Between You and Me(13)

       
           



       

"Oh, don't you give me that ‘I don't date clientele' malarkey," Annmarie scoffed. She looked down to Terrence. "Nice woman?"

"I fell yesterday and hit my head," he said. "She lay on the floor with  me to keep my spirits up 'til the medics showed up. Perfect stranger."

Annmarie turned her assessing stare back to her son.

"Don't even," he warned.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Annmarie asked.

"Not that it's any of your business, or mine," Logan said, "but no, as far as I know."

"Then take her out tonight!" she pressed.

"No."

"No? Why not?"

"I'm making you dinner and we're watching a movie, remember?" he said.

"After today's treatment, I'll probably be asleep by nine," she said. "So you'll be alone, and she'll be alone. Take her out!"

Logan pursed his lips, reining in the rant he wanted to let fly.

"Stop looking at me like you want to spit nails," she said. "It'd make  me happy to know you're doing something fun tonight. Something besides  watching me snore on the couch."

"Easy with the guilt, okay?" Logan sighed. "I'm glad to be with you tonight."

"I am too. But you can do both. Dinner with me, then going out with a beautiful young woman. Sounds like a win to me."

Logan scrubbed his hands over his beard and growled in frustration.

"Didn't mean to cause trouble," Terrence said, grimacing for Logan's sake.

"You didn't," Logan said. "My mother means well. She just forgets  sometimes that I'm a thirty-eight-year-old man who's capable of making  my own decisions."

She waved him off dismissively. "Excuse me for not seeing the harm in asking a nice, apparently pretty woman out for a coffee."

"Oh, more than pretty," Terrence interjected. "I thought she was maybe a  model or something until I found out who she was. That long, tall,  skinny look, you know, with this loooong hair . . . and that face! She's  striking."

Annmarie's brows lifted. She fixed her son with a mocking glare. "You're  a wimp." She turned to Terrence and said, "It was nice to meet you, but  I'm afraid Radiology is waiting for me."

"Can you get up there on your own, Mom?" Logan asked. "I left my phone in the truck. I'll meet you upstairs."

He said goodbye to Terrence, watched his mother get on the elevator,  then went outside. Head down against the wind, he walked a few steps  away from the entrance and took his phone out of his pocket. Shaking his  head at himself, he punched in a number before he thought better of it.

"Hello?" Tess answered.

"Hey, Tess. It's Logan." He paced as he talked. "I just ran into  Terrence at the hospital. We were going in, he was going out. He seems  fine."

"Oh, that's great," Tess said. "He texted me last night and said he  hoped they'd release him today. Glad to hear he got the green light. But  why are you at the hospital? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here with my mom for one of her treatments."

"Ah. I see."

"Yeah. So listen . . ." His pace picked up. "Terrence seems to be under  the impression that you're going to be home alone tonight. Is that  true?" Logan winced, hating the sound of his own voice just then.

Tess let out a little startled laugh, but said, "Well, yes. Why?"

"I'm making dinner for my mother," he said, "but she's here for  radiation, and she's usually pretty wiped out after. She'll be asleep  early, probably. So I was just thinking . . ." He looked around, seeing  nothing. Was he really doing this? "Maybe you just want to be alone  tonight, and I totally get that. But uh . . . if you wanted, my friend  owns a coffeehouse. Quiet, very low key. We could just get some coffee,  hang out . . ." He shook his head in horror at himself. He hadn't  stumbled over asking a woman out like this since college. "No pressure.  Just as friends, not like a date, really. If you even want to go out  tonight. Some people hate going out on New Year's Eve." He grimaced  hard. "Jesus, I'm rambling."                       
       
           



       

"You are. It's kind of cute."

He laughed at that. "Great. Well, I know it's short notice, but-"

"A low-key, no pressure, non-date sounds nice," Tess said. "What time should I meet you there?"

He blinked, stopping in his tracks. "Umm. I, uh . . . I'll pick you up.  That way you can drink if you want. I never do, so I'm a great  designated driver."

"Well, actually, I'm not drinking these days either," she said. "So, your call."

"I'll pick you up at nine thirty, if that's all right by you."

"That's fine. What am I wearing? This place is casual?"

"Extremely. Wear your yoga pants if you want."

"Gets better and better. Thanks for the invite, Logan. See you then."

"Great, you got it. See you tonight." He ended the call, shoved his  phone in his pocket, and raked his hands through his hair. Holy shit,  he'd really done that. And holy shit, she'd said yes, and holy shit,  he'd be spending New Year's Eve with Tess Harrison of the New York  Harrisons. He didn't know what had possessed him. It wasn't Terrence's  hinting or his mother's interference. He never went on impulse like that  anymore. Interesting. Huffing out a laugh, it flew out of him in a  burst of white steam against the frigid air.





Chapter Six

"After you." Logan held the door open and Tess stepped into the small  building. As she followed him farther inside, she looked around. Pale  polished wood and vintage-looking chairs and love seats, all covered in  rich fabrics and velvets. Dimly lit, the strings of colored lights  strewn across the high beams and ceiling gave the room a soft glow, a  more intimate feel. Country-rock guitar music played softly. Ford's  Coffee House was a warm, cozy place. Tess liked it immediately.

"This is great," she said to Logan. "I already know I'll be back again."

He grinned. "Good, glad to hear it." He looked over toward the bar and  called to one of the baristas. "Hey, Caleb. Ford held a spot for me?"

The young man behind the counter nodded as he said hi, then gestured  toward a carved-back love seat in the far corner that had a "Reserved"  card perched on it.

"Okay," Logan said to Tess. "That's ours."

"Oh really?" She looked up at him with a mischievous smile.

"Good to be friends with the owner." He winked and walked through the  small crowd, bringing her along with a hand at the small of her back.  The small touch warmed her. He leaned down to be heard over the music as  he said, "It's not usually this packed, but with it being New Year's  Eve and all, I wanted to make sure we'd have a good place to sit."

When they reached the love seat, covered in burgundy velvet, they took  off their coats and sat, slightly turned so they were facing each other.

"Been friends with the owner a long time?" Tess asked.

"Ford? Yeah, since high school. Played football and baseball together."  Logan stretched out his long legs, then leaned back a bit, easing into  the plush cushions. He was such a big guy, even his most simple  movements seemed powerful. "Ford's savvy as hell. He moved here after  college to start up a business, and after a few different ones, started  this place . . . maybe three or four years ago, now? Something like  that."

"Good for him. He has great taste. This place is lovely." Tess swept her  hair back over her shoulders. "So you guys grew up not far from here?"  She stuck with the easy questions. Something told her even though Logan  had asked her out-possibly to prove he wasn't holding his grudge  anymore, that was her guess-it didn't mean he'd spill his guts. He was a  private man, slow to open up, and that was fine with her. But it only  made her more curious.

"We grew up in Arsdale," he said. "Maybe a half hour's drive west of  Aspen. Not far at all." He leaned in, resting his elbows on his knees as  he asked, "Where'd you grow up? New York, right?"

"Yes, on Long Island. On the North Shore. It's about a forty-minute drive east of the city."                       
       
           



       

"The city being New York City," he guessed.

"Yeah." She grinned and added, "To anyone who lives within a two-hour radius of it, we just call it the city."

He nodded. "I've never been there. New York City."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"