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“The weekend of your anniversary. I told her I didn’t want anything serious, when I was just confused as to how I really felt. I need her, Mom.”
“Oh, Logan . . .”
“I know, but please help me make things right, Mom. I need her, she is my missing piece,” I begged into the phone.
Mom agreed to help me and together we devised a plan. She wouldn’t tell Leah I was coming home. Once I arrived, she would call Leah down from her room to show her the magazine article, which I had demanded be titled “It Was All or Nothing.” I hoped she would see through that title, but then maybe she wouldn’t. I had asked Jean to use only the pictures that were of Leah and me together so that as she read the article perhaps, she would put two and two together.
The plan was for Mom and Leah to be looking through the magazine together then I would surprise Leah from behind. Mom had said she would talk to Joe for me. I prayed that everything was all right and Joe wouldn’t kill me when he saw me.
I made my way through the airport toward the car rental counter, and ten minutes later I was sitting behind the wheel of my rental car. I quickly sent a text to my mom and was on my way to the house. My hands shook on the wheel as I sat at a red light just around the corner from my girl. My girl, I loved the sound of that. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was.
Within a few minutes I pulled into the driveway, Joe’s vehicle parked behind my mom’s. I went in quietly through the kitchen door and found my mom with her head in the oven basting a chicken and roasted potatoes.
“Honey! You’re home!” she whispered as soon as she saw me. She dropped the baster in the sink and ran over wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Hey, Mom.” I hugged her back, my stomach literally turning at what I was about to do. The thought of knowing the real answer from Leah within minutes was playing with my mind.
“Just be quiet, Leah is in the other room. I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered. “Don’t worry, Joe is okay with it.” She winked.
For whatever reason the news of that eased a lot of my nerves. “I’ll warn you now, she isn’t in the best of moods, but you stay here while I go show her the article.”
I nodded, letting go of my mother and heading to the fridge for a bottle of water. I sat just inside the doorway to the kitchen and listened as my mom went into the living room, first picking the magazine up off the counter and taking it with her.
“Oh, Leah, I forgot to tell you, look what I found at the store? I figured you would like to see this.”
I listened to her murmured reply, “That’s nice, I’ll look at it later.”
“But, Leah, honey, you need to see this, they have recognized you for doing such a beautiful job. Don’t you want to see it?”
“No, Anna, not right now, please, I will look at it later. Mary already emailed me about it.” She let out a sniffle.
“Here let me refill your tea.” Mom came back into the kitchen carrying her cup and put the kettle on. “I tried.”
“Try harder, much harder,” I said through clenched teeth. I had just flown halfway across the country, and I wasn’t going home without her.
As soon as the kettle boiled Mom poured the hot water over the fresh tea bag and carried it back into the living room where she stopped as soon as she set eyes on Leah. She waved her hand for me to see. I poked my head around the corner careful to keep out of Leah’s line of sight. She sat with the magazine in her lap, her hand over her mouth, tears in her eyes as she flipped through the article.
“Leah, what is it?” I watched Mom go over to Leah and sit the cup down on the end table before kneeling before her.
“It’s just . . . it’s nothing. Can you get me the phone?” she asked through fresh tears.
“What for, honey.”
“I need to call Logan. This is humiliating! The way this article reads it’s like they think we are together! What the hell was he thinking?”
“Leah, calm down. I don’t think he . . .”
“No. Don’t tell me to calm down. It’s no wonder Mary emailed me. This hurts, Anna.”
“What, honey, what hurts?”
I swallowed the lump that sat in my throat, listening to her cry because she thought I would purposely hurt her. It was killing me. She needed to read between the lines of that stupid article and stop being so fucking stubborn.
“Logan. This wasn’t supposed to happen, but I’ve been in love with him for years. I tried so hard to get his attention, and he never noticed until he came back for your anniversary. He noticed me then and made damn sure he took what he wanted and then spit it back at me.” Her sobs were heartbreaking.
“Leah . . .”
“Anna, give me the phone. I’m done.”
