Chapter 296

Chapter 17

Megan

I cannot believe I turned up late to meet Logan. I bet he thinks I’m late on purpose. I’m not.

On Saturday, I took Ella shopping to see if I could get her a few things in the sale. We‘d seen a really nice winter coat, but they didn’t have her size. They told me the other store had it and would reserve it for me until the end of the day today. I went to pick it up, and the sales assistant couldn’t find it, it turns out she’d sold it. So she wasted my time for nothing.

“Why were you late?” Logan asks. He’s wearing a navy suit and a white shirt. The top two buttons open, showing his golden tan. I watch him nervously pull on his jacket sleeves. Maybe he thought I wouldn’t come at all.

“Some sales assistant. I’d seen a nice winter coat in the sale for Ella on Saturday and, I was told the other store had it, so I had to make my way across the city to the other store, and the sales assistant had sold the one I reserved, she spent forever looking for it. I think she was too scared to tell me she’d sold it,” I explain.

“You’re looking for a winter coat in spring?” he asks.

“Well, they’re on sale now, all the summer clothes she has now, I bought at the end of the summer sale,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. “I’ll probably just get her one later on when I get her school uniform.”

“Is she in school now?”

“Yeah, she’s not happy about it though, I had to force her to go to school today,”

“What kid is happy about going to school?” he asks.

“She usually can’t wait to go to school. She loves it. When I told her that she wasn’t going to be in her usual class, she seemed to calm down,”

“What do you mean? Isn’t she in kindergarten?”

“No, she’s in Grade 1, but they’re going to see how she gets on in 3rd Grade,” I explain, and he frowns. “She’s smart. She’s already reading at a 3rd-grade level, and she’s unbelievably quick at mathematics. She just gets things as soon as you show her,” I add.

“So she’s a mini-me?” he asks.

“I think she’s probably smarter,” I tease.

“It must be difficult?” he says as he rubs the stubble on his jaw.

“No, I’m trying to do what’s best for her, but I’m not sure if I’m hindering her growth if that makes sense. I’m not too convinced about her going into the 3rd grade, she’s too young, and it just doesn’t sit right with me. Her school said she would be best with homeschooling or private schooling,” I explain.

“I see,” he says quietly.

“So, how come David and Lorraine are here?” I ask and glance behind him to give them a wave. Lorraine smiles and waves back at me. “Are they your backup?”

“They’re here so that if I start to make an arse of myself, they can just drag me out away from you,” he says, making me chuckle a little.

“I think you have some control over that part of your personality,” I tease.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you, I’m 30yrs old, and I’m an arsehole most of the time,” he pauses. “I am sorry for everything I said to you,”

“It’s fine, it’s in the past, today is a new day. We will act as if the last week hasn’t happened,” I say to him and take a drink of my smoothie.

For Ella’s sake, I’ve chosen to forgive and forget about what was said and done. Keeping a grudge and being angry at him would only hinder his possible relationship with Ella. I don’t want that. It was a mistake on his part. If Logan were to do it again, then I’d probably be less forgiving.

“Megan,” I hear someone say. I look away from Logan to see Daniel. My eyes widen; I’m sure he told me he would see his family in California. I give him a small smile and stand up as he walks over to our table. “I thought you’d be in the Hamptons with Mark,”

“No, I had other plans this weekend,” I say and hug him.

“He lied to me then. He made a big show about how you and Ella were going with him,”

“Nope,” I say with a shake of my head. I swear it’s like a competition with them both. He and Mark are distant cousins. I didn’t know when I got with either of them, but I’ve realised they seem to want to compete against each other since I found out. However, Daniel has never said anything about meeting Ella. “He’s not met Ella,” I clarify. Daniel then turns his attention to Logan. He then looks at me in question. “This is Logan,” I say, and I’ve never wanted the ground to swallow me up more. Logan stands and shakes his hand. I don’t miss the slight wince from Daniel.

“Logan Peters,” Logan says.

“Daniel Stott,” Daniel says and looks at me.

“He’s Ella’s dad,” I say to Daniel as he pulls his hand away from Logans.

