determined to make my Saturday unpleasant. It should have been a great day. Juniper had been discharged, and she was obviously on the mend. Instead, I had to argue, yet again, with my bastard ex-husband who seemed to enjoy nothing more than getting under my skin.
Lionel snorted. “You whined about me not rushing home, and now you’re complaining because I want to spend time with my daughter? It is my week after all. That’s what joint custody means. We share Juniper.”
I took several deep breaths. “This isn’t about you spending time with your daughter. I’m sure Juniper would love it if you came over to visit, but my little girl—our little girl—just got discharged this morning. I doubt you and your girlfriend really want to take care of a sick little girl. Do you want to risk getting sick?”
“What the hell, Emily? I thought she’d been discharged. What is it? Is she okay or not?”
I slapped a hand to my forehead and resisted a groan. I silently prayed to the Lord for strength. “Yes, she was discharged, but she’s still going to be sick for a few days. She just doesn’t need to be in the hospital. The doctors said she should be fully up and running around like a little manic in a few more days, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful, and they made it clear we shouldn’t do anything that will stress her body.”
Lionel chuckled. “You see? All that complaining, all that yelling at me, and I was right.”
“Huh? What in the devil are you talking about?”
“That I was right. I didn’t need to be there. I think you should admit I was right.”
I ground my teeth together. The only thing keeping me from yelling at him was worry that Juniper would overhear us. “Whatever.”
“I’m coming over to see her tonight. I have a gift from Mexico for her anyway.”
“Fine. I’ll tell her you’re coming. Is there anything else?”
“No. I’ll see you later tonight, maybe a little past six.”
“Okay.”
He hung up, and I thanked the Lord for ending my torture.
I stood there for a moment, glaring at my phone. Lionel couldn’t even do the right thing without being annoying.
My phone buzzed again, and I groaned. Had he called back just to taunt me?
I lifted it and let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Lionel. It was Logan.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hello, Emily. I was in the neighborhood, and I was wondering if I could drop by.”
I laughed. “In the neighborhood? Seriously? That’s the line you’re going to go with?”
Logan chuckled. “It’s actually true. If I had planned to stop by, then I would have brought the boys with me for Juniper to play with.”
“Oh,” I said, my face heating. “Well, sure, we’re going to have dinner soon, but it’d be great if you can stop by. You were such a help this week. I really don’t know how I can begin to thank you.”
“Just the fact that Juniper is doing better is all the thanks I need. Okay, I’ll see you soon then.”
“Okay.”
After the call ended, I sat down in my chair and stared at my phone for a long while. The week had been hectic and filled with worry. Because of that, I hadn’t really had much time to think about what Logan and I actually shared together.
I’d thought after Tokyo that I knew what we had, a friendship that had been briefly interrupted by sex, but the week had changed all that. I’d kissed him in the hospital. I could try and chalk it up to stress, but that would be me lying to myself.
Logan obviously cared about me and my daughter. So, what was it that we had? A relationship? A friendship? All I really knew was that I was grateful for having him around all week instead of Lionel.
About ten minutes passed before my doorbell rang. When I opened it, I found Logan holding a container of some fancy chocolate ice cream.
He held it higher and smiled. “I thought it could help Juniper’s throat.”
I raised a brow. “But you were just in the area? With ice cream?”