I stare at Sage, unable to form any words. He’s only been at his laptop for fifteen minutes. How has this all happened so quickly?
“Shit,” he says, looking around. “This room needs a serious overhaul, and I’m meant to be at a family retreat this weekend.”
“I don’t mind staying on Saturday afternoon. I can start making space in the office for some of the supplies this week, but I think we can keep that end corner as storage,” I suggest.
“What’s going on?” Levi asks.
“We’re going to offer painting classes soon, thanks to our talented artist here,” Sage says, bumping my shoulder.
“That’s fantastic. I’ve seen some of Arlo’s pieces, so I’m sure his painting will be as magnificent,” Levi says. “I’m sure Ava will want to join your classes as soon as she hears about it.”
I feel my skin heat up under their praise.
“I can help Arlo on Saturday if that’s okay with you, Sage.”
“What?” I shriek. “You don’t need to do that. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Yeah, but with help, it’ll be twice as quick. Come on…” He winks. “Ava is sleeping over at George’s and I’m off for the weekend. It’ll give me something useful to do.”
“Fine with me,” Sage says. We close at one. You can come any time after that.”
Levi’s wide smile makes me want to paint him.
When I turn to Sage, he’s looking at me with a weird expression. We probably overstayed our time, and I need to get back out to the front of the store.
Except, Levi hasn’t actually told me what he wants.
“I probably should…” I point to the door.
“I’ll keep an eye out, you two…go back to…you know.” Sage points his fingers toward us.
“Actually, I think you need to hear this too, Sage,” Levi says.
Why would our conversation from yesterday have anything to do with Sage? I know Levi won’t betray my trust, but I can’t help feeling a little nervous standing in a room with the two men who, between them, know everything about me. Even if they don’t know it.
“The reason Mrs. Martin doesn’t want you to have a license has nothing to do with you not being a local,” he says.
“Then what is it?”
He pauses and looks at Sage before continuing, “It’s because you’re gay.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“I wish I wasn’t,” he says.
“Fucking woman. I’m going to buy a crate of dildos and have them delivered outside her house. Do we still have that spray paint left? I’ll hire someone to do a graffiti of a guy fully erect with his ass ready. In order to get home, she’ll have to put the key into the guy’s ass. That’ll teach her. No wonder Jayden doesn’t want anything to do with her.”
I’m still laughing at Sage’s plans for revenge when I see Levi tense up.
“What did you say?” he asks.
Sage narrows his brows, looking unsure. “You didn’t know? Jayden hasn’t been back since he left for college. Word is he hasn’t seen his family at all.”
Levi seems frozen in time. Caught up in his own head.
I approach him slowly until his eyes meet mine. It takes him a while to respond to me as I run my hands up and down his arms, but when he does, it’s like nothing happened.
“Right, so, I spoke to Asher, and he said the only way to fight his mom is to challenge her. She’ll never admit to being homophobic because some of her close friends have LGBTQ children. It wouldn’t be good for her image. However, we can challenge her on the reason she won’t grant the license.”
