“No, I get it,” he said. “You obviously urgently needed…” He glanced down at her basket. "Sweet potatoes, lentils, and—wow, that’s a lot of strawberries, there.”
She followed his look down at her groceries. “Yeah, they’re all low-glycemic foods that my son loves… but you don’t care about any of that,” she murmured, mostly to herself.
By contrast, Levi was actually interested, but he decided to let it lie for now.
“Anyway,” she said, smiling. “How’d you even find me here?”
Levi hefted his grocery basket. “I didn’t, or at least I didn’t do it on purpose. You should get it,” he added teasingly. “You’re supposed to be the small-town expert, not me.” She didn’t lookentirely convinced, so he raised his free hand in a gesture of innocence. “I promise you that there was no stalking involved.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Should I be worried that you jumped right to ‘stalking?’” She paused. “And does it count as stalking if you use your country star contacts to find me?”
This time, it was Levi’s turn to wince.
“You know who I am?”
She nodded. “So, you can probably see why I didn’t believe that you needed singing lessons…”
A flicker of doubt crossed over her face, and Levi felt a corresponding flash of guilt.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth,” he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “I promise it wasn’t because I was having a laugh at your expense.”
June looked relieved, but guardedly so.
“I did wonder,” she said. “But can I ask, why didn’t you tell me, then?”
“Okay, so let me preface this by saying that I know this soundstotallyself-absorbed,” he said. “But when I go out and about in Nashville, which is where I usually live, I get recognized kind of a lot. I might not be tabloid famous or anything, but Iamcountry music famous, and Nashville is crammed to the rafters with country music fans. And that means that my job affects all parts of my life, and colors most of the interactions I have with new people that I meet.”
She nodded in understanding, and he was struck by how kind she seemed. She would be well within her rights to be far angrier about his lie of omission than she seemed.
“I can understand how that might get to be a lot after a while,” she murmured.
“That’s a good way of putting it,” he said. “It’s a big part of why I came to Magnolia Shore in the first place: to get a break from feeling like everybody was watching me all the time. Andwhen I met a pretty woman at a bar, I might have let that get a little bit away from me.”
She flushed. “Are you trying to charm me?”
“Oh, yeah, absolutely.” He made the confession without an ounce of hesitation. “I’m hoping that if I do it right, you’ll give me another chance.”
“Anotherchance?” she echoed. “So accepting my ‘singing lessons’ really was about flirting?” She made air quotes around the wordssinging lessons.
“I’d say it was ninety-three percent flirting,” he clarified. “The other seven percent was me wanting to hear you sing again. I was charming you at the bar too, but it wasn’t false flattery.” He grinned at her. “And now that you know who I am, I can brag a little and say that I know my music pretty well.”
He could tell that she was struggling hard not to smile.
“You know, my friends said the same thing,” he admitted.
“You talked to your friends about me?” Despite himself, he was pleased at the idea. He must have madesomekind of impression if she’d talked to her friends about him.
“Don’t look so pleased about it,” she said, pointing at him.
“Can’t help it,” he said, holding his one hand up in that same innocent gesture. “Like I said, I get distracted when I’m talking to a pretty woman. That’s why I agree to things like singing lessons just so that I can get to know her better… and seven percent to hear her sing.”
She lost her battle against her laughter.
“You’re incorrigible,” she told him.
“But it’s all part of my charm?” he suggested.
She scoffed, but she was smiling.
