Anna Leigh looked back in the box, then pulled out a bag without looking at it as she set it on the floor. “Here’s some leftover formula mix. You just mix it with water.” She pulled out a few bottles and then gave a demonstration on the proper way to hold the kittens while feeding them.
“You know a lot about taking care of baby animals,” Hayley said with obvious pride in her voice.
Anna Leigh looked at her blankly. “Like I told Mr. Levi,being a kitty parent is a big responsbability.” She narrowed her eyes at Hayley. “Can you handle it?”
Hayley straightened her spine and adopted the most serious expression Levi had ever seen on her face. “I will do my best.”
Anna Leigh nodded, appeased. “Good.” She reached in the box once more, this time retrieving a shallow plastic pan and a half-filled bag of cat litter. She wrinkled her nose but looked Hayley and Levi directly in the eyes. “This part is kind of disgusting, but you just have to do it anyway.” She showed them how to rub the kitten’s abdomen and stimulate the back end with a warm moistened tissue after feeding to get the kitten to go potty in the litter box.
Shelby had to nearly drag Anna Leigh away from the kittens after all her explanations until Levi promised she could come back the next day to check on them.
“Call me if you need help!” the little girl shouted right before her mom shut the car door and drove away.
As soon as the car’s rear lights disappeared from view, a low rumble rippled through the sky overhead, pulling both Levi and Hayley’s attention up to the ominous gray thundercloud rolling into view.
“That doesn’t look good,” Hayley said.
Levi grunted, his body going rigid as if preparing for a back-alley brawl. He gritted his teeth and curled his fingers around his thumbs. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stormed inside.
19
Why now? Why, out of any time in all eternity, did a thunderstorm have to strike tonight of all nights?
Levi paced the length of his bedroom, turned on his heel, and ground a path into the carpet in the other direction. His heart drummed a wild beat against his ribs, his breath coming in short bursts. His brain had switched to fight-or-flight mode, but he was caged in this sixteen-by-sixteen room, so he couldn’t flee. On top of that, his adversary was an unwelcome weather pattern, which he couldn’t very well duke out. Instead, he pressed the backs of his knuckles into the sockets of his eyes, his jaw clenched tight. A humorless laugh escaped his thinly pressed lips. If he believed in such things, he’d say the universe itself was conspiring against him.
All he wanted to do was march up to Hayley, hold her in his arms, and spend the rest of the night getting to know her better. Catalogue every nuance of flavor her mouth held. Memorize every expression that flashed through her decadent eyes. Imprint her touch to his skin so he’d always have her with him.
A distant clap of thunder shattered the night sky, causing every muscle within his body to seize without his permission. Anger, with embarrassment following quicky on its heels, raced through his bloodstream, leaving him more agitatedand keyed up than he’d already been. He banged his closed fist against his temple, his fight against himself just as much as anything else.
There was a gorgeous woman in his home who, against all odds, actually seemed to like him and didn’t find him entirely off-putting, and he was trapped in his room, barricaded away. He couldn’t let her see him like this, see what storms did to him. What woman would want a man who became an impotent, cowering thing because of a little thunder?
Levi didn’t think he could hate himself more than he did in that moment.
A flash of lightning illuminated the night sky through his window. He jerked his hands up, pressing his palms over his ears. He wanted to punch a wall instead. Thunder rumbled outside, loud and long and ominous. A crash of a cymbal followed by the roll of a drum.
Forget punching the wall. He wanted to put on his headphones, turn the volume up to help drown out any unpredictable loud bangs, and binge-watch an entire season ofParks and Recuntil he could quote every Leslie Knope line.
He’d have to come up with some excuse to tell Hayley. She was probably out in the living room, wondering where he’d gone and when he’d come back. They were supposed to be talking over a dinner of Frosted Flakes, and instead he was acting like a cornflake himself. He really hoped his absence wasn’t making her second-guess their kiss. Or worse, that he was hurting her feelings by staying away, seeing his absence as some sort of rejection.
He hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He really didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
The window rattled with the next shout of thunder, and he jumped, his heart galloping away from him. A whimper escaped his lips. A cowardly, unmanly whimper.
He couldnotlet her see him like this. If he was ever going toget a real shot with Hayley—a shot at a real relationship—he had to hide this side of himself. Resigned and ashamed, he grabbed his headphones from the drawer of his bedside table. He was just about to slip them on over his head when a tentative knock sounded on his door.
“Levi?” Hayley’s voice came out soft and small.
Levi froze. He couldn’t open the door, but ignoring her altogether would only make the situation worse.
A dull thunk echoed from the wooden slab separating them. A sound not of knuckles rapping but something heavier. Like a forehead coming down to rest upon the wood.
“Levi,” Hayley said again, a bit plaintive and slightly desperate, “this is embarrassing to admit, but I’m just going to come out and say it. I’m afraid of storms. I ... I don’t want to be alone right now. Do you think...” She cleared her throat. “Would you please come out? Please.”
Her voice broke on her plea, ripping through his pride. Without a second thought to his own preservation or what she’d think of him or if the night and storm would bring the end to something that had only just begun, he marched across the room and flung open the door. She stumbled forward and landed right at the center of his chest. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around her, drawing her closer by pressing his palms against her spine.
She tilted her head back and looked up at him through glassy eyes. “Thank you,” she breathed.
He deserved accusations likeWhere did you go?orWhy were you hiding?but instead he received a thank-you. He did not deserve this woman.
