The Posse (23 page)

Lindsay shrugged. “He was a
little rattled about it when we first got back here and he
suspected something was going on. But we talked about it. I
reminded him we weren’t exactly poster children for doing things
the easy way.”

“I thought you might have
had something to do with that. Thanks, Lindsay.”

There was a sound outside
the kitchen, and Meghan appeared from around the corner, wearing
sweats that ended at the knee and a huge green t-shirt. She stopped
short at the sight of Logan and Lindsay.

“Good morning.” Logan held
up his mug. “Want some coffee? Your mom made it before she left, so
it’s safe to drink.”

Meghan lounged against the
doorway. “What are you doing here? You sleep here, too?” Behind the
insolent tone, Logan heard pain.

“No,” he answered evenly. “I
slept at my house. Came by to pick up your mom and drive her to
work, and then came back here. To talk to you.”

Meggie snorted and shoved
off the wall. “Well, here I am. So talk.”

Lindsay pushed back her
chair. “I think someone needs his diaper changed.” She cast a
sympathetic look at Logan as she slipped past Meghan.

“Sit down, Meggie.” When she
continued to stay with her arms crossed, Logan rolled his eyes.
“Meghan, you’re almost twenty-two years old. Start acting like it.
Sit down so we can talk like grown-ups.”

With a heavy sigh that Logan
guessed was supposed to indicate long-suffering, Meghan scraped
back the chair and dropped into it.

He picked up his mug and
filled it before pulling out a clean cup. He doctored both coffees
and set one before the sulking girl at the end of the table.

They sat in silence for a
few moments, with Meghan refusing to meet his eyes.

Logan gritted his teeth. She
wasn’t going to make this easy in any way. Part of him wanted to
walk away, let Meggie figure it out for herself. But then he
remembered Jude’s tears in the car that morning, and his resolve
strengthened.

“Meghan, I’ve known you
since the day you were born. I was at the Tide with your mom and
dad the day she went into labor, and I went to the hospital with
them. Outside of your parents, I was the first one to see your
face. And since that day, I’ve loved you like my own.”

Meggie kept her eyes down on
the table, but Logan detected a quiver in her bottom lip.

“Your father was my best
friend, bar none. All of us in the posse love each other like
brothers, you know that. But we all have closer connections, too.
Mark and Cooper hang out. Daniel and I were buds from elementary
school. When we were in middle school, my mom walked out on our
family. Daniel kept me from freaking out. He took me home for
dinner every night for a year, made sure I was okay.”

Logan wondered if Meghan had
heard this before. He never talked about his family, and he doubted
Daniel had mentioned it. He saw her swallow hard.

“You mom and dad were
together from the time we started high school. Even before then, we
all knew they had something special. Jude had stars in her eyes
when she looked at Daniel, and Daniel just plain never saw anyone
else.

“I’m going to be honest with
you, Meggie. I had a crush on your mom in those days, too. If
Daniel hadn’t been there first, no question I would have chased
her. But the fact was, your dad was there, and even if I had wanted
to throw away our friendship to get in the middle of them, it
wouldn’t have mattered. So I settled for being a friend, and that
worked for a long time.”

“Until when?” Meghan spit
out the words. “Until Daddy was sick? Or before that?”

“Meghan. Stop and think
about what you’re saying. I know you’re emotional right now, but be
reasonable. Did you ever see anything between your mom and me, all
these years? Anything but friendship? No. And not even in the year
since your dad died. But I’ll be straight with you. Watching your
mom cope with everything after Daniel died, seeing how strong she
was, how she was there for everyone, including you and Joseph and
all of the posse, that made me fall in love with her all over
again.”

Meghan heaved a sigh but
didn’t speak.

“Still, I might never have
made a move, but then the posse started talking about one of us
taking care of Jude. I guess maybe I felt like I had approval to do
something I had wanted to do for a long time. I moved kind of slow,
because I wasn’t sure how your mom felt. But then...” Logan paused.
What had happened with Jude that night in the bar was not something
he was willing to share with her daughter. Some things were better
left alone.

“But then it turned out, to
my amazement, that your mom could feel the same way about me. 
We weren’t trying to hide it from you and Joseph. We just wanted to
tell you in person. This is new, and it probably feels to you like
it’s moving fast.”

“You think?” Meghan’s
bitterness came through both tone and words. “Couldn’t you just
keep being friends?”

“Spoken like someone who’s
never really been in love.” Logan smiled. “We
are
still
friends, Meggie. We always will be. But we’re also in love. I’m
sure you don’t want to think about that, because kids rarely want
to know that their parents still have those kinds of feelings. But
it’s the truth.”

She turned her head away,
mouth tight.

“I have two things you need
to hear, Meghan, and then I’ll leave you be to think things over.
The first is this. Your dad taught me a lot over the years, but the
last lesson was the most important. It’s that we never know how
much time we have, so we can’t go around thinking that there will
always be a tomorrow to do what we want or what we should. Your
mother and I aren’t teenagers, though you’re probably thinking
we’re acting like we are. I don’t know how long we’ll have
together, but I am damn sure going to take advantage of every
moment.

“And here’s the second. You
have a family who loves you, and who you love. They’re not perfect,
and maybe they don’t always live up to your standards. But they’re
yours, better or worse. Lindsay is the mother of your nephew.
Whether she and Joseph get married or not, whether things work out
and they stay together or not, she’s part of your family now. Start
treating her like it. I know you, Meggie. You can be the sweetest
girl, the one anyone would want in his corner. Be in Joseph’s
corner. Be in your mom’s corner. Don’t be someone who stands in the
way of their happiness.”

Logan shoved back his chair,
rinsed out his mug and swung out the kitchen door.

