Armadillo Crossing

"Well, if you're not happy on your own, I've never seen how adding another unhappy person to the equation makes it any better," he said. "Let's talk about your garage."

She told him what she wanted and showed him a picture of where she wanted it.

"It looks like you're going to need some concrete," he said. "Do you want me to just take care of everything, or do you want to get the concrete poured and me to just build it?"

"I want you to do it," she said. "I don't know all the people I'd need."

"Okay, I'll get started when I get back to the office," he said.

They went for a little walk to digest their meal and Sydney slipped her little hand into his big one. He looked down at her and she smiled. "I like you, Logan," she said. "Do you think we can be friends?"

He put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her. "I like you, too. You're an interesting girl, Sydney. I'm taking a group of my employees to Shell Island, Saturday. Would you like to come? You could bring Ronald."

"I'd love to come, but I won't bring Ronald," she said. "Will Julie be there? I like her."

"Yeah, she's sort of like my kid sister," he said. "I went to high school and college with her brother."

"Do you have any siblings?" she asked.

"Two," he said, "both sisters, and both younger than me. They live in Mobile with my mom and dad. You'd like them I think. Hey, I should invite them. We haven't hung out in a month or so."

"That sounds like fun for them," she said. "Will they put a damper on your party?"

"No, they're cool. I'd be more likely to put a damper on theirs. I'm not much of a hard partier, Sydney. If you were thinking of a drunken orgy, this probably isn't your scene. We'll probably play volleyball, hunt for shells, have a few beers and a picnic. They don't let you take much over there and you have to bring back everything you take. It's pretty natural."

She laughed. "Well, a drunken orgy does sound like fun, but I would be out of place. I don't drink that much. I like the feeling while it lasts but puking and waking up with a hangover pretty much cured me of that when I was in college."

"Smart girl," he said. "You want me to pick you up?"

"Sure," she said. "Will that be the first time I see you or will we talk between now and then?"

"I'll send my guys over to look at your place for the garage and then give you a call," he told her.

She took him back to work and went to see her agent. The week passed quickly. On Wednesday, two men came and did some measuring at her place and Logan called her on Thursday. He gave her a price that the garage would cost her and it sounded very reasonable to her. Machines came and did dirt work around her place, the crew tore down her carport on Friday morning and concrete trucks poured the slab and driveway extension in the afternoon. They put ribbon around it and she was surprised when Logan showed up. He rang her doorbell and she invited him in. He wouldn't come in but he took her around and they looked at the bare pad. He found a nail and they wrote their names in the new concrete.

"You're just like a big kid," she laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't want to make a handprint."

"I did, but I didn't want to get my hands dirty," he smiled. "I better get going, Sydney. I'll pick you up at ten in the morning, okay?"

When he pulled up Saturday Morning he wasn't driving a truck. He was in a red Trans Am. She loved it right away. It had a deep rumble to the exhaust and she liked the sound and the vibration.

"I love this car," she said when he put her in and stowed her bag in the trunk. "What year is it?"

"It's a 1977," he said. "I've done a lot of work on the engine. It's still probably not as quick as your Hellcat, but it feels like it. I've had it since I was seventeen. It keeps breaking and I keep fixing it. I plan to own it forever."

"It's very cool," she said. "How old are you, Logan, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm 28," he told her. "You?"

"I'm not as old as you," she said. "I'm over 21, though."

He laughed. "I just answered you, but you didn't tell me. That's not fair, Sydney."

"I'm 25," she told him. "Don't you tell anyone."

"The secret of your antiquity is safe with me," he told her.

They drove down to Panama City Beach and there were about twenty people there when they arrived. Two tall slender young redheaded girls detached themselves from the crowd and came running to throw themselves on him.

"Sydney, these are my little sisters," he told her. "They're both brats, but I love them anyway. The one with the brown eyes is Kristen and the one with the blue eyes is Shey. Girls, this is Sydney. She murders armadillos, so be careful around her."

They both laughed. "Logan told us about you when he called," Shey told her. "You're even more beautiful than he said you were."

