Dad and I spent the day going over the plans and remeasuring everything to make sure they were just right. He and James obviously had a few connections with surveyors and people down at the permit office of our local Council given how long they've been in the business of designing and constructing houses and buildings by now, so the swift approval of a permit wouldn't take long at all. The reassessing of the plans that James had drawn up and all the measuring was simply to get the process of ordering materials started so we could begin construction straight away, given we had a bit of a timeline to stick to. I think Dad and James also wanted to use it as a bit of a learning exercise for me considering I was in two short weeks to be out of school for good and working full-time with Dad, therefore would have a bit more time and practice at this kind of thing.
Dad, Sadie, Madden and I made a trip to Bunnings to put the order for materials in early in the afternoon after all four of us had okayed the updated plans, amended slightly to include walk in robes for both Madden and my bedrooms, which were to be the new ones downstairs, and a door for my room to open up onto the front porch so I had easier access in and out.
When we got home, Dad and I started marking out a few things against and around the house to get a jump start on the process while we still had time in our day, with Madden faithfully holding the ladders and passing us things when we asked for them to feel like he was helping too, still resentful that he wasn't older and couldn't do more.
I was outside on the ladder holding a tape measure and marking out points with Dad when I heard her clunky old car pulling up on our street, the gears grinding noisily and the ancient engine sounding like it was about ready to drop out the bottom of the car any second.
It was an unexpectedly hot thirty-five degrees Celsius when Dad and I had started marking everything out, so I had removed my shirt once it was dripping in sweat. I'm not usually a fan of the heat, but I'd gladly live somewhere a lot more tropical than Melbourne, Australia if it meant I got to see Logan stop dead in her tracks walking up the driveway more often, her jaw dropping down about five inches at the mere sight of me hot, sweaty and shirtless, standing on a ladder hard at work.
I climbed down and reached for my shirt hanging over the porch, wiping the sweat off my brow before walking over to meet her, not bothering to pull it back over my head to cover up as I was enjoying the way she constantly tried to cover up checking me out by looking at her feet. "Fancy seeing you here," I smiled at her. "I thought you had work today . . ."
"I, uh . . . finished early and thought I'd drive by and see if you were home," she said, trying her best to avoid staring at my bare chest. "Which clearly you are . . . and a lot of you too, it would seem."
Ugh. She's Flirty Logan today, and I'm already shirtless. Fuck, yes!
"Nope. Same amount of me, as always. Just slightly more visible. You see, this is what you miss out on by trying to pretend you don't want me," I smirked at her, motioning down my torso and trying to speak quietly enough that Dad and Madden nearby, and Sadie sitting around the back reading, couldn't hear.
"Noted," she said, hiding her shy smile when she looked over at Dad and Madden as they pretended not to be listening. "Hi, Ruben. And hello to you too, cutie: the most handsome of all Foster men," she called out to Madden, who started blushing instantly and dropped the pencil he was holding.
"Hey now, Loges!" Dad played with her, smiling at Logan standing next to me. "I'm standing right here."
"Apologies. Equal most handsome Foster man alongside his father," she amended, glancing sideways at me and smirking as her eyes rolled across my glistening chest.
"Is Logan here?" yelled Sadie from around the back where she was sitting in her lounge chair reading . . . surprise, surprise.
"Yeah, Ma. She just got here," yelled out Madden, picking up the pencil he dropped before walking over to hug Logan.
"I'm going to go say hi to your mum," she said, with another full body, cocked eyebrow scan of my body, setting every inch of it on fire.
She didn't come back, and I heard their two feminine voices deep in conversation carrying around the side of the house as Dad and I shrugged at each other and got back to work, guessing that they weren't going to let up anytime soon.
We found them sitting side by side on the twin lounges out on the back deck, drinking iced coffee, laughing together and pouring over a stack of books. The whole scene looked so natural, and Dad obviously noticed it too, nudging me and throwing me a smile as he lent down to kiss Sadie before heading inside to shower.
Madden jumped into Sadie's lap and looked over to Logan, deep in reading the blurb of one of Sadie's books. "Are you a nerd like my mother?"
"I guess I am, if by nerd you mean appreciator of well-crafted words printed on paper," she smiled at him and put the book down beside her. Of course she was, because her perfection couldn't get any more uncanny, now could it?
"She even has an Austen tattoo, Jetty," said Sadie, beaming up at me around Madden in her lap. I never knew Dad and Sadie's opinions of tattoos, but even if it was negative—not that I imagine it would have been—there's no way Sadie could approve more of whatever this particular tattoo was. "A Persuasion tattoo," she added pointedly, barely able to contain her excitement.
I just smiled, appreciating how much Sadie must be enjoying this.
"Oh, damn! That's Mum's favourite," Madden said, holding out his hand to high-five Logan. "Jetty, that's Mum's favourite."
"I'm well aware, little bro," I said, looking at Logan. "Are you sticking around for a while? I was going to run inside and have a quick shower, but it can wait if you're going soon."
Any excuse to remain topless around her . . .
"I have no plans," she replied with a smile. I half-expected her to tell me that Sadie had roped her into watching the six-hour long BBC version of Pride and Prejudice given our recent discovery of Logan being an avid reader like her and her aunt Kendall, who I assume I have to thank for her love of classic literature and photography both, it would seem.
"I'll be right back then," I said, catching Sadie winking at me before I turned to walk back inside.
