Logan Chapter 45

-Emory-

I guess I’m going to have to get used to sitting in luxurious places like some kind of human lawn ornament. On the one hand, I don’t want to make any kind of noise and interrupt whatever Logan has to do to get his business back on track, but on the other hand I’m bored out of my mind already. Historically, any time I let myself sit around bored, I end up sleeping.

No way am I allowing myself to drool on Logan’s nice seating. It’s set up like a receiving room, two chairs and a couch all facing a sleek, modern coffee table in black. There’s an abstract statue in the middle of the coffee table that looks a bit like a wolf, if you squint. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not. The chairs are plushy and comfortable in a charcoal gray, and the couch is a lighter gray leather. A lighter, heather gray pillow adorns each chair to pull it all together. It feels eerily like his penthouse.

I am cursed with the knowledge of the cost of every piece in this office and I’m sitting on- essentially- a new car. Not a BMW or anything, but Honda prices are still a lot for a chair, if you ask me. On top of that, Logan’s assistant - Annie? Anna? - is so put together and on top of everything that I can’t imagine being caught at anything less than my best in front of her. She’d give me the evil eye and I would implode and disappear from existence. I wouldn’t even be mad about it. It would be a relief from the embarrassment.

All of this means that I’m playing around on my phone. Once I realize that Logan and Anna have been talking the whole time without me being able to hear any of it, I decide to get the phone call to my mom over with. I’ve been studiously ignoring the voicemails and texts piling up from her since about two hours after the article came out. I had hoped I would have a little longer before she saw it, but one of my brothers probably caught it and sent it to her. I have no doubt it’s circulating in my home town right now, and Bryan is constantly looking at local news around here so he can tell me how dangerous the big city is. Damnit, Cora. Finally, I close my eyes and push the call button.

“Oh, Emory, baby. Finally! I was worried sick about you. You didn’t tell me all the circumstances around that guy. You were talking about Logan, right? Bill! Emory called back! Boys, get your daddy and I some tickets on that same flight!” Great, the whole family is already on it.

“No, no, Mom. Nobody needs to come up here. I’m just fine. Well. I will be. Cora did a whole lotta lying and it turns out Logan wasn’t actually that bad. But now I gotta deal with work and Cora and the dang paparazzi. I’m not public figure material, Mama. My coworkers are gonna be unbearable after this, but I just can’t believe that Cora…” I sniffle a little bit. I hope Anna isn’t looking right now.

“Oh, sweetie. I can. Cora has never been a good apple. She’s been a city girl her whole life. She just doesn’t care about anybody else. That’s not about you. You’re a sweet girl, Emmy-Jo. You just didn’t see it. Now, we are comin’ up there and we’re going to meet this young man. Is he a nice boy? Does he have a good family? Does he love his mama?” There we go. I’m sure that Mom’s already hearing wedding bells after hearing that Cora lied and he isn’t as bad as I thought. Though, with this fated mate thing I guess she’s not that far off.

“Mom, nobody needs to come up! Let me get this handled with Cora and really figure things out with Logan first. I don’t even know where you all would stay!” I am so not touching whether Logan is a nice boy with him just a few yards away from me.

I feel a shadow come over me. Make that a few feet away. “We have rooms where your family could stay, Emory. Have your mom send Anna the flight information and we’ll have someone there to pick them up. I don’t want you in public right now with this whole debacle, but I want to meet your family.” Ugh, now they’re ganging up on me.

“Was that him in the background? Wow he even sounds handsome! So nice of him to offer us rooms! Oh, hush, Bill. You worry too much. Emory’s young man is going to get us a driver and rooms. Bryan! Hunter! Get Elliana a ticket, too. We’re all going on a trip! Emory’s Logan is going to set us up in style!” I hear masculine grumbling in the background and then Ellie’s squeal about the shopping she’s going to get to do. I glare at Logan. There’s no stopping them now. I decide to try anyway.

“Mama, just you and Dad would be fine-”

“Nonsense, Emmy-Jo. We’ll see you soon! Text your brother the email address where your young man wants the flight information. I love you sweetie! We have to pack!” She hangs up on me before I can plead my case further.

“You’ve really done it now, buster. You invited the whole clan up here. Ellie is going to shop my parents into bankruptcy and both of my brothers are going to try to beat you up. Did you think about that before you opened your mouth, or is there a filter up there only for me?” The last part might have been a little vindictive, but all of this is confusing and stressful enough without my whole family being right in the middle of it. Why would he do that to me?

“I know exactly what I just did, Emory. I’m sure I’ll love your family. I’d give anything to talk to my parents again and I don’t want you living a single day with a wedge between you and them. We’ll figure all of it out when they get here.” I can’t argue with that unless I want to feel like a big jerk, so I let it go. I guess he’s meeting the family soon. I groan at the ping on my phone from my brother Bryan.

“They’ll be here in three days.”