BWWM Interracial Romance 3: Family Heart (2 page)

As Gail drove her home from the bar, Jessica tried to sort out just how she felt about the man she had met. Gail was telling her about Logan: how he was recently divorced, that he had a five-year-old son, that he was a good boss, and a conscientious business owner. Jessica tuned her friend out slightly, knowing that Gail wouldn’t mind. All she could think of was the fact that for the first time since she had gotten the terrible phone call telling her that Evan had died, she had actually felt attracted to someone. Jessica’s mother had told her over and over again that she couldn’t immolate herself in grief, that she couldn’t harden her heart to everyone else in the world—that she had to move on eventually, and find love. Gail had seconded that, adding that Jessica was still young; while what had happened to Evan was tragic, she couldn’t let it ruin her life for good.

Jessica knew she couldn’t expect to be single for the rest of her life; she even knew that she would eventually have to go through the process of meeting men, of trying to find someone to fill in the void that Evan’s death had left in her life and heart. But she had been putting it off, telling herself that she wasn’t ready to get close to anyone yet. It would happen when the time was right. She thought about how Logan had acted at the bar—paying attention to her, but not crowding her, making her feel comfortable, and joking with her. She wondered if it was because he was just a friendly, socially-adept person, or if Gail had tipped him off about Jessica’s lingering discomfort when it came to talking to men or anything at all that seemed like she was being set up.

Gail dropped Jessica off with a hug, and Jessica weaved slightly as she made her way to the front door and tried to dig her keys out of her pocket. She hadn’t drunk so much that she would have a hangover in the morning, but Jessica knew that she would still be paying for the fact that she’d stayed out so late. It had been impossible for her to keep track of time, talking to Logan. She smiled to herself, hoping that he would follow through and call her; for the first time in a year, Jessica was actually excited at the prospect of a date.

Logan yawned, stretching his back against the rigid seat of his SUV. His head wasn’t overly muddled from the few beers he’d had the night before; he would never have risked his son, Zachary, if he was less than sober. They were waiting in the drop-off line, Zachary reading one of the books that he kept in the car while he hummed along with the radio. Logan glanced over at his son with a little smile to himself; Zachary looked more like him every day. The newly-five-year-old boy had Logan’s wife’s red-tinged hair, but his father’s eyes. He’d already shown a penchant for building things, much to Logan’s pride. “Have a good day in school, buddy!” Logan called when Zachary hopped out of the car, closing the door behind him and hurrying to join his classmates. In another couple of minutes, Logan thought, he’d be out of the line and back on the road—and on his way to work.

He thought back to the night before, and the woman that Gail had introduced him to. Jessica. Logan had heard of Jessica before from Gail, who combined a competent, hard-working nature with a tendency to talk about anything and everything going on in her life. Because she was entertaining and pleasant, it had never bothered Logan—though he knew there was more than one man on his crew that felt differently, and simply avoided more than the most to-the-point interactions with the office worker. Logan had heard about Gail’s friend losing her boyfriend a long time ago; it had been a local tragedy, fodder for the newspapers for a few days and then gone from the spotlight. He had forgotten all about the woman’s grief when Gail had introduced them.

Jessica was beautiful, Logan thought to himself as he pulled out of the car loop and onto the street carefully. He pictured her in his mind: her short, spiky-cut hair, her curves shown to good advantage in a pair of fitted jeans and a nice blouse. Her laugh was beautiful too, the few times he had heard it the evening before. When he had asked to see her again, Logan had really meant it. When Jessica had hesitated, that was when Logan had finally remembered that she had lost her boyfriend about a year before—and nearly kicked himself for hitting on a woman who might still be grieving. He had been relieved when she had given him her number, and pleased at the thought that he might see her again. It had been a while since he had really, truly thought about dating a woman; ever since the crushing failure of his marriage, it had been difficult to even consider setting himself up to fall again.

As if his thought had been a cue, Logan’s phone rang, the screen flashing with his wife’s name. He sighed, wondering if he should pick it up or let it roll over to voicemail. There were no guarantees as to which aspect of his wife's personality he would meet with whenever he answered a call. She could be happy, and wanting to chat with him as if their marriage had never ended—or she could be enraged by some imagined slight, ready to chew him out. Logan decided that he would have to just answer the phone and find out; if Rosanna was in a bad mood, he could always hang up. “What’s up, Rosie?” he said, as soon as the call was connected.

