“It was good,” I answer, stabbing a piece of lettuce with my fork. “How was yours?”
Levi shrugs with his mouth full before swallowing. “It was all right. Slowest day ever, though. I may have been just a little excited to see you tonight.”
I smile before taking a bite of my salad. This is something I’m still adjusting to, even though it makes me blush every single time: his bluntness. I’m not used to someone being so straightforward and honest right out the gate. There is no mystery or wonder with him, there is only sincerity and surety.
It’s nice not having to question whether or not he is interested in me. Of course, there is that small voice in the back of my head telling me he might be like this with everyone, but I ignore it. I’m not about to sabotage myself when it feels so right.
“So, how do you know Cole?” He asks, setting down his fork and watching me.
“Oh, Kirstin and I set him up with JJ,” I inform him, tilting my head slightly. “Did he not tell you that?”
“He didn’t tell me he went to Kirstin, no,” he says with a slight chuckle. “Had I known that’s where he went, I might’ve gone to her myself sooner. They’re good together.”
I smile at that. “They really are, aren’t they?”
“Does this mean the few times he ditched me it was to hang out with you?”
He says it with a laugh, but my mind immediately drifts to that night that Neve had called him when Travis showed up at the apartment. Had Cole been spending time with Levi that night? Did he tell him what was going on?
“Probably,” I say simply, forcing a smile onto my face. “I mean, I am a joy to hang out with.”
“I can’t argue that one bit,” he replies, leaning in slightly closer to me.
“I hear you two are old friends,” I inform him, also taking a small step closer. “How’d you two meet?”
Levi chuckles, resting his elbows on the table. “Grade school, if you believe that. His grandfather owned the ranch next to ours, so I met him when he came to stay one summer. I don’t know how much he’s told you about his family, but he ended up staying with his grandpa after that.”
“He told me about how his mom left and that his dad had… issues.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” he mumbles, shaking his head. “Anyway, we were thick as thieves until my father uprooted our family to move here. We wrote letters to each other until we both got phones, and I’d go visit him as much as my father would allow. Then when Cole turned eighteen, he moved here to get away and lived with me for a while.”
I smile, thinking back to ten years ago when Blue and I had first gone off to college and were on our own. How that entire experience only brought us closer even though we had been friends for over ten years at that time.
“Cole doesn’t strike me as a country boy,” I say, glancing over my shoulder to see him dancing at his booth, his hand in the air.
“He hated it,” Levi tells me, following my line of sight to Cole for a moment before setting his blue eyes back on me.
I raise a brow. “What about you? Did you hate it?”
“Oh, I loved it,” he replies instantly, a smile tugging at his lips. “Riding horses, taking care of the animals, the labor. There was something about it that always spoke to me. Whenever I’d go back to Montana, that was all I’d do was help around the ranch. My mother’s sister and her husband ended up taking it over when we left, and now her oldest son is running things over there.”
“Do you ever think about leaving all this behind and going back?”
Levi’s gaze leaves my eyes and scans the skyscrapers and buildings around us, the sound of cars honking down belowreaching our ears along with the loud chatter from the overly crowded streets. He shrugs as he turns back to me.
“Sometimes,” he answers. “I miss being able to see the stars and bask in the quiet of nature. Nothing compares to a Montana sunrise or sunset within the mountains.”
“It sounds amazing,” I tell him with a wistful sigh. “You know, I’ve never actually been out of the city. I mean, I’ve traveled, obviously, but it’s always been to other cities.”
He smiles, resting an elbow on the table and leaning against it as he studies me. “We’re going to have to change that, aren’t we?”
“Well,” I start, resting my own elbows back on the table and putting my chin in my hands as I glance up at him through my lashes. “My thirtieth will be in October.”
“No way,” he says, straightening as he stares at me with wide eyes. “When?”
“October eleventh,” I tell him with a raised brow. “Don’t tell me your birthday is in October, too.”
His grin is all the confirmation I need. “Yup. October twenty-fourth. I’ll be thirty-five, though.”
