Won't Go Home Without You

by Cheris Hodges

  * * *

  Logan nodded at Liam before taking a seat across from him. “Do I even want to know what’s going on with you and Double R?” Liam asked.

  “Let’s just focus on what I heard.”

  “Did you get a look at Veronica?” Liam asked as he turned his computer around so Logan could see the screen. The screen showed the drug company’s website and a picture of the woman he’d seen in the coffee shop. She looked a lot different with a smile on her face rather than the scowl that she had been offering Dr. Carter.

  “That’s her.”

  Robin walked into the room. “What y’all got in here?”

  “A drug executive who just had a public argument about her killer drugs,” Logan said with a broad smile. “When people used to say everything happens for a reason, I thought it was some bullshit. Today, I see what that actually means.”

  “O-kay,” Liam said. “What are our next steps?”

  Robin cleared her throat. “I think you should let him know you have an intent to file a suit to stop the use of Cooper Drugs at the hospital.”

  Liam nodded and pointed at Robin. “That’s a good idea. What you heard sounds like Carter might be on the take alone.”

  “Yeah,” Logan said as he stood up and started pacing back and forth. “But what’s worse is they want to pin these deaths on the medical students and that could be devastating to an intern.”

  “That’s pretty low,” Robin said. “I can draw up some papers, and if you want, I can go to the meeting with you. As your attorney.”

  Logan raised his right eyebrow but didn’t say anything for a beat. “All right, I’ll take the papers to Carter, and not that you aren’t a brilliant attorney, maybe another lawyer from your firm should go.”

  “Really?” she snapped.

  “Yeah,” Logan said. “I mean, how serious am I going to look walking in his office with my wife?”

  Robin dropped her head. “You do have a point. I’m going to grab some coffee.” She dashed into the kitchen and Liam kicked Logan underneath the table.

  “Go talk to her.”

  Logan stood up and followed his wife to the coffee maker. “Robin.”

  “What?” She didn’t turn around and face him.

  “Can you look at me?” A beat passed and she did turn around. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “I’m sorry. Oh God, this is uncharted territory.”

  “Are we actually going to be able to make this work? It seems like . . .”

  “I didn’t want to lose you when you left me in June, and I don’t want to lose you now. So, you and that guy . . .”

  “Nothing happened.”

  “But you said you were tempted.”

  “Because I was hurting. But there was no way that I was going to do what I’d thought you had done to me.”

  Logan closed the space between them and took her empty mug from her hand. “We’ve both made mistakes and we’re probably going to make some more, but I love you so much and I can’t go through this life without you in it.”

  “Logan,” she breathed. “I think about the future and there isn’t one where you aren’t in it.”

  He brought his forehead against hers. “All right, so we’re making today day one of our future.”

  She stroked his cheek. “Yes.”

  Logan captured her lips, kissing her slow and deep. When they broke the kiss, Logan stared into Robin’s eyes. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Robin fixed coffee for her and a mug for Logan. “Thank you,” he said when he took it from her hand.

  “All right, let’s get to work.”

  Chapter 18

  Robin, Logan, and Liam sat at the table for about two hours, crafting documents, making phone calls, and getting work done on sending the papers to the court to get the paternity test ordered.

  “I’ll be happy to serve this to that bitch,” Robin said as she pressed the send button to the court.

  “And that’s a cat fight that will make the news for sure,” Liam quipped. He looked down at his watch. “I don’t know about y’all but I’m hungry.”

  “When are you not hungry?” Logan asked with a head shake. “And I don’t have any leftover steak, so don’t ask.”

  “Damn. Well, I hope you’ve got something more than vegetables. No offense, Robin,” Liam said.

  “All taken. But lunch is on me and I’ll get some healthy stuff for me and whatever greasy, heart-clogging mess y’all want.”

  “Ouch,” Liam said.

  Robin pointed at Logan. “And you should totally know better.”

  “I do. Normally, but these were some tough times and Liam is a bad influence.”

  “Y’all just going to act like I’m not here?” Liam quipped.

  “We’ve been doing it all of these years, why stop now?” Logan said with a laugh.

  Robin shrugged and pulled out her phone to order food for them. After they decided on what they were going to have, Robin got to work on her overdue cases. As she typed, she felt Logan watching her and it felt like they were at Xavier all over again. She realized that she owed her husband an apology. Not just for believing the worst in him, but for her own transgressions. Though she didn’t cheat on him, the fact that she gave it such consideration because of a lie made her understand why he was hurt. She couldn’t ignore that.

  “Logan,” she said when they locked eyes. “We need to talk, in private.”

  He nodded and stood up. The couple headed into the living room. Robin sat on the edge of the sofa and Logan took the arm beside her. On a normal day, she’d say something about his sitting on the arm of the furniture. Today, she just placed her hand on his thigh. “These last six months have been something that I can’t find words for.”

  “I know. And it seems as if every time we’re close to making it back to where we belong, something else pops up to keep us apart.”

  “And this time it’s all on me.” She looked up at Logan and sighed. “That text message this morning meant nothing, in my mind. But we went months without talking. I made you out to be the bad guy and pretended that I was going to walk away from this marriage.”

