Page 82 of Hopeless Romantic
“Oh my god.” Paisley laughed. “Did she hit it?”
“Thump, thump.”
Paisley tented her hands over her mouth. “Did she cry?”
“Okay, she didn’t hit the squirrel, but yes, she did cry. She wailed so hard, Grandpa had me drive home, and I didn’t even have my license. She refused to get behind the wheel for a month.” He hooked his arm around Paisley’s shoulders and gave her a side hug. “You may have failed four times, but your mom failed seven. Or it might have been eight, I forget.”
“No way.”
“Sorry, kiddo, you not only inherited her bad taste in boyband music, but her test-taking skills, too. On the upside, you’ve also got her resilience and strength. You just need practice.”
They reached the truck, and Paisley leveled that grin at him, the one he could never refuse.
“Then, can I drive us home?” When he hesitated, she said, “Come on, I’ve done it before. Plus, how am I going to get better if I don’t get to practice?”
Levi tossed her the keys and started toward the passenger’s side. “Once we get to the high school and pick up Tommy, I’m driving the rest of the way home.”
It would give him a chance to pick Paisley’s brain. There was a lot more to Beckett than pie, scallops, and moussaka, and he needed to find out before tonight. Levi wasn’t looking for someone to play hooky with, he was looking for something a little more serious. And he was looking for that with Beckett. So creating the right tone for their meeting was crucial.
When they got into the truck, he asked, “What are the most romantic things on my menu?”
“Mom always said, ‘Anything made with love.’”
Chapter 17
Beckett was headed for some serious heartbreak, and no amount of pie could fix it. Not that she wasn’t going to try.
While she and Dog Wonder were at the pediatric ward, she’d received a call from Fur-Ever Friends, who were excited to relay that it was time to make things official. Gregory was scheduled for his final certification test, and if he passed, he could be reunited with his family at their earliest convenience.
She’d banked on the testing schedule being backlogged, to give herself the time she needed to prepare for goodbye, but a last-minute cancellation had left an opening for Gregory to slide in. With only an hour to drop off Diesel and drive to the shelter, there was no time for just Gregory and Beckett.
When they arrived at the Fur-Ever Friends training barn, Katie and her family were waiting at the curb to walk Gregory inside. Before Beckett could gather her wits, the test was over, Gregory passed his ESA certificate with flying colors, and he was handed over to his fur-ever family—who invited Beckett to a celebratory dinner after.
She politely declined, telling herself the cleaner the break, the faster she’d heal. She’d always been spectacular at denial, constantly in forward motion so she wouldn’t have to look back. It had gotten her this far, but the weight was getting harder to carry alone.
Which was how she found herself at the marina, dressed in a cape and space-girl buns, with three different kinds of cake and a half-eaten carton of ice cream. Determined to make it to the boat before she took another bite, she made her way down the dock and around the pump station, heading toward Levi’s berth. Only when she reached the back of his boat did she notice someone waiting.
Levi stood on the deck, and he’d clearly come straight from work. He was wearing dark jeans, a white dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar, and a navy crew jacket that added a touch of sailor-boy swagger to the businessman. His elbows rested on the deck railing, two beer bottles dangling from his fingertips. He looked strong and capable, like a big, sexy shelter from the storm. He walked toward her, his feet eating up the distance, until he was standing close enough to touch. Close enough to smell—she sniffed again. “Is that bacon?”
“Bacon-wrapped scallops.” He took her by the hand and led her across the glossy cedar flooring to a sophisticated semi-circular seating area. In its center sat a welcoming blue-glass firepit and a table set for two. “They’re on the grill.”
Only the best item on the Crow’s Nest menu. They were listed as an appetizer, but Beckett ordered them every time she ate there. Topped with a heavenly green sauce made from garlic, fresh herbs, and diced jalapenos, the dish was Beckett’s personal favorite.
“You sure know how to make a lady feel special,” she teased.
Levi’s eyes ran the length of her, paying careful attention to her leggings, her cape, and her space-girl buns. By the time he made it back to her red-rimmed eyes, he took the cakes from her hand, set them on the table, and pulled her against him.
“I’m sorry about Gregory,” he whispered into her hair.
“Me too.” She wrapped her arms tightly around him and buried her face in his neck. Breathing in his strength and listening to the soothing beat of his heart, she finally admitted to herself that this was what she’d come here for.
Her friends would want to talk about Gregory’s adoption, and her family wouldn’t know what to say. But Levi, he just held her while she pretended those weren’t tears on her cheeks. The boat swayed gently beneath them, and she gave herself over to Levi’s capable arms and tender embrace, not in any rush to move.
“He had to leave sometime,” she finally said.
He brushed the tear away with the pad of this thumb. “I’m sorry that sometime was today.”
“This is ridiculous,” she said, trying to stop the tears without much success.
