The Life She Wants Part 20

"And I bet they already got accepted to Harvard even though the oldest one is twelve."

"That is a hard house," Emma agreed. Dirty, messy, cluttered with stuff. If she'd had a child, she would have taught him to put away his things, even if they had household help. When she dumped the trash in the master bath it was full of the lady's outrageous price tags. She smiled to herself. Those numbers hadn't always seemed outrageous to her.

How many of her cleaning staff saw her price tags? Well, hardly any of her things had price tags as they were designed specifically for her. But there was the odd outrageously expensive purse purchased at Neiman's...

She had an urge to unburden herself to her new friends, new friends who would never understand. She'd like to tell them what she knew-that those people with all their possessions could wake up one day to discover they'd been living a lie, that the ident.i.ty they thought they had was gone and they would have to figure out all over again who they were.

Of course she couldn't. This was why she'd come back. There were a few people here who knew her before and after, who knew who she had been growing up and who she was again.

Only Emma was having a hard time getting a fix on her ident.i.ty.

Emma had a message on her cell phone from Aaron Justice so she called him back before leaving the parking lot after work.

"I just wanted to wish you a pleasant holiday," he said. "And to tell you-we're working on an accounting of your father's estate according to his will. It should be ready after the holidays. I don't want you to get your hopes up but I antic.i.p.ate a late Christmas present for you."

"Thank you, Aaron. And don't worry about my hopes. Just seeing you again has been an enormous treat. I wish you a lovely holiday."

"I'll be with my sons and grandsons. One of them is talking about making me a great-grandfather!"

"What a fantastic Christmas present for you! Thank you, Aaron, for trying to help me. Your friendship is so valuable to me!"

"Your father would be proud of you, Emma."

Proud? She wasn't sure about that. She'd made some pretty bad choices in the last decade. But she hoped she was making better choices now.

"I hope so," she told Aaron.

Chapter Fourteen.

Riley was very much out of practice with the whole dating thing, but one thing she knew she wanted to do-she wanted to introduce Logan to her daughter. Their relationship had always been honest and up-front with those few little exceptions Riley had held back, like that whole Riley/Jock/Emma thing, which was now mostly out there. So she nervously asked Maddie if she'd like to meet Logan and have dinner with him.

"Dinner? Wow, we're going all out, I guess. Will Gramma and Adam be coming, too?"

"I thought we could just be the three of us. You know, we've got Christmas in a couple of weeks-Logan has a family, I have my family, we'll all be busy. We might see each other but I'm not planning on merging families over an important holiday like Christmas. So I thought I'd cook something simple, invite him over, let you get to know him a little..."

"What about Dad?" she asked.

"No, I definitely won't be inviting your dad," Riley said. "Maddie, I'm dating Logan. Sort of."

"Sort of? You're dating him for real, Mom. You giggle on the phone. Even I haven't had a boyfriend like that yet!"

"What about that Brian Breske?" she asked. "Wasn't he a boyfriend? You invested a lot of time in him."

"That was seventh grade. Kid's stuff."

"Oh," Riley said. "Well, I haven't quite elevated Logan to boyfriend status yet."

"So you're not sleeping with him yet?" Maddie asked.

"Oh, my Jesus, you did not really ask me that!"

"Of course I did." She grinned. "Is there anything we should talk about before you get in over your head?"

"I thought I'd cook," Riley said.

"Ew, you don't want to scare him away, do you?"

"It's cold. I could make chili and corn bread m.u.f.fins."

"Are you going to actually make it?" Maddie asked.

"Possibly."

Maddie laughed herself stupid.

"Listen, I want you to be nice to Logan," Riley said. "I've met men for a drink or coffee over the years but I think I've been out to dinner twice since you were born. Really, the men out there are dismal. Logan is kind of fun. He's interesting-he has cop stories. His partner is a woman. He says she's the smartest cop he's ever known. There probably won't be time for more than one dinner like this until after the holidays so let's pretend we're very excited to have him over. Very happy to meet him. Hmm?"

"I can do that," she said. "Will he bring his gun?"

"Lord, I hope not!"

"Well, what fun is that?"

Riley was used to Maddie's humor, her teasing. But she sincerely hoped Maddie could put a good image forth and impress Logan a little bit.

On the day they had chosen, just over a week before Christmas, the house was decorated a little bit. No point in going crazy with decorations when they'd spend most of the holiday celebrating at June's house where the decorations were over the top, complete with outside lighting. Riley did have a tree, however. You can't be a single mom and ignore the tree!

She told June what she'd be doing and June deftly pulled a big bucket of her best chili out of the freezer and handed it to Riley, telling her to just dump it in the Crock-Pot. June whipped up some corn bread m.u.f.fins-it took her under thirty minutes. "Are you going to be able to throw together a green salad?" June asked Riley.

"Of course!" she said indignantly.

Riley stopped at the grocery store on the way home and worked her way around the salad bar in the deli section, looking over her shoulder the whole time, hoping not to get caught.

Then she saw him. There he was, standing in the check-out line with a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine. She just shook her head and chuckled to herself. She went and stood behind him.

He jumped in surprise and attempted to hold the flowers behind his back. But when he saw her holding the salad, he relaxed and returned her smile with his own.

