Page 123 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

“Logan hasn’t mentioned his father before. I don’t mean to pry, but can you tell me a little about him? Nothing that would anger Logan if I knew. I would just like to know something so I have some context.”

Some of the sparkle left Delia’s eyes.

“I’m happy to talk about him, as I’m sure Logan won’t. It’s only that I haven’t done so for quite a while now. Logan acts as if he doesn’t exist, but he does. He’s living in California actually, but Logan won’t have anything to do with him.”

“He only briefly mentioned that his dad left, and you had to work three jobs to raise him.”

The look Delia gave was piercing. “Well, that is telling in itself. He usually doesn’t even say that much.”

She sipped her sparkling apple juice and set the glass onto the table. Her hands fidgeted with the napkin in her lap.

“Logan was young when I discovered that my husband was sleeping around. Somewhere between ’till death do us part’ and Logan’s eighth birthday, my husband decided I was too boring for him, that I hadn’t been enough for him for a while. He’d slept with several women that I knew of, though it could have been many more. After the first few, I simply stopped looking.”

Her eyes took on a distant look, though the hurt was still raw, even now, so many years later.

“Like a stupid woman, I put up with it as I didn’t want to break up our home. I wanted Logan to have both parents, but one day, I came home from work to discover that all of my savings — including Logan’s college fund — had been cleared out.”

The gasp Jane expelled couldn’t contain her shock. Delia continued, her voice growing hoarse as she recalled those painful memories.

“He had decided to start a new life with someone else and was using the money I had saved to do it. He left, and we never spoke to him again. The last I had heard, he had cheated on his new wife and left her for someone else.”

A bitter laugh escaped. “A leopard never changes his spots.”

“So you had to work all those jobs to get by?” Jane couldn’t imagine what a toll that must have taken to do that and raise a child alone. It certainly spoke of her determination.

“I wanted Logan to have everything he deserved, so I saved every penny so he could go to acting school. We lived a very frugal life for a long while which is why Logan appreciates the smaller things. As much as he can be lavish, he can also appreciate a home cooked meal, made in a sous vide machine.”

She said it with a smile.

“With all the trouble he’s been having in the press, why doesn’t the public know these things about him?” Jane asked. “Logan only recently revealed his dyslexia to me, which only makes his success more commendable. I’m sure the rest of the world would think the same if they knew.”

Delia’s eyes turned hard. “It’s all those people he hires, those so-called experts. Somewhere along the way, they decided the truth would emasculate him, so they turned him into a bad boy. Spun stories about his wild partying, but you live with him, how often has he done any of that?”

Aside from the charity ball which had been work related, not once that she could think of.

“What about the women?”

“Well, the woman have been true I suppose, but not usually in the way they ended. He always went for models or actresses and yes, they were beautiful, but you can’t make a life with only looks. There has to be a soul underneath.”

She smoothed out the napkin in her lap.

“My son isn’t a saint, and he has made many bad choices in his life, but he isn’t the bad boy they paint him to be. He has worked so hard to get here, which is why he was crushed when it all started going wrong. I keep telling him, I can live somewhere else. He can sell my cottage and I’ll be happy with a smaller place, somewhere else less expensive. But he won’t listen. Stubborn to the core. He gets that from me.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in. When they did, worry gnawed at her chest. “Is Logan having financial troubles?”

It was hard to imagine it, living in the house that he did.

“When his last few movies didn’t do well, he lost a lot of money. A lot of money. He had invested in them with his own cash, slashing his rate, expecting a big back-end payment which never came. Though he does make good money, he also pays out a lot. The agents, lawyers, managers, publicists, household staff… every one of them takes a big cut. If he just sold the cottage he bought me, he would be in the black again, but you can’t tell my son anything. He has to come to the decision himself.”

“So he really needs this job, is that why he was so stressed when I met him?”

“I assume so. Everything is riding on this. And now, on top of his mother, he has another woman he loves who he needs take care of.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said something like that.”

“You mean, love?” Delia asked, smiling. “A mother knows, Dear. And it’s written all over your face too.”

And with that simple sentence, Jane knew the woman was right.

She was madly, head-over-heels in love with Logan. Why, then, was there a pulsing fear behind her heart?

What was causing her so much concern that she couldn’t relax into this new love of hers?

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