by Liz Isaacson
“Monday,” ghosted through her lips. “I will need more clothes then. And I want my cat, Ashes.”
His dark eyes glittered. “Clothes and Ashes. You got it.” He dropped his gaze to her lips. “One more thing, and then I’ll leave you alone to rest.” He finally kissed her, and Heather melted into his touch, in complete disbelief that this had become her life. This kiss. This man. This house.
He broke their connection, stood, and left the room, bringing the door closed behind him. Heather’s fingers drifted to her lips, and they seemed swollen from the second best kiss she’d ever had in her life.
She got in bed and drifted to sleep. Her phone woke her sometime later, and she squinted at the text.
From Darcy, another third grade teacher at her school. You’re dating Levi Rhodes? You go girl!
Heather giggled and brought her phone right over her heart. Sure enough, the gossip circles were alive and well in Grape Seed Falls. After all, if Darcy knew about Heather and Levi’s relationship, everyone did.
And Heather found she didn’t care. Let them all talk. She got to kiss Levi now and that was so much better than simply dreaming about kissing Levi.
Chapter Sixteen
Everything’s changed between us, Levi thought as he knelt beside his bed. Please help me do the right thing. I don’t want to hurt Heather. I’ve known her forever, and her family means a lot to me.
He paused, his thoughts racing to and fro, forward and back, right and left. Should I be kissing her? Tell me if I should stop.
Levi kept his eyes closed and he tried to listen with his mind, his ears, and his heart. He couldn’t get an impression either way.
I like kissing her, he thought. And I wasn’t lying when I said I liked having her here. Am I doing something wrong?
He didn’t feel like he was, so he got to his feet and looked around the master bedroom for something to occupy his time. He had about an hour before he’d need to wake Heather so they could get over to her parents’. He’d checked on the goats, and they were all doing fine.
Unable to allow the walls to contain him, he went out to the stables, intending to take Cloud Chaser out for a ride. He arrived at the white horse’s stall with hay cubes in his palm. “You want to get outta here?” he asked the horse.
Cloud Chaser seemed to nod as he lifted his head over the gate and lowered it to take the hay cube.
“You’ll have to wear a saddle,” Levi told him. “I’m takin’ care of a woman now, and I can’t get hurt.” He usually rode Cloud Chaser bareback, but he fed the horse another hay cube and went to get the saddle, blanket, and harness he needed.
With the horse properly equipped and in the yard, Levi swung himself onto Cloud Chaser’s back. “All right. Let’s go see if we can get Elle to get Heather some more clothes.”
He continued talking to the horse, telling him about the Rib Shack, and the drive where he got to hold Heather’s hand, and all about the kiss at the river.
“It’s weird, right? I haven’t dated anyone in years. Even when I’ve tried, I break things off pretty dang fast.” He thought about Capri and how he’d gone out with her four times before saying he wasn’t interested. And he wasn’t interested in telling her all the nitty gritty details about his life.
But somehow, he’d told Heather. And she still seemed to like him. He arrived at the house where he’d grown up, and he dismounted in one smooth move. He tethered Cloud Chaser to the deck railing and walked up the steps. Pushing through the back door, he called, “Elle?”
“Levi, dear, how are you?” His mother looked up from her knitting. She sat on the couch to his left, the sprawling kitchen to the right. Drake came trotting over, his nails making clicking sounds on the kitchen tile. Levi bent down and scratched the dog. “Hey, bud. Hey, how are you?”
Drake’s tongue lolled out of his mouth, and Levi straightened. “Just fine, Ma.” He gave her a quick kiss and sat in the recliner. “Where’s Elle?”
“She’s working this afternoon. Why?” The needles practically flew around themselves.
“I’ll text her.” He pulled out his phone and sent a message to his sister about getting more clothes for Heather. Drake flopped at his feet, pressing into his shins.
“How’s Heather?” His mother didn’t even look at him, but Levi’s heart hammered against his ribs.
