Wedding Cake Wishes (14 page)

“Yeah, I get that. I wouldn't have been in the mood to turn cartwheels next week as best man, either.”

“Well, obviously, since you were planning to do cartwheels at the ceremony—” she paused to indicate the crowded waiting room with a sweep of her arm “—before all of this.”

She was trying to make him laugh, and he loved her even more for that. “Well, I guess your family knows better than anybody how to dismantle a wedding.”

“It does give Mom something to do while she waits on word about Mrs. Warren's condition,” she said.

Jenna had crossed the room to Logan and Caroline in time to hear the last few comments. “We're not
canceling
it, Logan. Just
postponing
it.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” Haley said with a tight chuckle.

“You kidding?” Matthew said as he returned, balancing a steaming cup of liquid. “That canceled wedding was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“You can say that again, buddy,” Dylan piped.

Trina came to sit next to Haley, who had shifted so her knees were just below her rounded belly. “I know someone else who's happy that wedding never took
place.” She reached over and brushed back Haley's spiky hair before turning back to Dylan and Jenna. “But this particular wedding will happen when the time is right.”

“Yeah, you two, it's going to be a great wedding whenever you reschedule it,” Logan added.

The nurse appeared in the doorway of the waiting room, signaling that two of his mother's visitors could take their fifteen-minute visit for the hour. As they'd all planned, Dylan and Jenna took this shift, following the nurse back through the double doors.

The doors had barely closed behind them when Haley let out a strangled cry. In the short time it took Mrs. Scott to turn back to her youngest daughter, Caroline and Matthew were already kneeling next to her.

“Honey, you said you're okay. You're not okay.” Matthew's voice rose in pitch with each word he spoke.

“I'm fine.” Haley's voice sounded strained, and she grimaced as she spoke.

“Is it the baby?” Caroline asked, taking hold of her hand. “You've just had too much excitement. It can't be good for you or for the baby.”

Caroline turned to Matthew. “Maybe you should take Haley and Lizzie home. There's nothing you can do here, and we'll call you as soon as we know—”

Trina put her hand on Caroline's arm to interrupt her. “Caroline, she's not going anywhere.”

“Really,” Haley insisted. “I'm okay.”

But her mother would have none of it. “Could someone get a nurse in here?” She indicated with her hand that she'd selected Logan as the
someone
. “Go tell her Haley might be in labor.”

C
aroline was so exhausted that she didn't even object when Logan walked her up the steps of her mother's house, took the keys from her hands and unlocked the door. She wished he hadn't followed her inside, but she was too tired to challenge that, either. Too many things had happened today for her to consider bringing up the subject that they needed to discuss. She would put it off until tomorrow if he would only let her.

“Why don't you have a seat in the family room. I'll make us some tea.” Logan didn't wait for an answer before he started toward the kitchen.

Caroline followed him down the hall until he made a right turn into the kitchen, leaving her to turn the opposite direction into the family room. The rooms were close enough that they still could hold a conversation without raising their voices, even as she collapsed on the sofa and he banged around in the cabinets, looking for a teakettle.

“Didn't you get enough caffeine at the hospital?”

“Yeah. I'm wired now, so I could use some herbal tea
to settle my mind.” He came to the doorway and looked out at her.

“Are you going to make some for Dylan and Jenna?”

He tilted his head and looked at her strangely. “Don't you remember? Jenna volunteered to spend the night with Lizzie at Matthew and Haley's, so Matthew could stay at the hospital. Dylan said he would bring home your mother, but he's probably still trying to convince her to leave the hospital.”

“Oh. Right. I knew all that.”

The kettle whistled, so Logan turned back to the stove. After more cabinet banging, he emerged from the kitchen carrying two steaming mugs. He waited as she sat up to accept one, and then he handed it to her.

“Thanks.”

“You look like you could use this, too.” He watched her as he took a seat next to her. “You've been stressed out all day.”

Caroline bristled under his observation. “Well, it's been a stressful day.”

“That it has,” he said with a chuckle that bore no real humor. “Who knew that so much could happen at once?”

“A chain reaction of events.” She blew on the steam at the rim of her cup and took a sip. As the warm liquid slid down her throat, she felt calm for the first time all day. “Haley's OB said the stress brought on her premature labor.”

“At least the medication stopped it, for tonight anyway.” Logan's jaw flexed as if he were thinking darker thoughts. “You heard what the doctor said. Just because
they stopped it tonight doesn't mean that the whole thing won't start up again tomorrow.”