“Wait, are you the Logan Peters of LP Enterprises?” Daniel asks; I close my eyes. This is just great. How quickly is it going to go around that I’ve screwed a billionaire?

“Yes,” Logan says and sits back down in his chair.

“Cool,” Daniel says.

“Ok, are you leaving?” I ask Daniel, and as I do, his arm goes around my shoulders. I frown at his arm and then at him. I slowly knock his arm from around my shoulders. “Bye, Daniel,” I say, and he frowns at me. “Your friends are waiting,” I say, pointing to the group of people waiting for him.

“Oh, right, ok,” he says and then goes to kiss me. I turn my head away, so he kisses my cheek. “Cya, babe,” I cringe at that and sit down as he walks away.

“That was the worst dick measuring contest I’ve ever seen,” I say.

“Why? Because mine's obviously bigger,” Logan asks seriously, and I hear Lorraine choke on her drink with laughter.

“Funny,” I tell him.

“He seemed nice. I’m guessing Mark is the guy I saw last Saturday?” he asks.

“You hate him, and yes,” I truthfully tell him. There's no point in being cryptic about things. “He’s not met, Ella. He most likely won’t meet Ella,” I say to him.

“Daniel is?” he asks.

“The same as Mark,”

“You have two boyfriends?” he asks.

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend; I have friends with benefits,” I say to him, and he tilts his head at me.

“I need to pass the time somehow when Ella is with her Grandfather,” I say to him, and he chuckles at me. “I don’t do boyfriends, I go on dates, but usually I don’t bother with a second one,” I say to him, and he nods.

Silence laces between us, and I'm not sure if it’s because he’s just met someone I sleep with, and he now feels awkward, or he doesn't know what to say next. I decide on telling him something he probably doesn’t know.

“I came to see you in England,” I divulge. He frowns. “It was the day you got engaged. I was at the party. I used to keep updated with news about you, so I knew you had this charity dinner. I turned up, and you announced your engagement.”

“What? Why didn’t you talk to me?”

“I tried, but all these people crowded you, I thought I’d wait, but I left when you announced your engagement,”

“I didn’t announce it,” he states.

“Well, I left. Lorraine came out after me, and so did David. They took me back to my hotel, and that was when they met Ella for the first time,” I explain.

“Wait, I remember that night, I thought I saw you, but I just thought my mind was playing tricks on me and dismissed it. I even went out after you,” he explains.

“Yeah, well, it was for the best. I didn’t want to ruin your happy moment,” I state, causing him to frown.

“The engagement isn’t real,” this time, it’s my turn to frown in confusion. “I never proposed to her. She found your ring and assumed it was for her. I found out I was engaged at the same time everyone else did. That’s not your ring,” he tells me. I look down at my hands and twiddle with the ring on my index finger that Courtney and Yasmin got me for mothers day last year. A part of me is relieved it’s not my ring on her finger or that he didn’t propose. “The ring on her finger is a very expensive replica that she paid for herself,” he explains.

What do I say to that? I was heartbroken that day. I came back to America and told myself to forget about him.

“Why did you come to England?” he asks.

“A lot of reasons, mostly my grandfather. I felt I had no other option but to come to you. Carlton had paid for my medical bills and Ella’s, but he didn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart,” I explain, and I can feel myself get upset. “He wanted me to visit Jonathon once a week. He said that would be how I pay him back because Jonathon had been asking for me. For some reason, he still believes that Jonathon is innocent. He’d tell me that he could get Ella taken from me if I didn’t do it, so I did it, every week for an hour, I sat in front of Jonathon and let him talk to me,”

“Then, after Ella became strong enough, things changed. He started saying I needed to take Ella to meet him. That Jonathon wanted to meet her. I refused. That was one thing I wasn’t going to allow. Courtney and I had a job waitressing at a local restaurant, and we were saving the money to move away, to go live with her sister. One afternoon I came home early, and Ella wasn’t in the house. Carlton’s girlfriend told me that he’d taken Ella to see Jonathon. That night when they got back, Courtney and I left with Ella. Two days later, we were on a flight to England,”