She could never, never know what he’d been willing to do.
“Is he in there?” A softer voice followed. Mom. Teeny Green stepped in the room carrying a big basket. She’d aged. Somehow in his head she was always the same vibrant woman she’d been when he was a kid, but there was no way to miss the lines around her eyes or the steel in her hair. She was a slight woman, her bones tiny, but he knew how strong she was. She was a woman who wouldn’t break. Not ever.
Yeah, she couldn’t know either.
“Logan.” Pure pleasure tinted his mother’s voice. She set the basket down and walked right up to him, throwing her arms around his chest.
“Ma, I’m covered in coffee.”
“I don’t care. It’s so good to see you. I can’t believe you’re here.” His mom squeezed him tight.
“I can’t believe he’s been here for two days and he didn’t think to come by the house to say hello.” Momma Marie always got straight to the point.
Guilt bit at him. He’d started to drive home, but he’d found himself pointing the truck here because he couldn’t step back into the house he’d grown up in, couldn’t be surrounded by the evidence of his childhood. That dumbass Logan who had read comic books and played online games and pretended to be a hero had died on Nate’s desk, and the Logan who had been left behind couldn’t stand to be reminded of what he’d lost.
“I’m sorry. I got in late, and Nate needed me at the station house. I tried calling the house, but no one answered. I was going to come over after my shift this afternoon. I promise.”
Momma Marie’s eyes narrowed as though she could see right through him. “And you’re here in this monstrosity of a house why? Your momma cleaned up your room and got everything real nice for you when she found out you were coming home.”
He couldn’t back down from that particular fight. “Mom, I’m an adult. I can’t live at home. I need my space.”
“It also looks like you need laser tattoo removal, son.” Momma Marie was shaking her head like she was ready to go and grab a laser herself.
“The tat stays, Ma.” He heard the growl in his voice. He was never getting rid of that ink.
“Fine, it’s a generational thing,” Momma Marie said. “But you don’t need to stay here. You’re going to come home where we can take care of you.”
“I’m taking care of him.”
Logan winced a little at the sound of that soft voice. Georgia. She was standing in the hallway dressed in a tank top and stretchy pants that molded to her every curve. Her hair was still wet, and she wasn’t wearing an ounce of makeup. She looked younger and more vulnerable than he could remember her being. She was a brat of the first order, but she would wilt under Momma Marie’s gruffness. There was no contest.
“You’re after my boy?”
Georgia’s brows drew together. “Marie? Are you the one I talked to on the phone that day? You called the Willow Fork police and helped save me?”
His ma lit up. “Marie, do you know this girl? Oh, my heavens. Are you that sweet girl who got caught in the slavery ring?”
Georgia shook her head. “I didn’t because Ms. Marie called in the cops.” She smiled and the whole fucking room lit up. She walked right up to the scariest woman in Bliss County and wrapped her arms around her. “Thank you so much, Ms. Marie. You really saved me.”
To his eternal surprise, his gruffest momma hugged Georgia back. “No need to thank me. I got the cookie bouquet. It was real nice, darlin’. Now tell me what you’re doing here. I thought you took some big job in New York City.”
“She’s with me, Momma Marie.” Seth had put on a pair of jeans, but he’d managed to place them somewhere around his hips so all the douchebag parts were exposed like he was some sort of male model. “Nice tat, brother. I think I should get one, too.”
Georgia turned, her eyes going straight to his left pec. “OMG!”
“It stands for Green.” He was reaching. “I did it in honor of my mother. I’m going to get a W on the other side.”
His mom shook her head. “I never much liked the last name Green. I kept it because it connected me to you, but I have to say, it’s not the best last name.”
“Yeah, it stands for Green.” Seth shook his head, his eyes rolling slightly.
“Hello to the house,” a familiar voice called out. Henry. Awesome. He would be bringing Nell with him. Yeah, the house was filling up.
“Teeny, Marie,” Nell said as she walked in. “It’s so nice to see you.”
Nate walked behind Nell, his uniform in perfect condition. “Morning, y’all. I was talking to Henry and Nell about their upcoming protest schedule and it seemed like a nice time to come see this new property.”
In other words, Nate was curious.
Georgia went straight to that obnoxious coffeemaker. “Can I get anyone some coffee? I’ll start breakfast if you want some.”
Mom shook her head. “I brought some muffins. Enough for everyone. Seth, hon, I made your favorite. Chocolate chip.”
“Sweet.” Seth just sat down at the bar like the whole damn world wasn’t going out of control. “Sheriff Wright, I’m Seth Stark.”
Nate got the widest grin. “Hey! Thanks for the rides, man. Four Escalades. We love them. The Broncos kept breaking down, and I couldn’t get the mayor to open the purse strings to buy us new vehicles.”
“No problem, man. I was happy to do it.” Seth hopped on to his barstool, his eyes straying to Georgia.
“Stef was so pissed when he figured out someone else had bought the department new vehicles.” Nate grabbed a muffin. He was never one to turn down food. “He immediately wrote the department a check so I have the sweetest new chair. It’s like a recliner masquerading as an office chair. I can actually sleep in it. It’s perfect. And the first person who has sex in my chair is going to jail. I’m putting it on the damn books. It’s a law. No screwing in the sheriff’s chair.”
“I don’t know if I think that’s right, Nathan.” Nell was shaking her head. “Your chair is truly county property. I think the taxpayers have a certain right to have access to that chair.”
“No, they damn straight don’t, Nell. That chair is now sacred to me. I have the right to sit in a chair that wasn’t a place of conception.”
Nell and Nate were arguing whether taxpayer money gave the citizens of Bliss the right to use Nate’s new chair as a cheap motel. Henry started talking to Seth, and both of his mommas began a long slow circle around Georgia, who was powering up the coffeemaker and sliding in a little cup. She smiled up at his Ma like she didn’t know what was about to happen.
“Tell me, Georgia, are you sleeping with my boy?”
“Momma!” He didn’t have to take this. He was an adult. Damn it.
“I have the right to know,” Momma Marie insisted.
“No, I am not sleeping with him.” Georgia looked up to his mother, her blue eyes wide. “He made love to me and then refused to sleep in the same bed. I have to admit it did make me wonder if maybe I wasn’t skilled enough. I haven’t been with many men, Ms. Marie. Do you think he would have slept with me if I was better in bed?”
Seth choked on his muffin. “Holy hell.”
Momma Marie’s eyes, which just a moment ago had been narrowed in suspicion toward the woman she’d discovered in his place, now turned to Logan’s with a cold disapproval. “I raised you better than that, son. How can you take this sweet young thing and use her like that?”
“I slept with her.” Seth put his hand up like they were fucking five and he had the right answer to the teacher’s question. “I cuddled her all night long.”