  “Rob, you had every right to feel like that when those papers came.”

  “And I can’t take your feelings for granted and expect you not to feel some kind of way about that text. Everything I felt and had six months to process, I can’t expect you to be over it in a matter of hours.”

  “But I’m over it. You’ve never lied to me, Robin. And if you say nothing happened with you and that guy, I can believe it.”

  “And I should’ve believed you. Logan, I’m sorry.”

  “There’s enough blame to go around for what happened between us. When you said you had a bad vibe about her, I should’ve listened.”

  “We could go on and on with the shoulda, woulda, coulda dance, but it isn’t going to change anything.”

  “So, we’re just going to burn this all down and start over—again.”

  “For the last time.”

  “Damn straight.” Logan leaned down and pulled Robin into his arms. “And I’m going to seal this with a kiss.”

  Robin melted in his arms as he kissed her with a smoldering passion. She reluctantly pulled back from him. “We do have company in the dining room.”

  “Hey, Liam,” Logan called out. “Go home.”

  “Negro, please. The food ain’t here yet,” Liam responded.

  * * *

  Kamrie snuck into Logan’s office wondering if he was going to come back to the hospital anytime soon. He wasn’t taking her seriously, and somehow, she had to make him take responsibility for her son.

  “Nurse Bazal, what are you doing in here?” Dr. Carter asked from the doorway.

  “Um, I was just checking to see if Dr. Baptiste left any orders for his patients before he left the other day.”

  “So, you saw him the other day? What did he say to you?”

  “Nothing really,” she said.

 
“How far are you willing to take this sexual harassment claim?” Carter asked.

  “It’s not just a claim.”

  “Well, you know that he’s currently suspended, and if we want to keep that kind of doctor off the staff, then maybe you need to go public with what happened to you. With the hashtag Me Too, you could collect some real money from what you suffered.”

  “How much money are we talking?” Kamrie’s eyes glistened with greed.

  “More than enough to take care of your child for the rest of his life.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Dr. Carter glanced around the hallway to make sure no one passed by and caught any part of their conversation. “Maybe we should go into my office, where we can talk candidly and in private.”

  Kamrie followed the portly doctor to the elevator. Once they reached it, she wondered why Carter was so interested in getting rid of Logan all of a sudden. But if it meant that she was going to get a hefty payday, then she would consider it. They rode the elevator in silence. She wondered if a marriage to Logan was still the endgame. He hadn’t fallen for the lie; his wife had come back and maybe this was the way for her to secure her future. There was no way she could go back to Atlanta; that bitch had made it clear that if she came back to Georgia she’d never work again.

  But if she had enough money, she could go back to Atlanta and rub her child and everything else in Valerie’s face. She didn’t deserve Thomas. She had everything and didn’t know how to share at all. Okay, so she’d been out of line when she’d gone after the administrator’s husband.

  But she didn’t do it alone. Thomas had a role in making Jean. If only he would’ve accepted his responsibility, then she wouldn’t be in this situation.

  They got off the elevator and Dr. Carter opened the door to his office, then ushered Kamrie inside. “Have a seat,” he said as he turned the overhead lights on. She sat down and faced him.

  “What are we really doing here?” she asked. “I’ve complained about Dr. Baptiste before and you didn’t do anything.”

  “Let’s cut the bullshit,” he said. “If there was anything going on with you and Dr. Baptiste, I’m sure it was a willing exchange. You guys had a lot of chemistry and the rumor mill was working overtime talking about your closeness. But I’m not stupid, Nurse Bazal. Premature babies don’t weigh seven pounds.”

  “Your point?”

  “That’s not Logan’s baby. That was a full-term baby and you know it.”

  “The DNA test says differently.” Kamrie rolled her eyes. “And I’d like to see anyone prove a DNA test wrong.”

  “This is why you should go public with your story of this so-called upstanding doctor being a deadbeat father and a sexual predator.”

  “That’s going to ruin that man’s career.”

  “So, were you just out to ruin his marriage?” Dr. Carter asked.

  Kamrie folded her arms across her chest. “And your point?”

  “Think bigger, Nurse Bazal. It’s pretty obvious that all of your little schemes didn’t work to get you what you wanted. If you want to continue to play the victim, work here and have people talk about you behind your back until you quit, then fine. Continue to do whatever you’ve been doing. But I’m talking about getting you money.”

  “Fine,” she said. “What’s the plan?”

  * * *

  Logan and Liam cleared the dishes and Robin e-mailed her assistant to see if all of the filings had been taken to the court. When she got her answer, she went into the kitchen to help wash the dishes.

  She was surprised to see that the kitchen was spotless when she walked in, despite the fact that Logan and Liam had eaten a lot of barbeque ribs and coleslaw. “Look at this!” she said. “Teamwork does make the dream work.”

  “And before you find some more work for us to do, I’m out of here,” Liam said.

  “Just when I was about to ask you guys to clean the garage,” she joked.

