Page 10 of Choosing Happily Ever After

Levi kissed his auntie on the forehead as she handed him a cup of coffee and he took a seat at the kitchen table.Hisseat. Or at least the one that used to be his when he was a kid. Old habits die hard.

“I know.” Of course he knew; she’d been telling him as much on repeat for the last few days. Not that he minded. Levi blew on the coffee before setting it down. “It really is good to be back.”

“Is it?” Aunt Debbie never did beat around the bush. She took her seat across from him and gazed steadily at him until he smiled and nodded.

“It is.” It was an honest answer. “I missed you.” Another honest answer.

“But you didn’t miss everything.”

He shook his head. “No. But that doesn’t matter now.” He waited for her to challenge him, but she simply smiled a sad smile and sat back.

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t. I’m just really glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much, Levi.”

“She has, it’s true.” A familiar voice behind him had Levi jumping up and out of his seat to give his cousin a bear hug.

Levi pulled Katie into a tight hug and lifted her the way he had when they were kids. “Finally,” he said when he put her down. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting to see you for days.”

She laughed and attempted to smooth her dark ponytail back off her face. “I’ve been here and there,” she said with a wink before moving across the floor to help herself to a coffee. “I’m a busy girl.”

Levi shook his head when Aunt Deb rolled her eyes. “Too busy to help your brother and me around here, that’s for sure.”

“Hey.” Katie pretended to look offended. “I’m taking a very demanding course. When I graduate, I’ll be able to take this ranch to the next level.”

“Whatever that is.”

“You wait and see, Mom. I have ideas.” She turned to look at Levi, her face a mask of seriousness. “Do you know how much potential there is in expansion and diversification?” Katie had been taking a business degree online in recent months and even though Logan had warned him that she was full of ideas for how to improve operations around the ranch, Levi hadn’t expected his once completely indifferent cousin to be so passionate about it.

“I guess I never really thought about it.”

Katie put her hands on the table and leaned over as she spoke, clearly excited to share with someone. “There are lots of options, you know, Levi? It doesn’t have to always be the way we’ve done things. I mean, look at Hope Turner. She’s completely changed everything about her ranch and she’s killing it.”

Shewaskilling it. At least, that was as much as he could deduce from only working for her for a few days. She had a well-run organization and looking at her calendar, she was booked up for almost every spring and summer weekend for the next few years. It was impressive what she’d done. And all on her own.

But that was changing now, too. She didn’t have to do it all on her own. He was back and more than happy to help. If she wanted him to, that was.

Sure, she’d hired him, but Levi couldn’t help but feel that he was going to get fired soon. Almost from the moment she’d agreed to let him help out, Hope hadn’t been able to make eye contact with him. He knew Hope. Having him around couldn’t be easy.

Just the way it wasn’t easy to be so close to her and not be able to have her.

It was torture. But a torture he’d happily continue to put himself through. After all, it was Hope. He’d do anything for her.

“Hope’s place is pretty incredible,” he said as soon as Katie let him get in a word. “I’m super impressed with what she’s doing around there.”

“It must be nice to be spending time with Hope again, Levi.” The question was innocent enough, but as Levi looked across the table to his aunt, she wore a wicked grin on her face, one that she tried—and failed—to cover by taking a sip of her coffee.

“It is,” he answered honestly. “But, she is my boss.” He took a deep gulp of the hot coffee and put his mug down hard on the table. “And even though she told me not to come in until after lunch, I wanted to stop by the hardware store and grab some supplies before heading over there.”

“You always were a hard worker.”

“Sounds like someone is trying to suck up.”

Levi looked in turn at the women at the table. Aunt Deb looked almost the same as she always had. There was a little more gray streaked in her long, thick braid that hung down her back, but the adoring smile she always had for him was exactly the same.

Katie, on the other hand, had changed. Somewhere along the line, she’d grown up from the precocious bratty little sister she’d always been, to a feisty, sassy woman with ideas way too big for this town.

He shook his head and laughed. “It’s good to be home. I’ll see you both later.”

It wasn’t until he was in his truck driving out of the yard that Levi realized he’d referred to the ranch ashome.

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