Before Today

by Leeanna Morgan

  “Anything else?”

  Brooke stepped around some rotten floorboards and walked across to the hatch. “I want a bigger entrance to the roof with proper stairs. And a handrail, and pretty outdoor furniture, and potted plants.” She took a deep breath. Just thinking about the possibilities made her excited. “I could invite my friends over. We could have barbecues and drink chilled white wine as the sun sets over Flathead Lake.”

  “Would you invite me?”

  “Of course. You’d bring the fresh fish you caught in the lake and make everyone cake for dessert.”

  Levi stopped writing. “How long have you been thinking about this?”

  Brooke looked around the attic. “Excluding the barbecues on the roof, almost as long as I’ve been here. Do you think it’s too much?”

  Levi studied the notebook. “A lot of what you want is cosmetic. You can’t afford a fully functioning bathroom, but we could make sure the water and wastewater pipes are where they need to be. That way, you can finish it when you’re ready. I could build you a closet, and the stairs to the roof won’t take too long to make.”

  “I could look at some paint colors.”

  “That would help. What about the windows?”

  Brooke’s gaze followed the line of the arched window frames. “They’re beautiful. All they need is a wash and a coat of paint.”

  “I’m glad you’re keeping them. A lot of people would have replaced them with triple-glazed units.” He cleared his throat and turned to another page in his notebook. “The structural engineer is coming tomorrow. I’ll let you know what he says.”

  “That would be great. Is there anything you’d suggest I do?”

  Levi seemed surprised by her question. “If it were me, I’d create a seating area opposite your bed. There’s more than enough space to fit a couple of sofas up here. You’d need extra lighting and the wiring for a TV and sound system, but not much else. If you wanted to have a more flexible space, you could easily move the bedroom wall to here,” he walked across the room and held out his arms, “and add an office and a spare bedroom.”

  Brooke was speechless. A master suite, an office, and another bedroom? “Do you think I could do that?”

  “You’ve got the floor area. Once the walls are up, you can do the rest later.”

  “Are you sure you’ve got time to do everything?”

  “I’ve got as much time as it takes.” He checked his watch. “Talking about the time, I have an appointment with Frank in ten minutes. Is there anything you want me to ask him?”

  Brooke shook her head. “Not at the moment. When do you think you’ll be able to start working on the attic?”

  “As soon as I’ve met with the structural engineer, I’ll ask an architect to draw up the plans. Once we have a building permit, I’ll create the new entrance to the roof. Frank will arrive with his roofing team after I’ve finished that part of the project.” He pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll email you the revised schedule after I’ve added what we’ve spoken about today.”

  “That would be great. I’d better get back to the candy store. Kathleen will need a break soon.”

  Levi’s hand reached out to hers. “Try not to work so hard.”

  For a moment, Brooke forgot about the trays of fudge waiting to be wrapped, and the Easter eggs that needed to be decorated. All she focused on was Levi’s concerned face.

  “I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. “I’m closing the store for an extra day at Easter. I’ll catch up on my sleep then.”

  “Make sure you do.”

  With a final smile, Brooke headed down the attic stairs. If catching up on her sleep meant an extra hour in bed, then she wasn’t stretching the truth. In reality, her day off would involve catching up on housework and making more candy.

  One day she would have a real vacation, but after talking with Levi, it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

  With her pen poised above a large sheet of paper, Brooke looked at Megan and Sam. “Do we all agree that Megan’s Auntie Carol should sit beside William’s Uncle Fred?”

  “Lock them in,” Megan said quickly. “If anyone can handle Auntie Carol’s weird sense of humor, it’s Fred.”

  With firm strokes, Brooke added Fred and Carol to the seating plan for Megan and William’s wedding reception. For the last hour they had been going over the guest list, working out where everyone would sit. So far, it hadn’t been too difficult, but they hadn’t seated any of Megan and William’s cousins yet.