“Zac left some of his toys at my place,” Rosanna said. “I thought you’d like to know.” Logan came to a stop at a light; there wasn’t any tension in his ex-wife’s voice, no hint of accusation.

“I can come by and get them, if you want.” Logan wondered why it had taken Rosanna so long to call him about it; the last time Zac had been at her house had been over a week before. Logan realized that she had called him twice since then without mentioning the toys—once to confirm that Zac would be spending an upcoming weekend with her parents, and another time to ask about their son’s school play.

“That’d be really nice. No rush—if Zac hasn’t missed them yet, it’s not urgent.” Maybe that was why she had neglected to call him until then; it made sense. But then—Logan thought in confusion—it seemed as though Rosanna was calling him more frequently in the last month or so. Logan made a face at his steering wheel, trying to puzzle it out.

“I’ll probably drop by on my way home from work,” Logan suggested. He accelerated through the intersection; he was coming up on the building that housed his business. “I’ll see you later on, Rosanna, I’m about to be at work.”

“You don’t have to be such a stranger, you know,” She said. “You can drop by anytime. It’d be good for Zac to see his parents getting along.” Logan made another face at his steering wheel, thinking of how little he and Rosanna had gotten along even before the divorce. He took a deep breath.

“I’ll think about it. I’ll be by this afternoon for Zac’s stuff.” Logan finished the call as quickly as possible and shoved his phone into his pocket. He didn’t know what was stranger: Rosanna not noticing Zac had left toys behind at her house, or Rosanna seemingly trying to butter him up. He turned his thoughts onto the work ahead of him, banishing both his ex-wife and the captivating woman he had met the night before.

“Logan!” Gail’s voice called Logan out of his thoughts as he made his way through the office; he was leaving to pick his son up from school. The campus nurse had called him a few moments before, saying that Zac had come down with a fever and should go home. Logan had asked if he should take his son to the doctor, but the nurse had reassured him that Zac probably just had the flu, and that rest and fluids would take care of it in a day or two.

Logan wondered if the nurse had called Rosanna first—or if he should call his ex-wife to let her know that Zachary was ill. He felt an odd sort of tingle of guilt and excitement at the idea; Rosanna had been asking him to bring their son over more often than she had when the divorce had first gone through. Then, in the beginning, it had been nothing but tense, terse phone calls asking when his parents would bring Zac by, or accusing him of trying to keep her “out of the loop” when it came to their son. Of course, whenever Logan would call her, to let her know something or to ask if she wanted Zac for the weekend, it was a coin toss whether or not she would answer. Logan had known full well that Rosanna was fully involved with the man she had been cheating on him with—they had, according to the gossip within their circle of friends, all the bliss that could possibly come of finally being openly together after months of sneaking around.

But in the last few weeks, Rosanna’s tone towards him had changed, and Logan still wasn’t entirely sure why. She asked him to stay for a cup of coffee or a glass of tea when he brought Zachary over, or she invited him over when Zachary was with his grandparents—just on his own. And she seemed changed overall—no longer picking fights with him, but talking to him almost the way she had at the beginning of their marriage. Actually relating to him instead of trying to cast the blame on him for her own failings; she had even admitted that the man she had cheated on him with was simply no good, that she’d been caught up in the sneaking around and hadn’t realized that any man who would be with a married woman was not likely to balk at cheating on her. Logan realized he’d been staring off into space again when Gail called his name once more.

“What’s up, Gail?” Logan asked, slowing but not stopping his trek out of the office. The tall blonde woman put her hands on her hips and stepped in front of him.

“Are you avoiding my friend Jessica?” she asked. Logan stared at Gail in astonishment.

“No? Where would you get an idea like that?” He shook his head. “I’ve really got to go, Gail; Zac is sick.” Gail let him pass, but fell in next to him, matching his steps.

“I know you haven’t called her. She would have mentioned it to me.” Logan realized it had been nearly a week since he had met Gail’s friend—the one who had been so beautiful, but who had hesitated before giving him her phone number.

