Page 79 of Hopeless Romantic
He leaned against the bar. “How about tonight?”
“Don’t you work?”
He shrugged. “I think my staff can handle a few hours without me.”
“Well . . .” She wanted to explain that she hadn’t prepped to be gone for more than a couple of hours, then caught herself. She’d promised to try. This was her chance to really be bold and take a risk. Plus, how risky could it be? It was just dinner. She took a deep breath to push the nerves away and gave a single nod. “I’ll bring the cake.”
He smiled. “As long as it’s iced.”
Chapter 16
Levi took the last turn toward the marina with Paisley sitting beside him in the truck, frustration wafting off her in waves. Her arms were crossed tight, her gaze out the window, her jaw clenching and unclenching, a glimmer of tears in her eyes.
He groaned internally. He should be used to tears by now, but he wasn’t sure a man ever got used to seeing the women he loved hurt.
Parking near the dock leading to his boat, he shut down the engine and looked at Paisley. “Honey, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not like you’ll never get your license.”
She shot him a side-eye glare, reached for the handle, and pushed the door open.
Levi got out and met her in front of the truck, where they opened a locked gate and continued toward Levi’s slip. “You told me yourself that a lot of your friends didn’t pass.”
“The first time,” she said. “After today, this is my fourth time. That testing guy, he had something against me. I could tell as soon as I met him. He didn’t smile or anything. I mean, who doesn’t smile when they’re about to usher a teenager into the next phase of adulthood?”
Levi bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, but that didn’t stem his smile.
They slowed when they reached the boat.
“What are we doing today?” Paisley asked.
“I’m going to replace a few parts on the engine, and you’re going to start sanding the steps into the cabin so we can refinish them.”
“I get to pick the music,” she said as she stepped onto the boat.
“Within reason. None of that high-pitched stuff that makes my ears bleed.”
“Whatever.”
Levi pulled all the supplies together while Paisley chose a station on the radio that only made him grind his teeth half as hard as usual.
He knew how devastating this fourth failure was to a kid Paisley’s age, and it wasn’t all about not getting her license. The embarrassment of it was equally—if not more—painful.
He set the sander and sandpaper near the teak steps, and Paisley got right to work. He guessed the sanding might even help her work out some of her frustration.
Levi sat nearby, opened the engine compartment positioned below deck, and unpackaged the new parts. “So, what’s this I hear about you reconsidering the ski trip?”
“I thought about it,” she said, the earlier annoyance in her voice almost gone now. “You were right.”
“Whoa, what?” When he turned to look at her, the clamp he was holding fell into the compartment, and he swore under his breath. “Look what you made me do.”
Paisley’s giggle lightened his heart as he fished out the clamp.
He knew this was another sore spot in Paisley’s young life. She’d done her level best to pretend she wasn’t interested in the trip, that it wasn’t cool, but he knew that the real reason Paisley had tried to get out of it was because her mother was supposed to have been a chaperone. Going on the trip would mean having to face her mother’s loss all over again. He didn’t blame her for doing all she could to avoid it. He was more surprised to hear that she’d changed her mind.
“So, the ski trip?” he asked again. “Something big must have changed for you to admit I was right.”
“Maybe I’m maturing.”
“Pffft. You might be able to get that past your dads, but you aren’t fooling me. In fact, I know you’re lying.”
