Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Before I could reply, he looked at Logan. “You must be Knox’s son. He was so excited to have you come and stay with him. I’m Callum, and this is my mom, Ms. Price. I just moved here too.”
Logan’s eyes darted from Callum to me, then back to Callum, as if he wasn’t sure what to say. “Yeah, I’m Logan. It’s great to meet you.” Callum held his hand out for Logan, who shook it. My son looked at Mary Beth next. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“You can call me Mary Beth, if that’s okay with your daddy. I’m not much for the miss stuff.”
Callum turned to me. “Well, I guess hello to you too.”
He was…different. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about him, but he was interesting to me. He was obviously a good guy and good with kids. There was more there, though, something underneath the surface that I couldn’t quite figure out, but I could sense something there. “I guess hello to you too,” I replied. “Good to see you, Mary Beth.”
“How are you liking it here so far?” Callum asked Logan.
“It’s good, but I’ve just been hanging out with Dad. I start school on Monday, which I’m not stoked about.”
“I hear ya. I was never super fond of school until college. When I was younger I had to pretend I was someone I wasn’t. It was exhausting.”
I was surprised when there was a spark in Logan’s eyes. “You had to pretend to be someone you weren’t?”
“Yep. Like this eyeliner; I wanted to wear stuff like that and couldn’t.”
“That sucks,” Logan replied.
“It does, but now no one can stop me from doing anything because I don’t care what they think.” He smiled. “I start a new job on Monday, so I’m nervous but also excited because I know I’ll be great…and you will too, so have confidence and focus on the great part.”
“You think?”
“I do. I’m a fab judge of character, and I wouldn’t lie to you. It’s all about knowing you’re awesome and owning it.”
Logan pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned back. “Yeah, I guess.”
My brain was spinning. Callum had said all the right things, and Logan was responding to him. Did he feel similar? Did he have to pretend he was someone he wasn’t?
“You’ll see,” Callum told him as the waitress approached with our pizza. Callum and Mary Beth moved out of the way as she set down an extra-large pizza, half pepperoni, half peperoni and mushroom. “Oh my God. I love mushrooms. I’m definitely getting mushrooms on our pizza.”
“I love them too!” Logan replied.
“Gross,” I added.
“Whatever. You don’t know what’s good, Dad.”
“I’m Team Logan.” Callum smiled. “Anyway, we don’t want to interrupt your meal. I wanted to meet the kid Knox was raving about. You guys have a good one.”
We said our goodbyes, and Callum and Mary Beth walked away. Logan piled four pieces of pizza on his plate. The kid was tiny, but it wasn’t for lack of eating. “Who was that?” he asked without looking at me.
“I don’t know him well. He only got to Havenwood a week or so before you.”
“But you were talking to him about me?”
“He came into the store, and I was excited you were moving here.”
“He seems…nice.”
I couldn’t help glancing around the room, looking Callum’s direction. “Yeah. Yeah, he does.”
When my gaze found Logan again, he was staring toward the other side of the restaurant, where Callum and Mary Beth sat. “I wish I could be like that,” he said softly.
I paused for a moment, questions swirling in my head as my pulse raced. Was that what had been bothering Logan? Was he gay?
“Like what, kiddo? You know that no matter what, we’ll always love you, right? You have nothing to worry about with your mom and me. We just want you to be happy. That’s all we care about.”
Logan frowned, confusion set in his features. “Huh? I know that.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head and took a bite of pizza. Clearly, the conversation was over.
CHAPTER FIVE
Callum
I really needed to get my ass out of the house.
Things were going well so far in my sleepy little town. Mom and I built flower boxes together and watched movies together. And it was nice. We talked a lot about random things, neatly ignoring the past between us that we had never actually dealt with.
I’d started work at the clinic. I didn’t have much of a patient load yet, but I was doing some urgent-care stuff in that side of the practice.
What I missed was being social. While eating popcorn and watching movies night after night with your mom was fun and all, I was used to going out—hitting up bars and clubs with my friends and dancing the night away with my ex, who was a dick, and nope, I didn’t want to think about him.