He gave her a single nod. “Of course.”
Then she gave him another smile and headed for her car, leaving Logan alone with the Doucet girls.
And a whole new plan.
11
“So he stayed and took care of you for two days, told you he wants to marry you, told you he’s in love with you and the girls, and you’re still not going to let him come to the dance competition this weekend?”
Dana looked across the support group circle to Gabe. “I don’t know what he told you, but—”
“He didn’t tell me any of this,” Gabe said. “This is the first I’m hearing of it. I knew you and Grace were sick and he changed his shifts around with Josh, but that’s all I knew.”
Dana frowned. “Well, I can’t let him come. The other moms, and dads, are still annoyed and it’s easier if he’s not in the middle of all of that.”
Interestingly, Logan hadn’t said a word about the competition. She’d finally mentioned last night that they wouldn’t be home until late on Sunday night, kind of hinting that he wouldn’t be with them for the weekend. He’d nodded and said he’d be at her house when they got there.
“But you and the girls and Logan talked about how all that really matters is that you all know your situation and how everyone feels, right?” Bea asked. “Chloe and Grace are fine with everything?”
Dana nodded. “They still think we’re going to have a wedding coming up, but they are fine knowing that Logan is there for them no matter what their last name is and that they will still be big sisters and all of that.”
She’d meant it when she said the only people who really needed any explanations about their situation were the girls and their friends and family. She really didn’t care what Tiffany and others like her thought. But something still niggled in the back of her mind. It mattered to Logan. Not because he didn’t know their situation, but because he liked the idea of everyone knowing they belonged together. That was sweet. But calming the gossips wasn’t a reason to get married.
Still, the thought of leaving it all as is bothered her because of what he’d said in her kitchen the other night. He didn’t feel legit.
“Are you going to have a wedding?” Lindsey asked.
Dana looked at her in surprise. Lindsey hadn’t asked her anything about Logan at all. She hadn’t asked how things were going, if he was still at her house after practically moving in for the two days she and Grace had been sick, if he was still pissed about the dance team. Nothing. She’d dropped off supplies but hadn’t stayed. Of course, Dana had been passed out in bed and wouldn’t have been much of a conversationalist. But she was surprised that her friend was asking her questions in front of the group rather than privately.
“I don’t know,” Dana told her. “I know it’s controversial for people to have babies together and not get married, but I think the important thing is that he’s around to bond with the baby and help out. Getting married is…more than that.”
Lindsey nodded. “But he seems to be ready for more.”
He did, kind of. But he hadn’t asked her about more since that night in her kitchen. “He’s brand new to all of this. He’s still learning. We’re still figuring out how to do this together.”
“Your girls love him.”
Dana widened her eyes. Lindsey was arguing with her on this? “Of course they do. They’re girls. All girls love Logan.”
Lindsey rolled her eyes. Dana gaped at her. Lindsey had rolled her eyes at her? “Your girls love Logan because he’s awesome with them and because he loves them.”
Dana frowned. “I know.”
“And he’s great with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, he doesn’t really let you boss him around and just take charge. And he thinks you’re awesome. And he sees stuff like when you’re trying to protect him from things he doesn’t need protection from. He doesn’t let you push him away.”
Except he had. He hadn’t insisted on going to the competition. He hadn’t insisted on getting married. He hadn’t insisted that he loved her. Dana swallowed hard. That was what was bothering her the most. “Ever since I told him that he was making things messy, and threw up on him, he hasn’t said anything about coming to the competition. Or about us getting married. He’s been just doing the fun stuff he was doing before. He hasn’t made any waves or…insisted on anything.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Gabe asked. He sounded annoyed.
Dana looked at him. “I thought I did,” she admitted. “I thought I wanted things to be easy and have him just do the basic stuff that would make things…easier on me. But…” She hesitated. But this was her support group. Okay, one of them was the brother to the man who was making her question everything. But she needed advice. This was where she came for that. She wet her lips. “I’ve gotten to know him,” she said. “And I’ve realized that whether by charm or persistence or a crazy combination of both, when he really wants something, he goes after it. And usually gets it. He’s…passionate. And verbal about his feelings. No one wonders how Logan feels or thinks about things, right?” She looked around the circle and noted all of the nodding. Then she focused on Gabe again. “Well, I don’t know how he feels about me.”
Gabe opened his mouth but she held up a hand.
“And I would. If he really felt something for me, I would know it. Everyone would. When he found out we were having a baby, he immediately threw a party. He brought you and your mom and Addison and the kids to my house the very first night. He dove into the world of ghosts for Grace and dance for Chloe. Hell, even if he has a favorite song everyone knows it. He wants the world to know that he loves my girls. He…isn’t shy about his feelings.”
Gabe didn’t try to speak again. But he nodded his agreement.
She drew a shaky breath. It was all true and she’d been thinking about it for days, but it was more official now that it was out loud. She knew Logan cared about her. She knew he’d be there for her. He’d not only proven that, but he did what he said he’d do. She’d seen that over and over. And she knew he’d love the baby. If he could fall for two little girls who weren’t his biologically and that he’d really only known for a couple of months, then he would be head over heels for his own from day one.
