a way to do it nicely without hurting their feelings.”
“Easier for me?” she cried out. “I don’t care about how hard it is for me. I wanted to make it easier for them! After everything they’ve put up with over the years, they deserved at least that much.”
His brows came together. “Put up with? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” she sighed. “I just really wanted to tell them myself. You had no right to do it for me like that.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. But, hey, at least they know now. So you don’t have to stress over it anymore.”
When she said nothing, Jacob took a step closer. He wrapped his arms around her slowly and pulled her in close. “So,” he said with a devious grin, “what do you say we get that hotel room you were talking about last week? I don’t have to work again until Sunday. We could get a room tonight and spend all day tomorrow coming up with reasons not to leave it.”
“I have a better idea,” she said, pulling out of his embrace. “Why don’t you go get a hotel room and then spend tomorrow trying to figure out why the only one willing to have sex with you tonight is your hand.”
Logan turned to go back into the house.
“Ah, come on, babe. Don’t be like that. I was just trying to help you.”
“Go home, Jacob,” she called over her shoulder.
Once she was inside, Logan stood at the window by the door and watched as Jacob backed his car out of the driveway and sped off. She let out a sigh. She didn’t think she’d ever been so relieved to see him go.
Chapter Seventeen
Logan squirmed, feeling several pairs of eyes studying her but refused to return their gaze. She shifted in her seat, picking at the fabric of her new pink dress. There was a time when she thought about dresses and high heels with nothing less than an all-consuming loathing and swore never to wear either in public.
Now, however, it was more like a mystified appreciation. She still preferred a good pair of worn blue jeans and a comfy shirt. But since she’d reached puberty, even Logan had to admit that the somewhat painful combo had its uses. Not that any of those uses included sitting in a church pew and listening to Pastor Joe greet them all while she was gawked at by just about every woman over sixty.
Logan hadn’t stepped inside Willow Creek
Baptist Church in years, but the building was still the same. From the light blue walls, dark blue carpet, and row after row of wine-red pews, to the ridiculously high ceiling with huge golden chandeliers. Floor-to-ceiling windows perfectly framed the row of sun-lit magnolia trees. A breeze ruffled the white and purple blossoms and called invitingly for Logan to join them in the clear, sunny day that existed beyond the sanctuary’s four blue walls.
Logan shivered as the building’s monstrous air conditioners kicked on. She glanced at her mother sitting to her right wearing a warm, pale blue cardigan over her cream-colored dress. On her mother’s other side, in what used to be Logan’s spot at the end of the pew, sat the chief.
“I forgot how cold it gets in here,” she muttered under her breath, rubbing her bare arms. The chief smiled. Her mom gave a slight shrug but otherwise made no indication she’d even heard her.
Logan said nothing as she turned her attention back to the pastor, who’d just invited them to stand and sing along with the choir.
She felt the distance between her and her mom since their disastrous dinner with Jacob like a chasm. She’d hoped her efforts to surprise Momma at church this morning would help fix that void, but her mother’s cold shoulder so far left her feeling empty.
That emptiness became even more real when her stomach growled and she realized she’d been so focused on getting to church on time that she’d forgotten to eat anything. She crossed her arms over her stomach to stifle the noise and sang a little louder, hoping to drown out the sounds of her starvation.
She spent the next several verses trying not to think about how hungry she was or how badly she wanted her momma to hug her or, at the very least, acknowledge her existence.
As the music minister led them into another hymn, Logan finally took a chance to observe the members of the congregation the way they’d been observing her since she walked in.
Most of them she’d already encountered around town or down at the bar, but there were a few she was seeing for the first time since moving back.
Keeping Score Page 11
