When Life Happened

by Jewel E. Ann

  “Parker?”

  She turned.

  Levi gave her a thoughtful look, brow slightly tense, smile barely there. “Thank you for what you did for my mom today. I’m still a little awed by it.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

  “It was nothing.” She shrugged.

  “It was everything.”

  Parker held his gaze for a few seconds and then nodded. “Good night, Levi.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  A knock at the door woke Parker again. For the rest of her life, early morning knocks at the door would always trigger a who-died panic attack. She sat up in bed, surprised by the instant burning of tears in her eyes, the pounding of her pulse, and the cold sweat seeping from her pores.

  The waves of grief were unpredictable. After leaving the reception, she made it the rest of the night without shedding a single tear. Even looking at the suitcase on the floor didn’t spark a reaction. Maybe it was taking to heart the comparison between her love and loss of Gus to Stephanie losing her daughter of thirty-eight years.

  Rags barked at the door as Parker came down the stairs.

  “Rags, shhh!” Parker opened the door. “Oh, hi.”

  It wasn’t a bearer of bad news. Just bad news in general.

  “Good morning.” Piper’s long lashes fluttered, hand on belly, pink sundress waving in the early morning breeze, long, dark hair braided over one shoulder. The perfect wife.

  Parker stepped back letting her inside. “You’re up early, looking awfully perky.”

  Piper laughed, slipping off her sandals then padding straight to the kitchen. “It’s almost nine. What time do you usually get up?”

  Parker started a pot of coffee. “Depends on the day. I’m generally sluggish at the start, but by noon I’m killing it.”

  After a cheating scandal and a sabotaged wedding, everything settled into small talk. No apologies. No, hey, we should discuss what happened? In two years, the You ruined my wedding day, I’m never speaking to you again, turned into, How’s it going, I’m pregnant, who sleeps past nine?

  The pregnant princess took a seat at the table and petted the greedy pooch who perched himself right next to her. “We delayed our move to let you get through the funeral and all, but we’d like to have our bed, some other furniture, and few boxes of clothes delivered today. Does that work for you?”

  “Well …”

  Another knock came at the door, sending Rags running to it in a flurry of barking.

  “It’s Saturday. Doesn’t anyone sleep in?” Parker grumbled on her way to the door.

  “Holy hell! When did you get so big?” Levi’s head jerked back as Rags dashed out onto the porch making a few circles and a thorough sniff of Levi’s crotch before running back into the house.

  Parker frowned. “I’m always a little puffy in the morning. Some guy feeding me a bunch of desserts last night didn’t help either.”

  Levi grinned. “Guilty as charged. And good morning.”

  “Hi. Come in. And please don’t ask me why I’m still in my robe.” Parker dragged her feet to the kitchen. “Coffee?”

  “Now you’re speaking my language.”

  “Cream? Sugar?”

  “Black. And I’ll reserve judgment on your attire.”

  “Levi, meet my sister, Piper. Piper, this is Levi. He’s here for Rags so don’t get too attached to him.”

  “Parker!” Piper narrowed her eyes.

  Parker filled two blue mugs with coffee, internally snickering. “Relax. I meant the dog. Don’t get too attached to the dog.”

  The twins shared evil glares for a few seconds.

  “Nice to meet you, Piper.” Levi narrowed his eyes a bit as his gaze moved back and forth between the two women.

  “Nice to meet you too.” Piper winked. “And, yes, we’re identical twins.”

  Levi nodded. “That’s cool.”

  “The coolest,” Parker mumbled.

  “Are you family?” Piper asked.

  “Yes. Sabrina was my sister.” He rubbed his forehead. “Or … is my sister? God, that’s awful. When you lose someone do they stop being what they were to you?”

  Parker handed him the mug of coffee, playing with that idea in her own mind.

  Gus was my lover. Gus is my lover.

  “I think was. When we die, we are no more, right?”

  Levi took a sip of coffee, brow furrowed in concentration.

  “Well, I’m very sorry about what happened to your family.”

