“Yay!” he cheered, pumping his fists in the air like he’d just won the biggest competition.
My mom took the cash from my hand. “Is there enough here for me?”
I handed her another ten, completely embarrassed. “Now there is.”
“Come on, kiddo,” she told Max gruffly. He ran along beside her as she led him across the courthouse grounds.
Levi stared after them, his arms crossed over his chest, that muscle in his jaw pulsing again.
“Your parents are seated,” I said quickly, desperate to refocus him. I took a step back. “I should grab them menus.”
“You have a son?” His voice was steel in the night air, hard and unyielding.
I sucked in a steadying breath and wondered how he didn’t know. He and I hadn’t spoken over the years, but surely someone else had spilled the story. One of his friends or his parents. It wasn’t a secret. Actually, it was the opposite—a hot topic everyone loved to speculate about. “I do. His name is Max.”
His head snapped to the side and his glare hit me full force. “You named him after your mom?”
The way he asked the question implied that was the dumbest thing I could have ever done. My hackles instantly raised, and I prepared for war. “Yeah, after my mom. What’s it to you?”
“Who’s the dad?”
“I don’t like your tone, Levi.” My heart hammered in my chest and my fingers turned to ice. “And it’s none of your business.”
He took a step closer to me, his eyes practically glowing. “You never answered my calls that summer. You never called me back.” His words were the uncovering of a secret, a mystery he had always wondered about. “I knew we’d had our differences, but then… the night of Kristen’s party… we’d talked for hours. I just thought…”
“I got pregnant,” I confirmed. There were certain things I wouldn’t, couldn’t tell him. But this was common knowledge. “I, uh, I didn’t know what to say.”
“Because you were pregnant,” he said slower. He took another step forward, but then retreated two. “Were you pregnant when we kissed? Did you know at the party?”
Horrified he would even ask, I quickly said, “No. God, no. Levi, come on.”
“You got pregnant after we were together?”
“Yes. After.” And it was true. Granted, it wasn’t long after. Not like weeks or even days… but he’d left me because he was ashamed and went to find his girlfriend! And I thought I was in love with—
Who I had loved didn’t matter. What happened wasn’t something I was proud of. But I had been over this a hundred times in my head. It did happen. And now I had Max and I couldn’t regret that.
There was a look like heartbreak in his eyes. “You could have told me.”
“What would you have said?” I asked him. “It was one kiss, Levi. I figured the pregnancy killed whatever there was between…” I trailed off, not knowing what I was going to say or wanted to say or how I could even imply there was something between us when I’d slept with his brother almost immediately after he kissed me. “The pregnancy changed a lot of things for me.”
His gaze moved over my body again, taking in my waitress uniform with fresh eyes. “That’s why you stuck around here.”
“Listen, Levi, this trip down memory lane has been fun and all, but your parents are waiting for you and I need to get back to work.”
“Right.” He continued to stare at me.
“I’ll see you around, okay?” I fled before he could ask any more questions or study me more or just act like his stupid self. I had to get away from him.
In a way, I was relieved he’d seen Max. Now he knew. I didn’t have to try to avoid him at all costs now that he was back in town. That part of my life was all out in the open.
But there was something in his intuitive gaze that made me nervous. Nobody knew Logan was Max’s father—not even my mom, or Coco. The identity of Max’s dad was my secret alone. There was no way he could ever discover the truth.
Because I knew without a doubt I would never tell him.
Still, I made Brett wait on his table and I left at the first available opportunity. I did take Max for ice cream, after my mom ditched us for who knew where, but I made sure we steered clear of the entire Cole family. Coco and Emilia hung out with us for a while before joining the group that was line dancing near the band.
The night ended after Max and I had our fill of too much spaghetti and ice cream. I drove my son home to my mom’s trailer and tucked him into bed.
