Page 44 of One More Chance
Charlotte thought for a moment, and much to her chagrin, Logan had just personified her work ethic and mindset to a T. “I’ve just never said it out loud, but yes, I believe in hard work, and I also believe in believing in yourself. I’m sure having Logan Brush on the ice with them hasn’t hurt.”
“They have it in them. They just need someone to help bring it out.”
“Just like Dorothy,” she laughed. When Logan didn’t laugh, she looked over and saw his brow was furrowed. “The Wizard of Oz?” she clarified. “She had the power to go home in herself the whole time.”
Logan smiled. “I haven’t seen that movie in a million years.”
“It was one of my mom’s favorites,” Charlotte smiled. “Is that why you came home then? To rescue your former hockey team?”
Logan signaled and took the Windswan exit. “That’s what I told everyone, but no, that’s not the reason I came home: this is.”
Charlotte looked out the window and gasped, they were pulling into the parking lot of Hopeful Horizons, a rehab facility. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Logan, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t picture Logan seated in a semi-circle in a church basement, doing the whole, Hi My name is Logan. Hi Logan. And I’m an addict spiel. Her mind went into overdrive as struggled to fill in the blank. Could he be a sex addict? That’s what all the celebrities had these days, isn’t it?
He looked and her, a sorrowful laugh escaping his lips. “It’s not what you think.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and turned so that he was fully facing her. “Charlotte, I missed the prom because I came home and found my mom passed out on the floor in a pool of her own vomit.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened. Logan’s perfect mom? Charlotte hadn’t seen the cracks in the veneer when she was young, but now the pieces started to fall into place. She remembered the night when she heard dishes crashing and yelling from inside. Logan hadn’t let her come into his house that night.
“Did she...” Charlotte almost said die but couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “Is she okay?”
“She is now.” Logan took a sip of his coffee. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, but his slumped shoulders gave away his sorrow. “I mean, for now. This isn’t her first trip to Hopeful Horizons. I hope that having me close to home will be what she needs to finally kick this thing, the booze.”
Charlotte reached out to hold Logan’s hand with both of hers.
“I should’ve called you that night, but my mom and dad swore me to secrecy. You know how small towns are. The rumors.”
Charlotte shook her head, “I know better than anyone else how the Chance Rapids rumor mill operates.”
“That night we had to rush her to the hospital, and we weren’t sure if she was going to make it through the night. She was hospitalized for a week and then she came straight here. We lived at the motel down the street.” A fat tear escaped from behind his sunglasses. “I should’ve called you, but I didn’t know what to say. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”
Charlotte had fantasized about an apology from Logan, but in her imagination, she rejected it in a dramatic fashion. One of her scenarios included throwing drinks in his face. She had bitchy rejections lined up ready to volley back to him in the face of an apology. But, sitting across from him now, hearing the quiver in his voice, all she wanted to do was make his pain go away.
She clicked out of her seatbelt and knelt on the seat so she could cup his face with her hands. She pulled off his sunglasses and kissed at the tears on his face. “I forgive you, Logan,” she whispered. She saw his bottom lip start to tremble and couldn’t witness this formidable man cry, so she planted her lips on his. He inhaled audibly, sucking back the sorrow, and kissed her back slowly. He ran his hands down the sides of her body, sending a shiver down her spine. He pressed his hand into her lower back, drawing her closer to him. His kisses grew stronger and Charlotte’s body responded to his hunger with her own. She needed Logan Brush. She felt the desire growing in her belly and spreading between her legs. He lifted her up by her hips and pulled her onto his lap. She straddled his muscular thighs and arched her back against the steering wheel as he kissed down her neck and nipped at her collarbone. She could feel his hardness straining at the front of his jeans. She reached down and started to fumble with his belt buckle, but he grabbed her hands, pulled them behind her body, and rested his head on her shoulder.
“Not here.”
Charlotte nodded. He released her hands. She cupped his face and kissed his lips one more time. “I don’t know what came over me,” she whispered and pressed her forehead against his. She tried to wriggle out from between Logan and the steering wheel. As she struggled, her elbow pressed into the horn. She fell into the passenger seat and shot him a sheepish smile.
“I think that fifteen years just came over both of us,” he smiled and squeezed her hand. “Trust me, stopping that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Would you go and visit my mom with me? You know, once this has calmed down? He nodded his head straight down at the huge bulge in the front of his pants that she had felt only seconds earlier.
They chatted until Logan was presentable and then made a visit to his mom. Charlotte wouldn’t have recognized her as the woman from her past. She looked tired, worn, and old. But she smiled and gripped Charlotte’s hands when she sat down beside her chair.
This was not the date that Charlotte had imagined. It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t giggles and flirting. It was dark and it was somber, but despite all that, it was perfect.
Charlotte watched how gentle Logan was with his mom, how she could see the love in his eyes when he hugged her goodbye. Charlotte reached out to shake Mrs. Brush’s hand, but she surprised her and pulled her in for a hug and made Charlotte promise to visit again.
***
THEY RODE IN SILENCE, their fingers intertwined. Charlotte loved the way his thick fingers splayed her fingers apart. She watched the snow-covered fir trees as the truck whizzed along the road but couldn’t ignore the want in her body. She needed to be closer to him, so she unclicked her seatbelt and shimmied across the bench seat so that she was hip to hip with Logan. He glanced at her, smiled and wrapped his arm across her shoulder, squeezing her in tightly.
“If you’re going to ride hillbilly, you should put your seatbelt on,” he grinned.
Charlotte looked up at him, she wanted to feel the scruff than ran along his jawline on her lips; and if she was being honest, wanted to feel it chafe her inner thighs. She laughed; riding hillbilly meant sitting directly adjacent to the driver on a pickup truck’s bench seat - usually because a hound dog was occupying the passenger seat. A city girl wouldn’t have known what the hell he was talking about, but they came from the same place, and still spoke some of the same language, even if they had each gone off and refined it.
“I have another idea,” Charlotte said and trailed her manicured finger along the stitching on the fly of his jeans. She felt a rush, a surge of desire as his cock responded to this light touch. She sucked in her breath and wondered if she would be able to fit him in her mouth, if his hands and the huge bulge in the front of his jeans were any indication, the man must be huge.
“Do you now?” Logan said the sides of his mouth turned up as he shifted in his seat. “And what’s that, Miss O’Hare?”
“Why don’t I just show you?” Charlotte leaned over and flicked Logan’s earlobe with her tongue.
