I don’t move to help him, deciding to stay here in my bubble of perfection—a blanket of darkness above me with the man I love beside me.
“I always thought he had a thing for you.”
Say what? I prop myself up on my elbows and look at Levi curiously. “You’re kidding, right?” He shakes his head, eyebrows raised. “You’re crazy. Benny has always been like another brother to me, and he’d probably break your neck just for thinking that.”
“You’re probably right,” he laughs, jumping up to toss our trash into a nearby can. My eyes linger on his butt and when he turns around to walk back, I look back up at the stars.
“How is the job going? Do you enjoy working here?” Levi plops down next to me and I watch as he leans back casually, looking up at the sky.
“What are you doing?” I certainly wasn’t expecting stargazing to be on the evening’s menu.
He points to the stars and draws a line. “I’m finding constellations. Look, just found Orion’s belt.”
“That one doesn’t count,” I laugh, lying back down beside him. “It’s the easiest one up there. You have to go for the tougher ones.”
“Okay, first one to find Corona Borealis wins.”
“Challenge accepted. Wait”—I look over at him—“what does the winner get?”
“What would you want?” He looks at me skeptically, and I can only imagine what’s running through his head.
“I don’t know. I’d have to think about it.”
“Alright,” he says with a nod, turning back toward the sky. “Winner gets whatever they want . . . within reason.” He stresses the ‘within reason’ with a cock of the eyebrow and I wink at him.
“Deal. Are you ready?”
“Already started, darlin’.”
“What?” I gasp. “You got a head start. That’s not fair!” Levi laughs and I can’t help but laugh right along with him. The minutes pass by, or maybe hours . . . hell, I don’t know. All I know is that this is the happiest I’ve been in as long as I can remember, and I’d lie here forever if I could somehow get away with it.
I’ve peeked over at Levi a couple of times and each time he’s got a big ol’ grin on his face. He has one arm tucked behind his head and the other draped across his stomach. My hand itches to reach across and touch him—hold his hand, maybe—but in no way do I want to risk setting us back. “I missed this,” I whisper, my gaze shifting back to the stars. I don’t see Levi look over at me, but I know he is. The weight of his eyes is heavy. “And not just the clear skies. I missed being here . . . I missed home.” I pause. “I missed you. You’re what I missed most.” I feel his body move beside me and when I look over, he’s lying on his side, facing me, with his hand propping up his head.
“Was California everything you wanted it to be?” he asks. He doesn’t look or sound angry, and I wonder momentarily if he’s been able to let go of the past or if he’s simply choosing to move on. I’m not really sure there is a difference between the two, but I’d like to think there is. I’d like to think that any person, if the will is there, could let go of something, even if it was something that impacted their life the way that my leaving impacted Levi.
“At first, it was horrible. I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to come home, and not just because of you. Although you were a big part of it. I missed Luke and I missed working at the restaurant. I missed my friends, the few that I had. I just missed everything.”
“Then what changed?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” I sigh. “A lot of things, I guess. I knew I didn’t have you anymore. I’d made sure of that with our last phone conversation. And then I met Mia. That’s probably what changed. I met Mia.”
“Tell me about her.”
Looking over at him, I smile, genuinely happy that he’s interested in what I’ve been doing. “She’s amazing. The best friend a girl could ever ask for. She’s loyal and strong and she’s funny as all get out. She’s feisty and brave, and I think that’s what drew me to her the most—her bravery. She challenged me to try new things and meet new people. She pushed me out of my comfort zone.”
“She sounds great,” he replies. I can feel his warm breath fanning across the side of my face when I look back to the sky. “She seemed nice when I met her.”
I nod. “She’s fantastic. I’m a little bummed she’s going home soon.”
“How soon? I thought maybe she moved here with you.”
“I’m not sure.” I shrug. “She just told me tonight that her dad wants her back home. She works for him, so this was only temporary.” My eyes start to gloss over just thinking about Mia leaving. She’s been my rock for the past several years, and now I’ll only have her via phone and e-mail. “It’s all good though. I’ve got lots to keep me busy.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
My eyes catch on a formation and I sit up, squinting, trying to figure out if I found it. I look at Levi and smile. “There, it’s right there.” Closing one eye—because everyone knows that helps you see better—I point to the stars and trace my finger around Corona Borealis.
“No way.” Levi sits up and leans toward me so the sides of our heads are touching. “Well, I’ll be damned.” We both turn to look at each other at the same time and our noses nearly touch. His smile slowly fades as his eyes drop to my mouth. The air around us grows thick and my heart hammers inside my chest. I want so badly to grab the back of his neck and yank him to me, but I refrain, knowing this is a step that he needs to take.