Loveland

Chapter 3

Logan

I've lived a quiet life. 

Lived in the same town since the day I was born. Loveland has always been my home. I will never leave this place. I've had the same group of friends since grade school. Ray my best friend, sat beside me bent over his bike attempting to fix the breaks. He was a s**t mechanic but he tried. I would fix it later for him. The shop was just about empty. Most of the other employees I had working for me had already gone home for the night. Trisha, the girl that answers the phones was walking out of the office out of the garage entrance. She could have used the main door but she wanted to walk past me. Try and show off I guess. She came on to me about a week ago in the break room. And it was a little much for my liking. I politely told her no thank you. Actually, I threatened to fire her if she tried it again. It was my bike shop after all. 

I was starting to get hungry when I looked up at the clock. 6:30... I had to go now if I was gonna pick up Mac and get something decent for dinner. I don't think she's eaten a vegetable in 3 days. I really need to stay on that more. 

"Ray let's finish this up tomorrow? I'm worn out and my stomach is starting to eat my spine. Plus Macheala is waiting on me." 

Ray stood up and straightened his glasses. For a dork, he was pretty cool. And married to one of Loveland's finest. 

"Yeah if I'm late one more night this week Beth Anne is gonna cut my d**k off. And I'm just not ready to part with it yet." He said laughing wiping his forehead. 

I turned off the lights, closed and locked the garage doors. As we headed to the truck I saw a massive Uhaul pass by and head toward Pine Wood. "hmm? Someone's either coming or going." Ray laughed in his throat and said "Are you kidding? Nobody new has ever come to Loveland. I think the last new people we had here were the Stuart's, and that was like 30 years ago..." He gave me a goofy grin and leaned over before adding," and they still live here. Ha!" 

"Ray your a dumbass. I don't know what Beth Anne sees in you." I like teasing Ray. It was like a sport getting him riled up. His face had already turned red. "well I don't know what half these skanks around here see in you. God help a man trying to get laid and Logan Marshall walks in the room. That girl done forgot his name, or that she's even on a date. Oh my God, I need to get his number!' he said mocking the dumb bar chicks that hit on me at Mickey's. To be honest I didn't know what they saw in me either. 

A single dad. I ran a bike shop. I was quiet. I hated people. Most people. I had my circle of friends. My parents. God bless them, they were doing well and lived less than a block away. I was simple. I got enough tail to keep me satisfied, for now. I guess I did keep women at arm's length. I know. But a broken heart and a messy divorce can do that to a man. 

I thought back to the day I asked Kat to marry me. We'd been together for 4 years. It was the day before her 21st birthday. We were sitting on the roof of Kenny Maler's house. He was one of the guys I still hung around with from school. We played football together since we were kids. Kenny was known for his parties. Kat and I had started dating our sophomore year of high school. The relationship was volatile at times. I loved her. And in the beginning, I'm sure she loved me. On the night of the party, we had been having problems. She wanted to leave. Move to the west coast. She hated Loveland. But this was my home. Traveling was nice and all but I would always come back here. 

She sat down next to me and handed me a beer. She'd already had a few. Her hair was in a messy bun. It hung in dark curls on her neck. I thought she was beautiful. 

"What are you looking at? Stop being a dork" she bumped me with her elbow. 

" You know I love you right? That I always will?" I could tell she didn't like where this was going. 

"What do you want Logan? You wanna marry me? Get a house and have a s**t ton of babies? I know that's what you want. That's all you ever talk about anymore. You know if we got married we'd fight all the time. I'd end up pregnant and then all my plans all my goals would be done. I'd be stuck here. How is that fair?" I hated her voice when she was angry. It made my teeth rattle. 

"Just because we get married doesn't mean we have to have kids right away. We can get married and wait a year before we start worrying about babies. We can travel together. I just wanna get married first."  I felt like a b***h sometimes. But Kat was reckless.  She made rash decisions. She needed me to take care of her. I took her by the hand and made her look at me. " Kat... You know I love you. I promise you I will take care of you. If you wanna travel fine. We'll travel. Together. As husband and wife. And in a couple of years, if you wanna have a kid, we'll decide then. This is the last time I'm asking." 

She stood up. I thought she was going to turn around and leave. But she stood there. Put her hands on her hips and spoke. " Fine. Let's get married. Just promise me you're not gonna force me to stay here for the rest of my life. Because then I'll have to kill you." She smiled at me. It was a rare thing for her to smile. I wrapped her in a hug, "I promise Kat. I promise. " 

Ray slapped my arm and pulled me out of my head. 

"Hey man. Thanks for the ride. You'll be here at 8? Right?" As if I'd be there late. I picked Ray up and drove him home every day. He was an epileptic. Due from a football injury his first year of college ball. Beth Anne asked me to help him out. I guess having your wife drive you everywhere could be embarrassing. 