“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Logan protested. “Zac’s got things going on in school, and Rosanna isn’t always ready to step in…”

Gail made a face, reaching out and touching his arm to stop him. “You can get Zac in a minute. Look, Logan… I was really, really hoping that you would ask Jess out on a date.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “She didn’t seem all that eager to give me her number.”

Gail rolled her eyes. “She’s… stubborn.” Gail pressed her lips together. “Ever since her boyfriend died in a car accident, she’s been driving herself non-stop.”

Logan shrugged. “What does that have to do with me?” Logan fidgeted, wanting nothing more than to get out of the office and to his son.

Gail sighed. “You’re fun! You’re a great guy, and funny and sweet. She could use someone like that in her life.”

Logan snorted. “Because you’re not fun and funny and sweet?”

Gail groaned. “I’m not a man. Look: she’s a great woman, and I think you—and Zac—would really like her. You could use a dose of her seriousness and she could use a bit of your easygoing nature. Just ask her out. Just one date—and if you decide she’s too much for you then I won’t blame you for letting it drop.”

Logan scrubbed at his face. “If I agree to ask her out, will you let me go and pick up my son?”

Gail grinned. “Of course!”

Logan chuckled wryly, shaking his head. “Fine. I’ll call her as soon as I’ve got Zac at home. If she shoots me down, you’ll have to pimp out someone else’s boss for her.” Gail let him go with a laugh, and Logan quickly strode to his waiting car, hoping that Zac wasn’t feeling too poorly. He would be more comfortable once he got his son home and in bed with a glass of Gatorade and a bowl of soup.

Jessica picked up her phone at the sound of the first ring, glancing at the screen to see who it was; she was half-expecting Gail. The number that flashed at her was one she’d never seen before. Confused, Jessica hit the icon to accept the call. “Hello?” She thought irritably that if it was a telemarketer, she would give them a piece of her mind.

“Hey, Jessica, it’s Logan.” Jessica nearly dropped the phone. She had given up on Logan—after almost two weeks of wondering whether or not she really wanted to try and start dating again, she had nearly decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble, and that she had been wrong to expect anything to come of the late-night conversation.

“I’m surprised to hear from you,” Jessica said, her voice faltering slightly. She heard Logan’s rueful chuckle as her cheeks burned with a blush.

“I’m sorry I left you hanging, I really am.” Logan cleared his throat. “I don’t know if I mentioned that I’m—sort of a single parent right now?” Jessica remembered him mentioning a son, a five-year-old, he had said. That made sense.

“I think I remember you mentioning you have a son,” she said. “Did you say his name was Zachary?” Jessica sat back in her desk chair. She wondered just what had prompted Logan to call her seemingly out of the blue the way he was.

“Great memory! Yes… I am recently divorced, and I have primary custody.” There was a brief pause on the other end, and Jessica waited to see if Logan would say anything else. “I was hoping you would forgive me for letting the ball drop—and let me take you on a date to make up for it.” Jessica’s heart started to beat faster in her chest. When she hadn’t heard from Logan within two days of meeting him, she had felt both relieved and disappointed. Jessica had told herself that she wasn’t ready to start dating anyway, and that she really wanted to continue focusing on her career for a little while before she tried to start a relationship again, but part of her had wondered if she had somehow put Logan off—if she would continue putting men off for the rest of her life.

“I would really enjoy that,” Jessica said, smiling as she spoke.

“When are you free?” Logan asked her, and Jessica flipped open her day planner, looking down at it quickly. Her phone had more than one app on it that would theoretically allow her to put all of her dates and meetings and other information in—but she preferred writing things down, as a holdover from when she had been in school.

“I get out early on Friday; I could meet you somewhere that night.” Jessica made a mental note to refuse any last minute meetings that might arise—and she knew, after months and months in her position, that there were always last minute meetings. But she had worked enough overtime to justify cutting out on one or two of them.

“That’s great! My parents can watch Zac. I’ll call you again tomorrow to firm up the details—I want to make sure that I make up for leaving you hanging so long.” Jessica shook her head, smiling, even though she knew that Logan couldn’t possibly see her.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “Ask Gail: I accidentally leave her hanging all the time.” Jessica thought she could hear Logan smiling on the other end of the line.

