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Logan spent a lot of the week pondering over Trenton’s words and wondering what exactly he was supposed to do about his feelings for Wendy. Tell her? Or maybe run screaming from the room whenever she was in it!
But now that he knew he liked her, he thought about her even more. He wanted to figure her out, to know what made her tick, to talk with her and find out what her favourite movie was, or her favourite drink, and whether she loved or hated Marmite. All the little things that made a person who they were. But mostly he found himself thinking about what made her so angry all the time and if he could make her happier.
When Saturday came around Logan walked into Oakworth Village to meet his mother and Daniel for afternoon tea at the hotel there. He looked around for Wendy, but hadn’t seen her all morning, so he didn’t know if she was joining them. He assumed she would be, but there was no sign of her.
He sat in the hotel lounge, watching his mother sip herbal tea as she pored over bridal magazines.
“Don’t you know all these off by heart, Mum? It’s not exactly your first rodeo. This is wedding number four, remember.” Logan gave an amused grimace as Marina tried to show him yet another picture of a flower arrangement.
“Hush,” she chided, casting a glance toward Daniel, who was over at the bar ordering them some sandwiches. “This one is going to be different. It’s going to be a real traditional wedding, which I’ve never actually done.” She pulled a face and then ticked them off on her fingers, “I’ve been married in Las Vegas, on a beach in Australia and in a temple in Tibet. But never in white and never in an actual church. In fact we were thinking of having it right here in Oakworth. We’d be hard-pressed for a more quintessential English village, and it is where we met.”
“Maybe not in a church, darling.” Daniel said, sitting down again. “We’re not exactly religious, and it is going to be a very small wedding. There’s a very pretty registry office in Bath, and then we could all come back here for a dinner reception afterwards. Then you and I can take a lovely long honeymoon somewhere and really relax for the first time in years.”
Logan stifled a yawn; weddings weren’t high on his list of fun things to do.
“I guess if you had it here then Wendy and I could go straight back to school afterwards. Is she joining us today?” He finally asked the question he’d been thinking since he got there.
Daniel looked sadly down at his coffee. “No, I don’t think so. I’ve left her several messages but she’s still not really talking to me. I know she was angry about my relationship with Marina happening so quickly, but I want her to be part of our special day. She really should be over it by now.” He huffed a bit, his sadness turning to annoyance. “She can carry on sulking for weeks sometimes.”
Logan looked at Daniel, wondering if he really meant his words to sound as callous as they did.
“It’s her seventeenth birthday in a couple of weeks,” Daniel continued, “and I was thinking that maybe she would like a car. I’m sure a car would bring her around.”
Logan debated whether to just keep his mouth shut as he normally would, but his feelings on the subject were just too strong to ignore.
“No, Daniel, I don’t think a car would bring her around. You don’t get it – Wendy isn’t sulking, she’s hurting. She doesn’t need gifts, she needs you. She needs you to spend some quality time with her, talk to her, be a father to her – don’t just buy her something to make it all better!”
“Logan!” Marina said in horror at his rudeness.
“No, Marina, it’s fine.” Daniel put his hand over hers. “Logan has a point.”
“Too right I do.” For the first time in years Logan dropped the floodgate on his emotions. He couldn’t have stopped even if he’d wanted to. “You have a beautiful, kind, intelligent and feisty daughter, and you don’t appreciate her. Only now are you making time for your family, taking a long relaxing holiday, except that you’re doing it for a new wife and a new baby and it’s like you’re simply replacing her, and I know exactly how she feels!”
Logan crossed his arms over his chest, unable to believe he’d just said that. Marina burst into tears and jumped up to sit next to him and put her arms around him. He sat rigid for a second or two and then he relaxed into her hug, mainly because he really needed it.
Daniel rubbed his chin uncomfortably, his expression ranging from annoyed to defensive to miserable acceptance.
“It’s true, I’ve always put my career first, but it’s a very demanding job.”
“Then don’t have children. Please don’t just stick the new one in a boarding school and forget about it.” Logan took a deep breath and tried to force himself to calm down.
“Oh, Logan, I’m so sorry.” Marina snuffled into a handkerchief and hugged him tighter. “You know you’ll always be my number one.”
“Until you have another one. No, sorry, I didn’t mean that.” He closed his eyes, wishing he could take back everything he’d just said. “I love you loads, I’m still just getting used to the idea, that’s all. The baby should come first.” Logan gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and she stopped crying. He felt awful now, but strangely better too.
***
WENDY STOOD JUST OUTSIDE the door to the hotel lounge, frozen with one hand against it. She’d grudgingly decided that she should make an appearance, and had just been about to join them when she heard her name and stopped. She’d stood there with her mouth open as she listened to Logan let loose on her dad, and all the lovely things he’d said about her. Beautiful, kind, intelligent and feisty. And her dad had actually listened, he hadn’t just dismissed what Logan was saying like he normally would; she could hear the guilt in his voice.
It had calmed down again now, and she thought she should go in, but then she realised that Marina hadn’t been the only one who was crying. Tears were trickling down her own face. She hadn’t cried in years, but what Logan had said was so true – she did want her dad to simply spend some time with her. She wanted to stop being angry and just forgive her father, so they could both try harder, but not looking like this. She swiped at her cheeks and then backed away from the door.