Page 38 of Whatever You Want

“Excuse me for a minute,” he grumbled and walked a few steps away.

Whoever it was on the phone, he didn’t look all that happy. He shook his head and moved his hands animatedly. From my view, it looked like he was yelling into the phone, but I was too far away to hear, especially with all the noise. A few minutes later, he was back.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, noticing his shift in mood.

“Yeah. That was Brina’s mom. She was calling to remind me that Brina has dance in the morning and not to keep her out too late.”

His phone chirped with a message. He looked at the screen; his jaw ticked, and his shoulders tensed. He pocketed the phone and brought his hand to the back of his neck.

“What kind of dance does she do?” I asked, trying to distract him.

“Ballet and sometimes hip-hop.”

“That sounds like fun. I wish Madison had an interest in dance.”

“What does she like to do?” he implored, ignoring the vibration from his cell phone in his pants pocket.

I cleared my throat and folded my arms in front of my stomach. Logan’s ex-wife was starting to put a damper on our evening, and she wasn’t even here. “She plays softball and basketball.”

He laughed. “Yeah, Vanessa would never allow that.”

“Why not?” I questioned, even though his ex-wife was the last person I wanted to talk about. We were having the perfect night up until she called. He tried to hide his annoyance, but I could still sense it.

“Well,” he reached up and scratched his scruff, “softball would require her to play in the dirt, and basketball is too much of a contact sport.”

“It can be, but at this age, it’s all about teamwork and making friends.”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me. I grew up playing hockey and lacrosse.”

“Really, what else did you play?” I pictured him as captain of the football team with a fan club of teenage girls following him around everywhere he went.

He laughed. “I pretty much dabbled in every sport out there except soccer. And even though I played little league when I was younger, it was never my thing.”

“Really, why is that?” I was curious about the baseball part but didn’t want to bring attention to it because it was Drew’s sport.

“Soccer I just found boring to watch, so I never had an interest to play. And baseball is the opposite. I love to watch an MLB game, but I hated playing as a kid because it wasn’t fast-paced enough for me. I had a ton of energy and needed to move around. For me, the best part about playing baseball was goofing around with my buddies in the dugout. And,” he looked at me and laughed, “the snacks the moms would pass out after the practices and games.” I shook my head and laughed along with him.

Logan spent the next few minutes telling me how he played hockey and lacrosse but had to quit hockey once he reached varsity because lacrosse was too much of a commitment, and that’s where his heart was.

We stopped talking as the girls came closer. Brina came up and tugged on his hand. “Dad, can we play games now?”

“I told you earlier, we can play games when you’re done with the rides.” He bent down and kissed the side of her head.

Madison placed her arm on mine. “I want to go on the Fireball.”

“You know I won’t go on that one.” There was a good chance I would puke my brains out if I did.

She hung her head in disappointment. “Brina won’t ride that one with me either.”

Logan glanced over as she crossed her arms and did nothing to hide how upset she was.

“I’d be happy to ride with you.” He looked from me to her. “As long as it’s okay with your mom.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I’d be happy to take her.” He paused and looked at Brina as she chugged the water bottle he gave her. “She’s getting hungry. Maybe the two of you can go order some food and we’ll meet you when we’re done.”

I put my hand on Madison’s shoulder. “Are you okay riding with Logan?”

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