Spinsters, Spite and Scotch
At first, after the phone call Logan had had an incredible sense of relief. He had felt that he said everything that had been unsaid. He felt that he would be able to heal and move on. But he started replaying the conversation over and over in his head. He kept hearing her crying, and every tear that he imagined running down her face eroded away any sense of relief that he had been feeling. Rory had sound so heart broken over the phone. Logan had convinced himself that Rory didn't love him and that's why she had said no. But for someone who didn't love him, the tears he heard her cry sounded so lost, lost about him, about them.
He kept asking himself how he was able to walk away so easily. No it hadn't been easy, he reasoned to himself. It had hurt like hell, but he figured that Rory saying no meant that she didn't love him. After listening to her crying last night maybe he was wrong. Logan felt his self righteous surety slipping away even further. He ignored that nagging feeling that he had in the pit of his stomach. Logan started to think about calling her, not to reconcile, but to make sure that she would be okay. He had spent three years with her. It was only natural that he would want to make sure that she would be okay. Three years of feelings just don't go away. But if he called her what would he say? He'd said it all last night. He still meant everything that he said. He didn't want to move backwards and a long distance relationship was just that, moving backwards.
Then it occurred to Logan that there had been two unexpected phone calls last night. Before he even knew what he was doing he had picked up his phone and dialed a number that he hadn't willingly called since, well, ever.
"Logan I didn't expect to hear from you so soon." Mitchum Huntzberger couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice.
"Why did you call last night?" Logan skipped all pleasantries with his father. He was not in the mood for faking.
"Logan this may shock you but I was concerned. I spoke with Rory at a function last night. She informed me that the two of you had broken up."
"So you're telling me, that after 25 years of shear indifference towards me, that you are now deciding to show an interest in me and my life?"
"Logan, you're my son. I've only ever wanted what's best for you."
"No dad you've only ever wanted what's best for the family image. Not what's best for me."
"You know you're the second person to say almost the exact same thing to me in less than twenty four hours."
"Well at least someone had the balls to tell you the truth at least once."
"Well she certainly developed a set of balls particularly when it came to you. Rory made it perfectly clear on several occasions that she disapproved of my interactions with you." Logan paused, She? Rory?
"Logan, what really happened between you and Rory?"
"Why do you care? You never even liked her." Logan winced at how weak his voice sounded, he rested his head in his hand.
Mitchum drew a deep breath. "That's not true Logan, that was you mother and grandfather speaking. I'll admit that at first I didn't see anything special, but she has surprised me on more than one occasion. The biggest surprise was the changes that happened to you while you were with her. We all saw the changes in you, you mother and grandfather included. Logan, what happened?"
Logan wasn't even sure why he was answering. It's not like his father had earned the right to hear the answer. "I asked her to marry me, she said no. We broke up."
"Why did you break up?"
"Jesus Dad! Weren't you listening? She said no! She said she wasn't ready, that she didn't love me. So it ended, it's over."
Mitchum could smell a lie in that. They way Logan rushed to say it meant there was a lie. "Did she really say that she didn't love you?"
"Not in those exact words. But if she felt the same as me then she would have said yes. The fact that she said no means she doesn't love me." So there was the lie, Rory never said that she didn't love his son. That what his son had heard.
"Logan that's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard you say. And you've said some pretty stupid things over the years. You're smart when you apply yourself, but then you go and make an idiotic assumption like that. Please enlighten me, what fact was that statement based on?" Logan was silent on his end of the phone. He didn't know how to answer his father. Mitchum let the silence go for a few moments longer.
"Logan, if there's one thing I've learnt in life and business is that when there is this much passion involved in any failed deal that it's not over. That there's still room to negotiate, you just have to give the deal time."
"Dad I was asking her to marry me. Not to merge companies" Logan held the glass of scotch that he'd been nursing since the call from Rory. It had been over an hour since that phone call.
"It's that same thing. You presented a deal wasn't ready to be presented. You made it look like a hostile take over." Mitchum changed his tone, business speak didn't always work with his son. "The buyer wasn't ready. She wasn't ready. You pushed her, didn't get what you wanted, so you walked away. Just like you always do. If something doesn't go your way you walk away."
"Why do you even care?" Logan took a deep drink from his glass finally finishing it.
"Logan one of the greatest lessons I've learnt in life was working out when to walk away. It took me a long time to work out when to walk and when to fight. I think if you keep walking away that you will regret it."
"So what you think that I'm going to die a spinster in my mansion surrounded by cats."
"No worse. I think that you will settle. And you will resent the fact that you settled for the rest of you life and take it out on the people around you."
"Gee Dad, this has all been swell advice coming from a man who has been playing around behind Mom's back for years. So does that mean that you settled with Mom? Tell me Dad, how many women have you slept with since marrying Mom? Fifty. Sixty? Is the fact that you settled justification for cheating on her?"
"We are not having this discussion."
"Then shut the hell up about my life."
"You always amaze me, just when I think that your growing up to you turn around and take two steps back. It's almost like you do it out of spite. The only thing I can't work out this time is who your spite is aimed at. Normally it aimed at me or your mother. But this time you only seem to be hurting yourself and Rory."
Logan for the second time in two days hung up on his dad.
Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated. I've been busy, but today I was home sick with tonsillitis, I've got heaps of writing done. I'll update as the chapters are finished.