“Christ, Maxie.”
“Send me the details and I’ll make the payment today. This should be a company expense anyway since you were injured on the job. While I’m at it, I’ll look at a better health plan for the three of us. We should be fully covered for job-related injuries.”
“Manny is,” Logan admits. “I took a cheaper plan with a bigger co-pay because I’m not on the front line the way he is.”
“You were this time,” I point out. “And on the cruise job. We’re not taking any more risks with you, Lo.”
“I’m okay, mate.”
“You are now. But you weren’t.” I take a deep breath before admitting the extent of my invasion of his privacy. “I read your medical records from San Diego. I know how bad it was. They didn’t think you’d walk again?—”
He waves a hand to cut me off. “You don’t need to remind me. I know I was lucky, and how much I owe Emily for taking care of me.”
“And finding you one of the best neuro-therapists in the city. I still can’t figure out how she got you in with Hendry. She’s booked out foryears, man.”
Logan lifts his eyebrows. “I didn’t know that. I think Maude from my club had something to do with it. She used to be a nursing administrator.”
“Maude, the older lady who was here the other night?”
Logan nods.
“She pulled some big fucking strings for you.”
“Do I even want to know how you know all this?” Logan asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Probably not,” I admit. “But you were all the way in San Diego and Manny barely knew anything. You know me. I can’t deal with not knowing.”
“You hacked my medical records,” Logan says flatly.
I lift my chin. I’m not going to be ashamed for caring about my best friend. “I did and I’d do it again.”
“Chrissake, Maxie. Just tell me next time, okay?”
“I don’t want there tobea next time.”
“Yeah, me, neither.” Logan rubs his hands over his face. “All I could think of, as Rick was swinging at me, was that he was going to take me away from Emily. You’d take care of her, wouldn’t you, Max? I can’t leave her without a daddy.”
“I would, but it’s not going to come to that. You’re going to be her daddy for a long, long time. And you’re not going tolet anyone distract you from recovering. Not Rick. Not the debt collector. No one. Let me fucking help, Lo.”
Slowly, he nods.
ten
I haveto call him twice, and threaten to sicc Manny on him, before Logan finally emails me the last demand from the debt collector.
The temptation to pay it out of Rick-the-Dick’s accounts is strong, but it would get undone eventually and land Logan back in the soup. I set up the transfer with satisfaction and fire off an email to the debt collector confirming the payment and requesting a receipt. I don’t know if Logan had planned to pursue it with the cruise line, but I sure as fuck am.
Around hounding my best friend and paying off the vultures, I make Emily’s peanut-butter chicken recipe. It sounds disgusting, even reading over what she’s sent me, but once I taste the sauce as it’s cooking, I realize it’s much more like a satay than a peanut-butter sandwich. I double the recipe and set aside the extra sauce to feed the kid-hole downstairs later. Ty’s pretty easy to feed in general, but I’m betting this will be an instant favorite.
When my phone pings and I see Cynnie’s name float up in the notifications, my heart seizes. Is she cancelling?
I tap open the message, smearing garlic across the screen, which I wipe off with my shirt and a curse.
Cynnie: I’m getting on the train now. See you soon.
I breathe a deep sigh of relief and respond.
Great. Dinner’s nearly ready. Do you mind eating outside?
