Metanoia: A Sequel

Chapter 8: Renewal

Logan was still gawking at Rory with a puzzled expression on his face. Rory, seeing this, couldn't think of where to start. "Uh, hi. Hope I didn't...you know, bother you at this time?"

"No," Logan answered. "Would you like to come in? We could have dinner together."

"Sure," Rory said. The first part of what she was worried about, accepting, was cleared. She felt a little accomplished and giddy. But she remembered-she had to focus on her goal. And that was to determine why Logan visited less frequently. She needed to lift a burden off her shoulders, and this was the only way to do it-visiting him in person.

Logan led her to the living room, which consisted of wallpaper with white and gold stripes. In front of one of the many walls was a thin, white table toting light blue vases with white roses in them. Vaguely near the table were three couches, all surrounding a square coffee table. Rory gaped as she ran her finger across the soft, smooth texture of the couch next to her. "Nice condo," she remarked.

Logan grinned, holding up a newspaper crumpled at the edges. "It's all thanks to this guy."

Rory nodded, beaming. The light of the chandelier hovering over the couches lit up her face.

Logan abruptly inserted the newspaper back in the rack where he obtained it in the corner. "I should really prepare some dinner for us. Sit here for a while, watch TV, whatever you would like." He set off for the kitchen, and within minutes, the smell of steak and asparagus wafted to where Rory was sitting. Rory inhaled, the temptation evident.

Logan beckoned Rory to sit at the kitchen table, where she chose a chair at the end to sit in. Logan placed a plate of ribeye steak drizzled with A1 sauce and buttered asparagus on the side to complete the dish. "Wow, that looks scrumptious," Rory enunciated. She wanted Logan to know that she was, in fact, delighted to dine with him. Waiting for him to sit down and pick up his silverware, she observed him scoop rice for the two of them. She could view the steam drift out of the rice cooker from where she was sitting as Logan headed towards Rory to place a scoop of rice on top of the steak. "I eat it this way," he clarified. He sprinkled some tidbits of parsley on the rice. He placed another well-shaped, round scoop of rice on his steak, put the bowls down, and picked up his fork and knife to eat. Rory did the same.

She had tasted Logan's cooking before, but his level of skill in the area had skyrocketed since she had last eaten his food. The rice was tasty and the steak was cooked to perfection-not too tough, and not too mushy. The asparagus was engulfed in the right amount of butter, a rich ingredient that enhanced the taste of the asparagus, bringing the sticks to a whole new flavor level.

"Like it?" Logan asked.

"That's not enough to express everything. I want to marry this," Rory joked.

Logan laughed heartily. Rory could sense the tension wash away a little. "Lena must love this!" she exclaimed, trying to ease the tension more.

Logan ceased to laugh. He reverted to focusing on cutting his steak into strips and then into square-shaped pieces.

Rory panicked, as a result. Did she make her relationship with Logan worse again? She stuffed rice into her mouth, pretending like that would help her be less negligent with her words.