I follow Levi into the kitchen. He walks over to the stove and starts stirring whatever he has in a large pot while I pull myself up to sit on the counter beside him and peer inside.
“I wasn’t sure what you would be hungry for, but I figured Chicken Alfredo was a safe bet.” I nod and sit up straight as he sets down the spoon.
I extend the container in his direction. “Claire saw how much you enjoyed the brownies at her birthday party this weekend, so she insisted we make more for you.”
Levi’s eyes soften as he grabs them from my hands and cracks open the lid, taking a small whiff. He grins as he sets them down on the other side of the stove before approaching me, resting both his hands on either side of my legs.
“Make sure to thank her for me,” he says as he leans in, placing a quick yet firm kiss to my lips before saying, “and thank you, as well.”
I smile up at him as the sound of a timer fills the space. Levi opens the oven and pulls out a tray of chicken breasts, setting them on top of the potholders he has resting on the marble countertop. He grabs a knife and a fork, grabbing each chicken breast individually and slicing them into perfect strips.
I watch him glide around the kitchen, a certain ease to his movements as if cooking puts him into a trance. He drains the noodles, separates them into two bowls before topping them with the Alfredo and chicken. He winks at me as he picks up bothplates and tilts his head toward the dining room table, signaling me to follow him.
Levi sets the plates down on the table and then turns to me with a small smile as he pulls out my chair. Slipping my hands along my backside to make sure my dress is against the seat, I allow him to help me scoot in comfortably.
We start off the meal in silence, both of us just enjoying the dish he created. I haven’t eaten since breakfast this morning, too busy at work to have time to stop and grab a bite for lunch and, unfortunately, Levi had meetings over the lunch hour today and was out of the office in the afternoon, so I didn’t get my usual lunch drop-off from him.
“Is Claire enjoying the guitar I got her?” He asks, bringing my attention to him.
“She loves it,” I inform him, dabbing at my mouth with a napkin. “She’s been watching tutorial videos non-stop. If it’s not too much to ask, she wanted me to see if you could come teach her.”
Levi smiles, twirling some pasta around his fork. “My guitar is already in my car.”
That sentiment is like a shot straight to my heart. “I just want to thank you for how amazing you’ve been,” I say, turning in my chair so I’m facing him completely. “You’ve been so understanding with all of this, and I know you’ve only known her for a month now, but you’ve already done so much for her. I don’t know how to repay you for that.”
His brows furrow slightly as he studies me before he drops a hand to my knee. “Lowe, you don’t need to repay me for any of it. It’s what any good person would do. She’s a joy to be around and I love spending time with the both of you. You make it sound like no one has ever shown up for her before.”
“I mean, Blue and my other friends do all the time, but it’s been hard for Claire since her grandpa and aunt passed awayearlier this year. I think having you around has really helped her. It’s difficult being at every game and practice, but you’ve done it because you want to, and she can feel that. It means a lot to the both of us.”
“I’m sorry about your father and sister. What happened?” He gives my knee a gentle squeeze and his brows furrow. I avert my gaze, still not ready to talk about it with someone who didn’t know them, and, thankfully, he seems to read my body language. “It’s amazing that you have such a supportive group of friends who rally behind you.”
I nod. “They’ve been godsends, honestly. I don’t know what I would do without them, especially Blue. She’s always stepped up whenever Claire’s father couldn’t, which has been a lot.”
“I don’t want to pry or make you talk about something you’re not ready for,” he says as he rests both his hands on my knees. “It’s okay, really.”
“No, it’s all right,” I mumble, taking a deep breath and rolling back my shoulders before I slump again.I need to give him something.“We met just out of high school. We had an on again off again not official relationship for the first two years, but whenever we were on, he always had a way of making me feel like the only girl in the world, you know? But now that I’m older, I’ve learned that a lot of the behavior he exhibited was controlling and narcissistic.”
I avoid eye contact, taking a deep breath. “Anyway, I ended up getting pregnant with Claire when I was twenty-one, so we moved in together. A few months before she was due, her father lost his job, and that stress became too much for him. Instead of leaning on me, he leaned on the bottle which, not long after she was born, turned into drugs, too.”
Levi squeezes my knee with one hand as his other rubs over his jaw while he stares at me with empathy. “I’m sorry, Lowe. You nor Claire should’ve had to go through that.”
“It’s okay,” I reply honestly with a shrug. “I mean, it was hell in the beginning, yeah, but I had an army around me, so it never felt like I was raising her on my own.”
“Claire is a lucky girl,” he states, causing me to smile. “Where is he now?”
I can’t stop the scoff that slips past my lips. “Hell if I know. I haven’t heard from him in a few months.”
I don’t have it in me to tell him the full truth, to go into the full story of everything that went down between Travis and I over the years, but this little kernel of myself I can give. Considering how I kept Claire a secret, the least I can do is try to be more open with him. Especially if I want to make this work.
“I’ll never understand how someone can abandon their child like that,” he states, but it almost seems like he’s talking to himself more than me.
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.” I place my hand over the top of his and study him carefully.
Levi stares at my hand, not looking me in the eye as he talks. “I don’t know what you remember about that night on the roof, but my father cheated on my mother all the time, and she wanted the money. You know, a classic love story. But the business he started that I now run? He had a friend here who did all the work while my father tried to keep up with the ranch, but that’s not what he wanted, which is why we uprooted when I was eleven, to come here.”
He pauses, tilting his head from side to side as if trying to crack his neck. “Once I turned fifteen, he started bringing me to work with him, grooming me to take over for him when I was old enough. Then, one day when we came home, the house was empty. My mother had left.”
“What happened?”
