Nash scratches his nose before speaking. "Hey, if you've got a crush on this Lennie girl, what's going to happen when Shelly spits out that kid of yours?"
"This is beneath you, Nash." Is all I say, as I walk away from both of them.
Piper is inside the house, in the office, sitting with Jade. Both of them do the books for Billy, but Jade also works for her mother's business. "Levi, you hungry?" Piper asks. That seems to be the go-to line whenever she sees me. You would think that I'm a little squirt or something, not the six foot two, two-hundred-and-twenty-pound dude that I am. "No, I'm fine." I look at Jade. "How's Crystal doing?"
Jade and Piper exchange a look.
My voice is casual, almost apologetic. "It's okay to talk about it."
"You mean about Shelly's pregnancy?" Piper checks.
As I sit on the edge of the desk, I nod.
"Crystal's fine." Jade answers honestly. "How far along is Shelly, anyway?"
I shrug. "I don't know that yet."
"She can't be that far along. How long have you two been together?" Jade asks.
"I don't know. I wasn't really keeping track."
"More than a month?" Piper tries.
"Yeah, probably. We were sort of, um, having relations before we were actually a couple." Come to think of it, I'm not sure if we ever really had a formal start to our relationship. I just ended up at her house. She asked me to stay and I stayed.
"That's usually the way it works, Levi. Neither of us judge you for that." Piper clarifies.
"I'd like to meet her. Maybe we could invite her over for dinner tomorrow night or something." Jade suggests.
"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. We've got some things that we've still got to work out, and she gets upset really easily."
"I get that." Piper says through a snuffle. "She seems to get a loose tongue, too, from what I hear." Her smile says that it's a good-natured poke. She doesn't mean any harm. "I'd hate for her to say anything more incriminating under pressure."
I wink at her. She's right. "She's coming to the Hoedown next weekend, anyway. Y'all can see her then."
Both girls' faces light up. "Oh, is she?" Piper exclaims. "That'll be fun."
"What exact part of that will be fun." I say as more of a statement than as a question.
"What do you mean?" Jade asks. "I thought you loved the Annual Copper Cove Hoedowns."
"I do, but I just, I don't know."
"What's going on, Levi." Piper says, trying to level with me, as she closes the office door. Everyone knows to keep out if thatdoor is closed, on account of the important business that goes on in here when it is closed.
I can't tell this to my brother, or to Billy, or to any male I know, anyway. They'll razz me for it and make it so much fucking worse. Piper and Jade are good people. There's a love between us that makes me feel like they're sisters I never had. Jade pulls the extra chair up for me to sit on, and she grabs me a bottle of water from the small fridge next to the desk.
"I'm in deep shit."
Piper sits across from me, turning the guest chair around, and she takes my hand in hers. "Nothing that we can't help you get out of, Levi."
"I appreciate that, but I think I'm alone this time."
"Tell me what's wrong, Levi." Piper says so heavily, like she's making room for the weight of my burden.
"I don't love her."
"That's okay." Jade confirms. "It doesn't happen for all of us. Just the lucky ones. But you're a good man, and you'll do the right thing."
