Love You Anyways by Mj Fields Page B

mention it.” The elevator opened and I walked her down the hall. “Which room?”
    She pointed to the one Harper and Maddox went into.
    She slidthe key through the lock and I opened the door for her and she walked in. She didn’t look at me. “Goodnight.”
    I closed the door and turned to see Brody standing there.
    I looked at him as I walked by and he said nothing.
    ~
    Jose and I had a great time talking about football. He talked about what he had seen on the news about Harper and how shocked he was to hear about Collin’s death. He told me he had four kids and the hottest wife in the world. We talked about Tessa’s sister, Kendall, who he dated briefly back in his college days and about her husband Ben. I avoided conversation about Ashley and he seemed to get the fact that I wasn’t going to talk about my marriage.
    We made plans to meet up again next season right here when the Giants played at home. I was looking forward to it. He also asked that I let him know where Logan was playing next fall. He wanted to see if he had any of his old man in him.
    ~
    I woke Logan up at six in the morning, “Let’s hit the gym before we head back.”
    “Dad please…”
    “Head hurt?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good, remember that next time. Let’s go boy!”
    ~
    Logan, Ava, and I left the hotel together after saying goodbye to everyone. They slept most of the way home. Ash had called and said she was staying for a few days, to get her head straight. She talked to the kids and made plans for next weekend.
    Ava laughed when we hung up. “I’m going back to school , does she not know this?”
    “She’s got work to do…”
    “Yeah,” Logan grumbled. “Busiest secretary I have ever met. Shit you’re the CEO and you don’t even work as much as she does.”
    “Four years of school vs . two. Remember that boy,” I patted his knee and laughed making light of the situation. What else could I do?
     

Chapter 10
     
    Normal
     
     
     
    Two weeks we had been home, living in perfect harmony. Except the part that I slept in Ava’s room while she was at college after Logan had gone to sleep and woke up at five to ensure he didn’t see me.
    Ashley told our son the reason she was staying home was to spend more time with him. She did pretty damn good. She cooked dinner, attended school functions; she even learned how to use the Xbox controls and tried to learn how to play his favorite games. She was putting forth effort. Just what I wanted her to do. But it made my stomach curl. He didn’t seem to notice. He seemed good. He wasn’t staying after school to work out after baseball practice anymore. He even brought a girl home. First time ever too. He said they were just friends but I wasn’t buying it.
    One afternoon while Logan was at school I ran up to Alex’s clinic. The old farm he was raised on was now the town’s only veterinarian clinic. I walked in and looked around and he was nowhere to be found. I was about ready to send him a message when the phone rang in his office.
    “Uncle Alex?”
    “Harper its Lucas, is everything alright?”
    “Yeah, is Alex around?”
    “Nope. Haven’t seen him yet. I just stopped by to see if he had any of that flea and tick ointment for our dog.”
    “So no one is there?” She sounded upset.
    “Harper tell me what’s going on.”
    “Mom went for a run. Told Tomas if he didn’t come back here he was fired. I’m just worried.”
    Tomas was her father’s assistant, or G man, as I called him.
    “I’m sure she’s fine.”
    “I know it’s just…”
    “She upset Harper?”
    “Yeah. Well she was last night.”
    “Okay you relax and I promise I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes. I’m pretty sure I know where she is.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Well, let’s just say I pissed your Mom off a lot many years ago. Two places she would go then. She hasn’t changed much so if she’s not at camp she’s down by …”
    “The falls.”
    “Yeah. So give me fifteen minutes okay