  “I can’t believe you’re getting married in two weeks,” Sam said as she bit into a slice of red velvet cake. “Your engagement has gone so fast.”

  Megan looked at the cake wistfully. “Do you know how many calories you’re eating?”

  Sam smiled and licked the buttercream frosting off her fingers. “No, and I don’t want to know.”

  “What if you don’t fit your wedding gown?” Megan added. “There’s only a few months until you get married.”

  “I hate to tell you this, but it doesn’t matter what I eat. I don’t put on weight.”

  “That’s not fair,” Megan groaned. “How can anyone eat as much cake and ice cream as you do and not gain a single pound?”

  “Fast metabolism,” Sam said with a grin.

  Before Megan could get too depressed, Brooke placed the guest list in front of her. “What about Jessica and her husband? Do they have any issues with anyone else?”

  Megan rested her elbows on the table. “Not that I recall. Seat them at table five. Jessica is six months pregnant, so she’ll appreciate being close to the bathrooms.”

  The door to Brooke’s apartment opened, and Levi strode into the room. With his toolbelt slung around his hips and a high-vis vest hugging his T-shirt, he looked like every woman’s idea of a wonderful late afternoon distraction.

  “Hi, Megan and Sam. Ignore me. I’ll be going back and forth to the attic for the next hour.”

  With a final wave, he disappeared up the attic stairs.

  Megan grinned at Brooke. “You should ask Levi to be your partner at my wedding.”

  Brooke shook her head. “He’s too busy.”

  “No one’s too busy to go to a wedding,” Sam said. “He knows Megan and William, and I could introduce him to Caleb.” She glanced at the seating plan. “There’s even a spare seat beside Caleb and Nora. We’ll put him there.”

  Megan took the pen out of Brooke’s hand. “Good idea. We could seat Gabe and Natalie at that table, too.”

  “Are you sure Natalie is coming?” Sam asked. “I saw her last week and she said there was a problem with her next exhibition. She thought she might need to go to New York City a few days earlier.”

  Megan nibbled on the end of the pen. “It’s all sorted. Her dad was in New York and fixed the problem.” With a smile at Brooke, she added Levi’s name to table eight. “Natalie will make sure my cousins don’t get too cozy with your sexy boyfriend.”

  Heat flooded Brooke’s face. “He’s not my boyfriend, and I don’t know if he can come. He might be allergic to weddings.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if he is.” Sam sighed. “You practically left the poor man standing at the altar.”

  “He’d asked me to marry him, but I hadn’t said yes.” Even to Brooke’s ears that sounded like a lame excuse.

  “And I have it on good authority that you and Levi have been on at least two dates,” Megan added.

  Brooke frowned. “Who told you that?”

  “Mabel Terry mentioned something about a romantic picnic on the shore of Flathead Lake.”

  “It wasn’t romantic,” Brooke spluttered. “Levi has been working long hours to get the roof ready. A few nights ago, we bought dinner from the new restaurant on Main Street. We ate it beside the lake instead of coming back here.”

  Sam pulled out her cell phone. “You might want to have a word with Mabel. I thought you would have seen this post.” She scrolled through her news feed and handed Brooke the phone. “Last night, Ma
bel added this photo to the community Facebook page.”

  Brooke’s eyebrows rose. Yesterday was one of the hottest days so far this year. When they’d finished work, they’d gone to the general store to buy ice cream. Afterward, they’d sat on a picnic table, enjoying the cool breeze coming off the lake.

  “Mabel should have been a private investigator,” she muttered.

  “So, what’s happening between you and Levi?” Megan asked. “You can tell us—we won’t put anything on Facebook. Promise.”

  Brooke reached for a piece of cake. “We’re friends.”

  Sam frowned. “In a pre-dating kind of way or an actual dating way?”

  Megan looked at Brooke’s hot face and then at Sam. “I’m confused. I didn’t know there were two kinds of dating.”

