The Posse (20 page)

“Ahh...” Jude stalled. “I’ll
tell you later, okay?”

Sam cocked her head. “Sure.
You all right?”

“It’s been an interesting
few days.” Jude sipped the wine, closed her eyes and hummed in
appreciation. “This is so good.”

“It is, indeed. We’re just
about ready to eat, I think.” Samantha shot out her arm and snagged
her son as he tried to run past. “Hey, you. Go tell Uncle Logan
we’re all set in here. He can bring in the meat. And--” She stopped
him one more time when he tried to squirm free. “Be sure you stay
and help him bring it in.”

“
Okay
, Mom.” He
skidded away before she could hold him up any longer. Sam
sighed.

“Boys.” She set a stack
paper plates and a basket of plastic ware on the end of the
counter. “Logan said he wanted to make a toast once we were all
here, before we eat. So I’ll set us up, and then we can dig in when
he’s done. You know anything about that? The toast?”

Jude shrugged and her
stomach rolled a bit. She and Logan hadn’t talked about how they
were going to make this big announcement, but she had assumed it
would be something quiet, casual. Mentioning it to a few of their
friends, letting word spread through the party. Apparently he had a
different idea.

Logan came in, carrying the
platter of hamburgers. He set them down and turned to scan the
room. The rest of the guys were making their way inside, and the
kids clamored to get to the front of the food line.

Jude made an instant
decision. She climbed off the stool and maneuvered her way across
the room until she reached Logan’s side. His attention distracted
by something Matt was saying, he didn’t see her until she slipped
her hand into his.

When he turned his face to
smile at her, Jude reached up her other hand to cup his cheek, drew
his lips down to hers. Their mouths met in a kiss that was
intimate, aggressive and promising.

All around them,
conversation stopped.

Logan brought his arms
around her, meshing their bodies. One hand rubbed slow circles on
her back.

She eased back, ending the
kiss. Logan still held her, even as she turned within his arms to
look at their friends.

Logan cleared his throat.
“So...I don’t have a drink to raise a toast, but I can make one
anyway. Jude kind of stole my thunder. We’re together.  This
isn’t something temporary, and we’re not--” he glanced to where
Sadie sat on the sofa “—friends with benefits. We’re friends who
now just happen to be in love.”

In the kitchen, Janet
gasped, and Samantha sniffled. The men shifted on their feet,
looked around at each other.

Cooper was the first to
speak. He stepped toward Logan and Jude, threw an arm around them
the two of them

“I’m happy for you both.” He
glanced around the room. “We all are.” There was a murmur of
consensus—at least, Jude hoped it was consensus. “But let’s get to
the important stuff. Is it finally time to eat?”

The laughter broke any
tension, and everyone streamed toward the food. Logan stood where
he was, holding Jude. They stood and watched their friends find
places to sit, juggling plates and full cups.

“Are you hungry?” Logan’s
hands, crossed in front of Jude, tightened on her hips as he spoke
low by her ear.

“Mmm.” She turned her head
to shoot him a suggestive smile. “But food would be good, too.”

“Are you relived now that
we’ve told them?”

She lifted one shoulder.
“Mostly. It was kind of weird, don’t you think?  The guys
didn’t seem very surprised. Janet, yes, and Sam and I had talked a
little before, but Cooper didn’t. And look at my brother! He’s just
sitting there eating.”

Logan found her hand, linked
their fingers. “Maybe people see more than we give them credit
for?”

“I guess. We need to tell
them all that the kids don’t know yet. And, crap, Logan, I need to
tell them about Joseph.”

“Yes, you do. Or we do. But
I thought that was more of a one-on-one thing.”

“Good idea. I didn’t know
about the toast.”

Logan grinned at her. “You
do know I was just going to raise a glass to good friends, both
here and no longer with us, right? I was surprised when you came
over and kissed me, but then I figured I had to say something.”

“Oh.” Jude closed her eyes.
“Sorry. I thought—and then I just decided to take action. I should
have trusted your plan.”

“Yeah. Hey, do you see that?
Abby’s sitting with Cooper. I told you they’d get along.”

“You’re so smart.” Jude
kissed his cheek and wriggled away. “I’m going to grab a plate
before the burgers are gone and go do some talking.”

Telling her friends that she
was an unexpected grandmother turned out to be the bigger news of
the day. Eric and Matt were angry with Joseph at first. They asked
her questions about paternity tests and timing, and Jude found
herself defending the girl she had never met.

By the time she returned to
the kitchen to help with clean up, she was exhausted.

“But you haven’t told Meggie
and Joseph yet?” Janet was drying dishes as Jude washed.

“No. I want to talk to them
in person. It’s happened so fast, Janet.”

“Mmm.” Janet pursed her lips
and put away another pot. “Too fast?”

“No, I don’t think so.” She
rinsed her hands one last time and dried them. “I can see it might
seem that way to you, but it’s not like we had to get to know each
other, go on all those awkward first dates...we’re friends.”

Mark wandered over to them.
Jude noticed a sway in his gait and thought he might have had a
little more to drink than normal.

This suspicion was borne out
when he flung an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m happy for you, Jude.
Really happy.”

She might have been touched
if not for the slur in his words.

“Thanks. I hope you remember
that when you’re sober.”

Mark either did not hear her
or chose to ignore what she said. “I’m glad it was Logan, you know?
I thought, but I wasn’t sure. It might have been Cooper. He’s been
married lots, I know, but still. Or Matt, even. Why not? You have a
lot in common.”

Jude hung the towel over the
oven handle. “Why did you think I’d be with any of them, Mark? I
wasn’t exactly trolling for men.”

“No, but the pact. It had to
be one of them, right? So we can take care of you. So you don’t
ever leave the Cove.”