  “Thank you.” The corner of his mouth twitched like a failed attempt at smiling.

  When Levi wasn’t looking at Piper, she gave Parker a wide-eyed look that said LOOK as she jerked her head toward Levi.

  Parker ignored her. If they weren’t going to discuss cheating and wedding day fiascos, then they weren’t going to discuss the man in the kitchen who Piper found attractive in a not-for-me-for-you sort of way.

  Piper rolled her eyes at Parker’s lack of response. “I won’t keep you two. I just wanted to give you a heads-up about the moving truck coming later today, Parker.”

  She gave Piper a tight-lipped smile.

  “Oh …” Piper stopped just as she reached the front door, slipping on her sandals. “Will you need help moving your stuff out of the master bedroom? Mom said your new bed is a queen and you only have one dresser. It would be crazy for Caleb and me to try and squeeze our king-sized bed, two end tables, and mammoth armoire into one of the smaller bedrooms.”

  Those were fighting words. It was one thing to move in, it was another thing to shove Parker out.

  “You’re moving in?” Levi asked, looking at Piper.

  “Yes. Just until the house we’re building is finished.”

  “That should be fun. I can help Parker move her bed and dresser before I leave. It’s the least I can do after how awesome she’s been with my family.”

  Coffee mug halfway to her mouth, Parker stood frozen in disbelief. Piper wormed her way into the house and managed to kick Parker out of her bedroom all because Levi showed up at the wrong time.

  “Perfect! Thanks, Levi. Bye, puppy.” She blew Rags a kiss. “Later, sis.”

  “Sis my ass,” Parker grumbled to herself.

  When the door shut, Levi turned toward Parker. “Twins. I love this. I don’t know too many twins. It’s great that you’re so close.”

  “Mmm, so great.” She took another sip of coffee before something venomous and snarky shot out of her mouth. “How’s your mom?”

  He sighed. “Terrible, but better. Does that make sense?”

  “Perfect sense.” Parker set her mug of coffee on the counter. “Give me five minutes to slip on some clothes…” looking down, she frowned at her robe and fuzzy socks “ …brush my teeth, and then we can get going on everything.”

  He scratched the back of his head, ruffling his messy hair even more as he yawned. “Take your time. I’m going to finish this cup of coffee and steal another if you don’t mind. My body refuses to submit to the caffeine this morning.”

  “Help yourself,” she called on her way up the stairs.

  *

  “Nice, Parker. When did you lose your dignity?” She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, face blotchy as if she slept on something other than a pillow that left indentations on her right cheek. A hideous rat’s nest clung to the back of her head, and her teeth felt fuzzy like her socks.

  Keeping to her quick five-minute promise, she combed through her hair, tied it back, rolled on some deodorant, brushed her teeth, and settled on a pair of khaki shorts and a plain white tee.

  “Has that caffeine found your veins yet?” she yelled down to Levi. “If so, come on up and show me your muscles.”

  She heard his soft chuckle before she saw his grin as he cornered the kitchen to the stairs. He flexed his bicep while ascending the stairs. No surprise, it was huge, much like the rest of his physique. Seeing him in short sleeves and a pair of shorts confirmed her previous assessment: he had the body of a professional athl
ete.

  “Well, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” She grinned, trying to ignore the fact that Levi had it more than any man she’d met in her life. Genetics had been very generous to the Paige family. She knew it the day she saw Sabrina naked in the closet.

  Levi’s arm dropped to his side. “You asked. I wouldn’t dream of flaunting.”

  She motioned him down the hall. “What do you do that requires you to be able to lift a vehicle?”

  His refreshing chuckle brought a smile to her face. “I pushed your truck. I didn’t lift it.”

  “Are you sure?” She glanced back over her shoulder giving him a slow, building smile. “Because I could have sworn I saw the back tires off the ground for a brief moment.”

  His face turned a shade of pink. She couldn’t fathom him blushing, yet when he looked away, she knew that was exactly it.

  “I’m an architect.”

  Parker pulled out the drawers to her dresser to make it easier to move. “Well, that explains the muscles.”