“So, I mean, things with the baby are going to be great. Logan’s going to be an amazing father. And that’s the most important thing. But…” She swallowed hard and shrugged. “I guess I was just thinking that it might be…nice…if he loved me too since, well, I’m in love with him.”
Gabe’s eyes widened and Dana heard Addison sniff, but it was Lindsey that spoke.
“Dana,” she said gently. “I don’t think it’s true that he doesn’t love you.”
“He’s never said it. And he says everything he’s thinking.”
Lindsey smiled. “Maybe. Or maybe he says everything he’s thinking when he knows exactly what to say.”
“What do you mean?”
“All of the situations you mentioned before—with his friends and his family and the girls—he knows exactly where he stands. Your little girls were so ready to be loved. And they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Ghosts and dance and green slime and barrettes…those are all obvious things they need that he can provide. Things he could dive into. What Chloe and Grace need from him is obvious. But you…you don’t really need him at all. He doesn’t know how to love you. But I think it’s obvious that he dove right into what’s important to you. Your passion isn’t ghosts or dance…it’s Chloe and Grace. And he went all-in there.”
Dana felt her heart clench. “I didn’t...” She swallowed. “I don’t know how I need to be loved either.” Because no one had ever been there, full-time, through it all, to love her up close and personal. She’d always known that Chad loved her. But theirs wasn’t an everyday, face-to-face thing.
Lindsey reached out and took her hand. “I know that you think Logan is all about saying whatever he’s thinking and feeling.”<
br />
Dana heard Gabe actually chuckle at that.
“But,” Lindsey went on. “Maybe he’s trying to show you the way you show…everyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“You show us how you feel about us. You do stuff for us. You take care of us. You give us stuff. And you support us.”
Dana stared at her. “I do that?”
Lindsey laughed. “You do.”
“Absolutely,” Bea said.
Dana thought about all of the care packages and videos she’d sent Chad. How she’d planned for everything to go a certain way when he was home. How she did things to make things easier on him. “I guess I do.”
“You definitely do.”
She looked up at the deeper voice and met Gabe’s eyes. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. So if he’s trying to do things for you, maybe you need to say things for him.”
Dana felt a little twirl of excitement go through her. Yeah, maybe she did. But she couldn’t just tell him how she felt. This was Logan, after all. It had to be bigger and louder and better than anything else.
Surely she could come up with something like that.
Maybe.
The guys had come through. Dana let herself into the house an hour later.
“Hey, girls!” she called.
“Mommy!” Grace came running with Chloe right behind her. “Caroline came to see us!”
Dana dropped her purse on the table inside the door, smiling at her girls’ enthusiasm. “She did?” The only Caroline they knew was Logan’s mom. “How come?”
“She brought us stuff!” Grace said.
“She brought me stuff,” Chloe corrected.
Grace crossed her arms. “I can have some too. She said so.”
“But they’re for me and the team.”
“What is for you and the team?” Dana asked.
“The stuff!” Grace grabbed her hand and started tugging her down the hallway to the kitchen.
Kylie, the sitter for the night since Logan was working, looked up from where she was doing homework at the kitchen table. Clearly Chloe had been doing her math and Grace had been coloring. “Hi, Dana.”
“Hi. How is everything?”
“Great.” She closed her book and recapped her pen. “We got Chloe’s homework done, their rooms are picked up, and everything is ready for tomorrow. Though,” she added, sliding her book into her backpack, “I can’t claim credit for that.” She shot Dana a smile.
There was a huge tray of cookies sitting on the center island and Dana moved closer, noting that they were decorated like dance shoes. Some were shoes like Chloe and her team wore—black with hot-pink laces—while others were pretty pink ballet slippers, some were tap shoes, and some were even flamenco shoes. They were adorable. Dana picked one up to examine it closer and had to chuckle. They were made out of Nutter Butters. “What’s ready for tomorrow?” Dana asked.
“Everything,” Kylie said. “Caroline brought the cookies over and Logan got everything packed and a lot of it loaded in your car.”
Dana frowned, forgetting the Nutter Butters for a moment. “Logan got everything packed? What’s everything?”
“Everything, Mom,” Chloe said. “He helped us pack our clothes and we’ve got treats and all my costumes and shoes and stuff. The only thing he didn’t put in the car are the cookies because they’d melt and the stuff for the cooler. But it’s all ready to go.”
Dana set the cookie back down. “Were you supposed to tell me that you needed a bunch of cookies for the team?” she asked Chloe.
Chloe gave her a cute little grimace. “Yeah. I forgot.”
“So Caroline did it.”
“Yeah. And she said she loved it,” Chloe assured her.
“And Logan got everything packed?” Dana asked.
“He even got me gummy ghosts!” Grace told her, bouncing on her toes.
Dana gave her youngest a smile. Of course he had.
“Yep, he did everything.” Kylie rose from the chair, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. “And he said that it would make you nervous, so he used this checklist and said to give it to you so you knew what was packed and where it all was.” She handed Dana five pages of paper.
