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He closed his eyes briefly and nodded. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
“Now,” I said with a grin. “Let’s discuss how amazing this breakfast is.”
Chapter Eight
Soren
By the time our early afternoon flight rolled around the next Friday, my nerves had started to get the better of me. My stomach roiled and my hands shook as we made our way through the security line at the airport. “I forgot to tell you, Mom asked why I’m only coming back for the weekend.”
Levi frowned and took off his shoes to put through the X-ray machine. “What did you tell her?”
I exhaled slowly and hauled my backpack onto the conveyor belt. “I told her I missed home but I have to work Monday.”
“And?”
I shook my head. “She didn’t really buy it. She said something about the perks of being self-employed and changed the subject.”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
Something about his touch steadied me, grounded me. I nodded. “I hope you’re right.”
The minute we were on the plane, Levi struck up a conversation to distract me from my flight anxiety, turning his back to the window as we talked. “So what are your folks like?”
I angled my body to face him. “They’re nice. Good people. Maybe a little too much sometimes.”
He snorted and shook his head. “That doesn’t tell me anything about them. That could be anyone.”
I quirked a small smile. “Okay… what do you want to know?”
“Do they have hobbies? What was your childhood like? Are you a vacation family? What about cows?”
My eyebrows rose. “Cows?”
“Yeah,” Levi said. “You know, cows. When you were a kid and you drove past fields with cows, did your mom announce that there were cows? And did she moo? Or did you just drive past the field without recognizing the livestock?”
I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of me. “No, my mom did not announce cows. And she definitely didn’t moo.”
Levi frowned and shrugged. “Too bad. I always wanted to be part of a cow family.”
I snorted and shook my head. “So I take it your mom didn’t announce cows, either?”
“Not quite. Mom and Dad are… reserved. They, you know, love me. Support me. But they don’t get enthusiastic about many things. Remember how quiet they were at the wedding? That’s pretty much how they were at my sister Amelia’s wedding, too.”
“Really? I figured that was just because they were surprised that you sprung me on them basically the minute the will was read.”
“I’m sure that didn’t help, but they weren’t much more animated at Ames’s wedding. I promise.”
“So you have a sister named Amelia and she’s married,” I said. “Does she have kids? Are you an uncle?” We had barely talked about anything personal during the previous week. For the most part, we’d stayed out of each other’s way. Gone to work, had dinner, and gone to bed, barely saying much of anything to each other. Mostly we’d been dancing around each other and trying to figure out where we fit together in this strange new partnership.
“I am. She has two kids, Toby and Angie. They’re great. I don’t get to see them too often, but they’re good kids. Toby’s four, Angie is two.”
I whistled, soft and low. “Two little kids can be a handful.”
He nodded. “They can be. But like I said, they’re good. Easy to handle for the most part. Todd, on the other hand, he’s totally useless. Amelia thinks it’s cute. It makes me angry for her though. A spouse should be an equal partner, not someone you can’t trust to ‘babysit’ their own children for an hour.”
I bit my lip and let his words simmer for a moment. “Sounds like you have strong feelings about Todd.”
“Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to derail the conversation. Back to your parents. What do I need to know?”
