It appeared Logan’s daughter wasn’t only a dreamer.

It appeared she could be a brat.

So I looked to Cleo and said quietly, “Let’s go, sweetie.”

She looked to me, her dad, and her sister. She kept her eyes on her sister and I was surprised to see rebuke in them and not just a little of it.

Then she turned back to me and came my way.

We walked through the restaurant but I held her up at the front door so we didn’t have to stand outside in the cold for too long.

“Let’s stay here where it’s warm for a minute while your dad deals with the check,” I said.

“He’s not dealing with the check; he’s dealing with Zadie,” she replied, not looking at me, her head turned to look back from where we came.

I decided not to say anything.

Cleo kept her gaze aimed toward the restaurant when she continued, “She’s havin’ trouble with Mom and Daddy splitting.”

“Your father mentioned something about that,” I told her cautiously.

She looked up at me. “They split, like, ages ago.”

I nodded.

“And they were split it seems like before we were born.”

I was alarmed she held that knowledge and further, I had no clue how to reply.

“She needs to get over it,” Cleo told me.

“Something like that is difficult to get over, Cleo. Anything that hurts is difficult to get over. You just have to take the time it takes to lick your wounds and when they finally heal, or when they heal enough you’re able to carry on, you do that. You carry on. But things like that shouldn’t be rushed or the healing can go wonky. It may take your sister a little time, but she’ll get there and the people who love her just need to be patient.”

She stared up at me.

Then she said, “But she got Sprite on your jeans.”

I smiled at her and replied quietly, “Jeans wash, darling.”

She again stared at me but she did it like it was the first time she’d ever seen me and I was a being heretofore undiscovered.

I helped her power through that by tipping my head toward the restaurant and asking, “Do you think we’ve given them enough time? Should we head to the truck?”

She looked to the restaurant, saying, “I don’t know.” She turned back to me. “Dad doesn’t get mad very often. But when he does...”

She trailed off and I nodded quickly.

“Then let’s hang out here a bit,” I suggested. “Keep warm. I’ll be on the lookout and we can make a mad dash if I see them coming.”

She grinned up at me again without any guard behind it and I was again struck by how her beauty blossomed when she did that.

We chatted until I caught sight of Logan heading our way. I gave her the heads-up and we moved out the door quickly. Once out, I took a chance, grabbed her hand and ran on my high heels, taking her with me.

And I was delighted to find, that as girls were wont to do, for no reason at all, we both found this hilarious, started giggling in the middle of it, and were in the throes of hysterical laughter by the time we made it to the truck.

This might have something to do with the tension casting a pall over the evening and us needing to release it.

But I really didn’t care what caused us to do it. We had our moment of bonding and it had come early.

I was batting five hundred and in these stakes, that wasn’t as hot as it normally would be.

Even so, I’d take it.

Logan and Zadie showed, Logan still looking angry, Zadie looking chastised and sulky. The sulky part caused her to cast baleful glares at me.

Logan beeped the locks and muttered, “Didn’t give you the keys. Two of my girls standin’ out in the cold. Sorry, babe.”

“Cleo and I found our ways to stay warm,” I assured him.

He looked to me. I grinned at him. He studied my grin and I watched as he became visibly relieved.

I turned and got into the car.

Once we were all in, belted up, and rolling away, Logan grabbed my hand again, firmly and demonstrably, held it, and announced, “Not sending my girl home without supper and I don’t feel like eatin’ franks and beans or makin’ Clee-Clee eat it. We’re hitting Chipotle.”

“Right on,” I murmured, and Cleo giggled in the backseat.

I looked over my shoulder and gave her a grin.

She smiled back.

When I caught sight of Logan while turning back around, I saw his profile in the dashboard lights looking vaguely surprised. The squeeze he gave my hand was not-vaguely pleased.

Logan took us to Chipotle. Cleo and I chatted through ordering and food making. Zadie stayed removed and sulking.

During that time, I put on a brave face but I did it realizing that I’d been so anxious about meeting the girls, I hadn’t thought of something just as important. That being when dinner was done, it meant Logan and the girls were going to his RV and I wouldn’t see him again until the next day. We wouldn’t make love. I wouldn’t sleep beside him. I wouldn’t wake up beside him.

And in realizing this, I decided it was totally not too soon for us to move in together.

It was too soon for him to push too much with the girls (way too soon for Zadie).

But I didn’t want him to be gone and be alone again.

Mostly I just didn’t want him to be gone.

Sure, I had Chief and Poem now but they had no clue who I was. Essentially, I was the stranger who put food down for them.

I needed Logan.

And even if it was only three nights, I was going to miss him.

We got our food takeaway, Logan instructing them to put my burrito in a separate bag, and he headed us to my house.

When he got the truck in the courtyard, he turned to the girls.

“Stay here. I’ll be back,” he ordered.

I turned to them too. “I’m sorry the night didn’t go as planned. But however it went, honestly, it was a pleasure to meet you both.”

Zadie gave me a glare.

Cleo replied, “You too, Millie. See you later.”

I grinned at them, even though Zadie continued glaring through my grin. I got out and Logan grabbed my burrito bag and got out with me. He also came in with me after I opened the door.

He waited for me to unarm the alarm before he pulled me in front of the cupboards where the girls couldn’t see us through any windows and dropped the burrito bag on the counter. Then he tugged me into his arms.

“Shit night,” he muttered. “Sorry, baby.”

I slid my arms around him. “It wasn’t like we didn’t know it was gonna be a rough ride.”

“Didn’t think it’d be that rough.”

I didn’t either but in order to give Zadie a fighting chance, I lied for her.

“You were in the Dad Zone so I didn’t want to intervene, but honestly, Snooks, it was probably an accident.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” he returned. “She’d been bitchin’ about havin’ to go to dinner with you, us goin’ someplace we went as a family, since I picked them up from school. I knew she was gearin’ up to do somethin’ stupid. I didn’t know it would be that stupid. And we got a rule. They don’t do much that ticks me off. But they’re doin’ something like that, I let ’em know and they know exactly how I let ’em know. If they don’t quit doin’ it, there are consequences. Just sucks we all gotta eat cold burritos and I gotta leave you a lot sooner than I wanted.”

He was going to miss me too.

It felt funny that it would be the case, but that made me feel better.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t have picked the Spaghetti Factory,” I remarked.

“It’s her favorite restaurant, which is why I picked it. Tryin’ to get her in a good mood. But, Millie, she can’t mark every joint in town we been to with her mom as a sacred place. There’s new memories to make and she’s gotta get her head outta her ass and make ’em.”

“Maybe tomorrow will be better,” I suggested, even though I seriously doubted it would.

“Maybe,” he muttered. Then, “Gotta go, babe. Gotta feed my kids.”

I nodded even if I didn’t want to. I wanted to hold on and not let go.