Page 76 of Living at 40

“I still think we should do it if we can get pansy-ass on board.” Mason’s voice carries as I approach.

“Leave him alone,” Ben defends.

“We can’t do this without him,” Mason whines, and I’m wondering what’s going on.

“What’s up?” I ask, announcing myself. Logan shifts in his seat as his back was to me when I hit the sand. Slowly, he smiles as he looks at me over his shoulder, and then he stands. I want to step up to him, sink into his chest, and hold him, but I scan the beach for Lorna.

“Hey,” he whispers, reaching out to rub his hand up my back before tugging me by the back of the neck to him for a quick hug.

“Where’s Lorna?” I ask, keeping my voice low like we’re sharing a secret.

“She’s down the beach with Mila. Come. Sit.” Logan steps back like it was totally normal to hug me before his friends, and I glance up to find my brother staring at me.

“Is this official?” Ben points back and forth between us, not mincing words.

“It’s official,” Logan says, reaching over for my hand as we sit in beach chairs next to one another. Lifting my hand for his lips, he kisses my knuckles. “But new, so don’t be a dick.”

I chuckle at Logan’s scolding of my brother.

“The only one being a dick is you,” Mason mumbles.

“Mason, leave it,” Zack mutters behind dark sunglasses and a ball cap on his head.

“What’s going on?” I ask, glancing around the circle of men before focusing on Logan.

“It’s nothing,” he says, looking away from me a second, but Mason interjects. “If it’s official, you shouldn’t keep secrets from her.”

I don’t care for his tone or his meddlesome suggestion. He’s stirring up trouble, and he knows it because now I know Logan isn’t telling me something, and I can’t simply ignore that.

“Tell me,” I teasingly whine.

“Mason has this idea that we should work together,” Logan explains, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

“Really?” Excitement flows in both my response and my immediate thoughts. Does this mean Logan would move closer to Lakeside?

“When we were in college, Mason had this idea—” Ben begins.

“We had an idea,” Mason interjects, correcting Ben’s explanation.

“We had an idea to go into business together. We’d be a full-service construction company complete with landscape design. Zack would handle legal for us.”

I scan the group again. “Wow. That sounds amazing. What happened?”

“Logan won’t commit.”

“It’s not that easy,” Logan defends.

“Because you need to live here?” I wonder.

“Among other things,” he replies, lowering his voice and avoiding my eyes. Sitting forward, he releases my fingers to balance his elbows on his thighs. “Mason thinks it’d be easy to just leave my job with benefits and dive into this project that involves a four-way investment from each of us.”

I sympathize if Logan doesn’t have the money. I didn’t have the funds for Crossroads Café until my father passed and left me a little nest egg he’d been saving for me.

“I could front your portion,” Zack says, and Logan sighs. I’m sensing this has already been a part of their discussion.

“Do we really need to keep rehashing this? I have Lorna to consider. Life is . . . complicated. I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.” Logan stands and saunters toward Lorna, who is returning to this portion of the beach with Mila and Bryce.

Glancing at Ben, my brother shrugs, brushing off the awkwardness that remains.