  “There aren’t,” Sam whispered. “I just want Brooke to feel more comfortable confiding in us.”

  “Why would she feel uncomfortable? She’s our best friend.”

  “Would the two of you stop talking about me as if I weren’t here,” Brooke said with a sigh. “Levi and I are getting to know one another again.”

  Sam dipped her fork into her cake. “But you dated each other for six months. What else is there to know?”

  Megan took a carrot stick out of a bowl. “People change. Especially if they were dumped by the person they loved. If that were me, I’d want to take things slowly, too.”

  Brooke took an enormous bite of cake.

  Sam frowned. “Levi doesn’t seem the cautious type to me. If he wanted to take things slowly, he wouldn’t have offered to fix Brooke’s attic. Being around the person who spurned your love wouldn’t be easy.”

  “Unless you want to rekindle the romance,” Megan said with a grin at Brooke. “Are we right?”

  Brooke looked at her friends. “You’re both crazy.”

  “But are we right?” Sam asked.

  She didn’t know what to say. “Maybe.”

  Megan and Sam stared at her.

  “Okay, I lied. I’m falling in love with Levi.”

  Instead of looking horrified, her friends sent her sympathetic smiles.

  Sam patted her arm. “Don’t look so worried. A lot of people break up and fall in love with the same person again.”

  Brooke’s heart pounded. “What if it doesn’t work out?”

  Megan hugged her. “Then you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again. And if that doesn’t help, you invite Sam and me over, and we eat enough ice cream to make the buttons on my dress pop.”

  Brooke’s eyes filled with tears. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course I would. But afterward, we’d have to go on a five-hour hike to burn off the calories. If the ice cream doesn’t shake some sense into us, the hike will.”

  Sam handed Brooke a tissue. “It’s probably better to make sure you really like Levi before you tell him you’ve fallen in love with him.”

  Brooke blew her nose. “You’re right. As long as he doesn’t know I love him, it doesn’t count.”

  Sam frowned. “I’m not sure about your logic but, if it makes you feel better, go with that for now.”

  Brooke wasn’t sure about anything. She’d hurt Levi once before—and she didn’t want to do it again.

  Two evenings later, Levi knocked on Brooke’s kitchen door.

  “Come in,” she yelled.

  He frowned at her building’s poorly lit back entrance. Anyone with bad intentions could have walked in off the street and hurt Brooke or her property.

  “Hi, Levi. I won’t be a moment. I just need to pour this fudge into a pan.”

  “Why wasn’t the door locked?”

  With a careless shrug, Brooke used a spatula to scrape the last of the fudge out of the pot. “This is Sapphire Bay. Our crime rate is almost non-existent.”

  “That doesn’t mean nothing will happen.”

  “It hasn’t so far.” She glanced across the room at him. “What’s wrong?”

  He left his laptop in the middle of the counter. “The parking area behind the building needs better lighting and you don’t have a security system. You might as well put a sign on the front door telling people to break in.”

  Brooke’s eyebrow’s rose. “You’re overreacting.”

  Levi had seen too many careless actions create deadly consequences. He didn’t take anyone’s safety for granted, let alone Brooke’s. “You said there are more tourists visiting Sapphire Bay than ever. No matter where you live in the world, more tourists equals a higher crime rate.”

  Brooke smoothed the top of the fudge with a knife. “I’ll add extra lighting and an alarm to my list of improvements. Do I need anything else?”

  “You could start by locking the back door.”

  Brooke picked up a knife and cut another tray of fudge into bars. “I’ll remember that.”

  “Good.” Levi pulled out a stool and sat down. As Brooke moved silently around the kitchen, he realized she was right. He had overreacted. Sometimes, even after all the counseling and therapy he’d gone through, his PTSD reared its ugly head.

  “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

  Brooke handed him a plate of fudge. “What for?”

  “Telling you what to do. I didn’t mean to be so—”

  “Bossy?”

