Page 46 of Hopeless Romantic
In addition to running the restaurant, he’d helped his mom install a new bathroom vanity, handled rent from marina tenants, and lived through another death-defying driver’s lesson with Paisley—who sideswiped a pylon, burst into tears, and claimed her life was officially over. And it was only Wednesday.
His first day off in weeks. With the bar and grill in Gus’s capable hands, Levi planned on spending some of that desperately needed me-time on his boat, which had always been his happy place. He could be himself there, get away from family obligations and the problems at work, and relive the simpler times he’d shared with his dad on the water.
Nothing about today had turned out simple. Between fielding calls from the restaurant and a never-ending string of texts from family, Levi hadn’t even left the marina.
The only person he wanted to talk to, he hadn’t heard from. Beckett had been radio silent since he’d dropped her off at her house. She’d put on a brave face, but he could tell she was worried about her family; she’d looked ready to cry. Surprising, since Beckett was not prone to display waterworks, no matter how bad the situation.
And by the time they’d pulled into her drive, bad didn’t even begin to describe the situation. Thomas was circling the drive, Karen was waving a pickax from her yard, and the only thing standing between Diesel and a beheading was Officer Daniels, whose presence seemed to upset Beckett more than the pickax.
When Levi insisted on staying, Beckett said the best way to help was to leave. Which he did, right after Officer Daniels apprehended the ax and sent Karen inside to cool off. By the time he’d dropped off her scooter, any evidence of the near-miss altercation had vanished. So had Beckett.
When she didn’t answer the door, he dropped her keys into the mailbox, texting her on his way home—and a few other times—to make sure she was okay. She’d only responded to the texts regarding the wedding.
Levi considered using the wedding as an excuse to see her, but Gus called first thing to report another case of missing wine, this one from a different distributor. With some serious housekeeping issues of his own, he left Girl Wonder to fight her own battle and launched a quiet investigation into what was going on at his bar.
His first calls had been to the wine companies, to track down their delivery guy and discover who had signed off on each of the orders. To Levi’s surprise, he had. At least according to the signature on the delivery slips. Odd, since he had no recollection of receiving either case and had iron-clad alibis for the time of the deliveries.
While his wine search failed to locate any missing wine, it did uncover a charge for an eight-hundred-dollar bottle of scotch, which Levi had not ordered or authorized. After cycling through several customer-assistance reps, who offered jack shit in terms of assistance, he finally got through to a manager, who claimed that the order had originated from Levi’s personal email and was charged on the company account. Since he couldn’t prove otherwise, and the scotch was already in transit, he wrote down the tracking number—hoping it would aid him in trapping whoever was living large on Levi’s dime.
Eyes gritty from lack of sleep, and feeling as if he’d made all the progress he could for the day, Levi decided to salvage the last couple hours of his day off and watch the tide roll in while figuring out his next steps in Operation Making Plans with Wedding Planner.
By the time he reached the stern of the boat, the sun was already making its descent into the distant horizon. And when the last bit of day disappeared beneath the waterline, and the blues slowly turned all the colors of a mai tai, Levi called it.
Somehow, his entire day off had passed without Levi gaining a moment’s peace.
Grabbing a beer from inside, he threw on a winter coat and brushed off the cushion of a deck chair before plopping down. Damn if he was moving before the stars became visible.
He took a pull from the bottle and listened to the rocking of the boat, doing his best to match his heart rate to the gentle rise and fall of the water beneath him. Seagulls flew overhead, circling a rock a hundred yards out, squawking as they dipped down only to circle back up after their feet touched the water.
Levi learned how to swim before he could walk. Was still in diapers when his dad took him out on his first sail. Levi grew up on the ocean; it was more a home to him than anywhere else. But sitting here by himself, watching the most beautiful sunset, with a fridge full of beer, he couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to have someone by his side, to share the moment with.
His phone vibrated across the glass-top table, and a small thrill sped through him at the possibility that it was Beckett on the other end. He looked at the screen and—well, shit.
“Hey, Mom,” he said by way of greeting. “You watching this sunset?”
“With a margarita in hand.” Her voice was wistful. “Nights like tonight always remind me of your daddy.”
“Me, too.” Pulling his coat around him, Levi took in a deep breath of sea air, the mixture of brine and seaweed bringing him back to a simpler time. “People who romanticize summer sunsets will never know the beauty of the rare winter one.”
Those were the words his father swore by. Hector had believed that the most beautiful treasures in life lay hidden beneath the surface. Then again, he fancied himself an amateur treasure hunter. He never did find any chest filled with gold bullion, but Hector loved the hunt.
“Gray was over today. Brought some old photos of Michelle from when they first started dating. Some I had never seen,” she said. “I’m making a scrapbook of her life and asked him if there were any favorites he could part with. Showed up with a whole box of photos and keepsakes. I was hoping you could go through your stuff, too.”
“I stored a few wine crates of Michelle’s stuff in the office.” Just some of the many things Michelle had left behind. After she died, Levi hadn’t known what to do with them, so he carefully put everything in some wooden wine crates and placed them in the corner.
He was waiting for the right time to give them to his mom and Gray. He hadn’t been sure he was ready to part with them yet, but it seemed the right time had arrived.
“Oh no.” Ida gasped. “Give them to Grayson. Whatever he and Paisley don’t want, I’ll take. But Michelle’s things should go to them first.”
“I’ll drop them by Gray’s later this week.”
“I was hoping you could hand them to him tonight. At bowling.”
Christ. He dropped his forehead against the table. He loved his family and had a great circle of friends, but honest to God, he didn’t have the energy to peel himself away from the sunset to rifle through his dead sister’s belongings before handing them off in the parking lot of the Bowl-A-Rama.
“I’m not sure how Gray will deal with getting that kind of material in public,” Levi said, knowing that his brother-in-law was barely holding on. If Paisley wasn’t living with him most of the time, Gray would fall deeper into the hole of his misery.
“Then drop everything by his house on the way.”
