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“It’s not what you think,” Logan says, leaning forward. He’s always had the same look in his eyes ever since he was a kid, almost like he’s apologizing for being stronger than me, a better player. But it’s not pity. It’s never been that. I’ve never felt that. “Michel, we had a one-night stand.”
My fists clench under the table. It’s weirdly… primal? Is that the word? It’s like my instincts are telling me to jump him, fight him, even if he helped me. I don’t give a damn.
“But I didn’twantit to be a one-night stand,” he says. “I panicked. I walked out. The truth is, I wanted to propose to her right there.”
In the main kitchen area, Angela gasps. I knowthatgasp. She’s bubbling up excitedly, but she isn’t sure how I feel yet. However, I don’t even have to ask her how she feels.
“In fact,” Logan clears his throat, “the first time I saw your daughter in the background of our video chats, I fell in love with her.”
Emma is looking at me, unable to fight the tears anymore. They flow down her cheeks. She opens her mouth, and I can see the emotion working its way up her neck. She’s going to say she felt the same. She loves him, too.
“Was it the same for you?” I ask when she swallows her words, maybe for my sake, but I must know.
Angela walks over as the coffee machine whines and sits down quickly. I understand why. She can’t be over there making coffee during her daughter’s big moment, being in love. “Yes,” Emma says. “I felt it right away. I thought I was crazy.”
“You didn’t think it was a crush?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. I’ve never had a crush. I’ve never been interested, but Iknew, Dad, and not just that. Right away, I wanted to have a family with him. I wanted to be his wife. I wanted a future together.” She lets all this out in one emotional burst, then cuts off, breathing hard. “I’m so sorry for sneaking around—”
“Sneaking around?” I ask, and then it hits me. “Those days you were gone, disappeared, missed a game. You weren’t on a bender. You weren’t injured.”
Logan shakes his head slowly. He looks so damn guilty. Yet there’s something else, too, underlying it all. It’s solid and tough, the determination he had at eleven years old when we went one-on-one, and he beat me half the time anyway. “It was the night Emma called me. She told me she was pregnant. I had to be here. I walked out. I tried to keep my distance from her, but—”
“Why?” I ask. “If it was love at first sight.” I feel Angela looking at me. She’s got that attractive glint in her eyes as if she’s saying,Honey, you’re missing something obvious.“Because of me?”
“I loved her,loveher,” Logan says, his voice getting croaky like he’s holding back emotion. “But I didn’t want to hurt you. Most people might think of it as a small thing, being friends for a few years when we were children, but not me,Michel.”
I swallow, thinking of my sister, thinking about yelling at my parents and telling them I wanted to stay there because I didn’t want to leave my friend. “Me too,” I say.
“When I found out she was pregnant, I knew I couldn’t fight it anymore. Honestly, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to at all. Not forever, but definitely not then. I never had a father. I intend to be in my child’s life. I intend to provide for my wife and my family.”
He leans back, shaking his head as if he thinks he’s gone too far.
“It’s been… what? Two months?”
Emma and Logan look at each other, then at me, and nod simultaneously. They already seem like a couple, even if they’re not holding hands. It’s the way they glance at each other. It’s Emma’s small gestures as if shewantsto reach out for him. It’s the protective note in Logan’s voice when he talks about her or the child. If this was a regular introduction and I was in dad mode, assessing her date, he’d get top marks.
“Two months, and you’re already this certain.”
Angela tuts. I know what she’s thinking. When I proposed to her, I told her, truthfully, that it was love at first sight, but she doesn’t say anything.
“I was certain the first time I saw her,” Logan says passionately. I remember when he was a kid, and he’d talk about having a family, sitting at the edge of the frozen lake, looking across it as though seeing his future life.“I’m going to try to be a good father. Do the best I can.”
I’d laugh and joke with him about him, telling him he needed a girlfriend first. He showed no interest at the time I knew him. He was too young.
“I haven’t dated in years,” Logan goes on. “Over a decade, actually. I’ve never been in a relationship for more than a couple of months. I felt nothing. That’s the cold truth. So I stopped giving a damn. I figured I’d be alone, just me and the ice. I was fine with that, but then I saw Emma…”
He trails off, clearing his throat roughly. I know he’s trying to push away emotion as he grips the edge of the table. He trembles, tension working its way through him. “I’m sorry,Michel, for sneaking around and distancing myself. For being a jackass, but I can’t apologize for loving your daughter.”
Emma finally does it, reaches across, and places her hand on the sleeve of his gray suit jacket. He dressed stylishly for the meeting, he said, to seem more impressive to the two-bit criminals. That’s what he called them,two-bit criminals—the men who’d been making my life torture. He made it so much more manageable.
Em looks at me as if waiting for an outburst, but I feel hypnotized by the two of them. If I remove the fact that it’s my little Emma and that’sEdouard, they look like they belong together. I believe Logan. He’s going to take care of her and protect his family. There’s still a shiver of fatherly protection inside me, but not against Logan, just the one always there.
“Thank you, Dad,” Emma says a moment later.
“For what?”
“For not calling me naïve, immature, or too young to make this decision.”
