Chapter 2

After he'd gotten back from lunch and settled in, Logan had thrown off his clothes, feeling like he needed a shower. It wasn't so much that he was filthy or that he stank. Mostly he just needed a minute, a little break from all the kids. Two adults were no match to five children, even if two of the children were technically almost adults. In Germany both of his sons could legally buy wine from the corner shop and as of three weeks ago, Theo, his second-born, had a valid driver's license, at least in the UK.

He just wasn't used to spending so much time with them. He was supposed to feel guilty about that, wasn't he? In a way he did, but at the same time he knew that not all of it had been his fault.

Thinking about how quickly his kids were growing up made him feel old, truthfully, even if the guy who stared back at him from the mirror wasn't in bad shape. But supposedly one saw oneself change a lot less drastically with time compared to others did who didn't stare back at the same face every single day. His body naturally showed signs of age and damage - one too many sleepless nights, work stress, a few scars from minor operations he'd had along the way and some from his more reckless youth, some totally seeming worth the pain now, thinking back.

He stepped into the shower and tried to figure out how the faucet worked. It wasn't what he was used to, and while this place had been renovated at the very least ten-something years ago, some of the interior design decisions in this place were quaint, to put it mildly. Naturally he managed - he'd traveled the world and stayed in a variety of conditions during his years, but as an unwelcome consequence he got a gush of cold water from the wrong showerhead, having not anticipated it from that angle. His nervous system got a sudden jolt, shocking him thoroughly, but he didn't let out a single yelp, knowing his teenage sons would tease him mercilessly if he had. But mostly he just chuckled to himself, having assumed many things about this place on autopilot.

Logan felt had been acting on autopilot for the past few years in a lot of aspects of his life. And this place, the oceanfront Shingle-style property that was the perfect hideaway, was without a doubt refreshing, just as the cool shower he was taking, which was making him momentarily unsure if the warm water would ever reach the showerhead. But at this moment it wasn't horrible. It was cooling. And he realized that maybe putting himself out of his comfort zone was exactly what he needed.

He took a deep breath and let the cool, but thankfully slowly warming water wash over him, and cleanse his body from sweat and dirt. The water was cleansing in a lot of ways - as it was the first time since he'd arrived that morning that he'd begun to understand that he actually had arrived and didn't have to think about the mess that he'd left behind for quite some time.

Through the bathroom window, that was slightly ajar, Logan could hear his sons heading out to ride their mountain bikes, Liam asking Theo to fetch his helmet from the porch for him. He was glad the two of them had each-other, having a lot in common, to get them through the changes they were soon about to have to get used to. What worried him a lot more was his daughter Eléa. She was different from the guys - the quiet kind, that tended to bottle up everything inside. Honestly, he didn't even understand half of her inner world and hadn't truly had a discussion with her on matters beyond the practicalities in years. That was probably his fault as much as her mother's. In that sense he felt like he was tiptoeing around his family, when it should've come naturally. The boys were more easily win over by giving them privileges for fun and games, getting to be the cool dad. But he knew little about what made girls tick. He was a big fish in a much smaller, but much different, pond that he was used to, and he feared his confidence would be easily shattered.

After showering, he dried himself up, casually, not bothering with the whole routine he might've done each morning back home. Instead, he simply pulled on a clean shirt and some pants, and walked barefoot out the porch door that was the perk of him staying in the guest room. His hair was still damp and the ocean breeze felt cool against his skin.

Walking down the porch stairs to the back yard, Logan could only vaguely remember his father taking him out on the bay in that vintage 1966 Century Resorter that had stood waiting at the dock, a couple of times. Mostly he just remembered the two different nannies they'd had taking care of him and his sister back in the day, and the golden retriever that they'd had for one summer. He never found out for sure what had happened to that puppy. He wasn't sure whether the fact that this place came with those ancient memories was a good or a bad thing.

The water looked inviting though, and he remembered jumping off that same dock with his buddies. Honestly - if he hadn't just freshly showered, he might've considered trying that now. It was that kind of rebelliousness that boiled inside of him – a need to feel young again. But sensibility won him over. Besides - it was not like he wanted to set a bad example to the younger children who were currently kicking a soccer ball around.

