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Her eyes went wide and Jinx wondered what Logan had said about her.
When Deena noticed her reaction, she added, “Logan showed me some of your jewelry pieces and I could tell by the way he spoke about you that it was more than your work he admired.”
When an awkward silence descended, Deena’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh, did I say the wrong thing? Sammy and I can mosey along and let you two—”
“But Uncle Logan said we were going to dinner,” Sammy whined.
“I’m so sorry,” Jinx said. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your plans.”
“How about if the four of us go to dinner,” Logan said. “And then, Jinx, you can come to my place afterward to finish our…discussion.”
9
The dinner at Rosa Mexicano was fun with Sammy making everyone laugh at his antics. They did not get into any serious talking, but Jinx did learn that Logan had worked for Deena’s father, Sam Meyers, who had taken him under his wing, pushed him through the ranks, and upon his passing left the company to both Logan and Deena, who was also an investment banker.
Jinx made sure she did not drink too much. Although she felt foolish for her reaction to seeing Logan with Deena, her heart was still vulnerable and so she looked for clues about Logan’s relationship with Deena, whose husband apparently was a violinist with the New York Philharmonic. By the time Jinx returned with Logan to his penthouse, she was certain he had told her the truth.
But as they sat in his living room, drinking seltzer and looking out at the sparkling lights of the city, Jinx began asking some more of her questions. “Why did Deena’s father leave part of the company to you and not just to his daughter?”
“Deena was pregnant at the time—she has three children now—and she was not sure how she would manage the balance of work and motherhood.”
“Was it also to thank you for helping him take over your father’s company?”
“No,” he said. “You’ve got it backwards. It was Sam helping me to do that.”
“Why would you want to ruin your own father?” Jinx knew she was pushing it, but she had to do this if there was any hope of a future for them.
“My father was already being ruined. By his wife.”
“The one you slept with?”
Logan gave her a hard stare. “If that had come from anyone but you, Jinx, I would be dragging you by the shirt to the door and shoving you out on your ass.”
Unable to handle his penetrating eyes pinned on her, Jinx looked down at her hands and said, “I’m sorry, Logan. I didn’t mean to say something that hurt you or offended you. I’m just trying to get the story behind the story. My heart has always been on your side, but I want my head to be there too. Will you please tell me?”
He nodded. His voice was sober, the underlying anger still there when he spoke again. “My father was a driven man and when I was a kid he used to drill me on math as well as business problems that he would make up. If I didn’t perform well enough he’d beat the shit out of me. But he said it was necessary because I was going to inherit the investment company that bore his name.”
“That bastard. Was your mother still alive?”
“Yes, but she was a gentle soul. She was an artist like you, but not as confident or strong willed. He had a lot of other women and made her life miserable. I hated him for it. When she was sick and dying he abandoned her and went to live in another house with his latest mistress.”
“How cruel.” Jinx was getting angrier by the minute.
“Yeah, that was the word for him. After my mother died he bought a ridiculous mansion.”
“In California?”
“Yes. His second wife picked it out,” he said in a disgusted tone. “When things fell apart with her, he married again and this one was a real operator. For a man who was so smart in business, I could not fathom how he didn’t see it.”
“Male ego?”
“I suppose. And he was getting older, pushing seventy then.” Logan took a swig of seltzer and set it down on a side table.
“Then he was pretty old when you were born,” Jinx said.
“Yeah. I was born shortly after his fiftieth birthday. I think he had me just to make sure there was somebody with his name still on the planet, certainly not because he wanted a son to love, and he sure as hell did not do it out of love for my mother. She came from a wealthy family and it was her money that made it possible for him to leave the company he’d been working for and set up his own business. It was probably the reason he married her. Later, when he threw me out of the house, luckily I had an account from her that he couldn’t touch. It was not very much, but I was careful with it because I had no parent to fall back on, and the lessons my father had taught me about investing to make more came in useful.”
“So, were you in college at the time? When you had the break with your father?”