Sydney looked up at him and felt her face get hot. "I said nothing of the sort," he protested.

Kristen punched him. "She was just kidding. We could tell by the sound of your voice you thought so."

"They're mind readers," he shrugged. "Ignore them Sydney. Kris, you talk to the boat guys?"

"Yes, they'll be here in thirty minutes. I gave them your card."

The group rounded up baskets, coolers, and bags and they loaded them onto the boats when they arrived. It was a short run out to the island and the water was beautiful around the beach. Sydney was excited and she saw several people checking her out as she stood at the rail beside Logan. She was used to that a little. She had always felt like more people looked at her because she was black than looked at other people, and she accepted that. She knew she looked good, too, and that drew even more eyes. She forgot about it. There were three other black people with them; a couple and a girl she had seen at Logan's business.

When they landed they all began to set up umbrellas, spread blankets and towels out and open drinks. Logan had some huge towels and so did his sisters. They spread them out under a big green and white umbrella and began to apply sun screen. Sydney took off her wrap and she had shorts and a cropped undershirt on over a bikini. She dug around in her bag and got out her sun screen.

She felt Logan and the girls watching her as she put it on. "What?" she asked them.

"I didn't think you'd need sunscreen," Shey said.

"You mean because I'm black? I can get just as bad a burn as you can," Sydney laughed. "That's a myth. I would get so black you couldn't see me at night. Black people have a high incidence of skin cancer, too."

"I had no idea," Logan said. "Well, we can't have that. You'll have to tell us things like that."

"Don't you have any black friends?" she asked.

"Yes, but they don't go to the beach with me much," he laughed. "We mostly play football and you're covered up. We're gingers and we would look like lobsters if we didn't use heavy sun screen. Well, the girls tan, but I just turn red."

She looked him over. He was very pale. It looked natural on him, she decided. He was the most muscular person she had ever seen in the flesh, so to speak. He wasn't grossly muscular like the body builders on TV, but he had huge ropes running over his body and his veins were very large.

"You weren't kidding about working out, were you?" she said.

"No, I weighed 340 when I was playing football," he told her. "I wanted to lose a lot of weight after I quit. It isn't healthy to weigh that much, but I wanted to stay strong. I kind of had a big belly back then. I played offensive tackle and I wanted to be hard to push around. I'm down to 250 and I plan to lose another ten pounds this summer. Want to soak up some sun or go swimming?"

"Let's find pretty shells," she suggested. "This is Shell Island, after all."

Kris and Shey wanted to lie in the sun, and so they strolled off together. Sydney squealed with excitement when they started finding shells she liked right away. She ran back and got a zip-lock baggie out of her bag and came back. They found sand dollars by the dozens and lots of other pretty shells she put in her bag. "I have a collection," she explained.

She danced from one group to another and she could feel Logan's eyes on her. That made her feel a little embarrassed, as if she were out on her first date, and she liked the feeling. Her bag was almost full by the time she tired of searching, and they walked together in the edge of the water, her little feet and his big ones leaving tracks in the sand behind them. She slipped her arm around his waist and he draped his big arm over her shoulders. She felt very tiny beside him and she liked that feeling. She was taller than most women, and she had never liked being with men that weren't taller than she was.

They walked along, talking and laughing until they had gone quite a way from the group. She peeked up at him and he was looking down at her. "Do you want to swim now?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

She put down her bag and stripped off her shorts and top. Logan pulled his t-shirt over his head and they looked at one another.

"You, are smoking hot, Sydney," he told her. "You know that, don't you?"

"Thanks," she smiled up at him. "You're not so bad yourself, Logan. Let's take our mutual admiration society to the water, shall we?"

He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her in while she giggled and fought to get away. He picked her up in his arms and carried her squealing and kicking into the water. When he was thigh-deep he set her down, and they waded out until she could barely stand. They bounced up and down in the gentle swell and he went under. He came up with a shell and there was a hermit crab inside. In a minute he found another for her and they played with them for a long time, just laughing and talking together like a couple of kids. They played in the water for maybe an hour and Logan's sisters came looking for them.