Logan went around the building, reminding herself of this place. It was good to understand one's surroundings - the things they had or lacked. He was very much used to being the provider of fun, getting his kids the toys or entertainment, they desired, and that was a little hard to shake. But honestly, this place seemed to have it all already, leaving him feeling a little useless. Now it was just about getting his kids to want to do things with him.

A couple of squirrels were chasing each-other on the pine trees and that provided him with another type of show for a couple of minutes.

"Veronica, Oliver - you see those two?" Logan noted to the kids, who were kicking a ball around, gesturing towards the squirrels.

"Oh, wow," the two kids exclaimed, almost in perfect unison, and came to explore.

Logan continued to observe his surroundings casually, when suddenly the sound of the porch door of the neighboring house slamming shut, its glasses shaking a little, alerted him. He hadn't realized anyone was presently living there.

He might've expected a sight of someone coming out to the porch to set the table for a nice dinner, come and lay down on one of the lounge chairs with a book or kids playing around, but what he witnessed was a much more serious-looking feminine form, wearing leggings and a gray wrap sweater, hurrying her step, and placing a huge coffee mug and a lapful of other items onto the porch table. The clothing in itself seemed to be overdoing it a bit in this weather. The woman began to lift chairs off the table, getting her surroundings ready. If anything, she looked like she was getting ready to dive into work. That alone was very odd considering most people in this neighborhood spent their holidays here.

He tried not to stare and watched the kids try to lure one of the squirrels over with an old pinecone. But his attention drifted soon again, noting briefly instead how the brunette in question had taken a seat and stared at her laptop screen intently. She looked so determined, so focused, it was almost a little comical - like she was cramming for finals at the library or something. She looked way too serious in Logan's opinion, and had he been 20-something years younger and at college, he might've actually teased her with some anti-feminist line along the lines of "you should smile more…", but the was no longer that guy and was a lot more careful about what he let fall over his lips.

"You know, you don't really want to start feeding them anything. In London, the squirrels at Regent's Park get kind of obnoxious sometimes when people do that. Start to steal people's food," Logan pointed out, seeing one of the kids try another bait for luring them closer. He knew this much about raising his own kids to know that a simple 'no' hardly ever sufficed. But he really didn't want to hear a scolding later about letting the kids get bitten by a squirrel on his watch.

"I'll give them my food. I don't mind," Veronica said generously, her curly head of hair bouncing around as she moved.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't want them stealing your ice cream now, would you?" Logan shot back in a chuckle and gave the little girl a quick wink.

As the next move, Oliver threw the soccer ball he'd been playing before against the same tree, causing Veronica, who was slightly more emphatic, to loudly object.

"Hey! You're going to hit them!" Veronica scolded the boy.

"Yeah, that's not nice," Logan agreed more quietly. "You should try to play over there, so the ball doesn't end up in the water," he added, hoping to shift their attention elsewhere.

Thankfully, Logan still had some authority with the boy who kind of looked up to him even if he didn't really know why. The two listened and continued kicking around their ball by the porch. It was a little dangerous there too, the windows being under high risk to be hit, but all things considered it seemed like a minor problem.

Logan walked down the path of decorative bushes and roses, that had been surprisingly well taken care of during his absence, and followed the path down to the dock to check what else they had there, having heard someone mention something about the presence of kayaks, wanting to check them out. But at this moment he was unable to find them. Surely, they were just tucked away in the garage or something. But the dock provided the best view of the whole property it seemed – a view of the Casco Bay and Calendar Islands. When he turned around, he could see the house in all its glory as well as the neighboring properties.

There was again some argument between the kids up by the porch, and Logan's eyes were drawn to observe the neighbor's reaction to the loud sounds. He could definitely see her react, frown, in fact, and shrug it off and focus again back to whatever she was writing. She looked a little annoyed at the commotion. Being generally a good people person, he was beginning to think that maybe a blanket apology was in order, knowing the kids tended to be anything but quiet.

But the woman didn't seem particularly welcoming to some over the fence neighborly interaction, hence he held back for the time being, hoping to find her at a moment that she was more approachable.

AN: Just a small chapter today to get them both started off. More interactions coming soon. I hope you got a brief glimpse of his circumstances, even if maybe I held off on some detailed explanations. I just want some things to be answered through interactions instead of the narrator.