Single Kid Seeks Dad

by Linda Wisdom

  Logan was faster in grabbing it. “Fine, I’m calling your bluff. Get out the red lipstick and high heels.”

  Lucy snatched up the invitation. “I’ll just phone in your RSVP. I’d hate to think you’d forget to do it.” She sailed out of the office.

  Logan caught a knowing expression on Gwen’s face. “What?”

  She grinned and shook her head. “Oh no, this is way too much fun to watch.”

  “What?” he insisted, still not understanding her amusement.

  Gwen laughed. “I just love watching the way she plays you. I think I could even learn from her.” She turned and walked away.

  “Ha! You know enough to unnerve most of the single guys in this county,” he called after her departing figure.

  “What can I say? It’s a gift,” she called back.

  Logan sat back. He could hear the muted sound of Lucy’s voice along with a crowing sound coming from Max. If only he hadn’t taken in that rooster a couple of weeks ago. The macaw not only had picked up the bird’s verbal salute to dawn, but he enjoyed crowing at all hours of the day. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but Magnum seemed to think he should howl in accompaniment.

  Right now Logan felt like doing a little howling of his own.

  He hadn’t planned on attending his high-school reunion. He hadn’t wanted to attend his high-school reunion. He didn’t hold that many good memories from that time.

  But the idea of going in there with Lucy on his arm was appealing.

  He had an idea it could end up being a night he’d never forget.

  “UH, MOM, is that what you’re going to wear?”

  Lucy turned to face her son who sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed. She hadn’t seen him look this horrified since he was five and she’d arrived at his kindergarten Halloween party dressed as a pixie. He later swore it would scar him for life.

  Tonight she definitely wasn’t dressed like a pixie.

  “Yes, this is what I’m wearing. Why, what’s wrong with it?”

  “You don’t wear stuff like that very much.”

  “Clothes?” She looked amused.

  “Ha, ha, very funny. It’s that you don’t wear stuff like that.” He inclined his head toward her.

  Lucy looked down at the dress she’d paid a small fortune for. Instead of opting for the little black dress, she’d bought a strapless one in a deep coral silk that moved with every curve. The front draped across her breasts and the back dipped down. The short skirt showed off her legs to perfection, right down to the high-heeled sandals with tiny straps that looked too flimsy for walking. Ginna had fixed her hair that morning in a knot of curls high up at the back of her head. After her bath, she’d applied a shimmery scented lotion to her shoulders and arms that gave her skin an extra golden sheen. She thought she looked pretty damn good and even sexy for the mother of a teenager.

  Anticipation for the night built up inside her like the first swirl of a tornado.

  Nick kept up his scrutiny. “You don’t look like a mom. Not that you don’t look nice,” he hastened to add. “You look really pretty. You don’t dress up very much, so maybe it’s more that I’m not used to you looking like this.” He looked embarrassed.

  Lucy thought back to the too few times she’d dated in the past. She knew she’d dressed up for other men, but she’d never splurged on a dress this sexy. She hoped it would literally bring Logan to his knees.

  “Sorry, my darling son, but there are times when moms like to look hot.”

  Nick made a face. “You do realize it’s statements like that that will put me in therapy when I get older?”

  Lucy smiled. She was used to her son coming up with dramatic statements.

  “So I guess he has to dress up, too,” he said glumly.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up wearing a tie,” she said. “Do you have your clothes packed for your overnight at Cathy and Lou’s?” She was grateful the older couple had asked if Nick would like to spend the night with them since Lucy didn’t know what time they would be returning from the reunion.

  His head bobbed up and down as he continued to stare at his mother with horrified fascination.

  “Don’t worry, Cinderella will turn back into a pumpkin after midnight,” Lucy teased.

  Nick slid off the bed. She winced as she saw her beloved comforter slid right with him. He noticed her expression and quickly turned around to straighten it.

  “Don’t forget to take Domino’s dinosaur.” She mentioned the squeak toy that the puppy had adopted as his green latex baby and now slept with.

