Chapter 47
Rory's gaze focused, observing her surroundings - scouting the place, as if going on a mission. Well, in a way she was. She carefully slipped off her flip-flops, not the plastic kind - but still, not wanting her walk to make their familiar flip-flop sound as she walked.
Suddenly her whole body stuffened, seeing her object wiggle his nose, possibly to ward off a fly.
After a few lungfuls of air, standing perfectly still, not to raise suspicion, she dared to move her foot again. Forgoing those flip-flops had definitely been a mistake - Rory thought, feeling the sharp pine needles and pine cone rubble underneath her foot.
Rory bit her lip and kept going, crouching down enough to reach her hand out and get a hold of her secret weapon - the Kulariworld 2000C. Yeah, Rory knew things like that, being in the ear-shot of not one but four teenagers, especially two teenage boys for the majority of the summer, having done that to her.
Rory took a few more steps, and quickly took cover behind a pine tree. She could've belonged in a spy movie, if she'd had more grace to her movement. She could swear she'd seen him move his finger, the tiny twitch having caused her reaction. She couldn't risk being seen. This was revenge, after all.
With her shoulders crunched, she made a dash towards the target, mumbling - "Ouch-Ouch-ouch," at the sensitiveness of her soles.
She was very close, when she realized she hadn't really thought things through. Was she going to let out a war-scream of some sort? Cause him to tip off the hammock? Or simply soak the Diaz novel he had been reading, now resting face down on his stomach?
Logan's struggle to hold back his laughter betrayed him, giving Rory no time to think.
Ready! Aim! Fire! - Rory thought to herself.
It was only then she realized she'd failed to check whether her weapon was even loaded.
But thankfully, it wasn't completely empty - a generous spray of water hit Logan on the chest, causing him to yelp in the most masculine way one could possibly yelp.
That shifted his balance, however, significantly enough, the exact moment of surprise having caught him off guard, and after attempting to regain the balance Logan landed on the ground, hitting his hip against the pine root.
"Son of a…," Logan cursed, more so at the root than at Rory.
Rory realized her water gun had become empty, leaving her unarmed.
"You okay, there?" Rory asked, struggling to stop laughing.
"Ah, yeah," Logan hissed, accepting Rory's hand to raise up.
"You did deserve that," Rory said, helping him up, and picking up his book at the same time.
Mostly it had become so that Logan's yard was the kid's playground, as much as teenagers 'played' anything, with music playing more often than not, and a continuous stream of visitors, their friends, seemed to accompany them most days. Hence, Logan often opted to hang out in Rory's, instead, the hammock being one of his favorite spots. So much, that that afternoon, he'd actually taken a nap in there, feeling like he was truly embracing retirement already in his middle-age years.
"Oh, did I?" Logan teased.
At that, Rory attempted to fire again, more so wanting Logan to fear her once again, but the gun only let out a tiny spurt of water.
"Fine, fine, I deserved it!" Logan admitted, having earlier that day caught Rory with the same gun right on the chest and joked about her wet t-shirt, after finishing a tournament with his sons. It was becoming painfully evident to him that all those years he could've spent playing water wars with them, he'd missed, and now they were nearly past it already. But so far, boys are still being boys, especially on a hot day like this one.
"Say you're sorry," Rory demanded.
"I'm…," Logan hummed, inching closer to her, hoping to distract her and avoid saying that. He really didn't regret getting her wet earlier, the sight having been so worth it in his opinion.
"A-ah-ah," Rory scolded him as he was an inch away from her neck.
"Fine, I'm sorry…," Logan said. "Not sorry," he laughed, and pretended to run away from her, hoping she'd amuse him to go along with this childish game of chase. He was definitely aiming to enjoy every last minute of their time together.
It was then Rory realized that Logan had also dropped his phone as he fell, having nearly stepped on it.
"Oh, wait… I think it's ringing," Rory said, picking it up. She noted the name 'Bobbie', and handed the phone over to Logan, indicating that they'd stopped playing by the change in her tone of voice.
"Ah," Logan exhaled, sounding like he wasn't eager to pick up.
"Work?" Rory inquired, curiously.
"Ah, yeah… kind of. She's called a few times and I've been postponing dealing with this," Logan admitted, surprising Rory about the gender of the caller. But since this was about work - Rory really didn't think much of it.
"Sounds like it might be important if she's that persistent," Rory said, heading off back towards the house, aiming to make a cup of coffee and put the water gun away, not liking toys laying around her yard much.
Logan mumbled something along the lines of - "I guess so". It was worse than just a few calls, there were also e-mails from a number of people Logan had successfully avoided for several weeks. He'd barely even wanted to look at his phone, but mostly the avoiding was easily done by turning off new e-mail notifications.
Rory watched from the kitchen, feeling actually kind of proud of Logan, that he had indeed picked up. It seemed like the responsible thing to do. Yet, this too, made Rory a little apprehensive, not knowing how challenging it truly was for Logan to not get sucked back into his work that he'd left behind in London.
