In the morning, the town quiet, the sun rising amidst gold and yellow, Logan drove me back to my truck at Lady Whiskey’s. We’d taken a shower together, he’d made me eggs and toast, we’d ended up on the couch performing naked gymnastics, and then we’d headed out the door. I had to hurry home and check on my mom. I’d left her dinner, and her sisters were coming over, but still. I checked my phone and texted her that I was coming home soon, and she texted,Now don’t you hurry home, sugarplum, and tell Logan I said hello and good morning.
Very funny, Mother,I texted back.
In the front seat of his truck, Logan pulled me onto his lap for a hug and kiss. “See you soon?”
I smiled at him and dramatically fluttered my eyelashes at him. “I have to let my body rest.”
He laughed. “How long does your body need to rest?”
“A few hours at least. You should rest your body, too. That was a lot of work holding me up against the wall.”
“No work at all, sweetheart. None.” He kissed me again, and we almost ended up in a compromising position in the middle of the parking lot. How embarrassing it would be to get arrested for having sex in his truck. The entire town would know. The news would probably be posted in the bar, with people gawking at the charges filed against us.
We would never live it down.
“Bye, Logan.” I gave him another kiss.
“No, don’t say bye, m’lady.”
“Don’t say bye?”
“Please don’t. Say, ‘See you later.’ Or, ‘I’ll meet you at your place.’ Or, ‘Where do you want to go to dinner tonight?’ Something like that.”
“Got it. See you later, Logan.”
He grinned at me. “See you later, honey.”
I paused on that. He’d called me honey and sweetheart and babe all the time when we were dating.
He got out of his truck while I was still pausing, and he opened the door and gave me another toe-tingling kiss.
I climbed into my truck. On my way home, I thought,what have you done? You have created another mess. Merry damn messy Christmas.
Then I thought of that last kiss. I sighed like a fool.
“Good morning, daughter,” my mother called out cheerily when I walked through the front door.
I had hardly slept. I should have been tired, but my mind was a tornado of emotions, all whirling together and affected by excellent sex and a man who looked like Hercules.
She had made coffee and was dressed in red sweats with reindeer. Her coloring was better. I gave her a hug.
“How are you, Mom?” What was surprising about my mother was how she’d blossomed these last weeks. The first week afterher operation was rough, of course, but now she looked so relaxed, so calm and peaceful. “You look very Zen,” I told her.
She spent her time lying on her pink couch in her living room, my cats doing their job by keeping her company or chasing mice outside. She was reading books and watching TV shows and movies she’d heard about but hadn’t had time to watch.
She was spending tons of time with The Sisters and friends who kept visiting to “check” on her. For the first time since she was twelve, she wasn’t working. She looked…gentled. Softer. Younger.
I felt guilty again. Should I tell her to retire, and I’d run the bar? I cringed at the thought. I instantly felt depressed and overwhelmed, and I could feel my entire writing career fading away, disappearing into the tip-top mountains of Montana. But she was worth it. I loved her so much.
“I’m better knowing that you spent the night with Logan. The more intriguing question is…” She tilted her head, her dimples flashing with glee. “How are you? Ah, I see that you’re happy…glowing…energized and satiated.”
“Satiated, Mother?” I poured coffee into two Christmas elf mugs.
“Couldn’t help myself. Such a carnal word. I take it you and Logan are doing well?”
We sat at the kitchen table and stared at the Swan Mountains to make sure they were “still there,” as my mother said. The view from the back of my mother’s house is spectacular. The Swan Mountains are blue, white, and gray and the field behind our house often houses deer and elk and coyote. You can see a world of animals ambling on by.
“I don’t know, Mom.” This whole thing was a disaster.
