“Not really, but I’ve been about four times in the last year.” He shrugged. “I was hammering out a business deal. This last trip was the final part of that.”
I was about to reply when the waitress appeared with our drinks and the shake before heading off again.
Juniper’s eyes widened as she eagerly stuck her straw in her shake and began her attack on the delicious contents of her glass.
“Juniper Blue,” I said. “Don’t you have something to say?”
She pulled away from the shake and sighed. “Thank you, Mr. Hawkins.”
Logan chuckled quietly before returning his attention to me. “Have you traveled much?”
“I always wanted to, but,” My gaze flitted to Juniper and then back to Logan, “some people I used to spend more time around didn’t like traveling. Been to Mexico a few times, but that’s about it.”
“I didn’t travel much until after college.” He took a sip of his coffee. “My mother used to say, ‘Why leave Nashville? You have everything you could possibly want here.’” Another playful chuckle followed.
Juniper slurped her shake a bit. I cut a look over at her, and she grinned but didn’t say anything. When she continued, though, her drinking was much quieter.
A tranquil feeling settled over me for a moment. Not long after that, my heart kicked up. I was having a meal with a man I was interested in while my daughter sat nearby drinking a shake. It was all very domestic. Normal. That’s what it felt like at first, but I couldn’t really have that with Logan Hawkins.
First impressions are everything, and I had to remember that. He wasn’t interested in me, not really. He was interested in the woman who did stupid things after she got drunk off champagne. That woman wasn’t me. Well, sure, she was kind of me, but she wasn’t the me who would be around all that often. I hoped.
“I have a little gift for your daughter,” Logan said.
Juniper stopped working on her milkshake, which was almost gone at this point. She peered up at him, a curious look on her little face.
“A gift?”
“From Denmark.” Logan reached into the cloth bag and pulled out another smaller cloth bag, this one with a huge LEGO logo on the side. He set the bag in front of Juniper.
She peered into the bag, and her eyes widened. I leaned over to see what was inside. A pile of little LEGO sets.
“These aren’t released yet,” Logan said. “I talked to some people at LEGO headquarters, and they were willing to give me a few.”
Juniper squealed and started digging into the bag.
Logan laughed, but I sighed.
“Juniper,” I said. “A proper lady controls herself in public.”
My daughter giggled and nodded quickly. My face burned. Not from embarrassment over my daughter’s behavior, but from remembering just what I, a so-called proper lady, had done in public with Logan not all that long ago.
I cleared my throat. “And don’t you have something to say to Logan?”
Juniper hopped out of her seat and rushed to throw her arms around Logan. He blinked, clear surprise on his face.
I could only wonder what my face looked like at the moment. Juniper might be hyper around her daddy, but she’d always been reserved around men she didn’t know.
A little laugh escaped my mouth. I guess the other men should have shown up with LEGOs straight from Denmark.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. Hawkins,” Juniper said.
He ruffled her hair. “You’re welcome, Juniper.”
“You need to sit back down in your seat, sweet pea,” I said. “And you can’t play with the LEGOs until you get home.”
Juniper pulled away from Logan, but instead of heading back to her seat, she sat down next to him.
I didn’t tell her to go back to her original seat. The bright smile on her face was just too much. Whatever my own concerns over this semi-relationship I had with Logan, it wasn’t fair to confuse a happy little girl.