I settled into the passenger side with my purse in tow. It felt like I was already part of their family, which was a stupid thing to think. I would only be around for a week. I might as well get as much of this hilarity as I could while I was around. Being with an energetic three-year-old girl made me wonder what would’ve happened if Logan had stuck around. We could’ve had two kids by now; I’d be driving a minivan and cleaning mud off of soccer cleats. I shook my head.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” I needed to keep it together. Logan didn’t need to know that I was contemplating what would have been. “I was just thinking you’re the one that got away.”
“You’re definitely my one that got away, too.” Logan took his hand off of the gearshift and squeezed my hand. “We had something special back then, but I was too stupid to hold onto something good. I wanted to get out of Indiana so badly. Who knew I’d end up back here with a kid?” He let go of my hand; I felt bereft of his warmth and comfort.
He kept driving us down to the museum. It was a cozy little domestic scenario. I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d been to a museum in NYC. There were plenty of museums to go to; I just didn’t go. I rarely did tourist things unless my parents were there or one of my friends was in town, sleeping on my couch and trying to see the sights. I’d been ultra-focused for a long time on getting my business off of the ground. I knew my assistant could keep things going for a week, but it had taken me years to get to this point. When we walked into the museum, Logan took care of the family membership stuff. Annabelle was holding onto my hand; I was very thankful that she didn’t run around the parking garage like she ran around the house. She knew that she had to stay with adults in the parking garage because she was so short. I followed Logan into the Children’s Museum.
“Dinos,” Annabelle insisted. We walked into the Dinosphere. Annabelle let go of my hand then and danced around the exhibit. I felt younger when I was around her; there was still some mystery when it came to giant dinosaurs. The exhibit itself was made for younger children, but Annabelle didn’t point at any of the signs to ask us to read them to her. We stayed there for as long as it took Annabelle to soak in the dinosaurs she had already seen.
“Playscape!” said Annabelle. She took her father’s hand this time to take us to the Playscape, which was only for children 5 and under. She darted into the thick of things and quickly was playing with a little boy who wore a Mickey Mouse shirt. There were tons of toys around and a soft floor to cushion any falls that the kids had.
“I go here when I want alone time,” Logan confessed to me. Annabelle was fully engrossed in playing. “She’s been to the Children’s Museum at least once a week for the last year. We’ve been to every exhibit that they’ve had.”
“She’s having a fun childhood,” I observed. “And it’s probably good for her to get used to playing with other kids since she has a nanny at home.”
“Yeah, socialization is one of the reasons that we have a family membership here.”
I had read some homeschooling blogs, so I knew that socialization could happen in a variety of ways. “When is she going to go to preschool, or are you going to wait until kindergarten?”
“Probably kindergarten.” He shrugged. “Annabelle isn’t in a hurry to go somewhere that I’m not.”
Annabelle heard her name and looked at us for a moment before going back to playing with the other boy. She had what looked like a dodecahedron in her hand and was smashing it against the floor so that the shape was squished before reverting to its normal shape. “Not having a mom makes our bond that much stronger.” Logan shrugged again. I knew that he wasn’t all that comfortable talking about personal stuff, but we had always had a connection.
“You’re doing a great job,” I observed. “She’s a happy camper and independent.”
“Only to a certain extent. She likes being able to find me wherever she is.” Logan sighed. “I love being with her, but I get to be alone together when we go to the museum.”
“How much have you dated since Romi left?” I blushed a little bit. I could not believe I asked him about his love life. He’d kissed me, but I didn’t know how far things would go. I just didn’t understand where we were or what would happen. He had a life in Indiana. I had a life in New York.
“Not much. For one thing, I have to pay the nannies extra for date nights. And for another, we’re barely ever apart. Annabelle cries when I leave for date nights.” He shrugged. “She doesn’t cry when I leave for meetings.”
“She probably is used to having her father all to herself.” I made a gesture with one hand. “And who can blame her? Her dad is a pretty great guy.”
Logan smiled at me. “I’m glad you think so.” He squeezed my hand. From the look in his eyes, I got the impression that he would’ve kissed me if we had been alone.
“Daddy, look!” Annabelle ran over to us on the squishy mat. “I want one.” It was a weird, misshapen toy.
“We’ll see if the downstairs store has it, pumpkin.”
“You spoil her.”
“It’s hard not to.” Logan shook his head. “Her playroom is a disaster zone. We don’t have room for more toys, but we always get more somehow.”
“You don’t say no to her very often, do you?”
“I’m trying to foster her executive leadership skills,” Logan deadpanned.
I just shook my head. “Spoiled.”
“I’m not spoiled!” Annabelle cut in. “I’m just bossy.” She ran off again.
“My time is taken up by Annabelle.” Logan pulled out his phone and looked at it. “And I’m not good at Tinder or Snap or whatever the kids are up to these days.”
“Neither am I. I have a Snap, but all I get are stories from my cousin’s kids taking pictures of themselves inside of Krispy Kreme or other random places. I don’t really know how to play the game because I’ve been out of it for so long.”
“I’m surprised that you’re still single.” Logan stopped for a moment and continued. “I always imagined that you’d have a dog and 2.5 kids by now. My mom told me that you weren’t married.”
“Did you ask?”
“Our moms talk, you know that. And my mom knows that you’re the one that got away.”
“So does mine.” I didn’t know what to say. Our moms were friends, but it sounded like they’d been keeping tabs on us in hopes that we’d get back together someday. I didn’t know how to have a long-distance relationship, especially when one of us had a kid to look after.
Annabelle ran straight at her dad. I noticed that she tended to run instead of just walking. “Look, Daddy!” She had a toy airplane in her hand and was making airplane noises while she dive bombed him. He swept her into a fast hug, making her laugh by tickling her armpit. Then he let her go back to the little boy wearing the light blue Mickey Mouse shirt. His mom was behind him, scrolling on her phone. I envied her in that moment. My days were spent behind a computer, not watching my kids. If I had stayed in Indiana, maybe I would’ve been married by now. I shook my head. I knew that New York was the best place for me. Indiana beckoned with a siren song of domesticity. I ate plenty of dinners of cold cereal over a sink. I didn’t have the time to raise kids. Annabelle was a cutie, though. I knew that Logan said his side concern was his business. My mom had told me it was a big one. I didn’t want to pry, but my mom said that he was a millionaire. And technically speaking, depending on valuation, so was I. A lot of people in Indiana were short on money, but I was short on time. There were way too many things to do in a given day. My assistant had been hinting that she could run the show for a week for a while; my parents had finally been firm about me taking some time off. It had been a while since I’d stopped to smell the roses.