  “It’s packed.”

  Lucy noticed her son’s squirming. “Now what?”

  He looked uncomfortable. “It’s just that you, well…” He grimaced. “Mom, you look good.” His face growing redder by the second, he made his escape with Domino hot on his heels.

  “Poor baby, he hates the idea of having a mom who might be considered attractive to the opposite sex,” she said under her breath as she applied coral lipstick. “I must remember to truly embarrass him when he starts dating.”

  “Mom! Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Lou are here!” Nick’s shout was easily heard from the front of the house.

  “Yes, dear, thank you. I’m sure the entire state of California heard you,” she muttered.

  Lucy walked into the living room, finding Cathy holding an enthusiastic Domino in her arms while Nick shifted his canvas bag from one hand to the other. He looked excited at the prospect of spending the night at his surrogate grandparents’ house. Lucy guessed it meant an evening of movies and junk food since Cathy and Lou firmly believed in spoiling the kids in their family.

  “Don’t worry about picking Nick up early, dear,” Cathy said. “Come over anytime. I’ll have waffles ready.”

  “Waffles?” Nick perked up.

  Lucy easily read the knowing glint in the older woman’s eyes. She clearly expected Lucy to be occupied come morning.

  “I’ll be sure to show up before Nick has a chance to eat his weight in waffles.”

  Cathy smiled. “No hurry.”

  “You should be ashamed of yourself,” she mouthed to the older woman.

  Cathy merely kept smiling.

  When the doorbell rang, Lou, who was closest to the door, leaned over and opened it.

  Logan grinned at Nick who stood beyond Lou. “Hey, Mr. Donner, I’m here to pick up your mother.”

  “You better behave with her,” Nick said straight-faced. “I have a large dog with big teeth and an even bigger appetite.”

  “We’re taking Nick for the night,” Cathy said brightly.

  “Cheapest kid care in the county,” Lou said to Logan. “You two have fun. As for my crew, time to roll.”

  “When did you get the fire truck?” Logan asked the older man.

  “You got a fire truck?” Nick spun around. “Cool!” He ran outside. “Awesome!”

  “A firefighter association hired me to restore it,” Lou explained. “A small town in Illinois used it until the late 1930s. It was discovered in a barn and now it’s with me for some tender loving care.”

  “There will be no using the siren,” Cathy warned as Lou walked outside. “Have fun, dear.” She kissed Lucy’s cheek.

  “Can we turn on the siren?” Nick could be heard.

  “No siren!” Cathy ordered, following them out.

  “How far down the road do you think they’ll get before we hear the siren?” Logan asked Lucy.

  “By the end of the driveway,” she guessed.

  It seemed the rumble of the big truck had barely faded away when it was replaced by a brief burst of the siren.

  “I knew Lou would let Nick try the siren,” she said, a grin on her face.

  “I would like to say you look incredible,” he told her.

  “Thank you,” she said demurely. “You look pretty good yourself.”

  He slowly turned in a full circle. “Sticky tape is great for getting off the dog hair.”

  She’d always t
hought he was good-looking but in a charcoal suit instead of scrub shirt and jeans, he was devastating.

  “Magnum probably thought he was going to be your date,” she said.

  “He is a party animal,” he agreed.

  Lucy glanced at the small gold clock set on a nearby table. “I’ll just be a minute.”

  While waiting, Logan walked around the living room. He stared, fascinated, at the small clock on the table, noticing the pendulum swinging one way, while the clock face swung the other. He lightly fingered the pendulum then swore under his breath when it swung a little too hard and separated from the piece holding the clock face. He fumbled to put it together and breathed a sigh of relief when it was swinging freely again.

  “Doctor with so-called delicate hands destroys a clock,” he muttered to himself.

