BREAKFAST IS COLD BUT I’LL KEEP IT WARM
We both exhaled, tension leaking out in a rush. “She probably thinks we died,” Levi said, thumb hovering over the keypad. “Or ran away to Canada. She keeps saying I’m too pretty to survive in federal prison.”
I snorted. “She’s right about that.”
He started typing a reply—sorry, spent the night at shop, promise I’m not dead—when another message popped up, this one from a number he didn’t recognize. I saw the change in him before I saw the text: the way his whole body went still, the fingers clamped white around the phone. For a second, he just stared at the screen, like maybe the letters would rearrange themselves into something safer.
He read the message, then passed the phone to me with a hand that shook hard enough to rattle the glass of water on the nightstand.
It read:Levi, it’s your mother. I’m staying at the River Pines Motel. Room 12. We need to talk about your father’s estate. Please come alone.
The air in the room went cold. I felt it, a drop in pressure behind my eyes, the kind of threat you could smell before it even crossed the threshold. I looked up at Levi, at the way he’d curled himself into the sheets again, small and tight, shoulders up around his ears.
“Money,” he said, the word flat and lifeless. “It’s always about money with her.” He didn’t cry. He just looked like he’d been shoved off a cliff and only now realized how far the bottom was.
I stared at the phone, read the message three times, then set it on the nightstand, screen up. I didn’t have to ask if he wanted to go. That wasn’t how this worked. I just put my hand over his and waited until the tremors faded.
“You want me to handle it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. I need to go. She’ll just keep coming until she gets what she wants.” He ran a hand through his hair, tugged it until his scalp went white. “She always does.”
I watched him, did the mental math. There was nothing she could do to hurt him, not really. Not with me and half the county between her and the boy she’d let rot for years. But I knew how easy it was to fall back into old wounds. How quickly you could be unmade by the people who claimed to love you.
I picked up the phone, opened the text, and typed out a reply before he could stop me.He’ll meet you at Rosie’s Bakery at noon. Public place. He won’t be alone.
I sent it, then put the phone down and looked at Levi.
He stared at me, wide-eyed, lips parted in protest. “You didn’t have to—”
“I know,” I said, cutting him off. “But I’m not letting her get in your head. If she wants to talk, she does it on our terms.”
He swallowed, throat working, then managed a weak laugh. “You think she’ll show?”
“She’ll come,” I said. “They always do, if the money’s good enough.”
He flopped back onto the bed, covering his face with both hands. “God, I hate this,” he said. “Why can’t she just—” The rest of the sentence died, but I knew what he meant.
I slid closer, wrapped an arm around his waist, and pulled him in until his head rested in the crook of my shoulder. “You’re not doing this alone,” I said, and I felt his whole body relax at the words, as if the fear was something you could shuck like an old shirt.
He was silent for a while, just breathing, letting the new reality settle.
“You think she’ll cause a scene?” he asked finally, muffled against my chest.
“Not with the whole town watching,” I said. “And if she does, I’ll handle it.”
He snorted, a real laugh this time. “You gonna throw her out the window?”
“If that’s what it takes,” I said, and kissed the top of his head.
He went quiet again, but the shaking was gone. I watched the light creep up the far wall, the faint orange glow as the sun burned through the last of the fog. The world outside didn’t matter. Not yet.
When the second text came—perfect, see you there—I smiled. She thought she could play us. She had no idea who she was dealing with.
I felt Levi reach for my hand, his fingers sliding between mine, and I held on, hard enough that I knew he’d never slip.
“We’re gonna be okay, right?” he said, so soft I almost missed it.
“Yeah, Sunshine. We are.”