“It's not that early, anyway. It's less than four weeks until her due date,” Caroline reminded him. “Haley's going to hate it if they put her on bed rest all the way until the delivery.”

Caroline could already picture her youngest sister going stir-crazy sitting in bed and waiting for others to care for her.

“But she'll do what she has to do to protect her baby.” Logan balanced the cup on his knee but didn't drink any. “My nephew needs as much time to develop as he can get.”

“Nephew?” Her senses might have been off today, but she didn't miss that one.

“Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that.” He pinched his nose and shook his head. “I guess I'm exhausted, too, if I just spilled the beans. Matthew wanted to know the baby's gender, but Haley didn't. He had to tell someone.”

“Don't worry. I'm not going to tell.”

He nodded, appearing grateful. “You only got in to see Mom one time today, didn't you?”

“I thought it was more important that you three guys kept getting in. She needs to know that her sons are there for her.” Caroline felt strangely relieved that they'd stayed on these “light” topics instead of delving into deeper things. She wasn't ready to talk about those other things, anyway. Wasn't sure yet what to say.

“Mom needs support from all of us.”

“I know that. It's just that there was only limited visitation time tonight, and I thought the three of you should get more of it than the rest of us.”

Logan nodded and then he took a sip of his tea, set the cup on a coaster and turned back to her. “Caroline, would you please tell me what's going on?”

“I don't know what you mean,” she said to stall because she didn't know how to answer his question. Setting her cup on the side table, she clasped her hands in her lap. It was all she could do not to wring them.

“You've been acting strangely ever since Matthew gave us the bad news at church.”

“As I said, it's been a stressful day.”

He reached out and covered her clasped hands. Caroline stared down at her hands, needing the warmth and comfort that his provided, yet preparing herself for the loss of their touch. Misunderstanding her dilemma, he pulled his hand away, leaving her skin cold.

“So stressful that you haven't been able to bring yourself to touch me all afternoon?”

Caroline stared at her lap again. She'd wanted to reach out to him all day, to feel the protection of having his strong arm to steady her, but then she'd thought about why they were at the hospital, and she'd felt frozen.

“Everything's just too confusing,” she said finally. “It's all happening at once. There's too much.”

“Just tell me, Caroline, what's going on?”

“Maybe we stepped forward too fast. Maybe we should have thought it through before we let things change between us. Before we let ourselves think—” She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the things she'd thought, the things that would never be.

His jaw was tight, but he only nodded. “Now don't stop there. You'd better tell me all of it.”

“Markston is part of who you are. You thrive here.
You have your family and history here and even a job that fits you and makes you happy.”

“That's true.” He drew his eyebrows together, clearly not getting it.

“I was born here, but Markston is not who I am,” she said, explaining what should have been obvious to him. “We're opposites in a lot of ways.”

“These are not new revelations, Caroline. We knew these things about each other yesterday at the park.” His look was so intense that he seemed to see right through her. “Don't you remember it? When we were kissing.”

“I remember.” And she probably would be able to recall every detail of that afternoon for the rest of her life.

“Then what is this about?”

“Your mom,” she said in a burst of frustration. “Am I the only one who recognizes that Mrs. Warren might never come back to Amy's Elite Treats?”

Logan's head jerked back as if she'd slapped him instead of just injuring him with her words. “Don't say that.” He shook his head as if to force away the possibility that she was right. “You know how stubborn she is. If she wants to come back, she'll be coming back.”

“I know how stubborn
you
are.” She'd surprised herself by saying it, but because she couldn't take it back, she pressed forward, determined to say the rest. “No matter how many times I've tried to bring it up the possibility that she won't be able to work again, you've put me off. Did you think that by ignoring it, the problem would just go away?”

The look he gave her suggested that had been exactly what he'd thought, but he shook his head. “I haven't
ignored
anything. I've been at the bakery
every day except Sundays. I've clocked more hours than even you to make sure it keeps going.”

“But why did you do it?” She held her hands wide to emphasize the point that he wasn't getting. “You've thrown yourself into this business so you could keep it afloat until your mother could return. But you wouldn't allow yourself to think about what you would do if she couldn't come back.”

Since Logan was staring at the floor instead of looking at her, she guessed he wouldn't be answering. She hated causing him pain, but he needed to hear these things, and she had to be the one to tell him.

“I know this is difficult, but at some point, your brothers and you are going to have to consider your options for selling the business.” She waited for him to look up, but he didn't. “It will be painful, but you'll be able to use the money to help cover your mother's medical bills and rehabilitation costs,” she added.

