“Yes?”
“I’m happy for you. Really. But a guy with a kid needs special care.”
I nod before I go back inside.
19
LEVI
“Ah, there you are,”Penny says, cornering me in the dry goods storeroom of the bar.
“Here I am. Did you need something?”
“Err, yeah? All the gossip from the weekend, which you’ve so craftily managed to avoid all week.” She puts her hands on her hips. “But you’re not going anywhere now until I get all the deets.”
I laugh. “We kinda have a bar to restock upstairs.”
“Yeah, and three hours until we open. Stop with the excuses.” Her expression turns a little somber. “You’re okay, right? I mean, you look happy, but you haven’t talked about it, which means you’re overthinking something.”
I turn a crate upside down and sit on it.
“He’s fucking perfect, Pen. There’s a connection between us I don’t think I’ve ever felt with anyone else. I didn’t think it was even possible. And the worst is that I think he feels the same way.”
“I can see how that would be really terrible.”
I look up at her, and she’s not even attempting to cover up her smugness.
“You don’t understand, Pen. The first time I thought I was in love, I was betrayed, thrown to the wolves. The second time, I was left after a promise of forever love. We were going to have a child together, and he just left.”
She kneels in front of me. “Hey, Arlo isn’t like the others. You know that, right?”
“How can I? I’ve known him for a month. How can I tell if it’s safe to give away my heart? Not to mention my daughter’s. She loves Arlo. If she finds out we’re together, and then he breaks our hearts, I don’t know if I can survive being the person responsible for her pain.”
“Hey, hey, backtrack for a moment. You can’t spend your life afraid of what might happen. What if it doesn’t? What if Arlo is your prince charming? The one who’ll be there with you, loving Ava, taking care of you, being the partner you need.”
“Am I overthinking it?” I ask.
“You have a reason to be scared. I get it. Do you know how many times I shut down Asher’s requests for a date?”
I look up to meet her eyes. Even though we’d kept in touch all the years I was away, her life with Asher was the big secret she kept from me because she didn’t want to upset me.
After she told me about their relationship, I didn’t want to pry too much.
“Fourteen times. He asked me out fourteen times.”
“What made you say yes?”
She laughs. “The fifteenth wasn’t technically a date. He kidnapped me.”
“He what?”
“I was on my way to the city to find a dress for my cousin’s wedding and my car broke down. I called for help, but the tow truck was busy on the other side of town. Asher was driving past and stopped. Next thing I know, he calls the tow truck company and tells them to get the car when they’re ready and insists on taking me on my errands.”
“How was it?”
“I fought him all the way to the city until he took me to the Cheesecake Factory.”
I laughed. “Are you saying cheesecake was the way to your heart?”