“She’s tired today,” he said. “But she’s walking without the crutches, and she hasn’t asked for a painkiller since this morning.”
“That’s great news. When your father broke his arm….” She chuckled and clucked her tongue. “I swear, you’d have thought the man had lost a limb.”
Levi laughed with her, then glanced around the house. “Where is Dad?”
“He went out with Sally,” she said. “Something about rot in one of the trees.”
“And they didn’t text me?” Levi stood, disrupting Drake from his nap, and looked out the window like they’d emerge from the orchards at any moment.
“You’re busy,” she said.
He’d gone for barbeque today and strolled next to a river. He wasn’t busy.
“Sally’s concerned we’ll lose a lot of the sentinel crop in the spring,” his mother continued. “It’s been six years of steady fruit production, and it’s almost that time.”
“That time” was a complete loss of their harvest. Trees produced differently every year, and once every five years or so, they didn’t flower at all.
“We’ll be okay,” he said. “We have the redskins and the majestics.” Both freestone peach varieties, they grew and sold well. They’d lost all the redskins only two years ago, and they’d been fine then.
His phone vibrated, and he checked it. Elle had messaged, Yeah, but I’m not off until eight-thirty.
That’s fine. He sent the text and said, “Well, I have to get back before Cloud Chaser decides your grass is better than mine.” He moved to the sliding glass door and gave Drake one more scratch behind the ears. “I gotta go, bud. See you later. Bye, Ma.”
“Bye, dear. Tell Heather hello for us.”
He said he would, and then he got the heck out of there. The last thing he needed was to reveal some of his feelings for Heather to his mother. Although, as soon as she went to town, she’d know. He didn’t think for one moment that he and Heather could keep their relationship a secret. Everyone knew the Carver’s, and Heather especially as she volunteered and did things in the community. Like the food vendor tasting, he thought. What would people think when he showed up with her?
He found he didn’t care. He wanted her to call him her boyfriend, wanted to kiss her where everyone could see. A smile formed on his face, and he couldn’t shake it away as he rode back to his house, brushed down the horse, and went back inside.
“There you are.” Heather rose from the couch. “We have to leave soon.”
“Let me get cleaned up. Five minutes, tops.” He tried to go past her without touching her, but he couldn’t. Their fingers brushed, and he ducked his head and continued into the master bedroom. He brushed his teeth and washed his hands. He contemplated whether he had enough time to shave or not. In the end, he decided, that no, he didn’t.
His stomach seemed full of fire ants as he made his way down the hall and back into the living room. Heather stood in the kitchen, eating from a bowl. Cereal, it looked like.
“I thought we were going to dinner.” He moved closer, intrigued by the blush that popped into her cheeks.
She practically threw the bowl into the sink, which created a loud, clattering noise. “We are.”
He peered into the sink. “But you’re eating Cheerios?” Where she’d even found them was a mystery to him.
“There was cream in the fridge,” she said. “One of my most favorite things is cream on honey-nut Cheerios.”
He smiled at her. At the simple things that made her happy. “Noted. Never run out of Cheerios.”
“Plus, my mom always critiques what I eat, so I tend to eat before I go to dinner ov
er there.”
Levi glanced at the cupboards behind her. “Should I eat too?”
“Of course not. She’ll probably try to feed you thirds.” She laughed and laced her arm through his, but his nerves refused to be settled by a simple human touch, even if it was coming from the most gorgeous woman on the planet.
Surprised by his feelings, and confused by how deep they already ran, Levi stayed quiet on the drive over to Bartlett Street, where her parents lived now that Dwayne had taken over the ranch.
“You’ll be fine,” she said, leading him up the sidewalk. He couldn’t help glancing next door, where Capri Calhoun lived. Thankfully, he didn’t see her or her son, and he scampered into the house behind Heather, sure he wouldn’t be able to eat anything because of the angry way his stomach pinched.