"Yeah, man. I'll be here. Say goodnight to the old woman for me."  I waved to him as he walked up the porch. She was there waiting for him. She was a damn good woman Beth Anne. She was beautiful. Golden curls that flowed down her back. Round face and big green eyes. She took damn good care of Ray and all them damn kids. We grew up together and some folks said they thought we'd end up together but it was never that way between us. Beth Anne was always like my little sister. I was happy to see them together. They clicked. 

When I told her I was going to marry Kat. She called me a stupid jackass. Begged me not to. God damnit. I should have listened.

Mac was sitting at the kitchen table when I walked into my parent's house. It had once been my house too. The walls were dark green and covered in old photos of me and my older brother Deacon. I knew this house like the back of my hand. My mom had her back to me standing at the sink washing dishes. Her once red hair had gone completely white.  Michaela's eyebrows were pulled together. Concentrating on her math I'm sure. School had been out for about a month now. But she struggled in math so we had a Tudor work with her over the summer. She would be going into the 6th grade come August and I wanted her to be ready. 

She looked up from her work and smiled at me. 

"Dad! Come look! Tiffany graded my math quiz from the other day. I got an 89. Kickass!" I giggled at her little slip-up. My mom didn't find it funny. 

"Macheala Anne Marshall! Dollar in the jar now." She said sternly as she pointed to the old pickle jar on the counter. That had once belonged to Deacon and I. And it usually stayed full. Mac pulled a dollar from her pocket and put it in the jar rolling her eyes. I could hear my mom mumbling something about my brother. 

"You know Deacon and Lizzie expecting come this November. I know they are so excited. Baby number 2 took long enough to get here. " She kept rambling on as I sat down next to Mac at the big round wooden table. I rubbed her mess of curly dark hair. She was so much like me. Thank God. 

My older brother was the golden child. Always got excellent grades. An athlete. And to top off he was a nice guy. He graduated and left Loveland to go to Penn State. He played ball for 4 years while working on his degree. He thought he wanted to be a lawyer since he was a freshman in high school. Until he took his first flying lesson. Became an airline pilot for delta. Lizzie, his wife was a good one. She stayed with him all through college, and career changes. They got married when D was 28. Kat and I had already been married for 3 and a half years and we're expecting Macheala. It was obvious at the wedding that we were having problems. Kat got rip-roaring drunk and caused a scene. 

My mom's voice interrupted my thoughts. 

" You know Logan I think it's time for you to settle down. All these fast girls you keep hanging around are starting to give you a bad reputation son." She put her hands over Mac's ears and attempted to whisper "she needs a mother figure around. Since she doesn't have one." I saw Mac's fake shock and she yelled "I don't have a mother!? That's it, dad. Nana has lost it. Time to put her away." She said laughing. 

"Mom I don't need a woman. I'm fine. We've got our own little routine and it working for now. Why screw it up? Women like to change things and stir up trouble. No thanks." 

Just then my dad walked in from the garage. Wiping the grease off his hands with an old cloth. 

"Not all women Are bad son. Some are worth it." He said as he patted Macheala's head and kissed my mom's cheek. What they had was great. Always had been. 

Grant Marshall was a great man. He came from nothing built a nice life for himself and his family he owned and operated a successful construction company for 30 years while my mom raised us, boys. We were never wealthy but we were always comfortable.

I'd always been told that I looked like the younger version of my old man. We both stood much taller than most at 6'4, broad as we were long. Built like a wall as they said. His hair once thick and dark like mine had turned gray and thinner. But his beard also like mine was still dark. He was unfailingly kind and adored Lillian, my mother,  like no other. Sure I wanted that with someone one day, but I knew it was wishful thinking. My old fashioned ways didn't suit women nowadays. 

I was simple. I wanted a woman that was also simple. And let's face it that was unrealistic. I could be a tad bit controlling at times. But I wasn't an asshole or anything. I liked shooting pool with my buddies. Working at the shop and riding my bike. Mac was good enough company. She liked sports And was a natural at just about anything she tried. 

When I wanted the company of a woman every so often I would pick one up from Mickey's and after a couple of hours get my fill and send them home. That was all I needed. For now.

Later as me and Macheala pulled out of Popeye's, she had her green beans in hand. Eating one at a time as per our agreement. 

"You eat all those green beans you can have ice cream. But you gotta eat all of the Mac." She took it how I thought she would. One. Bean. At. A time. Shaking my head I turned towards Pine Wood and headed home.

As we passed the corner of Pine and Hill Street I saw that Mr. And Mrs. Donaldson's house had sold. It had sat empty for a couple of weeks waiting for a buyer. I saw a couple of lights on and what looked like a little kid sitting on the porch. "huh. I guess we did get new folks. Damn that house sold quick." Mac suddenly stopped eating and laughed. 

"Ha! Now you owe a dollar to the swear jar!" She said munching on a bean. 

"Yeah right, kid. That's so not how that works. I can swear All I want." I said as we pulled into our driveway. I turned the ignition off  and before getting out of the car and said "not if you want people to like you, dad."  She ran towards the front door while I mulled over her comment. 

"I'm not sure how I feel about that." ...