Between You and Me

“Then take her out tonight!” she pressed.

“No.”

“No? Why not?”

“I’m making you dinner and we’re watching a movie, remember?” he said.

“After today’s treatment, I’ll probably be asleep by nine,” she said. “So you’ll be alone, and she’ll be alone. Take her out!”

Logan pursed his lips, reining in the rant he wanted to let fly.

“Stop looking at me like you want to spit nails,” she said. “It’d make me happy to know you’re doing something fun tonight. Something besides watching me snore on the couch.”

“Easy with the guilt, okay?” Logan sighed. “I’m glad to be with you tonight.”

“I am too. But you can do both. Dinner with me, then going out with a beautiful young woman. Sounds like a win to me.”

Logan scrubbed his hands over his beard and growled in frustration.

“Didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Terrence said, grimacing for Logan’s sake.

“You didn’t,” Logan said. “My mother means well. She just forgets sometimes that I’m a thirty-eight-year-old man who’s capable of making my own decisions.”

She waved him off dismissively. “Excuse me for not seeing the harm in asking a nice, apparently pretty woman out for a coffee.”

“Oh, more than pretty,” Terrence interjected. “I thought she was maybe a model or something until I found out who she was. That long, tall, skinny look, you know, with this loooong hair . . . and that face! She’s striking.”

Annmarie’s brows lifted. She fixed her son with a mocking glare. “You’re a wimp.” She turned to Terrence and said, “It was nice to meet you, but I’m afraid Radiology is waiting for me.”

“Can you get up there on your own, Mom?” Logan asked. “I left my phone in the truck. I’ll meet you upstairs.”

He said goodbye to Terrence, watched his mother get on the elevator, then went outside. Head down against the wind, he walked a few steps away from the entrance and took his phone out of his pocket. Shaking his head at himself, he punched in a number before he thought better of it.

“Hello?” Tess answered.

“Hey, Tess. It’s Logan.” He paced as he talked. “I just ran into Terrence at the hospital. We were going in, he was going out. He seems fine.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Tess said. “He texted me last night and said he hoped they’d release him today. Glad to hear he got the green light. But why are you at the hospital? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Here with my mom for one of her treatments.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Yeah. So listen . . .” His pace picked up. “Terrence seems to be under the impression that you’re going to be home alone tonight. Is that true?” Logan winced, hating the sound of his own voice just then.

Tess let out a little startled laugh, but said, “Well, yes. Why?”

“I’m making dinner for my mother,” he said, “but she’s here for radiation, and she’s usually pretty wiped out after. She’ll be asleep early, probably. So I was just thinking . . .” He looked around, seeing nothing. Was he really doing this? “Maybe you just want to be alone tonight, and I totally get that. But uh . . . if you wanted, my friend owns a coffeehouse. Quiet, very low key. We could just get some coffee, hang out . . .” He shook his head in horror at himself. He hadn’t stumbled over asking a woman out like this since college. “No pressure. Just as friends, not like a date, really. If you even want to go out tonight. Some people hate going out on New Year’s Eve.” He grimaced hard. “Jesus, I’m rambling.”

“You are. It’s kind of cute.”

He laughed at that. “Great. Well, I know it’s short notice, but—”

“A low-key, no pressure, non-date sounds nice,” Tess said. “What time should I meet you there?”

He blinked, stopping in his tracks. “Umm. I, uh . . . I’ll pick you up. That way you can drink if you want. I never do, so I’m a great designated driver.”

“Well, actually, I’m not drinking these days either,” she said. “So, your call.”