Levi shakes his head. “You’re like a phoenix rising from the ashes, you know that?”
“Having a family that is as supportive as you guys has helped.” I slug his arm. “Patient, too.”
“We all have our moments, yours was just extended,” he says, slugging me back.
“I’ve got a lot of making up for my actions to do.”
“You will. Go easy on yourself. You’ve been through a lot.” He tilts his chin down and stares in my direction. “And Bex? How are you two going to work together?”
“We’ll be fine,” I say easily. Maybe a bit too easily; Levi’s eyebrows shoot up and almost pop off his head.
“I thought, in your own words, you wanted to kill each other?”
“Kill may be harsh,” I say, waving a hand in the air. “I think we disagree on some things, but we’ll be able to get along for the sake of having peace in Sweetkiss Creek.”
Levi eyes me. “Uh-huh.”
“What?”
He lifts a shoulder and lets it drop. “Remember Lacy Daily?”
“My middle-school girlfriend?”
“Yep. The one you were mean to. All the time. You would make fun of her, pull her hair. Anything to get a rise out of her so you had her attention.”
“That’s not the way I remember it, but go on.”
He smirks, shaking his head. “You were relentless, man. The classic case of a kid not knowing how to deal with his feelings. But everyone knew you had a thing for her, even if you didn’t. It was like you couldn’t stand the thought of her not thinking about you, so you made sure she did.”
I rub the back of my neck, the memory of those awkward school days coming back in flashes. “I guess I wasn’t as smooth as I thought.”
“Smooth? You were about as smooth as sandpaper.” He laughs. “But it worked, didn’t it? She noticed you, all right. Probably still remembers you, too.”
“What are you saying, Levi?”
“There are some similarities here.” He bobs his head from left to right, as if mulling something over. “Lots of similarities. Like, a good amount. The teasing, the false ‘no’ and saying you can’t stand her…”
“Stop it.” I karate chop the air with my hand. If we’re going to dig into my love life, I need a therapist here for that unraveling. “I’m not even going to entertain the thought with you.”
“Fine, fine.” Levi holds up his hands, then he looks around, nostalgia washing across his features. “We played some great games here.”
“We qualified for State Champs in this stadium,” I remind him.
“We sure did.” He claps my back. “If I remember correctly, you went into the state championship game injured, didn’t you?”
“I did,” I say with a chuckle. “Good memory.”
“You stepped on a mousetrap, right?”
I wince at the pain even now. “I thought my toe was going to need to be amputated.” Okay, maybe I do have a flair for the dramatic.
“Please. It was barely sprained, though the newspapers made a big deal out of it.”
“True,” I say, nodding. “I think they called me the comeback kid.”
“They sure did.” He puts me in his sights. “Have you got one more in you?”
Grinning, I don’t answer. Instead, we start walking in unison back to the truck. From here, we return to the gym parking lot where I drop off Levi. I don’t want to talk about my injury or future anymore, not now. And I know he’s tired of hearing about it. He hops out and we promise to connect later, and I head home because I’ve got more calls to make.
