around his face. His tiger smile was fit for a toothpaste commercial. His lids looked low, those tired eyes lazy.
Margo steeled herself against another wave of anger and regret, and followed his gaze to a wicker table. There, at its furthermost edge, was Janna, breaking off two pieces of a fruit sculpture and passing them to two bouncing red-haired boys.
Heck, yeah! Margo was closer! She bounded to the woman’s side.
“ Hola ,” Jana chirped. “You are settled in?”
Margo opened her mouth to get straight to the point, but the twins began to shriek. They dashed off, weaving through the legs of the kitchen staff, tripping and jumping to… him . For a horrible second, Margo thought Logan was Jana’s boy toy—but no. That was ridiculous. As well as totally irrelevant.
Logan knelt to greet the boys, his eyes flashing first to their mother, then to Margo, and Jana seemed to fall under his spell. She stepped toward him, indicating with a sweep of her arm that Margo should do the same.
She had no choice.
Someone handed her a glass of red punch, and she downed it too quickly, then forced herself through a group of chattering researchers. They patted her and grinned at her, and she had to greet them all. A few feet away, Logan was speaking, Jana nodding. Margo took a deep breath and closed the distance.
“You did not tell me you had a problem with the plane! So terrrible !” Jana’s eyes jerked from Margo to Logan, inspecting them like a mama bird. She grabbed Margo’s arm and squeezed Logan’s shoulder.
“Logan, you were afraid? Mar- goooo ?” She tugged her gaze away from Logan’s solemn face and shook her head at Margo. “ Pftt ! That is not a welcome! You know,” she continued, her face lighting up, “Logan is the best pilot we have. He is the smartest. He is only 18 and already half-way through MIT!” That said with the enthusiasm of his own mother.
Margo glanced at him through the dark fringe her lashes and found his face a stone. No, not quite. His lip twitched. “I think the plane’s okay. Just some broken blades. I can fix it on my own time.”
Jana shook her head. “Oh, no. We take care of that! And I’m sorry to Mar- gooo again! And thank you to you.” She pressed her finger on Logan’s t-shirt, between the twin curves of his pecs , and he flinched.
Margo seized her chance. “Did you mean to put Logan and I in the same room?”
Jana’s mouth dropped open. She clamped her palm over it. “Oh, noooo . No. That was an accident!” Margo held her breath, waiting for some sweet acquittal. It didn’t come. Jana shook her head, strawberry hair bouncing. “I am sorry. There is no other place.”
Margo and Logan spoke at once. He said, “There’s the room above the barn,” while Margo thrust her arm up like an over-eager pupil. “I can move.”
Jana looked from face to face, brows clenched like she was thinking hard. Her eyes settled on Logan. “Logan, you are good, sí ?”
She looked at Margo. “You think he’s a handsome man?”
Margo choked, but Jana wasn’t waiting for her answer.
“The two of you—” She lifted her hand, pointing from Logan to Margo— “you stay there for two weeks. Only two. Team Tokyo goes home, I have more room.”
“I’ll stay in the stables,” Logan said firmly, but Jana shook her head. “No, no, no. No stables. Mar-goo will not bite. You will bite her?”
Grimly, he muttered, “I won’t.”
“ Sí ! Logan, you be Mar-goo protector. We will be watching out for Margo. Not let anything bad happen.”
Logan looked like he wouldn’t mind something ‘bad’ happening, but he nodded.
“I want you to be friends. You are both young, bonito! I give the deck to you. You going outside!” She squeezed Logan’s shoulder. “You do this for me! Eating with a beautiful girl, it is not so bad!”
6
Logan rubbed his eyes, setting off fireworks that made his head throb harder. He’d gotten a beast of a headache after that argument with Margo.
He sighed. He
Benjamin Blech, Roy Doliner