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“That’s nice,” she said, knowing her parents would insist she be there.
“Yeah,” Victor said. “I even invited a couple of my old friends who still live around here. I need to start reconnecting with some people in the area now because of my transfer.”
“Your transfer?”
“Man, baby sis, you are out of it. Missing all the news. My company is transferring me to New York, so Regan and I will be coming back right after Christmas to look for a house out here on the Fork. Mom and Dad are thrilled about it.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Jinx watched Logan as he dressed in trousers and a button-down shirt. She remembered him saying he needed to go into his office for a couple hours today. But she could tell this conversation with Victor was affecting him. All she wanted to do was hang up and take Logan in her arms and tell him she loved him. “Listen, Vic, I’ve got to run.”
“Okay, but Mom is going to want your help with the party, so I expect you to be here. You can bring your friend. What’s her name?”
“Um…Marla.”
“Well, tell Marla she won’t want to miss the kind of meatballs nobody except our Mom can make.”
“Uh-oh. Does Regan know you feel that way?”
He laughed. “She’s a world class attorney, so I don’t expect her to be in the kitchen cooking for me.”
Victor had always seen his humble family as supporting players to the starring role he had on his life’s stage, and it annoyed Jinx no end. But then, her parents had fostered that attitude in him and were still doing it.
When she took too long to speak, her brother jumped in with, “Party starts at five. See ya later, sis.”
“I have to see if I can…” Jinx trailed off. Too late. Victor was already gone. Not that he could hear her too weak and too slow words. The call was over.
Finally.
She leaped off the bed and rushed to Logan, but he put a stop-sign hand up before she could get her arms around him.
“This has to end.”
“What has to end?” she asked. No, he couldn’t mean…
“Us. You and me.” His hand moved back and forth between them. “We can’t ever do this again.”
His words hit Jinx like a shower of sharp icicles. This was her worst fear. Now that she was so close to having Logan finally be hers, he was ending it? “But…are you saying…we’re done?”
“It won’t work.”
“Yes, it will.”
His voice rose. “You had to lie to your brother because of me.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I do.” He slipped his feet into leather loafers that no doubt cost more than she earned in a month. “Look, Jinx, we can be friends, and if you ever need anything, I will be there. But this is the last time we can do this. It makes me feel as sleazy as the guy your brother accused me of being.”
“But, Logan, I…I…” She wanted to tell him she loved him. She could not let this end before she told him she loved him. But could she say it? Was she brave enough?
“I hate sneaking around,” he said through clenched teeth. “I had a father who did that. And lied. The idea of you lying to your family… Or having to choose either them or me. It can’t work, Jinx. As long as Victor hates me—”
“But this isn’t about Victor.”
“Yes, it is. Whether we like it or not.” He stopped and turned to her. “We’ve been denying it, but we can’t pretend anymore. It will only bite us in the ass down the road and destroy whatever we might have built.”
Jinx hated to admit it, but she knew he was right. But she could not bear the thought of losing him. Desperate for any possibility of keeping him from ending it, she argued, “Not if I find out the truth of what happened and make him see it.”
Logan snorted, waving off her words. “So, being with me means you not only have to be a liar but also a lawyer pleading my case. Not good.” He walked to the door of his penthouse. Jinx went after him, and clutched his arm, ready to beg him not to do this. But he gently removed her hands, saying, “Get dressed, Jinx. I’ll have my driver come by and take you back to the North Fork.”