  At least she was smiling. A lot of people wouldn’t have let him off the hook that easily. “That sounds about right.”

  “You’re allowed to be worried about me. Besides, the kitchen smells too good to be annoyed about anything. Try the fudge. It’s a new recipe.”

  Biting into the gooey chocolate fudge was like chewing on a rich chocolate brownie. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, a subtle hint of coffee made his taste buds drool.

  “Do you like it?”

  Levi didn’t know why she was so worried. “It’s delicious. What type of coffee did you add? It tastes completely different from your other chocolate fudge.”

  “I used Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. It’s not bitter like most coffee beans.”

  “It’s almost sweet. Can I have another piece?”

  Brooke pushed the plate closer to him. “It’s all yours. I meant to tell you that Sam went into Polson yesterday. She found some color charts for me.”

  “Was there anything you liked?”

  “There were a couple of colors that were close to what I want. The hardware store is happy to courier me some sample pots.”

  Levi pushed the plate of fudge across the table. If he had any more sugar, he’d never sleep tonight. “I have to go into Polson for a meeting with the city planning department. I can collect your paint samples.”

  “Is the meeting about my attic?”

  Levi nodded. “I want to talk to them about the plans before we submit them for a building permit.”

  “You aren’t wasting any time.”

  “We can’t afford to. If we have any delays, your roof won’t get finished before winter.” He opened his laptop and turned it toward Brooke. “I’ve been working on a 3-D model of what the attic will look like. Do you want to see it?”

  A smile lit her face. “I’d love to. I still can’t believe the architect was able to create the plans so quickly.”

  “We were lucky. She had a gap in her schedule.” He hoped Brooke liked what she saw. When he was working with his dad, he’d enjoyed making 3-D models of the projects they were building or remodeling. It gave the homeowners a better idea of what their plans would look like and made any issues easier to see.

  He pointed to the computer screen. “The program starts at the bottom of the stairs leading into the attic. Use the keyboard arrows to move from room to room.”

  Brooke held her finger on the upward arrow. The image changed from moving up the stairs to entering a wide open landing area. “Oh, wow. This is amazing.” She leaned forward, peering at the screen. “Will it really look like this?”

  Levi hoped so, but he wasn’t making any promises. All it would take was one major cos
t overrun, and everything could change. “The layout of the attic isn’t exactly what you described, but it was the most cost-effective way of doing the remodel.”

  He pointed to the bathroom. “We had to move this wall a little to the right so we can hook into the plumbing in the bathroom on the first floor. I added furniture and chose a pale green wall color. What do you think?”

  “It’s incredible. There’s so much usable space.”

  Brooke moved the 3-D image across to the stairs leading to the roof. “Everything looks perfect.”

  “Look closely. If there are any alterations, now is the time to do them. Once I’ve submitted our application to the planning department, it will be expensive to change anything.”

  She turned the image around and took another look at the remodeled attic. “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, including the chandelier. It’s a shame I can’t afford to finish everything now.”

  Levi understood her disappointment. “That’s the only problem with doing a 3-D model. Every homeowner who sees the walk-through images wants everything finished at once. But you’re not the only person who’s had to wait.”

  “You’re right.” Brooke sighed. “I knew what I was getting into when I bought the building.”

  “Are you happy with the design?”

  Brooke grinned. “I’m over-the-moon happy. You have my approval to submit the plans.”

  Levi closed the lid of his laptop. “That’s great. Even though Easter isn’t far away, it shouldn’t take too long to get the building permit.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Brooke was already pulling on a clean set of gloves.

  He looked around the kitchen. At least six trays of fudge filled the work surfaces. “Does all of this fudge need to be put into bags?”

  Brooke nodded. “I’m on the homeward stretch. I’ll make some more chocolate eggs and lollipops tomorrow. When I close Sweet Treats’ door at five o’clock on Good Friday, there’ll be no more baking until the following Tuesday.”