“Hey, Mom.” Heather embraced her mom and then her dad, and they seemed to have a great relationship. Levi had seen them interact on numerous occasions, and they did have a tight bond. Somehow, it meant more to him now.
“Mom, Dad, you know Levi.”
“Of course.” Her mom gestured him forward and handed him a stack of plates. “Get these set out, would you, Levi?”
“Thank you so much for taking care of our Heather,” her dad said, clapping one giant hand on Levi’s shoulder.
He looked at Heather, waiting for her to tell them more, and she startled. “Oh, uh, so Levi and I…we’re sort of…dating now.”
Her mom spun from the stovetop where she’d been stirring something. “Dating?” She volleyed her laser-sharp gaze from Heather to Levi. “Really?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised, Mom.” Heather turned and picked up several glasses. She rolled her eyes heavenward as she approached Levi, passed him, and set the cups on the table.
“I like her,” he said dumbly, not encouraged by the narrowed gaze of her father. Thankfully, Felicity and Dwayne chose that moment to arrive, and the declaration of him and Heather dating was swept away as the conversation immediately turned to wedding preparations.
He helped get everything set, realizing that he hadn’t spoken true. He didn’t just like Heather. He liked her a lot. A whole lot. And now that he had another week with her, he wondered what it would feel like to fall in love all over again.
Chapter Seventeen
Heather had never been so glad to talk about a wedding, even if it wasn’t hers. It kept the conversation away from her and Levi—at least until the coffee was served. While her father cleared the table and started on the dishes, their usual routine, Heather admired that he helped so much, and always had.
But it left her mom to say, “So when did you two start dating?”
Then every eye was on them, and Dwayne settled back in his chair like, Here we go.
“Over the weekend,” Heather said, leaning her good elbow on the table and lifting her coffee mug to her lips with one hand.
“It’s been a long time comin’,” Levi added, and she almost choked on the hot liquid. Without a blink, he handed her a napkin and she wiped her chin, her eyes locked onto her mom’s. She’d confessed her feelings to her mother a long time ago, and she recognized the concern in her mom’s gaze.
She tried to communicate that everything was okay, but she wasn’t quite sure her mom got the message.
“We should go get pedicures before the wedding,” she said, the conversation about Heather’s new relationship apparently over. Heather could work the ranch with the best of them, but she liked girly things too.
“I’m in,” Felicity said. “As long as they don’t do anything too fancy, like those jewels Heather had last time.”
“I like the jewels.” Heather smiled at her almost sister-in-law. “They don’t rub in your boots, I swear.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” She leaned into Dwayne, who curled his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. Heather basked in the glow of their love, and Levi put his hand on her knee under the table. She almost jumped out of her skin, slopping more coffee over the back of her hand.
She put the mug down, decidedly done with coffee for the day. Done with this dinner, in fact. But she couldn’t leave yet, because knowing her mother, she’d made pie. Sure enough, her father returned with an apple pie in each hand, a wide smile on his face.
“Who wants pie?” he asked, his usual cheerfulness erupting through the room.
Heather had never been able to keep a straight face when her father beamed at them all the way he was. And she couldn’t now either. “Sure, Daddy.”
“Levi?”
“I’ve never met an apple pie I didn’t like.” He grinned at her father too.
“Come help in the kitchen,” he said, and Levi exchanged a glance with Heather before getting up and following her father into the kitchen. Since they’d moved out of the sprawling homestead and into this smaller cottage in town, Levi didn’t have to go far to be in the kitchen, but Heather couldn’t hear what they were saying over the clacking of plates and her mom asking, “How’s your arm, Heather? Dwayne says you’re doing okay.”
“I am doing okay,” she said. “My ankle is fine, so it’s good to be able to walk.” She had a lot of things to be thankful for, and she pressed her eyes closed in a long blink of gratitude for her swift recovery.
“You’re taking your medication?”
“Like clockwork,” Heather said. “Levi’s even more OCD about it than I would be.”
