The Family Man. Melinda Curtis

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СКАЧАТЬ once met a woman who couldn’t stand silence. She carried a Walkman everywhere she went, with just one earphone plugged in.” There. That ought to get a reaction out of him. Thea couldn’t resist staring at Logan.

      Logan looked shell-shocked, and then he deadpanned, “What did she listen to? Religion? Talk radio?”

      “Rap music.” Thea allowed herself a small smile at the memory of her grandmother. “She was a black belt and said it kept her on her toes.”

      He rolled his eyes. “So, you’re saying silence is overrated?”

      “For some people.”

      “You, for instance. You’re never silent or still. Why is that?”

      This was definitely going in a direction she wanted to avoid. She was who she was, and she didn’t want to explain herself to him. By rights, he shouldn’t want to pursue the subject, either. His house was silent as a tomb. “Were you close to Deb?”

      Logan chewed on his cheek, making her wonder if he was going to answer. “Yeah,” he finally admitted.

      “Was losing Deb…was it sudden?” The twins rarely spoke of her.

      “We knew.” Two words spoken incredibly slowly, an indicator of his tremendous grief.

      As he stood, Thea watched Logan erect barriers around himself as clearly as if they’d been made of brick. He was shutting her out.

      “And Wes? Were he and Deb—”

      “They were separated. He was never here. He never called.” Logan’s words were more guarded than usual. “When he showed up in November and wanted to take the girls, I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t seem to stop him.”

      Frowning, Thea rubbed her hands over her eyes. How horrible that must have been for Tess and Hannah, being passed along and cared for by two men who didn’t express their emotions easily. Thea’s father, a police detective, had been much the same.

      “Are you staying or not?” There was no invitation in his tone.

      “The girls warned me I wouldn’t like it here,” Thea hedged, filled with second thoughts. She didn’t really want to tiptoe through this family’s grief if it meant dredging up all of her own baggage. And yet, how could she not?

      “Why did they warn you?” Logan hung his head and answered his own question. “Never mind. It was Tess, wasn’t it?”

      Thea rushed to explain. “Tess was more curious as to why I’d want to stay than telling me I couldn’t.”

      “I don’t know why you’d want to stay, either. I don’t know what I was thinking even offering to let you stay a few days. I would have run in the opposite direction if I were in your shoes.”

      “Then why did you ask me?”

      HE HESITATED. Why indeed?

      Logan’s muscles bunched. Any more pressure and he just knew he’d crack. Deb. The twins. His leg. His entire body vibrated with the need for a release. Thea placed a hand on his arm. Her fingers were cool against his skin. Despite himself, the tension in Logan’s muscles eased.

      “Do you want to tell me more about Deb?”

      Looking into Thea’s solemn gaze, Logan wanted desperately to say no. Anything he said was just going to make him look weak. He had his rules, which was how he kept it all together.

      Don’t talk about Deb. Don’t think about Deb.

      With effort, he made his head move in something that might have resembled a stiff shake.

      “I know it sounds like a cliché, but sometimes it helps to talk about it. Especially to a stranger.”

      Logan’s lungs wouldn’t fill with air. Sister Mary Sunshine was here to fix him?

      He swore.

      At her.

      Thea’s cheeks filled with color. “I shouldn’t have pried. I’m sorry.”

      “You’re sorry.” His muscles tensed again.

      “I was just trying to help. It’s like you’re wearing this sign that says go away, and yet underneath it you’ve written don’t go—”

      “Like hell I did.”

      “And I’m such a sucker for strays.” Her bells echoed on the porch, mocking his indignation.

      What right did Thea have to be upset? Logan’s body began to shake. “I’m not asking for help and there’s no sign on me, clear?”

      “Perfectly.”

      “I could have sent you on your way first thing.” He should have brawled with Spider in Sun Valley. At least then he’d have taken the edge off.

      “I appreciate it.”

      She was almost infuriatingly polite. Logan flexed his fingers.

      “Did you also try to fix Wes?”

      Thea blinked, barely pausing. “No.”

      She was cooler under fire than Logan would have thought for someone emitting all that color and noise. “So, based on a few hours with me, you’ve decided I need some therapy?”

      “I think you need to talk about your feelings.” She straightened, looking aside. Her cheeks turned pink. “Yes.”

      “And Wes didn’t.”

      “No.” Her gaze rose to the stairs at his booted feet.

      “Did you know that Wes can’t keep his wallet or his dick in his pants? He’s always broke and sleeping around. And you didn’t see any signs on him?”

      She paled, looking at a point near his knee. “No.”

      His throat threatened to close, but he forced the words out anyway. “Did you know that Wes Delaney is a heartless, selfish, son of a bitch who doesn’t care for his girls and didn’t care for my sister?”

      “No.”

      “Did you know that he left the day Deb was diagnosed with cancer, took all the money out of their bank account and disappeared? Leaving them no choice but to move in with me?”

      “Or that when he showed up months later and took the girls that I didn’t raise a hand to stop him?” Logan leaned forward and raised his voice. “Knowing what I do about him, I still let them go. I’m just as low as him. Signs? I’ll tell you what you can do with your signs.”

      “Is that true? About the girls?” Thea didn’t back down, but she wasn’t in his face, either—surprising, because most women didn’t let the door hit them on the way out after he unleashed just a hint of his temper.

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