Levi rubbed his hand soothingly over Jillian’s back.
“You make sure you don’t break anything special,” Pete said to Levi.
Jesus. There was a warning he’d hear in his sleep. “I know how to take care of things that matter, Pete.”
The chef’s lips twitched, moving his mustache. “Good.”
“Is he gone?” Jillian whispered, still looking at their feet.
“He is.”
She stepped back, not looking at him as she went to the lemonade and took a long drink. Like she needed to center herself, Jillian inhaled deeply, set her drink down, and turned to face him. Uncertainty trickled back into her eyes, making his muscles tense. “We’re not kids anymore. Ihavea kid, and both of us live here on the island.”
He smiled teasingly. “Sure will make it easier to hang out with you.”
She sighed, a soft smile on her lips but worry present in her gaze. “It’s complicated.”
Levi nodded. He didn’t need to push. She’d been right there with him, wanting that kiss every bit as much as he did. She might need time to process and sort through whatever she felt, but this thing between them was too big for either of them to ignore. This wasn’t just a teenage crush or fond memories pulling at his heartstrings. It was his future bursting wide open. Of course, he could tell just by looking at her that if he said that, she’d run. JillianKeller had always been cautious and careful. Being divorced and having a kid probably made her more so.
“I’m in no rush. Some things are worth the wait.”
She pulled in another one of those shuddery breaths and he had to stop himself from crossing over to her and pulling her into his arms.
“I don’t want to screw up our friendship. You’ve always mattered to me.”
He had that fear in the back of his head too. He trusted his own instincts, though, and everything inside him told him this was worth the risk. They weren’t teens anymore. They were adults capable of compromise and flexibility. He’d never shied away from working for what he wanted. And he’d never wanted anyone like Jilly.
“Didn’t I just promise Pete I wouldn’t wreck anything special? He might bury me in some other storage space if I don’t make good on my word.”
Jill looked up at him, her brows furrowing adorably, her arms going out wide to gesture to the room. “He was talking about this stuff.”
Levi loved that she really thought that. “No, sweetheart. He was talking about you.” He let that sink in. Watched her features as it did, loving the way her eyes lit up from his words. “You’re the something special, Jillian Keller. You always have been.”
Nine
Jillian felt like two different people: one who wanted to lead with her heart and one who knew to lead with her brain. Her heart was still swooning like the heroine of an old-timey black-and-white movie over an almost kiss. What would it be like if they had anactualkiss? Her head was telling her to smarten up and protect herself.
Wanting and taking were two different things. She couldn’t take for herself without directly impacting her daughter. And no matter how she felt, Ollie would always come first.
She bit her lip, still staring at Levi like he was a complex riddle she could solve.
“You keep looking at me like that, we’ll never figure out what to do here,” he said, smiling at her from as far across the room as he could get given the mass amount of… stuff packed into the room.
Jilly’s heart did an unsteady jig in her chest. At nineteen, she’d met Andrew, had a whirlwind romance, gotten pregnant, and moved away. Getting caught up in “feelings” was how she’d ended up a thirty-year-old single mother who didn’t date.
Who didn’t want to date. Until Levi.
Giving herself a little pep talk about acting like an adult, she went to see what he was looking at. Levi lifted a framed photo out of a box he’d opened.
Jilly took it, ran her fingers over the dusty glass. “This is amazing.” It was a picture of Pete and Gwen standing in front of Pete’s, a sign over their heads saying:GRAND OPENING. They looked so young and full of life, happiness, and hope. She loved knowing that in some cases, happily ever after really did work out.
When she looked up to say as much to Levi, he was so close, her mind went right back to what it would feel like to kiss him. She set the frame down, stepping back, because she couldn’t breathe if they were sharing air, and nearly tumbled over a box. He caught her, both of his hands reaching out to steady her.
“You need to stop falling for me,” he said.
Jillian laughed, and sheknewhe’d made the cheesy joke to settle her nerves. Which just made her want him more. He dropped his hands and gestured to the room.
“There’s so much history in here,” she said, looking anywhere but directly at him.