  “Well, now that you mention the garage, we need to get your car,” Logan said as he glanced at his watch. “And before rush hour traffic would be nice.”

  “We’ve got a few hours or we can spend the night there?” Robin said with a wink.

  Liam threw up a peace sign and headed out the door. Logan pulled Robin into his arms. “You know that bed in Petersburg is too small.”

  “You’re right. But it was perfect for me. However, if we stay tonight and pack everything up, I can start looking for a property management company to put the town house on the market.”

  “What do you think about selling it?”

  Robin shrugged. “At some point that might be a good idea, but one thing I learned from Sheldon Richardson is that you should always have property in your portfolio.”

  “Pops and Alex would be so proud of you right now.”

  Robin thrust her hip into his. “Don’t you dare tell them I said that. Next thing you know, Alex is going to offer me a job at the bed-and-breakfast.”

  “Would it be that bad?”

  Robin furrowed her eyebrows. “You met my sister, right?”

  “Point taken. Well, I’m going to pack up some food so we can have a farewell meal at your place.”

  “Jambalaya?”

  “You know it.”

  Robin clasped her hands together. “Great. I’m going to secure some boxes so we can get packed.”

  As she started to leave the room, Logan called her name. Robin turned around with a smile on her face. “I love you,” he said.

  She blew him a kiss. “Love you back.”

  Chapter 19

  On the drive to Petersburg, Logan didn’t stop singing off-key from the moment they left the driveway to the highway.

  Robin joined him as a bad background singer when the R&B station played New Edition’s “Candy Girl.” But when they hit the interstate, Robin flipped the radio to NPR.

  “Thanks for the concert,” she quipped.

  “That was just the opening act, but I see you’re out here hating the player and not the game.”

  “I think the nineties are calling—they want their lingo back.”

  “Good thing you’re a great lawyer, because you aren’t funny.”

  “Better than your singing. It was never good, just thought it was cute that one of the most popular guys on campus didn’t mind embarrassing himself to get the girl.”

  “But it worked, so I’m going to say I’m the winner!”

  “Yes, you won, but I keep winning.” She leaned in and kissed Logan’s cheek.

  “Hey, woman, don’t get me distracted. You know those lips are my weakness. That’s the only reason I suffer through listening to NPR when we’re in the car together.”

  “Good to know.”

  When they arrived at Robin’s town house, she was happy to see that the moving company had dropped off boxes and a garbage container. “They work fast,” she said as Logan parked the car.

  “They must know how much I need you at home,” he said as he got out of the car. “But you know we don’t have to pack this place in one night.”

  “I know that, and trust me, I didn’t think we would.” Robin walked to the back door of the car and grabbed the grocery bags Logan had packed.

  “Good. What are you going to do about the furniture? It still looks pretty new.”

  “Fully furnished town house for rent, imagine the people who will be willing to move here.”

  Logan crossed over to her and took the bags from her hands, giving her a chance to unlock the door. After unloading the groceries, Robin and Logan started putting the boxes together. She looked at him as he taped the bottom of the larger boxes. “You know what this reminds me of?” she said.

  “What?”

  “When we moved into our first apartment together in New Orleans.”

  Logan chuckled. “The one you didn’t tell your father about.”

  “Explain how I was going to tell my dad that we were moving in together before we got married? You’ve met him.”


  “Yes, I have. And I’m not saying you were wrong. But you came up with all the creative excuses as to why he shouldn’t come visit.”

  Robin laughed. “Alex knew you were my roommate. And she never told.”

  “That’s a shock.”

  She tossed a sheet of bubble wrap at him. “Y’all give my big sister a hard time for no reason. To know her is to love her. Alex took on a lot of responsibilities after our mother died and she forgot to have her own life.”

  “But you two have always been close.”

  “Because I don’t take her shit and I’m not that much younger than her. You would’ve thought Nina was her baby. Sometimes I felt sorry for her. And Yolanda was just a little bully.” Robin laughed. “I don’t know where we would be without each other.”

  “I’m not going to lie, when I met Pops and Alex, I think she scared me more.”

  Robin crossed over to him and took the tape from his hand. “You had it right. Dad wants us to be happy. Alex, well . . . Alex wants to be right.”

  “I hate it for the guy who falls for her.”

  “Somehow, I don’t think she’s going to ever let that happen. Being in love means letting go of control. That’s not my sister’s style.”

  “Stranger things have happened.”

  “Well, if Alex ever lets go and falls in love, he’s going to catch hell from Yolanda and Nina.”

  “And you’re just going to sit on the sidelines and watch? Right.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “You Richardson sisters stick together and I’m lucky I made the cut.”

  Robin leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, you are.”

  “Then you all should give the new guy a chance,” he said.

  “What new guy?”

  “Yolanda’s man. When they were over for dinner, y’all barely said two words to the man.”

  Robin shook her head. “That’s not her man. That’s her bodyguard.”

  “I’m sure he is guarding a lot more than just her body. I don’t think I’ve ever seen chemistry like that. Not since you tried to play with me in the study group.”

  “I wasn’t playing with you. I mean, who comes to a study group meeting shirtless?”