  He laughed. “I like to work out … a lot.”

  “Yeah? Me too.”

  “Running?”

  “Hell no.” She unplugged her TV and lamp. “Tore up my knees with volleyball injuries. I do more interval training and tramping.”

  “Tr-tramping?” He cleared his throat.

  Winding the cord around her lamp, she gave him a sideways glance with a grin. “Rebounding. Mini trampoline. But tramping gets a better reaction out of people.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  She stripped the bedding from the mattress. “What’s your favorite workout?”

  “In the gym?”

  “Just in general. How do you like to work up a sweat?”

  That’s what she needed, random conversation—no one cheated, no one died conversation.

  Levi took the mattress off her bed. “Well, um …”

  When they made eye contact, he bit back a grin and shot his gaze in another direction.

  “What?” she questioned.

  “Nothing. Which room is this going in?”

  “The one on the left.” She followed him with her arms full of bedding. “What were you going to say?”

  He leaned the mattress against the wall. “About what?” Everything in the room demanded his attention more than her.

  She attempted to follow his gaze so he would look at her. “You dance, don’t you. Ballet?” Tapping her finger on her lips, she narrowed her eyes. “No, I can’t see you doing ballet. Tap? Ballroom?”

  Levi shook his head and walked back to the other room.

  “Jazz? Lyrical?”

  His head continued to shake as he tipped her platform bed on its side.

  “Come on.” She followed him to her new room. “What’s your addiction? What makes you sweat?”

  She helped him set the bed down and adjust it into place.

  He glanced up. “Change the subject.”

  “No way! Now you have me too curious.”

  Levi stood erect, hands resting on his hips, chin tipped to his chest as he blew out a long breath. “Sex. Now can we finish moving everything?”

  While Parker stood frozen in place, eyes wide, moving side to side, Levi made long strides back down the hall. It sounded to her like he said sex, but that didn’t make any sense. His favorite exercise was sex?

  “It’s going to take two of us to move this dresser so we don’t scrape up the wood floors,” he called from the other room.

  Parker jerked out of her stupor and hustled to the other bedroom.

  “Get this side so you can walk forward. I’ll walk backward.”

  “Okay.” Parker lifted her side.

  As they maneuvered it out of the room and down the hall, he looked at her. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “I’m not looking at you like anything.” She curled her lips between her teeth.

  They set the dresser opposite the bed.

  “Anything else?” He gave her a lightning fast glance before looking around the room again.

  “Nope. I can get the rest. Thank you very much.”

  He headed back down the stairs. “Give me the CliffsNotes on Rags.”

  “Do you really consider sex a workout?”

  He groaned, hunching down to make nice with the dog by scratching him behind the ears. “Yes. Does he sleep on his own or in bed with someone?”

  “I’m going to have to disagree. I don’t think you can call sex a workout.”

  “Then you’re not doing it right. How many times do you feed him each day?”

  Parker sat on the second to the bottom stair, resting her elbows on her knees. “What could I be doing wrong?”

  “I wouldn’t know. How long can he go without being let outside?”

  Pinching her bottom lip together, Parker squinted her eyes in contemplation. “I suppose you’d have to go through a lot of positions and have really good stamina and control, huh?”

  Levi stood, rubbing his temples. “You asked me what my favorite exercise is, what makes me sweat, and the truth is sex. A truth you didn’t need to know. But I have this terrible problem …” He blew out a long breath. “I suck at lying. Worst fucking poker player in the world. A total narc as a kid. My parents figured it out quickly. Nobody else around me got away with anything either. It was always, ‘Go ask No Lie Levi.’ It was worse than acne, untimely erections, or walking around half the day with my shirt hanging out of my fly.”

  Parker blinked. It’s all she could do. Who was this guy? A sex athlete and honest to a fault?

  “Wow … that sucks.” She grimaced. “I’m not implying lying is a good thing or suggesting that I’m some pathological liar, but sometimes you need to lie to save face, relationships, and not look like a dick. No offense.”

