Harriet laughed, and her cheeks heated. “I’d like that, too.”
The alarm on her phone went off, and she sighed and silenced it. “We really need to meet the girls for brunch.”
“You still okay about telling them?’
Harriet nodded. “We have to, Lori has a wedding she is going to next week, and she wants that Kate Spade bag to complete her outfit.”
“She definitely won, then?”
“Well, that’s debatable. Tashia had the idea to set up a blind date with a friend, and technically Lori stole that idea by setting us up, so, I’m not sure how Tashia will take that. Hmm, then I actually met you on Tinder, and Katie made me set up that app.”
“Okay, I think you are taking this way too serious. It’s just a purse. Next you will be telling me RoryLynn should win it”
“First, this is serious. The girls love Kate Spade. And secondly, RoryLynn doesn’t have a claim on the prize because she put me on MatchMate, and we didn’t meet there.”
“Ah, but I first kissed you while you were on your MatchMate date.”
Harriet’s eyes twinkled as she remembered that claiming kiss from Logan moments after Wesley had left. “Damn, you did. Huh, maybe RoryLynn does have a stake in this after all.”
“And what about Sarah? You said she and Lori helped you set this up together.”
Harriet climbed out of bed. “Okay, we need to get up now.”
“Huh, why? We still have a couple of hours left before we meet the girls.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “We need to go to the outlets first.”
“We do? Why?”
“Because we have five Kate Spade purses to buy.”
He jumped out of bed and caught hold of her waist. Dragging her to him, he kissed her collarbone. “Or we could stay here, not meet the girls for brunch, and save ourselves five hundred bucks.”
“They are going to find out sooner or later, Logan!”
“Hmm, I have a plan for that too.”
“You do?”
“We could run away to an exotic island. I can sell up here, and run a tiki bar in paradise with you.”
Linking her hands back around his neck, she smiled up at him. “As lovely as that sounds, I think we only have one option.”
Logan sighed. “Does that mean we are going to the outlets, then?”
19
Logan
Logan actually felt nervous walking into the little restaurant the women had chosen for brunch. Even though he had known Harriet’s friends as long as she had, he couldn’t seem to calm the jitters in his stomach.
He hauled the huge paper carrier bags containing the purses through the restaurant as he followed Harriet to the table. The outlets had been bedlam, as apparently there was a July fourth sale going on, and all the purses were buy one get one half off. Harriet assured him it was an absolute bargain, as they handed over four hundred sixty dollars for six purses.
“Um, explain to me again why we needed six, because every time I add it up, I get five.”
“Because the second purse was half off. You have to get even numbers to get the greatest value.”
He frowned down at her. “I guess there is a logic there, somewhere.”
She hooked her arm through his. “Okay, you ready for this?”
But Logan didn’t have time to answer because Lori must have spotted them, she let out a tremendous squeal that had the whole restaurant looking at them. Logan wrestled the bags to the table and pushed them against the wall. When he took his place, all four of Harriet’s friends were staring at him, and so was Sarah.
“I thought you were bringing your new boyfriend to introduce to us?” RoryLynn narrowed her eyes at Harriet. “Oh! Oh!”
Tashia’s eyes widened, and she clapped her hands. “Oh. My. God! Seriously? You and Logan?”
Lori stood up and took a bow. “This is my greatest work. You can all congratulate me later.” Sarah coughed loudly. “Um, and Sarah’s. We made this happen together,” Lori corrected.
Over the next fifteen minutes, Logan couldn’t get a word in edgeways, while the girls excitedly shouted over one another, begging Harriet for details about how and when their relationship had changed.
Finally, the fuss died down, and Logan scooped up Harriet’s hand. For a moment, they were lost in each other’s gaze, and the noise of the lively restaurant, and the rest of the people at their table, melted into the background.
For seven glorious seconds, Logan just stared at Harriet, still hardly believing things had turned out the way that they did. Even though it had been a whole week since their blind date, he hadn’t quite gotten used to the turnaround in their relationship. When they were alone together in his apartment, he’d catch himself staring at her, wondering how he got to be so lucky. When he was working behind the bar, he’d look up, and their eyes would meet, and he knew she felt the same way about him.
Even though it was early, Logan was sure what he felt for Harriet was love. Pure, genuine, and in every meaning of the word–both as a friend and as a lover. Boy, he sure did love this woman with all his heart, and he never expected that to change.
“Anyway, I won,” cried Lori. “Now, when do I get my purse?”
“Oh, no, you didn’t. It was my idea to do a blind date with a friend.” Tashia shouted across the table at Lori.
“See,” Harriet whispered to Logan, “told you.”
“Malcolm wasn’t a friend, he was an ex!” Lori countered. “A terrible ex, at that. And you did not even think of setting her up with Logan! The bag is mine.”
“Ah, not so fast, Lori. Harriet, were you right? Was L.J. from Tinder really Logan?”
“Um,” Harriet tried to think how to reply.
“You told them about that?” Logan