  He studied the large room, noting the mauve and blue sofa and love seat that seemed made for comfort as well as looks. He could see that what was usually considered a more formal room was still people-friendly and comfortable enough to relax in. He noticed a night-light plugged in near the couch was a smiling sun wearing sunglasses. He walked farther in and sniffed one of the scented pillar candles on the mantel then looked at the painting hanging over the fireplace. Colors echoed throughout the room were slashed across the canvas.

  “Whatever happened to seascapes and pictures of deserts?” he muttered.

  A hissing sound brought him spinning around.

  A wild-eyed Luther stood in the door leading to the living room. The cat’s back was arched, his fangs in sight.

  “You’re safe, Luther,” he assured the outraged cat.

  The angry feline hissed his version of the last word before he stalked away, his tail held high as a banner of victory.

  “I see Luther came out to greet you,” Lucy said as she entered the room. She now wore a cream-colored cashmere wrap draped around her shoulders.

  “I got the equivalent of a cat curse,” Logan said. “‘Eat a furball and die.’”

  “Luther never forgives and never forgets.” She lowered her voice for effect. “He’s never forgotten his operation.”

  “We males are like that.” He waited while she set the house alarm and locked the door.

  “You seem more relaxed about tonight than you’ve been all week,” Lucy commented as he helped her into his car.

  “Resigned is more like it. Brian Walker called tonight and suggested we all go together. I told him you were making sure I’d be there.”

  “You can look up your old girlfriends and see how they’ve changed,” she suggested.

  “Did you do that with your old boyfriends at your reunion?”

  “Definitely. The one I thought wouldn’t amount to anything is now a multimillionaire in a dot-com business.” Her shoulders lifted and rose as she uttered a heavy sigh.

  “I told you. My free hours were spent on a surfboard.”

  “Then we’ll show the women what they missed out on,” she decreed.

  Logan shook his head. He was still trying to figure out how Lucy had talked him into attending his reunion when it was the last place he wanted to be.

  “Have you always been this bossy?” he asked.

  “It’s my nature. Some follow. I barge in. I’m the one who organizes.”

  “The clinic can attest to that.” The powerful car reacted to the light touch of his foot. He would have preferred taking his time getting there. Maybe even find a nice out-of-the-way restaurant for a quiet dinner then find a club for dancing. Too bad he had to mentally shoot down the thought.

  “I still can’t believe you want to do this,” he said. He hoped she might suggest they change their plans.

  “Everyone should attend their class reunion at least once.” She fiddled with the ends of her shawl. “I think it would be fun to attend a fiftieth reunion. Assuming I’m still mobile by then.”

  Logan chuckled. “My dad’s getting up to that age. Maybe you can persuade him to take you with him.”

  “Ah, yes, the trophy date. Hard to visualize that grumpy man walking around with a sweet young thing on his arm,” she said glibly. “I’ll wait for my own fiftieth reunion, thank you.”

  Logan visualized a silver-haired Lucy circulating through a crowd with vintage music playing in the background.

  “You were the Prom Queen, weren’t you?”

  “No, third runner-up. Evelyne Warner wore the crown. She didn’t need to pad her bra,” Lucy explained.

  “Yeah, teenage guys do tend to look for the obvious,” he said, steering the car onto the freeway and easily merging with the evening traffic. “It’s all that testosterone racing through our bodies.”

  “That’s something my brother Zach would say. Back then Zach offered to ask Evelyne for a date then stand her up so she’d feel humiliated.”

  “Did he?”

  “He asked her out, she said yes, but he somehow managed to forget to stand her up.” She laughed. “Did you miss not having brothers and sisters?” Lucy asked curiously.

  “Sometimes, but you forget I grew up with Brian, so I had his brothers and sisters.”

  “Your father didn’t mind you being around the Walker family even though he doesn’t like Lou?”

  He shook his head. “His beef is and always was with Lou only.”

  “So your father used to date Cathy, but she chose Lou.”

  “Cathy was one hot item back then,” he chuckled. “I saw her picture in one of Dad’s yearbooks.”

