CHAPTER TWELVE
Logan
The next morning, Logan woke up thinking about Tess’s birthday party. First, he allowed himself another chuckle at her dancing—an image that made him curious whether octopuses had seizures. Finally, something she couldn’t do well.
More intriguing though, was her reaction to his gift. The sincere excitement in her eyes when she realized what it was. And the enthusiastic desire to play it right away.
She’d passed his mix CD test—the first woman ever to do so—and he wasn’t even dating her. Or trying to date her. They were just friends.
And not only had she loved his inexpensive gift, she’d seemed genuinely uncomfortable with Carter’s extravagant one. Yes, Tess was a rare woman indeed.
After a quick shower, he headed down to the office. He planned to spend a few hours drafting a plan for the renovations and making task lists so they’d be ready to go the next day.
He’d been hard at work for a couple of hours when Max entered.
“You know it’s Sunday,” he said, taking a seat across from Logan. “I’m not paying you by the hour, am I?”
Logan shook his head. “Just getting a jump on everything so we can hit the ground running tomorrow.”
“Wanna hash it out over lunch?”
“Yes. I’m starving.” He stood and gathered his notes. “I heard a rumor about some place in town that serves to-die-for pie?”
“That’d be Karla’s,” Max said, nodding. “I’ve got some errands to run after though, so how ’bout we drive separately?”
When they entered the diner, almost everyone waved or nodded at Max.
“Hey, Max.” An older woman approached. “Who’s your friend?”
“Hi, Edna,” Max said. “This is Logan. He’s new to town and heard about your pie.”
“’Course he did. And lucky for you, honey, first piece is on the house.” Edna winked. “Come on in, find a seat, and I’ll be with ya in a sec.”
They found a booth near the back and slid into opposite sides. “It’s hard to believe towns like this still exist,” Logan said. “I like it.”
“We’ll see what tune you’re singing in a month,” Max joked. “Charm might wear thin when you realize you’ve got no privacy or secrets.”
Edna dropped off two iced teas and took their orders. Once she’d hustled off to the next table, Logan showed Max his proposed timeline.
“First thing tomorrow, I’ll have my attorneys form an LLC. As soon as they have the name, I’ll open a bank account and seed it with five hundred K. That should be enough to start.”
“You have that kind of money lying around?” Max narrowed his brows suspiciously.
“Yes.” Logan didn’t elaborate. He still wasn’t ready to comecompletelyclean about his financial status. He’d endured a twinge of guilt over the subterfuge when answering the question last night about what he did for work. His response hadn’t been afull-on lie, barely even a lie by omission. He and his brotherhadflipped houses, and hewashandy with a hammer. He simply left out the part about how they’d turned a few house flips into a multi-million-dollar business.
It was liberating to fly under the radar and not have anyone know what he did. Or how successful he was at it.
“Lawyers should be able to whip up a contract by the afternoon,” Logan said. “Once you look it over and sign, we’ll be good to go.”
A flash of panic crossed Max’s face.
“Not getting cold feet, are you?” Logan asked.
“No, it’s just all happening so fast.”
“Sorry. I don’t know any other speed.” Logan paused before continuing. “Look, I don’t want you to feel like I’m running over you or taking too much control. I only wanna help, but I do tend to get a tad gung-ho sometimes. You’ll let me know if I’m moving too fast or stepping on toes?”
“Yes. No. I mean, you’re right.” Max sighed. “You are moving fast, but it’s a good thing. I need a kick in the butt. Since Jenny passed, I’ve been in a fog, basically just holding it together for Lilly’s sake. A push will do me good.”