They had generally avoided talking about work, neither wanting to ruin their summers by those topics. But Rory knew the gist and what she'd Googeled the first few weeks when they'd met. It was a big deal that he'd left behind - a big job, a title, a legacy, he'd been the self-made King of UK media business. And while he had no doubt achieved a lot in his years, largely on the expense of his family life, Rory just couldn't believe he'd be willing to give all of that up. She wasn't sure she, had she been so lucky and talented to ever be in his position, that she would've. Hence, she wouldn't have blamed him, if he did want to return to it at some point, and regardless of his words, she hadn't quite ruled out the possibility that he might. She was forgiving and understanding of these things, being able to imagine herself in his shoes. Part of it was a hint of low self-esteem, too, but that she didn't quite admit.
By the time Logan joined her inside, Rory had made both of them a cup of steaming coffee, filling the space with a delicious aroma.
"Anything serious?" Rory inquired, wanting to be supportive.
"I'm not sure serious is the right word," Logan commented.
"Well, what is then?" Rory encouraged, observing the odd look on Logan's face.
"Um, well… I don't want to bore you with that stuff," Logan began, not being used to any of the women in his life ever caring about what went on in his business.
"You wouldn't be boring me," Rory said, taking a sip of coffee.
"They want to give me some award," Logan replied, with a soft chortle, finding it a little ridiculous after several months of radio silence with anything resembling his company.
"Oh! Really? Wow, congrats! What's the award? Or what is it for?" Rory inquired, excitedly, thinking a lot more of this compared to Logan.
"The King's Award for Enterprise," Logan replied.
"Wow? Like THE King?" Rory reflected, the fact sounding a little unbelievable to her.
"Yeah, the King," Logan replied, less excitedly. Nevertheless he found it entertaining how she considered the Royal family fascinating. Logan went on to explain broadly about what they gave the award out for and how he really hadn't realized he'd even been eligible for something like that, not feeling like he'd deserved it. He almost felt like it must've taken his PR team some serious lobby work to get him that award - maybe it was even an attempt to lure him back to London. Were they really that desperate at the company? He doubted that, but who knew!
Apparently, there was going to be a big ceremony in November, and Bobbie had been inquiring whether he was intending on coming. Logan had even joked about Rory getting an opportunity to see the King too, as his plus one, if he felt like going. It was a big deal - technically - it involved the King's reception at the Palace, but to Logan, somehow it didn't seem 'big' at all, his priorities having shifted considerably by now. It felt like a completely different universe, one that he was glad to leave behind.
After an evening watching a movie and having dinner, Rory and Logan had gone to bed, cuddled a bit and talked, but eventually Rory had fallen asleep on his chest. Logan loved feeling her weight on him, and not just during sex. And even now he would spend several minutes just watching her sleep, thinking his thoughts - both those including her and others - before he tried to move her to a position where her neck wouldn't be sore in the morning.
This evening, however, it wasn't just about turning a side or getting comfortable and falling asleep himself. It was not about Rory's bed being somehow less comfortable than his was, which technically also had a little truth to it if he thought critically, but rather about the fact that he'd napped during the day, leaving him wide awake still at midnight. There was no way he was going to fall asleep just yet.
Logan made his way quietly downstairs, and grabbed the book he'd been reading earlier, ignoring the few damp page corners, and switched on the floor lamp in the living room.
A few pages in, however, his mind just kept wandering onto other things. His company - mostly. And he hated it. For a second, he considered heading back to his house, maybe taking out his computer and doing something else there - such as shop, read parenting blogs that he'd been studying religiously, plan something to do tomorrow, look up some great recipes, or maybe even bake bread for the next morning.
But it was then he noticed it. Rory's laptop was sitting right there on the coffee table in front of him. It hadn't even closed properly, and he could hear it whizzing. It sometimes did that, and despite Logan having told Rory to get a new one or have this one fixed, thinking it must've been some malfunction, Rory hadn't cared, saying as long as she had her files backed up, she would be fine with this one.
He knew her password too, having used her computer a few times for various causal purposes.
There was at least one thing on that computer that Logan was dying to read, knowing it'd pique his interest enough in this minute. He was desperate to read her work. He realized, picking up the laptop, that that laptop held also a number of other things he'd been dying to learn about. Like that secret Tucker had on Rory, but not just that - Logan was quite eager to find some dirt on Tucker as well, if he were to be honest.
But he was not unaware of the dilemma he was faced with. Still, in this moment, the curiosity in him won, aiming to stick to just the manuscript, wanting to see Rory's genius in action. There was no way, this book wasn't going to be great, knowing how she could twist her words and accent her banter with clever nuances and references. What was the harm in that, really?
AN: This chapter has not yet been edited, will come back to it if I/you find something major. I am impatient by nature. Also - tell me - what do you think? Eager to read your comments.