“He’s taking good care of her, Mom,” Dwayne said, shooting a look at Heather. She and Dwayne had always banded together, and she thought about Thatcher, the brother that sat between them. She should call him and talk to him too. Dwayne had surely texted him to let him know about her accident, but he hadn’t been in contact with her yet, which seemed strange.
“So maybe you two will have kids before Felicity and Dwayne.”
Heather’s gasp of surprise was only covered because Dwayne said, “Mom, come on,” and Felicity choked on her coffee now.
“She started dating Levi two days ago,” Dwayne said.
“Today, Mom. We started dating today. We’re light years from marriage and children.”
“And we want kids, Mom,” Dwayne said. “Just not right away.”
Heather watched Felicity squirm, saw the way her face turned bright red.
“It’s none of your business anyway,” Dwayne added, his face darkening.
“What’s not?” Levi set a few plates of apple pie on the table and sat down, her father right behind him.
“When we have children,” Dwayne said, still glaring at his mother.
Heather glanced at Levi and did a double-take when she caught sight of his pale face. He leaned away from the table and crossed his arms, a sure sign that he didn’t want to be involved in this conversation at all.
“All right, all right.” Her mom picked up a fork and pulled a plate of pie toward her. “Not my business. I’m just saying it would be nice to have some grandchildren before I’m too old to enjoy them.”
“You’re barely fifty,” Dwayne said. “We aren’t the ones who got married when we were nineteen years old.”
Her mom laughed and cut a bite of pie, scooping it onto her fork. “And boy, were my parents mad about that.” She stuck the pie in her mouth and chewed, swallowed. “I guess parents are never happy, are they?”
“You’re doin’ fine, Ma.” Dwayne set a plate in front of his fiancé and took one for himself as their father arrived with more desserts. “Just don’t bug us about havin’ kids.”
“Or start pestering me about when I’ll get married,” Heather added, waving off the pie. A small noise came from Levi, and Heather decided it was time to go. “I’m not feeling well. Thanks for dinner, but I think I’m ready for bed.”
She’d never seen Levi stand so fast or express thanks so sincerely. He even kissed her mother on the cheek and shook her dad’s hand before ushering her out the front door. As he helped Heather into the truck, the questions she wanted to ask him built beneath
her tongue. But she held them in. They’d talked enough for one day, and she had a whole week to get the answers from him.
Heather woke to the sound of that blasted goat again. This time, though, she didn’t go to Levi’s rescue. Didn’t he know she never got to sleep in? Why did he have to get that huge animal out so early?
She turned onto her good side and buried her head under the pillow. The goose down didn’t really do much to drown out the insistent bleating. Thankfully, the goat settled down quickly, and Heather drifted back toward unconsciousness.
Dreaming of horses, and peaches, and Levi’s lips on hers, she didn’t wake again until the sun streamed into the room. She pushed the pillow from her face, her body feeling like someone had put her inside a turkey roaster.
She groaned as she sat up, and a killer pain shot through her arm. She cried out and tried to cradle her arm, but she used a sling at night to keep it close to her body so she wouldn’t inadvertently roll onto it and hurt herself further.
“Levi,” she called, but her voice came out more like a whimper than anything else.
Still, he appeared only a few moments later. “Are you okay?”
Hunched over her arm, she breathed through the pain. “There’s something wrong with my arm. Maybe I slept on it weird or something?” Though it hadn’t hurt when the goat had woken her. “What time is it?”
“Almost ten.” He pushed the blankets off her legs, and she’d never been more grateful for her purple pajamas. “Let’s get over to the emergency room.”
“No, I don’t need—it’s not an emergency. Maybe we can call Doctor Croster.”
“Who works in the ER.” He didn’t wait for her to argue again. He simply scooped her into his arms and maneuvered through the door.
“I can walk,” she said, but now her breathlessness came from the strength in his arms, the nearness of his body, the scent of his cologne. Or his aftershave. Or whatever that delicious, spicy, man-smell was.
“But I don’t trust you to walk to the truck,” he said.