She suddenly felt exposed, the morning light no doubt highlighting her tired, bloodshot eyes. But a quick scan of Levi’s face showed she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t slept well.
“Okay. Thanks. See you then.” Levi tapped a button and looked back at her, at her bags, his face falling. “You don’t have to go, Mia.”
She gave him a sad smile. “Yes, I do.”
He seemed to weigh her words. A shadow flickered in his jaw. Then he gave a small nod. “You need that floatplane?”
“I scheduled a flight out of Charlotte.”
“A ride to the airport then?”
She couldn’t tell whether it was hope or dread on his face. Maybe both. She was feeling the same way herself. “I have a car coming.”
“Right.” Disappointment flickered in his eyes.
That shouldn’t make her feel better, but it did. “What are you going to do? About the inn?”
He lifted a heavy shoulder. “It’s officially closed until the repairs are complete. The insurance adjuster will come tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”
But she knew being shut down in the middle of peak season was going to be devastating for a business that was already struggling. “How long do you think the repairs will take?”
“I’ll have a better idea of that in the next few days. Hopefully we can get right on it.”
Molly had told her all that would need to be done. There was at least a month’s work here if not more.
“Levi... please, why don’t you just let me help—”
“Have you told Nolan you’re going home yet?”
She sighed. He didn’t want her money. Or her, for that matter. It took all her skills to maintain eye contact and pretend like this wasn’t killing her.
“He thinks it’s a good idea at this point. I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” she said, repeating his words and hearing the same futile hope in them.
“And your next project?”
She shrugged. “We’ll see. I guess it’ll all work out the way it was meant to.”
The way it was meant to. This wasn’t the way she’d thought it would work out at all. She’d been planning a future with Levi. A future he obviously didn’t want as badly as she did. She supposed one never got used to rejection.
She swallowed against the lump in her throat and checked her phone, a necessary distraction. “My car’s here.”
“Wait,” he said as she started moving toward the door. “There’s something I want you to have.” He walked past her, through the door, and to the check-in desk.
Leaving her bags, she followed him.
He reached under the desk then extended a white tissue–wrapped bundle the size of her fist.
A horn tooted outside.
“Thanks.” She took it and placed it in her purse. “And thank you for your...” She struggled for a way to describe all the things he’d done for her. Everything he’d meant to her.
“You’re welcome.” He stepped closer, his eyes warming. “Mia, I’m really sorry that...” He was the one at a loss now.
She saw the struggle in his eyes, the hurt. And knew she had to let him off the hook. “It’s okay, Levi.”
He reached out to her, and that was all it took.
She flung herself into his arms, buried her face in the nook between his neck and shoulder, and inhaled him. Memorized the spicy scent of him. The gentle scrape of his jaw against her forehead. The needy feel of his hands at the small of her back. She was grateful, so grateful, for this last contact. In a few minutes she’d only have memories to keep her heart warm.
