“But with this crowd, though….” his voice trailed off, as they surveyed the kitchen, now getting increasingly crowded, as more and more people began to wander in, offering their assistance, or just checking in.

Tina nodded in agreement with her step-brother, and finished his sentence, “Yeah, Bette.  Will we have enough turkey?”

“Hmmm…,” the brunette responded, resting her head against Tina’s while continuing to hug her from behind, “Don’t worry. I think we’ll be alright.  Something tells me Luke may be bringing something.”

“Oh, is he coming?,” Tina asked, drawing her head to one side, to look at Bette.

“Yeah, he left a message in my cell a few hours ago, saying he was stopping to get something before coming over.”

“Brom…Matthew?”

“Brom has a date, and I doubt that he’d want to take her to a big gathering like this.  And Matthew is abroad, visiting his son, I think.”

Tina smiled, “Brom is dating, huh? That’s nice to hear.”

Bette nodded.  She turned to look at Logan, whose arm was still resting across Bette’s shoulders, and was looking askance at the chaos in the kitchen, shaking his head.

“What about you, Logan?,” she asked slyly.

“Hmm…what about me?,” Logan answered, turning his attention again, back to Bette and Tina, smiling.

“Are you looking?”

“Looking…for what?  Where?,” he asked, puzzled about the strange question.

“For a girl!,” Tina answered, feigning exasperation, turning also to look at him.

He shook his head, but keeping a smile on, “I’m not looking, no.  You girls have set the bar pretty high, as far as love is concerned.  I think that unless I have the type of, um, connection or electricity that you have….why bother?”

He gave Bette another side hug, “If there’s one thing my divorce from Melanie has taught me…it’s that I can’t have anything less than what you two have.”

“Too painful….too frustrating otherwise,” he ended, with a rueful half-smile, half-frown.

“So I guess you girls will have to put up with me for a while longer,” he said cheerily, as he gave Bette a quick kiss on the top of her head.

They both looked back at him with warm smiles.  “We’re lucky, then!,” Bette answered graciously, for both of them.  Logan does deserve love in his life, though.  But he won’t find any if women continued to see how affectionate he was towards her.  Should I talk to Tina about that?  I really don’t mind, though, since hers and Logan’s relationship did feel like that of a brother and sister’s, or of really good friends.