Janet frowned and glanced at
Jude. Samantha came into the kitchen. “What’s going on? Mark, what
did you say?”

“I told Jude about I was
glad it was Logan who won. That’s all.”

“Won? What are talking
about?”

Some sense of
self-preservation dawned in Mark. “Nothing. I just—I think I had a
few too many beers.” He tried to grin.

Jude looked across the room
to where Logan was talking with Eric and Matt. He looked up, met
her eyes and smiled. An assurance she couldn’t quite explain
radiated from within her, and a sense of peace filled her
heart.

“Never mind, Mark.” She
stood on her toes and kissed her brother’s cheek. “I’m glad it was
Logan, too.”

***

Standing at the door that night, waving
goodbye to the last of their guests, Logan decided this was one of
his favorite parts of being in a relationship with Jude.

“Do you know how great this
is?” He rested against the door jam and grinned down at her as she
leaned against his chest. He held one of her hands in his.

“Watching everyone leave,
finally? Yeah, I can see that.” Her smile was tired, and Logan
wrapped his arms around her waist and closed the front door,
shutting out the night.

“You must be dead on your
feet, working all day and then dealing with this.” He moved the
silken black hair off her neck and kissed her there. “But no,
that’s not what I was talking about. I mean, having you stay with
me after everyone else leaves. I always hated how empty my house
felt when you all went home.”

He turned her toward him and
tipped her head up, kissed her lips. “Doesn’t feel empty tonight.
So thank you.”

She snaked her arms around
his waist and sighed, laying her head over his heart. “You’re
welcome, and thank
you
right back.” She snuggled into him
and rested for a minute.

“I think it went well
tonight.”  Logan led her back into the kitchen where he turned
off the lights. “Ready for bed?”

“More than.” But she didn’t
move toward the steps. “Janet asked me if this—you and me—happened
too fast.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her no. I said that
we had the advantage of knowing each other already, so once we knew
there was something more than friendship, moving into love felt
exactly right.”

Logan kissed the back of her
hand. “That’s beautiful, and it’s true. It might feel fast to some
people, but I’ve been falling in love with you by degrees for
thirty years. That’s quite a courtship.”

Jude followed him up the
stairs. She was quiet, and Logan wondered if she missed being home.
They’d spent every night together since Thursday, and he knew she
was used to a certain amount of alone time.

“Jude, you know, you have to
tell me if you’re feeling overwhelmed. If you need a night by
yourself, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

She flashed him a smile as
she kicked off her shoes in the bedroom. “Are you trying to get rid
of me already?”

He crushed her to him and
growled into her ear. “Not hardly. I had trouble not dragging you
up here tonight while all our friends were still hanging around. I
don’t know if you can understand.” He kissed down her neck onto her
shoulder, nipping lightly at the muscle there. “Just seeing you in
my house, walking around...feeling like you belong here...it is so
freaking hot. I’ve never had that. So I’ll never get enough. You
have to tell me if it gets to be too much.”

Jude ran her hands down his
back, moving lower until she covered his rear end. She pulled him
tighter, closing her eyes as she felt his desire answer her own
need.

“Not too much yet.” She
released him and stepped back to peel off her t-shirt. Logan
disappeared into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“Mark was a little worse for
the wear tonight.” Jude raised her voice to be heard over the
running water. “How many beers did he have?”

The water turned off, and
Logan answered around his toothbrush.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t
keeping track. You worried about him?”

“No.” She unbuttoned her
shorts and slid them down to her ankles. Picking them up, she stood
debating for a moment. So far, she’d been taking her dirty clothes
home to wash. She eyed the wicker hamper inside the door of Logan’s
closet, made a command decision and chucked her clothes into the
basket with his.

“Hey, who does your
laundry?” In just her bra and underwear, she stood at the bathroom
door.

Logan rinsed his toothbrush
and glanced at her. “Me. Why?”

“Oh. Well, I know you have a
housekeeper, I wasn’t sure if she did your wash, too.” She joined
him at the sink and retrieved her toiletry bag. “I just put my
clothes in your hamper, so I’ll do a few loads, too.”

“Wow, you’re the best
roommate ever.” Logan walked behind her and patted her ass. “I take
it back. You can never leave.”

Jude brushed her teeth,
washed and moisturized her face. When she went back into the
bedroom, Logan was lying on the bed, arms crossed behind his head,
wearing just his boxers, checking email on his phone. He glanced up
at her as she came into the room and smiled.

She sat on the edge of the
bed, rubbing cream into her legs. “Mark said something kind of
weird tonight. I just chalked it up to a few too many beers.”

Logan’s eyes flicked across
the phone screen. “What did he say?”

“Something about how he was
glad I chose you. That it could’ve been Matt or Cooper. And he
mentioned a pact.” She re-capped the lotion, set it on the
nightstand and swung her legs onto the bed. “Do you know anything
about that?”

Logan set down his phone.
“Do you really want to know?”

Jude sighed. “I’m guessing
you’d like me to say no, but yes, I do. Does this have something to
do with Daniel?”

He looked up at the ceiling,
praying that telling Jude the truth wouldn’t change anything
between them.

“No—but then again, yes. It
was the night after we spread his ashes. We were all here, and we’d
been drinking for a while.” Logan drew a deep breath. “Someone
mentioned you and how hard everything had been for you. Daniel’s
illness, then losing him. And we all talked about how you were
still young, and maybe someone would come into town and you’d fall
in love and leave the Cove. Leave us.”

He turned his eyes toward
Jude’s face. “I don’t remember exactly how it got to that, but
someone said maybe it would be better if it were one of us. You
could fall in love with Cooper, Matt or me. We said we’d let you
choose. All of us would kind of date you, and then see what
happened. And no hard feelings, no matter how it turned out.”