***

It had been a hell of a morning, and it
was only ten o’clock. Jude scraped off the grill, scowling at it.
Her eyes were red and puffy, and her whole body ached from the
sleep she’d missed, tossing and turning last night.

The breakfast crowd had been
particularly demanding, and Sadie was snapping at everyone. Jude
sniffled and ran an arm over her forehead. She was sweaty and grimy
and wanted to go home.

Only she knew going home
wouldn’t really help, because Meghan was there, sulking and huffing
around the house. Jude briefly considered running away, fantasized
about a beach that was far away from her own sand and surf.

“Look at my gorgeous
woman.”

Wrapped up in her own
misery, Jude hadn’t heard Logan come in. She looked over her
shoulder and rolled her eyes.

“You need glasses. I’m a
mess.”

“Maybe, but you’re my
beautiful mess. Do you have a minute?”

She blew at a piece of hair
that had drooped over her eyes. “Not really. Still getting through
the end of the breakfast run and lunch is at my heels.”

“Okay, then, we’ll do this
here.” Ignoring the grease and flakes of charred food dotting her
skin, Logan took Jude’s hands in his own and drew her close.

“Logan, you’re going to get
all nasty!”

He smiled. “Maybe later,
baby. For now, shut up and listen.”

She snapped her lips closed,
green eyes wide and wondering as she stared at him.

“Judetha Rivers Hawthorne, I
love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love, from now
until the end of forever. Will you please, please, do me the honor
of becoming my wife?”

The griddle scraper fell to
the floor with a clatter. Jude stood, still as a statue, her eyes
never leaving Logan’s face.

“I know this is fast, and I
know you’re not sure if you want to be married again. But I’m
asking you, Jude. Do this for me. I want to be married, and I want
to be married to you. And I don’t want to think about it for
months. I want to live every moment we have together, for as long
as that might be.”

Jude’s breath was somehow
caught in her throat. The noise of the restaurant faded so that all
she could hear was Logan, all she could see were his shining eyes,
brimming with love.

Every reason she might have
had for not saying yes, or even for saying an outright no, fled
from her mind. There was only Logan, with his steadfast heart and
his constancy, and only one word she heard coming from her
mouth.

“Yes.”

Surprise dawned on Logan’s
face, swiftly replaced by pure joy. He took Jude’s face in his
hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

Every bit of love,
anticipation and desire that he’d ever felt for her was poured into
one kiss. It began softly and sweetly, and then moved to possession
and heat as he coaxed her lips open, lazed his tongue within her
mouth to stroke and tease.

When he finally released her
lips, Logan grabbed her around the waist and lifted her in his
arms. He gave a yell that reverberated through the Riptide and out
the open windows onto the beach as he spun her.

All conversation in the
restaurant ceased, and Sadie stopped in mid-step. Every eye
swiveled to the kitchen and the crazy couple locked in an embrace
in front of the half-cleaned griddle.

“What in the hell do you
crazy people think you’re doing?” Sadie stomped around the bar,
fire in her eyes.

Logan held tight to Jude,
who giggled and buried her face in his shoulder. “Sadie, she said
yes! This beautiful, sexy, amazing woman just agreed to marry me. I
think a little shouting is order, don’t you?”

Sadie’s face broke into a
broad grin. “Well, if that’s all. Carry on.” She swung back to the
gawking customers. “What are y’all looking at? Get back to your
eating.”

“Champagne on the house!”
Logan called. “Mimosas all around.” A cheer rolled over the
room.

“Are you nuts? You’re going
to make me go broke.” Jude shook her head but couldn’t hide her
smile.

“Yes, I’m nuts, and don’t
worry, I’ll cover the champagne. I think the owner will give me
break on the cost.”  He leaned to whisper in her ear. “She’s
crazy about me.”

“She definitely is.” Jude
held her hand to his cheek and kissed him senseless. “But I’m not
sure she’ll ever forgive you for proposing when she’s covered in
grease and sweat.”

Logan brushed her hair back
and smiled down at her. “I didn’t want to waste another minute in
my life without you. All of you. Grease, sweat, kids, grandkid...I
want it all.”

It took two hours for
everything in the bar to calm down, and by then, the lunch rush had
begun. The crowd swelled as word of Logan and Jude’s engagement
spread; locals stopped in just to see if it were true and to offer
their best. They jostled in line with the tourists.

Jude never stopped moving,
and she never stopped smiling.

Lunch was just beginning to
slow down when Jude turned to see her daughter walk into the
restaurant. Part of her wanted to rush over and hug Meggie tight,
but she held back, let the girl come to her.

Meghan stopped just within
the kitchen, beyond the bar. She was twisting the strap of her
purse within her fingers.

“Mom? Do you have a
minute?”

Jude set down the bread she
had been about to toast. She turned to Logan, who had jumped in to
help cook and serve.

“Can you finish this order?”
She pointed to the slip of paper and then glanced at Meghan.

Logan’s eyes flicked to
follow her gaze. He moved to pick up the bread. “Sure. Hey,
Meggie.”

Uncertainty flashed on the
girl’s face. “Hey, Uncle Logan.” She licked her lips. “Um, I didn’t
thank you for the coffee this morning.”

Logan shrugged. “No problem.
Your mom made it, I just poured it.” He winked at her, and Jude
could feel an easing of the tension around them.

She led her daughter out
onto the deck, to a corner table removed from the customers.
Sinking into a chair, she sighed and propped her feet on another
seat.

“It’s been a long
morning.”  Jude looked out over the beach. “Such a pretty day,
lots of people in town.”

“Yeah.” Meggie bit her lip
and took a deep breath. “Mom, I’m sorry. About yesterday. I acted
like a brat.”