They walked back to the group and Sydney loved the interaction between Logan and his sisters. She had been an orphan, and she sensed that Logan's relationship with his little sisters was something of which she would like to be a part. She had never had a family and she was deeply envious. The rest of the group had their picnic ready, and they ate and played beach volleyball. Logan and Sydney were joined by Kris and Shey and they beat every team the rest of the group could put together. Sydney hadn't played competitively in a few years, but she still had most of her old skills and she was the star of the show.

They lay under the umbrella and Sydney got acquainted with Logan's sisters. They were both going to the local Junior College and planned to transfer to Troy University when they graduated from the local college. They wanted to go to school close to their parents and Logan. They had plans and they all seemed to involve their family and staying close to that core. Kris was going to graduate in a few weeks and she was going to live with Logan, at least for a while.

"I love how you guys are all so close," Sydney told her.

"Are you close with your family?" Shey asked her.

"I only have an aunt that I've met a couple of times," Sydney told her. "My parents died when I was 13 and I was raised in foster care."

"Oh, my God," Kristen exclaimed. "I can't believe no one adopted you."

"I didn't really want to be adopted," Sydney explained. "I wanted to remember my parents and not have a lot of emotional baggage from having another set of parents."

"That's so sad," Shey told her. "Logan, we need to adopt her! You can be our sister, Sydney."

Sydney laughed, but her heart felt warm. She could tell she was really going to like these girls.

"I was thinking a little differently," Logan told them.

"What?" they both asked in unison.

"None of your business," he laughed. "I don't tell you two everything. You'd blab it all over creation and I'm not ready for that."

"Oh, my God," Kris exclaimed. "He wants you to be his girlfriend, Sydney! He does too tell us everything, except stuff like that. This is so cool!"

"See how they are?" Logan laughed. "They have no idea what they're talking about and they blab anyway!"

Sydney could feel her face getting hot. "Yes, I do. We're just friends! I hardly know Logan. He helped me with my car and he's building a garage for me."

"Logan doesn't build garages," Shey told her. "He builds huge buildings and sells metal to people that build garages. He must really like you to build you a garage."

"Logan, do you have some nefarious plan?" Sydney laughed.

"Of course," he said. "I always have nefarious plans. They do not include my big mouthed sisters, though."

The boats pulled up at the beach to take them home and the awkward conversation was interrupted. The group dispersed to their cars and Logan kissed his sisters goodbye. They both hugged and kissed Sydney and made a date to spend a day with her the next week. They put the girls in their car and walked back to Logan's car.

He opened her door and she caught his arm. "Logan, let's just sit here in the car and talk for a little while," she asked.

He got in the cooler, got out sodas and a bag of chips and they got in. He turned the stereo on quietly and they opened their pop.

"I'm sorry if the girls embarrassed you," he apologized.

She laughed. "I love your sisters and you don't need to apologize for them," she told him. "I really like you Logan, but I have a boyfriend. I'm not a two-timer. As long as I have one boyfriend I won't have another. We can be friends, but I won't go out with you like that while I'm involved with someone else. I know I'm assuming a lot, but I think you like me, too. Do you?"

"I do," he told her. "I respect that you don't want to go on dates with me. I won't ask you. Can we just be friends then? Will you go places with me that aren't dates? I mean, stuff like today where we're part of a group?"

"We don't have to be part of a group," she said. "I just don't want to get romantic, okay? If you ask me to a game or something like that, I'll go; but I don't want anyone to have any reason to think I'm a cheater, and I don't want to feel like one. Do you understand?"

"Absolutely," he said. "I wasn't going to ask you out. I wouldn't like you much if you went out with me while you were in another relationship."

"I could tell that about you," she said. "That's not why I won't go out with you, though. It wouldn't take much when I'm with you to make me a cheater. Don't tempt me, okay?"

"No, I wouldn't," he said. "This is a very awkward conversation. I'm glad we had it, but do you want to go drive some go-karts?"

