Page 76 of The Bad Boy's Homecoming
“Oh, honey, please don’t try to tell me there hasn’t been something going on with you and Levi the second he arrived here.You two are like two flames sitting too close together about to turn into one big fireball.”
When Missy spotted him in only his towel her eyes roved over him and stopped at where he tied the towel below his abs.Then she gulped.
He liked the blush spreading up her neck and how she purposely turned away from him as if it was too hard to think with him half undressed.
“Mrs.Hart, I just mean to say I’m sorry for being unprofessional and it won’t happen again.”
“The hell it won’t,” Levi said.“I thought we settled this earlier—you’re mine.Remember.You promised,” Levi said, moving toward her.
“Levi, I work for your grandmother,” Missy said through clenched teeth.
“Well if that’s the problem then you’re fired,” Gran said.
Levi laughed as he caught Missy up in his arms.“Oh good thing you’re a brilliant artist and don’t really need to work for Gran.”
“But, I love this job.”
“Well, honey, you don’t have to leave.That art studio is yours forever.I’ll even leave it to you in my will.But you don’t need to be worried about looking after little old me, and you certainly don’t need the pay.Just one of your paintings sell for more than you were making in a month here as my companion.Which I happen to know was code forkeeping an eye on Gran cuz she’s getting old.”
Missy’s mouth opened and closed like a fish.
“And maybe it was code for keeping an eye on Missy while she figures out who she really is,” his grandmother said pointing her pink-painted fingernail at Missy.“And I’d say you’ve found her, artist, woman in charge of her own destiny.”
Missy’s eyes welled with tears.
“Baby, don’t cry.Gran is always right.You can stay here and paint but maybe you’re ready for the next step.You could create another art studio, somewhere with palm trees.”
“Oh I love a tall skinny palm tree, just swaying in the breeze,” Gran said, hiding a yawn.“I’m just going to take my tea upstairs.And let you two talk and figure things out.”
Levi gave Missy another squeeze and then wiped the tears that fell onto her cheeks as he cupped her face.
“Hey, all we’re saying is you can do whatever you want.”
“I like it here.It’s quiet, and safe, and…”
He waited wondering if she was going to tell him the real reason she’d been hiding out in this small town, in his grandmother’s sunroom.
“I’m not ready for this, or I’m not sure.”
“Okay, then I’ll be back each weekend and we’ll do long distance.”
But she stepped away from him.
“Until when?”
“Until you’re ready to be with me all the time, until my baseball career is over?I don’t know.Do we have to decide the end now?”
“It doesn’t matter how it ends, it’s the fact that it will end.It always does.Especially with a guy like you.”
Levi would rather have been punched in the gut than feel the rejection of those words.A guy like him, a bad boy, a guy no one wants to take seriously, a guy they don’t choose.
“Missy, I don’t want this to end, ever.But I understand it’s not fair for me to expect you to just follow me to Florida right now.Granted you can do your art just about anywhere, but I understand if you need more time to warm up to that.Gran will probably disown me if I steal you away right this second, but we could find someone else to look in on her, when you’re ready.I still need to find us a place in Tampa, but I’ll come back every weekend.Or maybe some weekends you’ll want to visit me in Florida.We can take turns visiting each other?”
“Until you get sick of me and you decide you want something easier, or someone else.”
There it was: the unknown enemy he was up against.It wasn’t her beliefs about him, it was her beliefs about herself.She didn’t believe he would stick around and love her, because no one had.
“No, that isn’t how this ends.I don’t want someone else.Besides it’s too late.”