The top said Checklist and each page was for a different bag. There was a bag for Grace, a bag for Chloe, another bag for Chloe with all of her dance stuff, and a bag for Dana. Her eyes widened as she read down the list of things he’d packed for her. One line read unsexy underwear (don’t need the sexy ones if I’m not around) and another read Laughing Lavender body spray (because you always smell amazing but the Sunshine Shenanigans is my favorite and I don’t want anyone else smelling that). She laughed, even as she shook her head. He’d packed for her. Even her body spray. And with some real thought put into it. He’d managed to be sexy and sweet even as he was packing her underwear. And he’d included her curling iron and even little things like Band-Aids, antacids, and her prenatal vitamins. She was impressed.
The fifth page was a list of snacks and extra supplies like scissors (just in case), super glue (you never know), and the CDs that he’d made for each girl with their pump-up music on them.
“So…” Feeling a little flummoxed, Dana looked up. “I guess I don’t need to pack tonight.”
Kylie grinned at her. “Nope. And the girls are fed and homework is done. I guess you have the rest of the night off.”
Dana thought about that as she paid Kylie and walked her to the door. At the support group they’d told her that she showed her love by doing things. And now, on the receiving end of someone doing something for her—something big that would have taken her a lot of time and energy—she had to admit that it did make her feel taken care of. She liked that. She liked knowing that the people she cared about understood that she was loving them when she organized and planned and did.
But this someone wasn’t just anyone. This was Logan. And he’d not only shown an impressive knowledge of what needed to be done and planned for the weekend, but he’d…done it. Without fanfare. Without telling her. Without bringing in a whole army to do it. He’d enlisted his mom’s help, but that was right up Caroline’s alley. The rest of this, though, wasn’t Logan’s usual. He was the guy who threw parties and was loud and boisterous about everything.
Tonight, he’d packed pajamas and antacids.
She really didn’t have anything to do. She’d caught up on her work at the office since she was going to be out tomorrow. She’d planned the evening for packing and organizing so she really did have free time now.
Back in the kitchen, the girls were sampling Caroline’s cookies. “These are really cute,” Dana said.
Chloe grinned around her bite. “I know! I thought she would just do regular round cookies. But these are so cool!”
“And look! Black teeth!” Grace bared her teeth, showing the black frosting coating them.
Dana laughed. “Cool.” And made a note to not let the girls eat those cookies before they performed.
“And Logan gave me a special CD,” Chloe said. She wiped her hands on her shorts and hopped from the stool to the floor. She ran to the table and grabbed a square plastic CD case. She held it up. “Everyone gets one, but he made mine special. He talks on the beginning of it. And look!” She pointed to the label Logan had stuck on the front. “It says You Rock! Get it?” Chloe asked with a grin. “Rock? Because the music is rock music.”
Dana nodded. “Yep, I get it. That’s really creative.”
And suddenly she had an idea. She had free time. She didn’t have to plan or pack or do anything. Maybe she and the girls could just…have some fun.
“You girls want to help me with something tonight?” she asked.
“Sure!” Grace told her.
“Like what?” Chloe asked.
“What if we got…or made…some stuff to go with those CDs for everyone?” she asked.
“What would we make?” But Chloe was definitely interested.
“What about something with g
litter?” Dana asked. She was thinking back to the leprechaun poop that Logan had made for Chloe’s class party. “And we could say ‘Show everyone your SPARKLE this weekend’. We could make…dance slime! We can make it bright pink like your dresses and add glitter to it and it will be like good luck slime.”
Chloe’s eyes were wide. “Really? That sounds really cool!”
“I want to help!” Grace announced.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Dana grabbed her laptop from the foyer and brought it back to the table. They looked up recipes for slime and stumbled upon a video for making homemade stress balls with balloons and slime. “We could get clear balloons and fill them with glittery pink slime,” Dana said. “And the girls could have them backstage and use them to not get nervous before you go on.”
“Yes,” Chloe breathed, looking at the final product on the screen. “Let’s do that.”
“I want one too!” Grace said, bouncing on Dana’s lap.
“Me too,” Dana told her.
They headed to the hobby store and were home and mixing slime within the hour. Dana had also grabbed some little jars and bubble wands for the homemade bubble solution she’d decided to add to the gift.
After the stress balls and jars of bubbles were finished and sitting in a box, ready to be packed up the next day, Dana sat at the table, filling out the tags.
At the bottom she wrote, Love, Chloe, Grace, Dana. And she only hesitated a moment before adding and Logan.
12
“Okay, time to go. We’ve met our quota of jackasses tonight.”
“Hey, man, what’s your problem?”
Logan sighed. “You. And your stupid friends.”
“We’re here for Tank’s birthday,” the drunk, who had just led his friends in a raucous version of “Happy Birthday,” said.
“No, shit,” Logan said drily.
“That’s why we’re here, man,” the drunk said. “We came here last year for his birthday and he said it was the best bar in New Orleans.”
Taking It Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book two Page 20
