Part 15 (1/2)
She jumped at the sound of her mother's voice, tipping her wine over. She and Logan went after the spilled wine with their napkins. ”Mom?” she said, looking up.
June had changed clothes. At least some of them. She wore a crisp white s.h.i.+rt with her jeans, covered by a blazer. She'd fluffed up her hair and put on lipstick.
”Mom?” Logan asked, sliding out of the booth.
”h.e.l.lo,” June said good-naturedly, smiling at him.
”Mom, what are you doing here?”
”I ordered some takeout,” she said.
”But what about your meat loaf?”
”I lost interest so I put it in the freezer. My goodness, Riley, when you said you couldn't wait to get out of your panty hose, I had no idea-” She put out her hand to Logan. ”I'm June Kerrigan.”
”Pleasure to meet you. I'm Logan Danner. Would you like to join us?”
”Not on your life,” she said with a laugh. ”Have you two been seeing each other long?”
He gave a short laugh and looked at his watch. ”About fifteen minutes now, as a matter of fact, though we've b.u.mped into each other at the grocery store and Starbucks a dozen or so times.”
”Isn't that nice,” June said. ”We'll visit more another time. I'm going to grab my dinner and head home. Have a nice time. Try to keep the drinks upright.”
”Definitely,” Logan said. He waited for her to pa.s.s their table before sliding back into their booth. ”Your elderly mother, I presume?”
”She was a lot older last time I saw her,” Riley said.
”This is going to be more fun than I thought,” he said, his smile very wide. ”You're going to need some training in dating...”
”You sure you're the one to do it?” she asked.
”Oh, yeah. I'm the guy.”
Chapter Eleven.
After Riley's mother departed and Logan got her another gla.s.s of wine, the whole mood of the date lightened and they laughed together like old friends. Riley told him all about her family, how she came to Santa Rosa to live with her grandparents after her father's death, her brother the schoolteacher, her mother-not elderly at all but very hip and cool and someone who'd helped her so much with her daughter, she couldn't have survived without her.
”What about Maddie's dad?” he asked.
”Oh, he's around. He came by on Thanksgiving to see her. It was my mother and grandparents who got me through the pregnancy and early years and I really hated Jock for his negligence, but we were eighteen, for G.o.d's sake. He was useless, his support was erratic and insufficient, but he was just a kid. Immature. He grew up over time.” Then she laughed. ”Not a lot, but he did grow up. He's good to Maddie. He loves her. He's very proud of her.”
”Does he still love you?” Logan asked.
”He never really did,” she said with a laugh. ”I've been over him a long, long time.”
”What does he do?”
”He's a manager in a big electronics chain. You know the guy-short-sleeved dress s.h.i.+rt, bad tie, khaki pants, sort of athletic-looking and he watches over the nerds who help you find just the right phone or laptop or speakers. He's very personable. Kind of perpetually happy. A little bit like a puppy. Now that I'm over being p.i.s.sed off at what a lousy boyfriend he turned out to be, we get along all right. What about you and your ex?”
”I think I told you-she's my sister's best friend. My sister's married...” He paused and grinned. ”To a man-they're not that kind of best friends. And my ex is a nice person, a real nice person. I admit, it threw me, but that was years ago. I'm over it. She's happy, she has a good life, she's successful...”
”But you took some heat?”
”I'm a cop, what do you think? There are some good women in the department but it's still mainly a guy's shop and yes, they didn't let up for a long time. They still give it to me from time to time. But they also like my ex. Because she's...” He shrugged. ”Likable. But it's mostly over now.”
”Mostly?”
”Well, there's that odd first date when you have to explain your wife left you because she's a lesbian...”
”I'm sorry, I was very rude. I shouldn't have found humor in it.”
”You laughed your a.s.s off,” he pointed out.
”Well, just before that revelation, you'd been way too confident. So what does she do? Your ex?”
”Nurse pract.i.tioner. We dated a year, were married a year, been divorced eight years, still see each other all the time because she hangs out with Bernie, my sister.”
”It sounds kind of nice. Family-like.” She smiled at him. ”Let's have coffee,” she suggested.
Before Logan knew what was going on, over two hours had pa.s.sed and he'd had one of the best first dates he'd had in a long, long time. He found Riley to be funny, cute, s.e.xy and smart. He was intrigued by how she built her business. He loved hearing about the way she grew up, the family's struggles, the family's close relations.h.i.+p.
She never once mentioned Emma Shay and he grew hopeful that there was no strong connection between them.
”Why am I telling you so much?” she said, well into her second cup of coffee.
He shrugged. ”I'm a detective. I know how to ask the right questions. I know when to ask them. But hey, I play fair-this is a date, not an interrogation. I'll tell you anything.”
”Anything?”
”Pretty much. I can't talk about cases I'm working on but you'd find that boring anyway. Riley,” he said seriously, ”this turned out really nice. I think your mother catching you having a date broke the ice.”
”I think you're right,” she said. ”And I'm never going to hear the end of it.”
”Are you ever going to tell me why it was me?” he asked. ”And why tonight was the night?”
She wore a mysterious smile. ”Maybe next time,” she said. ”Or the time after that.”
”That's what I wanted to hear.”
Logan wasn't allowed a kiss that first night, but she did make plans with him for the next day. She agreed to meet him Sat.u.r.day afternoon for a movie and early, casual dinner. He took her to see a disaster film-a violent earthquake took out the entire west coast-and if it had been a test, it was a very successful one; she loved the movie and it had her nearly sitting on his lap through the whole thing. And then during a dinner of pizza and beer he was more than happy to tell her his life story.
Logan's parents had divorced because his father cheated on his mother when Logan was at a very vulnerable age of thirteen. Although his father never remarried and his parents seemed to have made their peace with each other, Logan wasn't over it. ”I'm thirty-eight, my dad has always stuck around, made amends as best he could, I get along with him as well as possible but the truth is, I'm still p.i.s.sed.”
”That's a powerful grudge,” she said. ”Remind me not to make you angry.”