"The hot, sweaty, hard-at-work-doing-manual-labour version isn't so bad either, hey, Logan?" said Sadie just loud enough that I could hear as I opened the back door.
"Absolutely," Logan giggled.
- - -
"So, why aren't you studying for your exams?" I asked, sitting down next to Logan after my shower. I didn't think it right to attempt the shirtlessness again after I was clean and showered, so was wearing my footy shorts and a clean t-shirt. I didn't miss that she looked disappointed when I sat down beside her, passing her a drink I'd carried for her from inside.
"I can go if you want me to," she said, jokingly getting up to leave, though not really meaning to go anywhere. Still, I reached for her hand and held her there to keep her from moving any further away from me.
"I don't ever want you to go," I said honestly, rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand and watching her smile down at the gesture as she slowly lowered herself back in her seat.
"I can't open the drink with one hand, Jet," she said, waving the drink I'd brought her back and forth in the hand not still being held by me.
"So, you'll be thirsty."
"And die from dehydration?"
"You're so melodramatic."
"You're so irritating," she said, trying not to smile at her own blatant lie.
"You're so stunning," I said, not once breaking my gaze with her. She rolled her eyes at me, and tried to push my hand away. "No? What about remarkable? Breathtaking? Heavenly? 'A fucking dream'?"
She increased her efforts to get me to let her go, pinching the skin on the pad of my index finger as I held her hand. "I told you to never mention that again, Jet," she said as I rubbed my finger dramatically, trying to get rid of the pain. Her long nails actually meant it really did kind of hurt a little.
"And I told you no, because I love that you think I'm a fucking dream."
"I will get up and leave right now," she said, glaring at me as she opened the can of Sprite in her hand, the hiss of the aluminium piercing timed perfectly to accentuate her point.
"No, you won't. Sadie and Dad are already cooking dinner for you." She wouldn't dare leave now she knows they're already making the effort for her.
"Your perfect family always gets in the way of my attempts to defy you." She took a sip of the bubbly drink and put the can back on the table, reaching her hand back into mine again, finally succumbing to her own desires for once.
I laughed at the irony of what she said. "This family, maybe," I said, thinking of my other parents and brothers who I haven't heard from since our fight a month ago.
"Well, consider yourself lucky that you have at least one. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have even that." Logan hasn't really spoken much about her family, apart from her mother's apparent disapproval of her desire to follow Kendall into photography, and her father, Carson's older brother, not being around much considering he was an interstate truck driver. I get the impression things aren't so good for her at home, but she doesn't seem to want to talk about it. "Besides, this one puts everyone else's to shame."
It does. They're pretty great, and I never take it for granted that I have lucked out completely with Dad, Sadie and Madden, and everyone else that comes with them all. "They'd probably adopt you too if you hung around often enough. They like you enough already I'm surprised they haven't offered yet."
"That could make things a little awkward."
"Why is that, Logan?" I teased. She's still persisting in her 'we're not dating' stance, and I love any opportunity to bring it up.
But in true Logan fashion, she wasn't having a bar of it. "I can't imagine anything more torturous than being related to you for the rest of time."
"It's only torturous because you voluntarily deny yourself of me, which is clearly going against your true desires," I joked, loving the way her cute nose scrunches up every time I say things like this.
"Well, I was planning on asking you on a date after my exams are over in a few weeks; but, seeing as you apparently know so much about me and my inner desires, and feel it necessary to consistently make fun of me for it, maybe I'll be changing my mind."
She was watching me carefully as she spoke, awaiting my reaction, and I don't think the one I gave her was what she anticipated. I should have been overjoyed, finally hearing her willingness to go out on a date with me, but she basically just took away my chance to ask her myself and to hear her say yes, which I have been waiting for ever since I met her. It kind of annoyed me.
Logan laughed. "Why do you look pissed? I thought you'd be happy . . ."
"That you're stealing my chance to finally ask you out myself after all this time?"
"Well, if you're expecting that there will be only one opportunity to go out with me, it kind of makes my proposal for a date redundant, now doesn't it? I'll just cancel my plans right now then."
I wasn't actually annoyed. My insides were flipping over and over, like Saturday morning pancakes in the frying pan, considering she must be kind of willing to give something a go with me finally if she's talking about a date. I just wanted to be the one to ask her. But I'm guessing that with Logan I'm going to have to get used to everything being the opposite of what I've come to expect from relationships.
"Please don't," I pleaded, pulling her hand to my lips and pressing them gently onto her delicate fingertips, causing her to stop laughing, joking, smiling and even breathing. "Don't cancel anything. Yes. Whatever they are and whatever you want to do, yes. I'll go out on a date with you."
She stared at me for a while before bursting out in laughter. "I feel so bad . . ." she grimaced dramatically. "I wasn't actually going to ask you out. I was only joking . . ."
Ohmygod. She's just toying with me now, that fucking tease.
She just laughed harder. "You should see your face right now. It looks like I imagine it would if I just stole your footy, pretty pink surfboard and wildest dreams away from you all at once, locking them up and throwing away the key."
"Don't you even think about laying a hand on my magenta princess, Logan. She's the love of my life," I joked, donning my most harsh glare possible in jest. Logan now made it difficult to keep my face that angry for too long, though.
"I always liked a bit of healthy competition," she smirked at me, screwing up her nose again and making the inner chambers of my heart shut down entirely like only she can.
"You'd win, too. It barely counts as competition."