“Yes, but you’ve been friends with Gail for years—I only have so many chances to make a good impression before you give up on me.” Jessica’s cheeks were warm, a blush spreading down onto her chest.

“I look forward to seeing what you come up with.” She licked her lips, shaking her head again. “Unfortunately, I really have to go—I have about a dozen pieces to sort through.”

“I should probably try and get some work done from home myself,” Logan said easily. “I swear I will call you tomorrow.” Jessica laughed.

“If you don’t, I’ll call you.” She was surprised, as she finished the call and hung up, that she actually believed it.

When her coworkers and staff noticed—and commented on—the change in her demeanor, Jessica just smiled. It was only one date, after all, she told herself firmly as she went through the rest of her day. It didn’t mean anything. For all she knew Logan would turn out to be a jerk; or they would simply be incompatible together. Jessica heard Gail’s voice in her head and smiled ruefully. Her friend had been hot on the topic of Logan ever since they had happened upon him at the bar. Jessica had heard chapter and verse about what a good father Logan was, and about how he was a great boss. “Logan is such a sweetie,” Gail had said over beers the week after Jessica had met him. “There’s this guy on the construction team, his son was sick with something—had to go to the hospital. Logan not only gave the guy paid time off to be with his son, but—and keep this under your hat, because no one knows it but me, you, and the parties involved—but Logan gave him some money to cover the deductible on his insurance, because the bills were so high.”

Gail should know that Logan had finally gotten around to asking her out. Jessica waited until she had a few minutes of privacy, a few minutes to burn on talking to her friend; a little while after lunch, with a lull in phone calls and meetings, Jessica picked up her phone and found Gail’s number. Jessica grinned to herself when Gail picked up after the first ring. “So,” Jessica said, still able to feel the flutter of excitement at the news she had to impart. “Three guesses as to who called me earlier.”

“Logan!” Jessica chuckled at her friend’s excitement. “Good. I was starting to regret telling you so many great things about him, the way he was leaving you hanging.” Jessica shrugged.

“He’s a single dad—he’s busy. I get it.” Jessica couldn’t quite admit to herself how much it had pleased her to hear from him finally. “But yeah; we’re going to go out on Friday, though I’m not sure where.” Gail was grinning—Jessica could feel her friend’s excitement through the phone line.

“Oh, you’re going to give me all the details, right? And you’re going to go home with him at the end of the night? It’s been too long, you know.” Jessica blushed, shaking her head even though she knew that Gail wouldn’t see it.

“I’m not going to go home with him! It’s the first date!” Jessica struggled to keep her voice low—she didn’t want to fuel any gossip in the office. “Besides, I don’t even know how it will go. You don’t know either; maybe it won’t work out.” Gail laughed again.

“You’re great, he’s great, and you’ll be great together. Just you see. Have I ever been wrong about setting two people up together?” Jessica rolled her eyes at her friend.

“Technically you didn’t set us up together. You just noticed he was there.” Gail made a protesting noise.

“Hey! Just because I took the opportunity doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get any credit for setting you up. When the two of you have your first anniversary together, you make sure to remember it was me who introduced you.” Jessica snorted.

“You’re probably already planning my wedding and just want to set yourself up to be maid of honor.”

“Of course! Who else would it be?” Jessica rolled her eyes again, though her lips were curved in a smile that hadn’t quite left her face since she had gotten the call from Logan.

“Putting the cart before the horse. I’m not going to go home with Logan, and I am going to wait and see whether or not we work out before I agree to a second date. Maybe Logan won’t even ask.”

“Oh, he’ll ask. You don’t even know, Jess. You and Logan are going to have a great time, no matter what he takes you out to do.” Jessica deflected any other suggestions from Gail, though she was too happy to be anything but amused at her friend’s enthusiasm. Finally, Jessica managed to get off of the phone—remembering her upcoming meeting, and begging off from Gail’s conversation, as well as assuring her that they’d grab brunch together on Saturday instead of their usual Friday night date, since Jessica would be with Logan.