Snatched

Part 68 - The Huntzbergers Los Angeles residence in Malibu

Logan wiped his eyes, got out of bed and walked into the kitchen area of the apartment. He looked at his watch and took note of the time. Wow! 9am. That was the best nights sleep he'd had in ages.

Logan turned on the kettle to make himself a cup of coffee. Having 24 hours here to just process things had really helped.

The Huntzbergers Los Angeles apartment was probably one of their most luxurious properties. It wasn't big in size, but it had a massive balcony looking out onto Malibu beach. The perfect place to get away from everything and just take some time to quietly contemplate everything that had been going on.

Logan was just on his way out to the balcony, coffee in hand, when the latch on the apartment door clicked and Mitchem Huntzberger walked in. Logan didn't turn around. An argument with his father was the last thing he needed right now.

'Where the hell have you been?' Mitchem had never really been one for speaking softly. Logan didn't say or do anything, hoping that if he ignored him his father would disappear soon.

'I came by the office to check in on you last night' Mitchem carried on 'and they said they hadn't seen you in a couple of weeks. So then I called Rory and she said..'

At hearing Rorys name mentioned, Logan couldn't help but erupt.
'I've got lot going on right now and I really don't need this, so can you just..'
Logan wasn't allowed to finish, before his father interrupted him.
'I know, Rory filled me in. She told me about everything that's happened. You need to call her Logan. The poor womans going out her mind'.

Logan turned around abruptly, sloshing coffee everywhere.
'Since when did you care so much about Rory?!' Logan shouted. 'You've never really liked her!'
'That's not true, Logan. Maybe she's not the kind of person your mother and I wanted you to be with, but I've grown to become quite fond of her over the years. Logan, you need to call her.'
'I know', Logan said, leaning back against the rail behind him. He'd finally managed to steady his voice. 'I was gonna call her in a couple of days. I just needed some time to figure things out.'

'Logan', Mitchem said, looking more concerned than Logan had seem him look in a while. 'She told me she thought you might have harmed yourself. She told me about the cryptic text messages.'

Logan paused for a while, before he was able to say anything else. God, he knew that Rory tended to catastrophise about a lot of things, but he hadn't thought she'd jump to that conclusion.

'I'll call her.' Was all Logan could say and he walked back into the kitchen to fill up his coffee cup. He needed something stronger, but even for him it was too early.
'Coffee?' he asked his dad.
'No I'm good thanks' Mitchem said, as he leant on a breakfast stool. 'Logan, why didn't you tell me what was going on?'

'Because I thought you wouldn't care.' Logan put his coffee down on the breakfast table and took a seat on a stool opposite his father. Before Mitchem could interrupt him, he added 'dad, when I told you Rory was pregnant with Dylan, you went crazy!'

Mitchem looked at Logan and lowered his voice to a tone Logan had never heard him speak in before.
'That's because back then I thought you were messing your life up. You had a whole career ahead of you and you were engaged to a beautiful woman. I didn't really feel anything for a while. To be honest, I never really saw Dylan as my grandson, until he went missing and then I suddenly felt like a peice of me had gone to. I felt a responsibility towards him.'

Logan frowned at his dad but didn't say anything. He couldn't remember a time he'd ever heard Mitchem speak like this before. It was obvious that his dad had more to say, so he let him carry on.

'And then when you and Rory got back together again, I suddenly felt even more of a connection with him. She's a sweet enough girl, Logan and you really need to get that divorce sorted out, so you can put a ring on her finger.'

Logan laughed to himself. 'I've tried that one before dad.'
'Logan', Mitchem looked at him. 'That was about 15 years ago and things change. Anyway, that's besides the point.'

Mitchem stood up straight again and suddenly his voice changed back to the stern one that Logan was so familiar with.
'You need to get this sorted out, Logan', he shouted. 'You need to stop hiding here in Los Angeles. I don't know why the hell you even flew out to LA anyway. But you need to stop wallowing in self pity. Look at this!' He pointed to the numerous whisky bottles on the floor.

Mitchem begun to walk towards the door of the apartment, but as he did, he said one last thing. 'And you need to give Rory a call!'

As the door slammed behind his father, Logan pulled his phone out. Mitchem was definitely right about that.