They went to drive some miniature open wheel racers, played miniature golf and they had a blast. Sydney was enough lighter than Logan that she could beat him at driving the miniature cars if she paid close attention to her driving, and he just laughed when she taunted him. He took her home and she kissed his cheek and went inside. She turned her phone on when she sat down and she had nine new messages. Two were from Ronald and she texted him that she had been at the beach. He wanted to come over, but she told him she was really tired. She agreed to go out with him Friday night and she went to bed.

She lay awake a long time. Her brain was buzzing with the day and she was very confused about her feelings for Logan. She couldn't imagine why she felt so strongly attracted to him. She wasn't usually very attracted to white men at all; in fact, she had always had a "no white boys" rule, and Logan was one of the whitest guys she had ever met. He was a redhead, for Christ's sake! She had never had a white boyfriend and yet here she was, thinking about one and unable to sleep because of thinking about it. She thought about the way his beard felt against her skin when he was carrying her into the water. It was much softer than she had imagined it would be. She didn't ordinarily like facial hair, but it seemed right on Logan. She couldn't imagine him without it.

She remembered how strong he was. He had picked her up like a baby and Sydney was a big girl. She weighed nearly 140 pounds and she was six feet tall, but she felt tiny around him. She liked that feeling. She loved his sisters and the easy familiarity they showed with each other. She found herself imagining what his parents must be like. Her thoughts turned to Ronald and she compared him to Logan. Her thoughts weren't flattering to her boyfriend. She didn't want to seem as if she were dumping him to be with Logan. That's exactly what she wanted to do, but she felt guilty. She had little respect for people that found a better deal and dumped the person they were with for that deal. She was going to give Ronald another chance. It wasn't like they were married. They really didn't have any formal relationship at all. They had never really talked about it. That was another thing. He just took it for granted that she would be available without really asking her what she thought.

She wondered what she would say if he asked her to marry him. How would she have felt about it two weeks ago before she met Logan, and how had that changed since? She really didn't know the answer and it bothered her that she didn't. She finally fell asleep and when she woke, she had a headache. She puttered around the house all morning, drinking coffee and taking Ibuprophen until her headache was gone. She worked on her book for an hour and Ronald texted and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner. She agreed and he told her another couple from work would be joining them. That upset her a little and she was tempted to tell him she didn't want to go.

It turned out to be really boring. Ronald and the other guy talked about work the whole time, and Sydney was forced to try to entertain herself with the conversation of the other woman. She was not a stimulating auditor. Her conversation was laced with text speak, which Sydney hated, and anecdotes of her business, interior decorating, which Sydney also loathed. She could feel her headache coming back. Ronald evidently admired the couple because he talked about them the whole way back to Sydney's house. She invited him in and got them a glass of wine. Ronald wanted to get romantic and she wanted to talk.

"Ronald, I need to talk to you seriously," she told him. "I'm confused about our relationship."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "What is there to be confused about?"

"Where do you see us in five years?" she asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he responded. "Are we supposed to have some five-year plan or something?"

"Or something," she said. "Are we just going to go to dinner, or are we going somewhere?"

"I didn't know you wanted anything else," he said.

"I don't, necessarily. At the same time, I'm not just a party girl who wants to play around the rest of her life. I don't want to go on and on in a relationship that doesn't have a chance to ever be anything more than going out once in a while and having sex once a week. Do you really believe that we have a chance to be more than we are right now?"

"Are you breaking up with me?" he asked. "Is that what this is about? Are you seeing someone else? Have you met someone that you think you have some future with?"

"No, I'm not breaking up with you. I'm not seeing anyone else, but I have met people. The people I've met made me think about my life. They made me think I might want something more than we have going on. I felt like I was part of something when I was with them and I liked that feeling."

"Who is he?" Ronald asked.

"It's not just a he," she said. "I met a guy and then I met his family and I liked what I saw. I'm not going out with him. I told him I wouldn't because I have a relationship with you. I decided I was going to give us a chance to see where we were going."

"So you're giving me an ultimatum? I need to show you something?"