Chapter 58
Dylan lowered his head and sighed. He pulled away from me and gestured for me to walk ahead of him.
“Ladies first,” he said, more than a twinge of frustration in his voice.
I gave him a sad smile before I walked to the clerk. Part of me was frustrated by the interruption, but part of me felt that was not the time or place for that. I wasn’t even sure if it was the right guy for it.
But still…a kiss would have been nice.
“He’s in room 105,” the clerk told us. “Go through those double doors and turn right. It will be just a few doors down on the left.”
“Thank you,” I told her.
Dylan held open the door for me, and we walked in silence to Logan’s room. There was a nurse inside and Logan looked to be asleep in the bed.
“He’s still pretty groggy,” she warned us. “But we got his stomach pumped and he should make a full, swift recovery.”
“Thank you,” Dylan said. “That’s great news.”
“He arrived just in time. If the EMTs hadn’t gotten there when they did, this may have…well, the point it, whoever called 911 saved his life,” the nurse said.
My face paled. I had seriously considered spending the night at the office after that nightmare of a party. If I hadn’t ultimately decided on coming home so I could change my clothes, or if I had stopped for a burger at the drive-thru like I had been tempted to…. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t think about that. He was okay, no sense in stressing over the what-ifs.
“Visitor’s hours are over in 30 minutes, but miss, since you’re family, you can spend the night if you’d like,” the nurse gave me a smile, then left the room.
Dylan raised an eyebrow at me. “Family?”
I shrugged. “The EMT asked and I told him I was the sister-in-law. It felt weird to say he was my boss. Oh!” A thought occurred to me suddenly. “We need to let his family know!”
“Eh…” Dylan hesitated. “This might be better if it’s kept between us for now. I love his family, but they can be quite…judgmental sometimes.”
“Shh,” Logan said groggily. “Some of us are sleeping.”
Dylan laughed. “Okay man, we’ll keep it down.” He turned and looked at me. “Maybe we should let him rest. We could go get that coffee we talked about awhile back?”
“Coffee, at this hour? We’ll be up all night,” I smiled at him. “But I wouldn’t say no to some pie. I know a little 24-7 diner around here that has the best pie.”
“The best, huh? Alright, I’m trusting you.” Dylan walked over to Logan and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey man, I hope you get some rest. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“Shhhhhhhhhh,” Logan said weakly, his eyes still closed.
Dylan looked at me and gestured towards the door. I nodded. We walked quietly out of the room and gently closed the door behind us.
“I can drive us if you’d like?” Dylan offered as we headed back out to the parking lot.
“Okay,” I said.
I put the diner in my phone’s navigation app, and we rode in silence the five minute drive over. When we got inside, I led us to my usual booth closest to the kitchen.
“By the kitchen? Are you sure?” Dylan said as I sat down.
“My theory is, the closer you are to the kitchen, the faster you get your food,” I shrugged.
He thought about that for a moment. “Fair enough,” he sat across the table from me.
The middle-aged waitress walked up a minute later. She set two menus down in front of us. “Howdy folks, my name is Betty,” she said, a hint of a Southern drawl in her words. “What can I get y’all to drink?”
“I’ll take a coffee with cream and sugar, please,” Dylan said.
“And you, hun?” Betty looked at me.
“I want to sleep tonight, so just a water for me, thanks,” I said.
Betty nodded and walked away to grab the drinks. I leaned back in the booth, the weight of the evening finally hitting me. I stifled a yawn.
“Long day, huh?” Dylan said. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, letting out another yawn. “It just now caught up to me.”
“We can go if…”
“No way, not without some pie first,” I smiled at him.
He smiled back and we looked over the menu. When the waitress returned, we both ordered slices of pie: cherry for him, banana cream for me.
“Oh, banana cream…” Dylan said as the waitress walked away. “Now I’m having order envy.”
I let out a small laugh. “I’ll share,” I said.
He smiled. We sat in silence for a moment, both of us deep in thought. I don’t know what he was thinking about, but I was thinking of all the ways I could murder Natalie for what she’d done.
“So what happened? With Logan, I mean. Last I saw him was at my place, and he…we…” he hesitated. “I just don’t understand how he could go from standing in my living room one minute to being rushed to the hospital because of an overdose the next.”
I looked down and began tearing apart the napkin that had been around my utensils. “I don’t know the full story,” I said. “I went to the house where Nat and I are staying after I cleaned up the party. When I got inside, Logan was almost unconscious on the couch and Natalie was wigging out because she had given him a bunch of sleeping pills mixed in some wine.”
Dylan’s mouth was agape. “Dear god,” he finally said after taking in the story. “Why would she do that?”
“She said something about wanting to get her way,” I said.
“That woman,” Dylan shook his head, disbelief all over his face. “She is…” he trailed off.
“The Antichrist?” I offered.
Dylan let out a chuckle and nodded. “I have never met anyone so downright evil in my life. And you live with her?”
“Not by choice,” I said. “I don’t have any other options right now.”
Betty walked back over to our table, pies in hand. She set them down in front of us. I pushed my banana cream towards the center of the table. Dylan smiled at me and cut a bite off with his fork.
“Are you sure you’re related to Natalie?” He asked, putting the fork and pie into his mouth.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I took a bite myself.
“You could not be more opposite,” he said.
There were often times in life that I had wished I were Natalie, but in that moment, I was happy to be me for once. “Thank God for that,” I said.
He took a bite of his pie, then pushed it towards me. I helped myself to a bite.
“Mm,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. “You were right, this is the best pie.”
After spending a few hours together at the diner, Dylan dropped me off at my car.
“You okay to drive yourself home?” He said as he walked me to my car door.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I gave him a grin.
We got to my car door and I stood next to it, fiddling with my keys. “Thank you again,” I said. “I would have been a mess if you hadn’t shown up here tonight.”
“Nah, you would’ve been fine. You always are,” he said.
His eyes met mine. He held my gaze, and for a brief moment I thought…hoped…that he might try and kiss me again. But instead he cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair.
“Drive safe,” he said. “Text me, let me know you made it home safe.”
He leaned in and kissed me on top of the head again, then he walked back to his car.
“I will,” I said, disappointed. I got in my car and sat for a moment, thinking over the past few hours we had spent together. Had I said something wrong? Did I smell bad?
Why didn’t he want to kiss me?