Logan glanced up then, and the fury in his eyes was enough to cause her to shift back in her seat.

“Are you listening to yourself? I can't believe you even suggested it. You're worrying about medical bills when Mom is still in the hospital, still not knowing if another major stroke is just around the corner. You've been with us all day. Can't you try to believe she's going to be okay?”

His words stung, but she tried not to let it show. “Of course I want to believe it. I'm praying for your mother as often as any of you are, but I'm being realistic. It's not personal,” she said, shrugging. “It's just business.”

He made a scoffing sound. “You know a lot about running a business, Caroline. Probably more than I could learn in a decade. But there's one thing you still
don't get, even after losing your last job and after spending all this time at the bakery.” He waited until she was looking back at him before he continued. “Business is always personal when it affects you.”

Caroline swallowed, his words having hit their mark. Her boss told her it wasn't personal when he'd let her go, too, but it couldn't have felt more personal to her. “You know what I mean,” she said.

“I guess I don't. Just like you don't get that for me to give up on the business would be like giving up on Mom ever recovering. I can't give up on her.”

“So you see? You're stuck,” Caroline said. “If you don't figure out something soon, you'll never go back to the job you love. You'll be left here running the bakery indefinitely.”

“It isn't getting stuck with anything when I'm choosing to care for Mom's business for as long as she needs me. It's a choice. What about you?” Suddenly, he stopped and stared at her. “That's it. This isn't about me losing my career at all. It's about you. You're afraid of getting stuck here in Markston with—”

He stopped himself before he said “me,” but she heard it as clearly as if he'd shouted it.

“You know that's not it. We both have lives to get back to, and mine happens to be back in Chicago.”

“That's where it used to be,” he said flatly.

“No, it's still there. My apartment's there. My things and my friends are there. And if everything works out with the interview next week, I'll have what could possibly be another dream job there, too.”

“When were you planning to tell me this?”

Caroline blinked as the hurt in his voice filtered through her senses. Anger she'd expected, but she hadn't
prepared herself for the hurt. “You know that I've been in a job search ever since I came back to Markston. I couldn't work without an income indefinitely. I just haven't had any solid leads until this one.”

“How long have you known about the interview?”

“Just a few days. Really.”

“Since before the July Fourth holiday? Since before
yesterday?
”

Caroline coughed into her hand. He was right, of course. He'd deserved the reminder that she was only in Markston a short time before he invested himself in a relationship that was temporary at best.

“I should have told you, but I didn't know anything for certain—I still don't—so I didn't mention it.” She'd lied to herself that it wouldn't matter.

“And you're still going to the interview, even with Mom and Haley both in the hospital?”

“This interview was hard enough to get. If I ask to reschedule it, they might decide they don't want to talk to me after all.”

He didn't say anything for the longest time, and when he finally spoke up, his voice sounded strange. “I just can't believe you would still want to leave. After…everything.”

“Logan, I—”

“I care about you, Caroline. More than I ever expected to care about anyone.” His tone suggested he wasn't happy about the situation. “And as I told Matthew, I have lousy timing, what with Mom's condition and Haley's baby and even Dylan and Jenna's yet-to-be-announced, rescheduled wedding.”

Caroline opened her mouth to interrupt him, to stop
the words that squeezed her heart like an angry fist, but Logan shook his head.

“Let me finish. This is about more than how I feel about you.” He fisted his hands against the legs of his dress pants. “I think you care about me, too. We owe it to ourselves to explore the possibility of a real relationship between us. This could be the real thing. We'll never find out with you in Chicago and me in Markston.”

Her heart raced. So this was what it was like to want something desperately and to be just as sure that it would be the worst thing in the world for her.

“I do…care about you.” She choked on the words, as she was tempted to say what was really in her heart. “It's just complicated. I've told you before that I have these king-sized ambitions that will never mix with a home and family. I just lost sight of that for a little while.”

“Stop it. You can keep on lying to yourself, but don't lie to me.”

Caroline had just lifted her lukewarm tea from the table, and his words startled her so much that her hand jerked, sending light brown liquid sloshing over the side of the cup onto the carpet. Logan was up in a flash, hurrying into the kitchen and returning with a roll of paper towels. He sopped up the liquid. “Look. As good as new.”

She nodded, sorry that their relationship could never be as good as new again. They would be blessed if they could salvage any sort of friendship from the train wreck she'd been responsible for creating.

He took the towels into the kitchen and tossed them in the garbage. When he returned, he sat in the same spot he'd been in before and turned to face her.