She chuckled again, shaking her head at him. Making her laugh was as thrilling as any onstage performance, he’d discovered.
“Please, astound me,” she invited.
“Well…” He paused as they crossed the street. He put a hand on June’s back to guide her, even though there wasn’t any traffic to speak of at the moment, then slipped his arm around her shoulders when they got to the other side. He was pleased to note that she seemed happy enough to lean into his side, and even happier to observe that she fit there perfectly.
“You mentioned that you have been off the dating scene for a while, so I thought that something low-key would make you feel a little more at ease.”
“Very thoughtful.” Her tone was playful, but he thought she meant it. He hoped so, at least. He wanted her to feel comfortable with him, wanted it more than he had expected.
“Yes, well, there’s more,” he said. “I also very considerately disregarded some of the more casual eateries in town, because I thought maybe the diner food might have lost some of its allure if you work there, and we could have stayed at Anchor Bistro, but I have already flirted with you there, so I wanted you to see that I can flirt with you in all kinds of settings.”
She laughed again, just as he’d intended. “Very clever. You want to make sure to show that you’re not only charming in certain locations.”
“Exactly,” he said approvingly. “After all, how can you know if you want to go out with me again if you’re busy worrying that I might be boring in some places. Maybe you want to try a library next, but you’re thinking, ‘Can this guy hang in a library?’ The more places we go, the more I can reassure you that, yes, I can totally hang in a library.”
She was cracking up now.
This wasfun. Levi couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this kind of fun on a date. He’d always been something of a ham; you didn’t end up as a professional performer without liking getting positive attention from an entertained audience. But generally, when he’d gone out with a woman in Nashville, she’d wanted to talk music, music, and more music. He’d been shoehorned into the role of the knowledgeable expert, and while he didn’t necessarily object to showing off his hard-won experience in the country music scene, it had come at the expense of just getting to have fun and be goofy with someone.
He hadn’t really recognized how long he had pushed this side of himself to the side.
“You know,” June said. “I’m so glad you brought it up. I always like to have dates at libraries. They just scream romance.”
“Especially in the romance section,” he said, which was possibly one of the worst jokes he could have made, but it made June stop her in her tracks and stare right at him.
“Really?” she asked. She was grinning, though.
“Just trying to set you at ease again,” he said. “With my laid-back style.”
“You,” she said pointing at him, “are a very silly man. You might have this whole fancy, celebrity thing going on, but you are secretly very, very silly.”
He held a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone.”
She mimed locking her lips, which showed that she had some silliness in her too, just waiting to come out.
“Your secret is safe with me,” she promised.
“Besides,” he said, offering his arm again, which she accepted. “I have one more piece of bragging to do. Ialsowanted to impress you with my manly courage in the face of what is clearly a deadly level of cold.”
“You are courageous beyond measure,” she reassured him with mock solemnity.
He sketched a courtly bow, then led them through the entrance of the park and past a playground filled with children who seemed untouched by the temperature and their parents, who were all huddled over cups of steaming coffee. Levi was about to make another quip about how clearly he wasn’t the only one suffering from winter’s chill when June’s phone trilled loudly from her pocket.
“Sorry,” she said with an apologetic wince. “But this is my friend Miriam, who is watching Benjamin.”
“Please,” he said with an easy wave. “Answer, of course.”
He felt a little awkward, just standing there and trying to pretend he couldn’t hear anything while June answered her phone, but he didn’t wish to intrude on her personal family business, not when she hadn’t invited him to do so.
“Miriam, hey,” he heard her say. “What’s up?”
There was a long silence and then June murmured, “Oh, gosh. Is he… he’s okay?”
Levi felt a deep, uneasy tension coiling in his stomach. He could only imagine how June was feeling. He didn’t even know her son, but he didn’t like the idea of him being ill, nor did he like the smallness of June’s voice when she asked the question. He held his breath until she spoke again.
“Okay. Yeah, okay. Good. Tell him that I’ll be home right away, alright?” Another pause. “Yeah, thanks, Miriam. Bye.”
June turned back to face Levi, an apology sketched atop her worried expression, and he held up his hands to forestall any apology.