  “So all your father ever told you was that he fell for Cathy and she turned him down? Don’t you want all the juicy details?” she teased.

  “Wanting all the details is a girl thing,” he teased back. “And what I do know came from Cathy. My dad never talked about it and Lou only muttered things about stupid men. She said they’re both hard-headed old fools who are too stubborn for their own good.”

  “I still find it interesting that while your father sees Lou as his enemy he still allowed you to be friends with Brian and the rest of the family,” she said.

  Logan nodded. “He believed if he ordered me to stay away from the Walkers, I’d do the opposite. He was right. I was pretty rebellious. You forget, my dad’s a judge. He has to be fair even if it kills him.” He flipped the turn signal when he saw their exit coming up.

  It wasn’t long before they saw a lighted sign announcing the Sunset Canyon High-School Reunion.

  Logan pulled up in front and turned his car over to the parking valet.

  As they walked in, he realized that while he felt some apprehension about the evening ahead of them, he wasn’t as up-tight as he’d thought he would be. He was even able to smile naturally as they approached the registration table. And it all had to do with the woman walking beside him.

  “Here you are,” Lucy said, picking up a name badge that had a small picture attached to it. Her lips twitched with a badly suppressed grin as she pinned the badge to his lapel.

  “I told you, I was a surfer back then,” he muttered, wincing at the visual reminder of his past in his graduation picture. “My dad was not happy I didn’t get a haircut before the pictures were taken.”

  “Which accounts for the long shaggy sun-bleached blond hair, but what about that line across your nose?” she asked as she wrote her name in an elaborate script on a blank badge.

  “It’s called surfboard connects with nose,” he said.

  Logan was more interested in seeing where she was going to attach her badge. When she draped her shawl over one arm and stuck the sticky paper against the front of her dress, he knew he’d be spending the evening scowling at a lot of men for staring at her breasts.

  “Just take a breath and smile,” she said under her breath as they walked through the double doors and into a ballroom filled with people milling about. A band set up at the front of the large room was playing energetically. “No one will bite and if they do, you’ve had your shots.”

  “Were you always this much of a smartass?”

  “Not un
til I turned thirty.” She looked around with interest. “So your school colors are maroon and gold. Ours are red and black. The Cougars.”

  “Head cheerleader?”

  “I told you Evelyne Warner was the class hottie. There’s Brian and Gail. And Abby and Jeff,” she said, pointing to a round table with eight chairs placed around it. Gail turned and saw them. Her delicate face broke into a broad smile and she waved at them.

  “Yeah,” Logan said. He noticed the men had a hint of grim determination on their faces that he was sure was echoed on his own, while the women sparkled the way Lucy did.

  The women complimented each other’s dresses and the men escaped to get drinks.

  “How did you talk Logan into showing up?” Abby asked. “He swore he’d never come to a reunion.”

  “I bribed him with my body.”

  The two women practically howled with laughter then abruptly stilled as if they thought there was a chance she was serious.

  “Just how much of your body did you bribe him with?” Gail asked curiously.

  “All of it,” Lucy said. “I told him how much fun I had at my reunion and that he needed to go to his. And if he agreed to attend, I would come along as his eye candy.”

  Abby grinned. “I’d say you’re doing a good job of it.”

  “Maybe the three of us are doing a good job of making the men look great.” Lucy’s lips curved in a broad smile.

  Logan, Brian and Jeff arrived at the table and set the drinks down in front of the women.

  “Something tells me there was some plotting going on while we were gone,” Logan said to the other two men.

  “Something tells me that can only mean trouble,” Brian predicted.

  “Something tells me we’ll only learn what they want us to know,” Jeff said with the air of one who knew his wife only too well.

  Abby took a sip of her wine and set her glass down. “Come on, sexy, I want to dance.” She stood up and dragged Jeff to the dance floor. Gail did the same to Brian.

  By then, Logan didn’t need any hints from Lucy. He rose to his feet and made a dramatic bow.