The kitchen was spotless, which meant Shelby had probably spent the entire evening doing dishes.The morning sun was bright, bouncing off the snow outside and shining through the wall of windows behind the eat-in kitchen table where he found Levi sitting with Mr.Shepherd.
“I won’t turn down coffee.”
“Okay.”
She stepped behind the island, putting more space between them, and he brought the pie over to Zeke.
“Good morning, Levi, Mr.Shepherd.Our gran thought this pie might help your hand feel better,” Wes said, setting it down in front of Zeke.
“Well I might just need to hurt myself more often, between Shelby Bell spoiling me and your gran’s pie.”Zeke smiled.
Shelby handed Wes a cup of coffee with just a splash of cream like she knew he took after they’d spent several mornings together.He could feel Levi watching them.
“Do you want to cut into that gorgeous pie now, Pops?”Shelby asked.
“At my age we don’t waste time.Are you ready to have the best peach pie you’ve ever tasted?”Pops rubbed his hands together.“Shelby, this pie may convince you to move home for good.”
Levi waggled his eyebrows at Wes, but Shelby just smiled.
“Be careful what you ask for, Pops.You might get sick after another day or two of me.”She set a few small plates and forks down and brought a knife to cut the pie.
“We better get started on that railing, while you enjoy the pie,” Wes said.
Levi stood up.“Missy dropped me off so she could go see May in town for a bit.”
“Did you bring your tools?”Wes asked but then spotted Levi’s toolbox.“Let’s go take a look to see what you think,” Wes said.
“There’s some lumber in the shed if you need it—of course there’s also a lot of snow blocking you from the shed,” Mr.Shepherd said before he focused back on his pie.
“So Levi’s the handy one?”Shelby asked, walking them to the back door.
“I have a knack for building things; Wes has more of a knack for protecting people,” Levi said, slapping Wes’s back.
“Don’t let him fool you, Levi built a house out on our family land.It’s pretty impressive,” Wes said.
“You boys just send me the bill, no charity needed,” Zeke said, “but I will take these pies anytime your gran feels like baking them,” before taking another big bite.
Shelby grabbed a coat that looked like Zeke’s to follow them outside.
“I tried to keep the path and steps salted as best as I could.There’s just so much wind out here.There’s probably still some ice so be careful,” she warned.
“You were busy yesterday,” Wes said, stopping to face her while Levi walked over to the railing.
“Pops can’t take care of his house on his own anymore.He’s let quite a few things go.”
“Does that mean you’ll be sticking around for a while?”
She sighed and a puff of steam left her lips.“I’m going to stick around until Pops and I can figure out what is best for him.”
“Great, I mean it’s not great he needs the help but it’s great he has you.What about work?”
Levi started to pull out several tools from his toolbox and was already getting started.
“My work is mostly remote, so I can kinda work from anywhere.”
But there was something that made her clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being back in Sandy Point, which he assumed was her family.He was itching to ask her what had happened but figured now was not the best time.
“Wes, I’m going to need you to hold this post while I remove the rusted nails,” Levi called to him.
