Taste: A Love Story (28 page)

Wrapped around each other, in one of the large booths, the plan was to head back to Logan’s place. But as the lull of sleep pulled them in, their bodies softened into one another. Kara lightly touched the colors of Logan’s arm.

“What does all of this mean?” she asked, tracing her fingers along the lines of his tattoo.

“It means a lot of things,” he said, barely awake.

“Am I in there somewhere, Logan?”

“Of course you are,” he replied unable to filter what he was saying because he was halfway in a dream. “All men get tattoos of the women who break their hearts, princess.”

The last thing he remembered was her kiss.

The next morning, Logan was warm and sleeping better than he had in months when he heard Garrett’s voice calling him. His foggy brain was beginning to process where he was and whose naked body was tangled around him under a blanket, but it was too late.

“Well, it looks like someone had a slumber party.” Garrett’s voice resonated through the empty restaurant.

Logan flew up, banging his shoulder on the curve of the table. He and Kara were still tucked into the large back booth.

“I needed to make bread,” Logan offered as a pathetic, half-asleep explanation.

“Making bread. Is that what you kids are calling it these days?” Garrett asked as Logan finally opened his eyes enough to glare at his obnoxious brother. Garrett was laughing, but at least had the decency to turn his back as Logan slipped into his jeans and Kara, wrapped in the blanket, tried to tiptoe someplace safe.

“Morning, Kara.” Garrett smirked as she walked past him, eyes down, waving as she quickly passed. Logan shook his head and walked over to his brother.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“You know, I really am.” He patted Logan on the shoulder. “Produce is in the kitchen. You better get to work. From the looks of the kitchen, seems like a lot of bread was made last night.” Garrett continued laughing all the way out the door. Logan smiled because his brother was sure due for some kind of karma; he just hoped he would be around to see it someday.

Chapter Twenty-Five

H
e should have felt weird that Grady and one of his best friends, Peter, were having lunch at the bar, especially since Logan had recently taken Grady’s sister right on the counter in the next room, but it felt as normal as just about anything. Grady and Peter grew up together and seemed more like brothers than friends as they sat arguing over which movie they considered Al Pacino’s best.

There was that brief moment when Logan came around the corner to relieve Sage, so she could deal with a phone call. His eyes met Grady’s and Logan wondered if he had “Holy Crap Your Sister is the Hottest Thing on the Planet” plastered all over his face, but it passed and now he was putting white plates and a pizza in front of both men.

“So how was she?” Grady asked and Logan nearly knocked their drinks across the bar.

“Excuse me?” Logan tried to swallow.

Peter steadied his teetering beer glass.

“Easy there, Logan. Maybe you need a beer,” Grady said.

“She was good,” Peter answered because apparently the question was directed at him and not guilty-I-know-your-sister’s-‘O’-face Logan. “I mean, I think Sam likes what she’s doing with her dress, so thanks for handing us off to one of your ex-girlfriends.”

“Girlfriend is a really strong word. One I hope you’ll refrain from using around Kate. We went on a couple of dates and she wasn’t my type.”

“The woman designs wedding dresses. I could have told you she was not your type.” Peter laughed.

“Wait, but aren’t you engaged now?” Logan asked filling up a soda water for the out-of-towner who sat at the end of the bar reading.

Grady smiled and Logan couldn’t believe how much his face changed. He’d met Kate, before Grady had proposed, and she was a knockout, but Grady had it bad.

“I am, yes I’m very engaged.”

Peter rolled his eyes and put his arm around Grady. “Logan, I wish you’d known this guy before he found the love of his life. Then you would be able to truly appreciate the transformation. He’s a goner.”

Logan laughed and Grady just nodded and raised his drink to toast.

“So how about you?” Grady asked Logan. “Have you made peace with my sister yet?”

You could say that
, Logan thought, but didn’t say.

“I, yeah, she’s . . .”
Holy shit
, he couldn’t speak.
Get it together.
“She’s fine. We’re fine.”

Grady grinned at Peter and then they both looked at Logan.
Damn it.

“Okay, so everything is . . . fine?” Peter asked.

Logan nodded and wiped down the bar. They were directly across from him and Sage still wasn’t back. There was nowhere to hide and he wondered if he should look at them because he could feel their eyes on him.
Shit, this is ridiculous.

Grady’s eyes honed right in on him.

“Holy crap, Pete. He’s sleeping with her. Do you see it? Right there, the weird twitchy thing his eye is doing. Dead giveaway for sleeping with a guy’s sister.”

Logan stopped wiping the bar, looked at Peter who was nodding and smiling, and then he did the stupidest thing he could remember doing. He put his hand to his eye. It was right up there with the grade school game, “You’ve got something on your shirt. Bah, made you look.” That stupid.

Grady burst out laughing first and Peter was right behind him.

“Oldest trick in the book, man. Wow.”

Logan shook his head, said nothing, and checked over his shoulder for Sage. Grady reached around and patted him on the back.

“So”—Grady straightened and cleared his throat—“what are your intentions with my sister, Master Rye.”

Peter and Grady laughed and seemed to expect Logan to join in, but he didn’t. He was too busy peeling the label off a beer bottle he’d collected from a vacant seat at the bar and wondering when things got so damn complicated.

“Any advice?” he asked after his new friends had settled down.

“Advice?” Peter repeated.

Logan nodded and threw the empty bottle out and the clank of bottles hitting other bottles echoed through the bar. He stared at both men. They must have realized he was serious because they both seemed concerned.

