“That’s very reassuring,” Matt muttered.
She waved him off. “I’ve handled worse. One ends up seeing a lot of weird things running an establishment such as this.” She looked at me steadily. “Text me when you’re home. Be safe. And don’t make me beg you for details.”
“I won’t,” I said. “Thank you. For tonight. All of it.”
She waved me off in the way she did when she was being sweet, but didn’t want to make a thing of it. “Go,” she said. “Get some rest.”
The drive back to the campground was short but quieter than usual. Trees blurred past the window, the late light filtering through in long, thin strips. “You can come home with me. You don’t have to go to the trailer.” Matt said.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Levi is there.”
He nodded once. We turned into the gravel drive. My trailer came into view, small and familiar. He parked and cut the engine, walked me to the steps without hovering while I unlocked the door. “You call if anything feels off,” he said.
“I will.”
“And don’t respond to that number.”
“I won’t.”
He held my gaze a second longer than usual, then stepped back.
I went inside. The trailer was quiet. I settled in to wait for Levi, the good warmth of the evening still somewhere underneath everything else, faint but present.
Chapter 20
Levi
I’d been on the couch with the television on low, not watching it, running through versions of a conversation in my head the way you did when you cared too much about how it went. It was the headlights that caught my attention—sweeping across my window as a vehicle turned into the lot—and when I leaned forward to look, I could see it was Matt’s truck and not her car, which told me enough. I watched through the window as he pulled in, waited until she was inside, then sat for a few more minutes in his truck the way he did before finally pulling away. I gave it a beat after his taillights disappeared. Long enough that it didn’t feel like I’d been watching for her, even though I had been, even though the moment those headlights crossed my window, I’d been on my feet without fully deciding to be. I turned the television off. Pulled on my jacket. Stood in the middle of my trailer for a moment in the quiet dark and thought about what Cade had said.Don’t make it a big thing. Say it like something that needed saying.Then I crossed the narrow strip of gravel between our trailers.
I knocked once, knuckles soft against the metal door.
It opened almost instantly.
Becca stood framed in the doorway, sleeves of her pink sweater shoved up to her elbows, exposing the delicate blue veins at her wrists. Her hair had escaped its loose tie; dark strands curved against her neck and caught the lamplight like polished wood. Her eyes met mine. They were steady, but rimmed with something raw and unguarded. She smelled faintly of lavender soap, and she was so beautiful I couldn’t stop looking at her.
“Hey,” I said, voice low.
“Hey.” Her word was barely a breath. “Come in.”
I stepped inside. Noticing the soft crackle of the lavender candle flickering on the side table, the comforting, slightly dusty scent of books and worn upholstery. My boots made faint thuds on the linoleum.
“You didn’t drive yourself home,” I said, easing back against the narrow counter. The edge pressed cool metal into my palms.
She paused, fingers tightening briefly on the doorframe. “Matt insisted on driving me.” She turned fully toward me, arms crossing loosely over her chest like a shield she wasn’t sure she needed anymore.
“You want to tell me about it?” I asked.
She exhaled slowly, the sound almost a sigh. “I got a text earlier.”
“From who?”
“Unknown number.”
My shoulders drew tight. “About what?”
“About something we’re going to talk about.” She looked down at her bare feet, toenails painted a chipped soft blue, then lifted her gaze again. “I have a podcast.”
“Okay,” I said, keeping my tone even, gentle.
