Misfortune and Mr. Right (Only Magic in the Building)

by Savannah Scott

And he was the president of the F.A.R.T.s. Not that you’d want to use that acronym on your resume, but still.

Logan graduated summa cum laude. I graduated magna cum laude, which sounds better, but is just a notch below—as always.

Just once I’d love to beat him at something. Not that I’d rub it in his face. I wouldn’t even gloat … much. Maybe just a teensy-weensy victory dance. That’s all. It would be so small. A little gloatette. A gloatina. A gloatsie. I’d gloat so quickly, you’d barely notice.

A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. – J.P. Morgan

I’ve achieved everything I ever set my mind to. Everything but convincing Olivia Pennington that I’m not the devil incarnate.

The enemy is within our gates. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

It was this whole 2B or not 2B situation. And the answer is not 2B.

It’s not Gran’s place, but I guess that wasn’t meant 2B.

Okay, Monday. This is just cruel. A genuine bait-and-switch. I take it all back. You’re the Mondayest Monday that ever Mondayed.

“Well, from your tone of voice, you’d think Logan Alexander showed up at your workplace, and we all know that didn’t happen since he’s successfully climbing his way up to the pinnacle of marketing grandeur in Boston. He’d have no reason to come back to Serendipity Springs.” “Right, well … wait. How did you guess?” “What? Wait. What? Are you serious? No. You’re joking!”

“How on earth did you guess?” “I don’t know. There’s this particular note of doom in your voice that basically only shows up when he’s involved.

Mister Rogers did not adequately prepare me for the people in my neighborhood.

“She said where there’s animosity, there’s passion. And where there’s passion, the people care.

I need to hire someone, the way Cyrano de Bergerac did. He had a big nose and he feared approaching Roxanne because of his looks. If only my trouble were a nose. Mine is my foot. I keep putting it in my mouth.

No. If a dog is rabid, you know. And if they love you, you know. Dogs do not give mixed messages.

Maybe she’s not Catwoman. She’s Poison Ivy. And I’m highly allergic.

That wink. It’s so devastating. Or it would be on someone more susceptible to his charm. I’ll give Logan that. The man knows how to wink. His wink is nearly as delicious as this pastry.

“The saddest thing is that butterflies can’t even see their own wings.”

“What?” Olivia looks up at me, a note of impatience in her tone. “Nothing.” She squints her eyes and tilts her head. “You do know when people say nothing, it always means something, don’t you?” I chuckle. “Are you trying to be infuriating?” she asks. “Or does it just come naturally?”

“We’re just mingling for now. There will be dinner followed by dancing. And, of course, the dance …” “The dance?” I ask. “Between you and Olivia Pennington. Prom king and prom queen. It’s a tradition.”

It’s possible I’ve never noticed her mouth before, and now I’ll be seeing it in my dreams.

I don’t know how or when it happened, but there’s not another woman in the world I would even consider pursuing. For me, it’s Olivia Pennington, or it’s no one.

I extend my hand, and Olivia looks up at me, a note of challenge in her eyes. I smile down at her. I hope she never stops challenging me. I hope she’s always here, with me, extending a dare or holding her ground. I hope we race one another until we can’t run anymore, and then we’ll race with our walkers or wheelchairs. I need her. I’ve always needed her.

“You and Logan. That dance. It looked like the first dance at a wedding far more than a reunion reenactment of a prom dance, one I could tell you were squirming about as soon as you were called up on stage.” “We didn’t look like newlyweds.” Megan props her hands on her hips and stares at me. There are perils of maintaining a lifelong best friendship. This is one.

Olivia Pennington is coming to my apartment. And it’s not so she can suffocate me in my sleep.

“Man, I wish you could talk. I’d be asking you what it was like to share a bed with her. It was awesome, right? Maybe one day I’ll know. Can you imagine? I barely can. Less is more, Rhett. Less is more.”

Have you considered being honest with this woman about how you feel?” I chuckle, picturing me coming right up to Olivia and telling her how I feel. “Yeah. Sure,” I say. “Have you considered running in front of a moving train being driven by a visually impaired engineer?”

“You know how Olivia stopped by the other night?” “She did?” Mom says, obviously surprised. “Olivia Pennington?” “Yeah, Mom,” Jacob says. “She and Logan are working together. And they live in the same apartment building too. What are the odds?” “Pretty low, I’d say,” Mom says, eyeing me with a very knowing look. “She reminds me of a visually impaired engineer I once heard of.”

A first kiss is magic, the moment the world stops spinning and everything feels perfectly still, a taste of forever in a single touch. ~ Raymond Chandler

“You kiss like you do everything else.” I chuckle softly, bringing my mouth back to hers. We kiss again. “And how do I do everything else?” “Perfectly,” she says with a sigh.

Do you want to actually come in? Or did you just come here to thank me, give me the best kiss of my life, and leave me paralyzed and overwhelmed in the hallway?”

“You and Logan!” “Yeah. I think so. I don’t know. I’m so confused.” “What is confusing about this? You two have had a tension running between you for years. You know what they say about love and hate. Two sides of the same coin. Something like that. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t care. But you care. Oh yes, you do!”

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. ~ W.B. Yeats

“You are the only woman who challenges me like you do. You’re brilliant, feisty, spirited, but you're also tender, thoughtful, and loyal. I finally woke up to something I’d been dancing around for a long time. You are the only one I want. I know you, Olivia. And you are it for me.”

“You know, love isn’t a bad thing, Olivia. It’s actually kind of the best thing. If you do happen to fall into it, I’m pretty sure you’ll survive the fall and land on your feet.”

his mosaic blue eyes making promises I can only hope he’s capable of keeping.

“Just don’t break her heart, Logan. I don’t care how much rent you paid. She’s worth everything to me.”

You two were either going to annihilate one another or end up in the hottest love affair of the century.” “What? Really?” “That much passion? Yes.”

The fortune says, Winning isn’t everything—unless it’s her heart.

It’s just how it is with us, Logan. You’ll always outshine me. And you’ll always steal my thunder. I don’t know how I can live in your shadow and also be your girlfriend.”

“Would you rather live your life without Logan, competing with him at every turn, or would you rather sometimes come in second and have him rooting for you, celebrating with you, and sharing the spoils of his wins?”

“Keep that fortune, would you?” “Why?” “I want to include it in my maid of honor speech.” “Are you in a wedding?” “I will be. That’s my prediction, and I don’t need a cookie to tell me what’s in my future … I will be in a wedding between the man in 2B and the woman who is going to keep love as the priority.”

“Who’s a riddle?” “Women. You’re the riddles we want to spend our lives solving, the labyrinths we want to devote ourselves to navigating. You’re infinitely complex.”

Turns out, I didn’t really want the prize, I just wanted to be the winner.” “And it turns out I wanted the prize, but I had the wrong prize in sight,” I tell her.

I told you last year that I vowed to never overlook you, to always consider you. I want to vow more than that. I want to be by your side, to give you my best and to walk alongside you in our worst. I want to love you every day of my life and I want to raise a family with you. Olivia Pennington, I am so madly in love with you. Will you be my wife?”