“On women in general or the one you’re currently in . . .” Grady paused to consider and Logan shot him a look that begged him not to go there, “in . . . volved with?”

“Mine, I mean the one, yeah, your sister.” Logan shook his head in embarrassment. This was rough.

“Well, it goes without saying she’s a handful.” Grady turned to Peter who agreed and took another sip of beer.

“But . . .” Logan met his eyes and Grady had a smile he hadn’t seen yet. He would later understand it was Grady’s big brother smile. “She’s one of my favorite people. She’s a fantastic light of color in a, well, a less than fantastic world.”

“It’s hard for me to figure out who the hell she is. One minute she’s cold, proper, Kara and then she’s—” Logan could feel his heart, physically feel it, throbbing in his chest. “I saw her studio. I had no idea. Again, something she didn’t tell me.”

“Yeah, Kara’s not a big sharer,” Peter added.

“But if you’ve seen the glass lair, well that’s something, man. Our parents don’t even know she designs those lamps.”

“Help me understand that. I don’t get how you can be around people, spend time with them and there are all of these things they don’t know about you.”

“Selective vulnerability,” Grady said. “We all do it.”

“I don’t.” Logan almost pulled his words back because he’d forgotten that he was a liar too.
Is lying by omission the same as being a liar?

“Oh, sure you do. No one spills all their shit the first time they meet someone or even a month in. You’re kidding yourself, Logan. Kara’s not that different than the rest of the world. People hide and lie to themselves and others all the time. I get that you need her to be real or honest, but it seems like she’s working on it for you.”

“For me?”

“That’s the way I see it. Kara had it a little harder than I did growing up. She chose the good girl, always behave, and do what’s expected route.”

Peter nodded to Logan in agreement.

“That shit will kill you,” Grady continued, “or at least mess you up pretty bad.”

“I guess. That’s the thing, I don’t know because I don’t live in that world. I really don’t want to. Kara and I are having a good time. I guess that’s all I need to worry about.”

“A good time. Right.” Grady smiled at Peter.

“If you say so, man,” Peter added.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Grady sipped his beer. “If you ever decide to move past a good time, here’s my advice. One of my favorite pictures of Kara is from when we were little. It’s this picture of her on Easter morning. She has her basket, it’s morning, and her hair, which was lighter than it is now, is all over the place. Crazy hair and warm face. Her smile is mischief and sweet. It’s framed on the wall in my house. Anytime someone sees it, they can’t believe it’s Kara. That’s how she wants it and quite frankly so do I. Crazy-haired Kara isn’t for everyone. She’s special. You’ve been given a gift not many people get—to my knowledge even fewer men. You get to see crazy-haired Kara. Even better, she loves you.”

Logan felt the shock in his face as he started to correct Grady, but Grady ignored him and continued.

“You’ve got to just hang on to crazy-haired Kara. She’s the best, and man, you’ve brought her back to all of us. She’s bolder and braver with you by her side. The rest of it’s bullshit. She knows it and she plays along. She has her whole life. That doesn’t make her phony. That doesn’t mean you don’t know her or that she’s not genuine. She’s one of the most genuine women I know, when she allows herself, when she’s safe. Just keep her safe, Logan, and you’ll spend your life with crazy-haired Kara.”

Logan felt a lump in his throat and was thankful when the guy two seats down ordered another round.

“That was beautiful, man,” Peter mocked Grady and then pretended to wipe a tear.

“Wasn’t it? Probably better than half the shit you write.” He shoulder checked Peter, hard.

All three men laughed and Logan nodded to Grady that he understood. It didn’t make it any easier, but it was clear. She loved him, that’s what Grady said, and on some level Logan knew. He hadn’t planned on this. The banter, the teasing, maybe even a little more, but then she was supposed to bolt again. That’s what he knew, what he expected. But she wasn’t going anywhere and Logan couldn’t figure out how to let Kara in, because Grady was right. They all had parts of themselves, lies they’d told, that they didn’t plan on sharing.

As Kara approached Boone Park, she could see Makenna stroking the top of Paige’s head as she talked with other mothers and their little girls. Paige had a birthday party and Makenna had little or no free time, so Kara agreed to meet her at the park for their interview. She smiled as she got closer and Makenna waved, indicating she would be right over.

Kara took a seat on one of the benches. Hanging overhead was a huge oak tree. The sunlight trickled through tiny leaves and she lifted her face to the blue sky. The tree was a massive twisting of trunk and limbs. She squinted her eyes and wondered how many generations of children and mothers this tree had seen. How much laughter or how many skinned knees? Kara wasn’t often around young children except for Eloise, and even then it was mostly school productions, birthdays, or holidays. She had once kept Eloise overnight while Jake and Cotton went to a convention. She had to take her to a play date and was given a behind-the-scenes look at the elaborate network of parents and their children. Being part of that seemed like it could be an incredibly supportive network of men and women all going up the same stream, but according to Jake, it was much more like high school all over again.

“Whose child is better, smarter, going to a better camp,” Jake said, “but there are cookies and juice boxes to disguise the fangs and nails.” Kara could see that now, looking over at the gathering of young girls and their moms with cell phones out. She wondered if there was a prototype mother, kind of like debutantes. Was there a certain standard or code of conduct and was anything outside that mold considered odd or out of place? She knew that Jake and Cotton dealt with close-minded people all the time, but they were two gay men raising a little girl. Their situation was very different than the average suburban family, but Kara wondered more about slight differences like disability, divorce, and finances. Did those move you from one clique to another?