Chapter 56
Logan stood on the porch in front of Dylan’s door. He went to push the doorbell, but his finger hesitated in front of it. Dylan hadn’t exactly seemed happy with him at the party earlier that night; he wasn’t sure how he would react to him showing up unannounced at his house.
But then he thought of Natalie and her threats. This couldn’t wait. He rang the bell.
Dylan opened the door a minute later, now dressed in a t-shirt and basketball shorts. He frowned when he saw Logan. “What do you want?”
“I need your help,” Logan said. “Can I come in?”
Dylan considered it for a moment, then opened the door all the way so Logan could walk through.
Logan entered the hallway and started towards the kitchen like he always did when they hung out. “Beer?” He asked Dylan.
Dylan moved in front of him and blocked Logan’s way to the kitchen. “I don’t think this is a beer visit, man. Sit.” He pointed towards the living room. “You’re going to tell me what you need then you’re leaving.”
Logan studied Dylan’s face. He still looked just as pissed as he had during their confrontation in the hallway during the party. What was he so mad about? Logan wondered.
“Okay,” Logan said and walked into the living room. He took his usual spot on Dylan’s worn leather couch. It stood out in the otherwise immaculately decorated house, but Dylan had bought it in college and always said it was perfectly worn in now, so it stayed.
Dylan sat across the room from him in a much nicer-looking leather recliner. “Well?”
“Natalie refuses to divorce me,” Logan said.
“What? I thought it was settled when you kicked her out of the party.”
“I thought so too. But then she came back to the office. She found me and Hazel in my office, and…” he realized far too late he didn’t want to explain what happened next.
“And?” Dylan narrowed his eyes at Logan.
“And uh…she took a picture of us…and threatened to use it to keep me married to her,” Logan said, praying that Dylan wouldn’t ask what the picture was of.
“Took a picture of you two doing what, exactly?” Dylan said through gritted teeth.
“Nothing! We weren’t doing anything,” Logan answered.
“If it was nothing you wouldn’t have run over here like you did. What. Were. You. Two. Doing?”
Logan sighed. “It really was nothing. But…she had caught me almost kissing Hazel.”
Dylan stood and shook his head with a scoff. “You fucking asshole.”
“Dylan, I’m sorry, nothing actually happened.”
“Because you got caught! Twice, I might add,” Dylan said. “I saw you almost kiss her after the party too, in case you forgot.”
“Dylan, this isn’t about her, this is about Natalie and getting out of this marriage as soon as possible,” Logan also stood, pleading.
“No way man, I already tried helping you once. I’m not doing it again. Find another divorce lawyer.”
“Come on, you’re being ridiculous.” Logan spat.
Dylan scoffed again. “I’m being ridiculous? You know I’m interested in Hazel, and as usual, you swoop in and steal her away before I can make a move.”
“That’s not tru…fair. That’s not fair.” It was true, Logan realized. But it was never intentional.
“Get out of my house,” Dylan said, starting to leave the living room.
“Dylan…”
“You heard me. Get out,” Dylan stormed out of the living room and up the stairs.
Logan looked helplessly up the staircase. After a few minutes he walked out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
Logan stood on the front porch, unsure of what to do next. He’d not felt like this very often in his life. Usually he knew exactly what to do. He was not fond of this feeling.
He sat on the top step of the porch and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it and stared at the different apps on the screen. They were mostly business-related, but he did have one social media app he liked to use on occasion. He clicked on it and scrolled through the feed for a second. He followed mostly influencers or models or business gurus. His feed was full of women posing in various vacation spots, in their bikinis holding drinks, posing with their friends. It all suddenly felt so empty and superficial to him.
He closed out of the app and opened his messages. He saw Natalie’s last all-caps message at the top and winced. Then he saw Hazel’s name a couple messages down and opened the thread between them. He smiled as he scrolled back through. He had a hard time believing she was related to Natalie. She seemed like the polar opposite.
He backed out of the messages and opened his list of contacts. He typed in “wife” and pushed the call button.
“What?” Natalie said when she finally answered.
“Hello to you too,” he said. “Listen. We both know this marriage is not going to work. Can we meet up tonight so we can try to come to some sort of agreement? Maybe we can make this super easy on both of us.”
There was a pause on the other end. Logan held his breath.
“Okay, fine,” Natalie said after a moment. “Come over to the house.” She hung up. A few seconds later, a text with an address popped up on the screen.
Logan suddenly felt much lighter. Maybe they could sort this out and be done with it tonight.
He tried to ignore the nagging thought in the back of his mind, the one that wondered why she had agreed to meet so quickly and easily.
Fifteen minutes later, Logan was pulling into Natalie’s driveway. He walked up to the door and rang the bell, then took a step back to look at the house. He wasn’t sure what he expected it to look like, but it didn’t scream “Natalie” to him.
She opened the door a moment later. “Come in,” she said solemnly.
He stepped inside. “Nice place,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said, then pointed to the living room. “Shall we sit in here?”
He nodded. He looked around the living room. He was surprised by the aged feel of the decorations and furniture. “Do you live alone?” He asked.
“I do, yes,” she said. “Would you like something to drink?”
“I’ll take some wine if you’ve got it,” he answered.
Natalie disappeared into the kitchen. Logan walked around the living room. He stopped at a bookshelf and read the spines of a few of the books at eye level. Most of them were World War II history books. He knelt down to look at the books near the bottom of the shelf. There were a few classic novels mixed in with more history books. He was even more confused by these.
He realized Natalie was taking awhile in the kitchen. “Do you need help?” He called out to her.
“No!” She said sharply. “I mean…no, thank you, almost done!”
“I saw your collection of works by Poe. I didn’t realize you were a fan?” He said loudly, picking the book off the shelf and flipping through the pages.
“Oh, uh…yeah,” she yelled back. “Huge.”
She walked through the living room doorway a few minutes later, a glass of red and a glass of white in her hands. Logan placed the book back on the shelf and stood. She handed the red wine to Logan.
“A nice merlot for you, I know you love it,” she said with a smile.
“I do, thank you,” Logan said, taking the glass. Was the glass smudged? He wondered. It was looking a little foggy to him.
“Well, cheers!” Natalie said.
They clinked their glasses together, Natalie watching Logan sip from his glass while she drank from hers. She lifted up the bottom of his glass to make him drink faster.
Logan drank about half of his glass before removing it from his lips. He coughed. “Um…what year is this? It tastes a little…bitter,” he said.
“Oh, I’m not sure,” Natalie shrugged and sat on the couch. She patted the spot next to her.
He moved to the couch and sat. He grabbed his stomach as soon as he was seated.
“Nat…I’m not feeling so good.”
