Dad made a scoffing noise. “You don’t have to keep up the ‘just friends’ pretense. I know I’ve made cracks about Levi’s age, but he’s good for you. I’m happy for you both.”
“We’re not dating,” I said absently, brain still churning.
I’d cooked for Levi fairly often. We’d ordered a lot of takeout. We’d spent time in my hot tub and plenty of hours in my bed. We’d made plans for volunteering together. But dating? Had we done that? Should we be doing that?
“That is, we’ve never actually gone out on a date.”
Now it was Dad’s turn to blink. “You should fix that.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” My voice sounded distant.
Did I want to date Levi? Was I already dating him and simply didn’t know it? We’d been hooking up for weeks now, and I’d never once taken the guy out for dinner or a movie or any other “date” that didn’t involve power tools or hot sex.
Simply thinking about dating made me queasy. Getting dressed up. Making small talk. Eating pretty food. But then I thought about Levi, dressed up. Levi, who I could talk to about absolutely anything. There were no awkward pauses with us. Well, other than tonight.
Damn it. A sigh escaped me before I could catch it.
Dad’s expression shifted to concerned. “I was going to ask you if flowers are too cliche, but maybe we should talk about what’s going on with you?”
“Get her flowers,” I said decisively. Dad wouldn’t get a second chance to do this right. At least one of us could get their love life off to a good start. “And wear a damn tie.”
Inez was worth it. But so was Levi.
Did Levi know that? Or did he think that I wanted to keep him hidden? He’d dared me to ask him to stay. And I hadn’t, and I still wasn’t entirely sure why.
“Thank you.” Dad returned my shoulder clap. “And maybe don’t mention this to your brothers yet?”
“I won’t,” I assured him as I followed him the rest of the way to his truck. “But, Dad?”
“Yeah?” Eyes wary, he turned to me after unlocking the doors.
“I really do hope it works out for you.”
“Well, there are no guarantees.” Holding my gaze, he matched my solemn tone. “But maybe I’m ready to hope again too.”
“Good.” I gave him a fast back-slapping hug before we parted, but his words lingered in my head.
No guarantees. Was that what I had been waiting for with Levi? A guarantee he wouldn’t leave? A sign that if I revealed my feelings, he’d return them?
Dad had been so sure that Inez would say yes to his invitation. Could I say the same? What if I asked Levi to apply for the job and he said no? What if he said yes and left again in six months, taking my heart with him?
Alone in my truck, I fished out my phone. I didn’t want to miss out on Levi. I wanted to be brave like my dad.
I hit dial.
No answer.
Not surprising. But now that I’d rediscovered my backbone, I wasn’t giving up. A text message wasn’t going to fix this. No, I knew what I had to do. And it was going to take coffee to do it right.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Levi
“I don’t wanna.” The preschooler stuck his lower lip out as he gave his harried father a murderous look.
Me too, kid. Me too. It had been a busy morning at Bold Brew. I’d almost called in sick, but I couldn’t do that to Ralph and the rest of the staff. They didn’t need to suffer simply because my love life was in shambles. But I absolutely identified with the cranky kid who didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to make a choice, and didn’t care if he was holding up the line.
While his dad patiently recited the menu choices, I resisted the urge to yawn. I’d barely slept the night before. Joe had called, but I hadn’t answered because I didn’t know what to say. He’d let me walk away. What more was there to talk about?
Except maybe everything.
But answering my phone would have required me to know what I wanted, and like the little kid in line here, I still didn’t have a clue. I wanted Joe to want me, to believe in us, but also to believe in himself, but those wishes were nebulous, not exactly a plan of action. Also, I had carefully focused all my hurt on Joe letting me walk away. I didn’t want to talk about the things he’d said about how I didn’t come to him with my worries. Or his belief that I only wanted some sort of revenge fling, a bodyguard tough guy type. I’d deep-cleaned the condo last night trying to outrun Joe’s voice. If I was the right guy for you, you’d tell me when you were upset about something.