"So this is how working people date," she said.

"Do you like these?" he asked, holding out the cellophane-wrapped bouquet. "If you want to pick something you like better..."

"I like them very much," she said. "Want to follow me home?"

"I've wanted to for weeks now."

The chili and m.u.f.fins were exceptional-June liked her chili with a little kick to it, something she didn't share with the elderly on her meal route. But Logan thoroughly enjoyed it. Since they'd run into each other at the store, Riley told him the truth, that it was her mother's chili, and it was a good thing she did because Maddie wasted no time in selling her out.

Riley and Logan started off with a gla.s.s of wine and she arranged the flowers. The table was set, the chili was in the Crock-Pot, she put the m.u.f.fins in a basket to warm in the microwave. The house was, as usual, immaculate.

"How was your day, dear?" Logan said.

"Perfectly ordinary. Yours?"

"It was a day full of reports, meetings, paperwork and no fun stuff."

"What's the fun stuff, I'm afraid to ask?"

"Chasing bad guys. Haven't done hardly any of that lately. George and I have been on this task force with feds and we've been sorting through a lot of paper. Feds love their paper."

"What kind of task force?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about it yet, but give it a few more weeks and when it's behind me and closed, I'll tell you all about it. It will help you sleep. It's boring."

That's when Maddie came into the kitchen, was introduced to Logan and poured herself a Diet c.o.ke.

"Wow," she said, eyeing the table. "Fancy. Watch out, Logan-when she sets a fancy table it usually means something serious is coming down."

"Is that right?"

"That's affirmative," she said, mocking police lingo. "My Gramma made the chili because my mother really doesn't cook much."

"I'm a pretty good cook. I just don't have a lot of time and Gramma loves to cook so we eat over there a lot," Riley said. She put the flowers on the table and they all sat down.

"Will Gramma be making Christmas dinner?" Logan asked.

"Oh, most definitely," Maddie said before Riley could open her mouth. "She'd be brokenhearted if we changed tradition. And so would my dad!"

"Your dad?" Riley asked.

"We always spend quality time together around the holidays and he usually comes over to my Gramma's at least for dessert. He was there on Thanksgiving. We're kind of a close family."

"We are?" Riley asked.

"My parents might not be married but they get along very well. What do you do on holidays?" she asked Logan.

"Go to my mother's," he said. "I have a sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew."

"And are you divorced?"

"Maddie!"

"What? It's a getting-to-know-you dinner, right?"

"That's okay, Riley. I am divorced. Eight years and yes, we're still friendly. No kids."

"Do you wish you'd had kids?"

Logan leaned toward her. "I have an unmarked police car. Want to go outside and press the b.u.t.ton for the lights and siren?"

"Gee, tempting as that is, I'll pa.s.s. Mom, want me to help you dish up?"

"I thought we'd visit a little first and then I'll serve, Maddie," she said slowly, measuring each word. What was this? Riley wondered. Asking about his divorce?

"So tell me all about the family, Logan," Maddie said. "Mom, Dad, sister, et cetera." She leaned her head on her hand, waiting.

And so it began. Maddie interviewed Logan. Logan did great at avoiding and evading and punctuating with his own questions because he was, after all, a detective. But Riley was soon horrified. Maddie managed to insert lots of information about Jock, making her dad look like he was extremely desirable and quite accomplished.

My dad is in electronics. He has a business degree. He works for Mackie's. It's a national chain and he's the manager of one of their biggest stores. Oh, my mom and dad still spend a lot of time together-they go to all my games and meets together and they chaperoned the homecoming dance together. My dad was all-conference in high school and he's still as athletic as ever-are you interested in sports, Logan?

"Yes," Logan said to that last question, beginning to look annoyed. "I'm very athletic. I frequently throw very large men over the hood of my unmarked car and cuff them. And I often chase bad young men and women who have committed crimes and I always catch them."

"I'm going to put on the coffee," Riley said. "And I have cheesecake. Store-bought."

"May I be excused?" Maddie asked.

"Absolutely," Riley said.

"Thanks," she said. "Really great to meet you, Logan."

"Likewise," he said. "Please tell your gramma the chili was outstanding."

There was no sound in the kitchen but the dripping and bubbling of the coffeepot and then, the closing of Maddie's door. Riley and Logan let out their collective breath.

"Logan, I'm sorry about that. That was the last thing I expected."

"Don't worry about it. I think I can get her a job if she's interested in grilling hardcore criminals."

"You handled it great, but I have no idea what she's talking about-that I spend a lot of time with her dad. I don't. At least, I sure don't feel like I do. We try to coordinate plans so I know where Maddie's going to be on a given-"

"I don't think that had anything to do with her dad," Logan said. "But I think we got a close view of her preference."

"It makes no sense," Riley said. "She was excited to know I was finally dating someone."

"Then come here," he said, pulling her chair closer, putting his hands on her waist. "Date me a little." He leaned toward her for a kiss and she obliged. "She's not quite ready," he said very quietly. "She's going to need a little more time. And apparently I'm going to have to prove myself in athletics, electronics and a few other things."

"I've never felt a stronger urge to spank my daughter."

"I think you better talk to her instead. See what's going on. But for now, kiss me better."