All of Me - Leeanna Morgan (the snowy day read aloud .TXT) 📗
- Author: Leeanna Morgan
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Book online «All of Me - Leeanna Morgan (the snowy day read aloud .TXT) 📗». Author Leeanna Morgan
The big man who hardly smiled at anyone was putting candy into little tulle circles. It seemed about as foreign as Dylan playing nanny to an eight-year-old boy.
“You about ready to head across to the café?” Logan asked him.
Dylan ate a candy and winked at Connie’s sisters. “I’m all yours.”
Logan didn’t wait for his friend to follow him down the stairs. Dylan was already getting into the wedding spirit. Logan was still waiting for cupid to appear.
Flirty talk wasn’t on the wedding list Tess had given him. It wasn’t on the spreadsheet she’d opened on her laptop. And even if cupid sharpened his arrow, Logan doubted Tess would ever want to hear flirty talk coming out of his mouth.
“You didn’t tell me Tess was such a babe.” Dylan left the wedding cake on the floor in the front of Logan’s truck. They’d debated where to put it before settling on the safest place they could think of.
“You didn’t ask.”
“A six-foot blond goddess deserves a mention or two. Or were you worried a more worthy man might whisk her out from under your nose?” Dylan took one of the takeout coffees Logan was holding. He opened the door to the back of the truck and slid into the seat.
Logan stood on the sidewalk and stared at him through the open window. “Does this mean you’re coming with me to the hospital?”
Dylan slicked back his hair and grinned. “I’m coming to the wedding, too. Kristine invited me.”
“You do realize why the wedding’s tonight?”
“Yeah, I know.” The smile fell off Dylan’s face. “It mustn’t be easy for them.”
“At least we can help make it something special.” Logan walked to the driver’s side of the cab and started the truck. Dylan didn’t say anything more until they were heading toward the hospital.
“So tell me about Tess. I take it she’s single? It goes without saying that she’s drop dead gorgeous. Does she have a sister?”
“Do you have anything on your mind except women?”
“It keeps me from thinking about anything else.”
The truth in Dylan’s words made Logan’s foot slip off the accelerator. The truck lurched forward.
“Is the cake okay?”
“I hope so or one of us will be in trouble.” For a second, Logan imagined all of the frosting splattered across the inside of the box. Tess and Annie would kill him. He glanced down at the cake. It was sitting at an odd angle on the floor. He couldn’t remember what it had looked like before his accelerator slip.
Dylan leaned forward. “And we both know who’ll be in trouble the most.”
Logan looked over his shoulder. Dylan looked smug in the knowledge that it wouldn’t be his head on the chopping block.
Dylan cleared his throat. “So, getting back to Tess. How long have you known her?”
“About a year.”
“You’ve known her a year and haven’t said anything?”
Logan thought he’d better set Dylan straight on where his relationship with Tess sat. A big, fat nowhere was where. “She’s not my girlfriend. She hates reporters, although I think she’s getting used to me. She likes Chinese takeout, but feels guilty eating it when she’s such a good cook. She’s done some modeling, owns Angel Wings café and lived with her grandparents for a few years.”
“You got her shoes size and dental records in there somewhere?”
“At least I pay attention to the important things.”
Dylan laughed. “And Chinese takeout is so important.”
“Don’t laugh too hard, you’ll give yourself a hernia.”
“It’s just as well we’re turning into the hospital parking lot.”
Logan wasn’t going to attempt to divert Dylan’s attention away from where his brain had taken him. At least he could joke about Logan’s miserable attempt to get to know Tess better. Neither of them had dated in so long that it felt good to laugh about something that involved a woman.
“Does Connie’s mom know we’re leaving the cake with her?” Dylan asked.
“I hope so.” He knew Tess had Connie’s cell phone number. Whether she’d thought to let Connie know they were on their way was another story. “I’ll give Tess a call.”
Dylan jumped out of the truck as soon as Logan found a parking space. “Don’t worry. We’ll go to Connie’s mom’s hospital room. If something has happened, or it’s not going to work, we’ll revert to plan B.”
“Plan B?”
Dylan looked at Logan as though the answer was as plain as the nose on his face. “Hide the cake under a table.”
“I can see why you work in security.” He watched Dylan carefully lift the cake box out of the truck. “Whatever you do, don’t drop it.”
“You wouldn’t be trying to jinx me, would you?”
Logan locked the truck and followed Dylan across the parking lot. The last thing Connie and her family needed was more bad luck. So he walked beside his friend, opened the doors and navigated around anything that could make Dylan drop the box.
“Are you sure you know what room Connie’s mom is in?” Dylan stopped beside a nurses’ station and looked at the rooms around them.
“Room thirty-five.”
“It doesn’t look as though this ward goes up to room thirty-five. Don’t move from beside the box.” Dylan left the cake on the counter and walked toward a nurse coming out of a room. “Excuse me. Do you know where room thirty-five is?”
The nurse looked at Dylan, then across at Logan. “Who are you looking for?”
Logan hoped Connie’s mom had the same last name as her, otherwise he’d be making a quick call to Tess. “Mrs. Thompson. She’s in the palliative care unit.”
“You’re in the wrong building. You need to go to the Cancer Center. If you turn right at the end of this ward and follow the blue lines, you’ll end up in a big courtyard. The Cancer Center will be straight ahead of you. Have a good day.” The nurse smiled and went into the next room.
Logan looked at the box sitting on the counter. “I hope the frosting hasn’t melted.”
“At least I haven’t tripped on anything,” Dylan muttered. “Let’s get going in case we get lost again.”
They followed the blue line out of the building. Logan opened the doors into the courtyard and stared at the glass entrance to the Cancer Center. “How did we miss it?”
“We came in the wrong entrance. If we’d parked on this side of the hospital, it would have been right in front of us.”
Logan had traveled through more countries than he could remember. He’d navigated through almost every major airport in the world. He’d never gotten lost. Until he came to Bozeman. There had to be a lesson in there somewhere.
“What are you thinking about?” Dylan asked.
“I’m thinking about the reason I came here.”
“To the hospital?”
Logan shook his head. “To Bozeman. I felt like I was drowning in Seattle. I couldn’t breathe. Everything was too close, too noisy. I was like a frightened jackrabbit.”
“How’s it working out here?”
“I don’t jump as much. If I could get a decent night’s sleep, I’d be the happiest person alive.” Logan looked down at the box in Dylan’s hands. “We’d better get the cake inside. Do you want me to carry it?”
“Not with those puny muscles attached to your arms.” Dylan walked through the automatic doors leading into the Cancer Center.
Logan flexed his arm muscles, pleased to see bulging biceps under his T-shirt. “I don’t have time to work out in the gym for two hours every day.”
“It’s all about priorities.” Dylan grinned. “My next priority is finding a girlfriend.”
A nurse walked past them and glanced at Dylan.
Dylan nodded. “Ma’am.”
Logan could imagine him tipping his cowboy hat if he’d been wearing one. He waited until the nurse left the corridor before continuing their crazy conversation. “You don’t like anyone touching you.”
“I’m working on that, too.”
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