  “Tell me about it. I go through a lot of friends. I have a select few who stick by me even with my problem. It’s just inevitable; eventually, I will say something that is offensive—true, but offensive.”

  “Are you autistic? My friend’s nephew has Asperger’s, and he has no filter at all.”

  “I don’t think so. I have no other signs of autism, and I think in that scenario he’s speaking honestly without real recognition that what he’s saying is offensive. Trust me, I know what I’m saying is offensive. It’s why I’ll do anything to change the subject or avoid certain topics altogether. But when people, like yourself…” he pinned her with an accusatory glare “ …just keep pushing me for an answer, I eventually crack and say exactly what I’m thinking, or I lie and start sweating, avoiding eye contact, and stuttering like an idiot. But I don’t unsolicitedly say everything that pops into my head.”

  “Are you super religious?”

  “No.”

  “Hmm …” Parker rubbed her earlobe between her fingers. “That’s crazy. Sorry I pushed you for an answer.”

  “Are you really?”

  She grinned. “No. I’m going to be thinking about your answer for the rest of the day.”

  “Thinking about sex?”

  “No, just …” Her head tilted to the side. “Well, yes.”

  “Can you mentally multitask so we can discuss Rags now?”

  “Yes. What do you want to know?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After only three hours of having Rags, Levi questioned how the dog would fit in at his place in Scottsdale. For an eight-year-old dog, he had the energy of a puppy. It worked fine at the house in the country with a doggy door and huge, fenced-in yard, but Levi had neither to offer him in Arizona.

  “He sure does bark a lot.” Joe, Levi’s dad, said as he carried another box down the stairs. “Your neighbors won’t be too thrilled.”

  Levi took the box and carried it the rest of the way to the garage where they were sorting things to be sold, things to donate, and things family members wanted to keep. “Yeah, that same thought has crossed my mind. The barking seems excessive, and he keeps jumping on the fence and digging a hole by it like he’s trying to escape.”

&nb
sp; Joe took a black permanent marker and wrote “donate” on the box. “I think he likes the neighbor better than you.”

  “Can’t blame him.” Levi grinned, looking out at the spastic dog.

  “Down boy.” Joe looked over his shoulder with a matching grin. “Your stay here is temporary.”

  “Just an observation. That’s all. How’s Mom coming along?”

  “She’s still sitting on the floor of the closet folding all of Sabrina’s clothes, hugging them, sniffing them, staining them with her tears … basically breaking my goddamn heart. I’ve been able to fix a lot in her life, but this…” he shrugged, swallowing back his own emotion “ …I don’t know if she’ll ever be the same.”

  “She seemed to be better when Tess was here.”

  Gus’s parents had loaded up the back of their vehicle with things they wanted to keep and said they would be back later.

  “Rags!” Levi whistled, tired of listening to the nonstop barking.

  “Sabrina won’t know if you don’t keep him,” Joe said.

  “I’ll know.”

  “Looks like you’re going to get some help.” Joe nodded to Parker walking toward the gate. “I’ll be upstairs. Don’t say anything stupid.” He chuckled.

  “Me? Never.” Levi continued packing things from Gus’s workbench that Gerald said to donate, enjoying a reprieve from the barking, thanks to Parker on her way to save the day.

  “Excuse me, sir, your dog is barking excessively.”

  He liked how she joked and the way she said as much with her squints, winks, and rapid blinking as she did with her words. Levi had never seen such expressive eyes.

  “Sorry. It’s been brought to my attention that he may like the neighbor better than he likes me. Which is crazy. I’m very likable.” He focused on her hand where Rags was eating something out of it. “What’s that?”

  “Turkey jerky. He loves it.”

  “Clearly. You didn’t mention that in your bag of tricks earlier.”

  “I’ll hook you up with some before you go.”

  “I’d be forever indebted if it keeps him quiet.” Levi took in her tan, sexy legs, curvy hips, narrow waist, and perky breasts. When his eyes met hers, she gave him a knowing look. He prayed she didn’t ask him if he’d been checking her out or staring at her boobs.