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This was meant to be a “no feelings involved” situation, which I’d agreed to. But instead of addressing the problem, I smiled and nodded.
“It’s gorgeous,” I said, meaning it.
“Then, it’s yours,” he said simply.
We left the shop with the ring on my hand. It was early in the day, and I expected that Logan would want to head back to the office, but instead, he suggested that we go out to lunch.
So, we ended up at a counter in a small restaurant, eating sushi with chopsticks and chatting, like a normal engaged couple.
“You know what was strange,” I said, picking up a spicy tuna roll while enjoying our casual conversation that had nothing to do with business. “You knew so much about me last night. Things I never told you. Why is that?”
“I don’t know what to say,” he said with a shrug, selecting a piece of sashimi and dipping it in soy sauce. “I make it my business to know about the important people in my life.”
“Does that mean I’m important?” I teased him, even though I really wanted to know where I stood with him.
His eyes dropped to his plate. “You're my assistant, so yeah, that’s important. But I don’t knoweverythingabout you.”
“Is there anything you’re curious about?” I asked, hoping that might be a revolving door, and I could learn more about him if I told Logan whatever he wanted to know.
“Where’s your dad?” he asked after eating the piece of raw fish. “I’ve never heard you mention him.”
“In Florida, living with his second wife and the family he made with her,” I replied, having come to terms with the situation long ago. “He hasn’t really been a part of my life since my parents divorced when I was eight.”
His brows furrowed, but there was understanding in his blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is. I have a great mom, and I turned out just fine without the man. He’ll never know what he’s missing by not being in my life, and I have to be okay with that. What really matters is that my mom was always there, no matter what.”
He smiled, and I tried not to acknowledge those flutters of awareness that erupted in my stomach. “You seem like you admire her.”
“I do.” I absently tapped my chopsticks together. “She taught me how to be a strong, independent woman.”
His gaze met and held mine. “You’re lucky, having someone like her in your life.”
I nodded, knowing how fortunate I was when it came to mothers. “She thinks I’m crazy, you know, for going along with this idea of yours.”
“That means she cares.”
“So…what about your own dad?” I asked, tentatively turning the tables on him. “I know you took over running the company when your grandpa retired, but what about your dad? Why didn’t he do it?”
To my surprise, Logan opened up and shared that part of his life. “He was just never interested in the business. Instead, he used his trust fund to make sound investments in the stock market and real estate. He was smart about it, and that’s why my brothers and I are already rich without owning the tech company yet. We all inherited a lot of money when he passed away ten years ago.”
“How did it happen?” I asked, taking a sip of my iced tea.
“A plane crash, of all things,” he said, and winced. “They say they’re safer than cars, but that didn’t work out so well for him. In the end it’s all so much sadder when you realize that none of us, his sons, had a good relationship with him. He was too emotionally unavailable to us. It made life difficult for us growing up.”
I tipped my head. “He wasn’t affectionate with you?”
Logan smirked, but it didn’t erase the sadness lingering in his eyes. “No, he was too busy spreading his affection around to everyone else. He cheated on my mom all the time.”
“Did she know?” I asked, horrified.
Cheating was a terrible thing to do to a person, especially one that you claimed to love. It happened to me once when my college boyfriend hooked up with some woman he met in a bar. I’d been completely devastated.
“Yeah, she knew.” He absently pushed the rice around on his plate, then glanced back at me. “I’m guessing you noticed at dinner yesterday that she and I don’t exactly have the best relationship?”
“I did pick up on something,” I admitted, and left it open for him to hopefully expand on the situation.
“It’s been that way a long time.” His jaw clenched for a moment before he continued. “I just…I never understood how she could keep standing by his side as a dutiful wife when he was out running around on her, putting his dick in every woman that would have him, and pretty much everyone knew it. I always thought she should leave him and the toxic marriage they had, and I still don’t get why she didn’t. She was so disrespected…”
