“What are you doing here?” I said. I couldn’t hear anything but my pounding heart. “What . . .” I looked over at Mateo, my breaths quick. “Did you . . . What . . .”
Mateo offered a smile, but didn’t say anything.
Levi took a step closer, his gaze locked on me. “I’m here, Avery.”
“Here?”
“Yes. To stay.”
“To stay,” I echoed. Another sniffle. This time, it was definitely me.
He took another step. Just a little closer. So close. “The tip of your nose is blue.”
“I see you still have no manners.” All of the broken parts of me started to slowly knit back together.Hope.Was that it? “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to stay. I’m doing what I should have done to begin with.” Another step. “I’m here, Avery. I never should have left. I got back to Minnesota and got your sketch, and I . . . I knew how much I’d fucked up.”
I stared at him. I’d forgotten about that. I’d dropped that in the mail as some sort of . . . I don’t even know what. A giantfuck you, look at what you lost?
“I realize that I’ve hurt you. I’ve hurt both of you. And I don’t know if I deserve another chance, but I love you. I love both of you. There’s not a life I want without the two of you in it. I would give up anything,everything, to be with you.”
Mateo sucked in a breath and looked at me. I held his gaze as I registered what Levi said.
“Wait. You love . . . ?”
“I love you.” Another step closer. There were just a few inches between the three of us now. He looked at me, and then Mateo. “I love you. I love you.” Back to me. “I love you.”
I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I grabbed both Mateo and Levi and dragged them into a hug, letting the tears flow. “I love you. I’ve loved you for a while. Maybe since you caught my hair on fire.”
“I’ve loved Avery since I came to Whynot. And I’ve loved you, Levi, since you tried to feed me bad protein muffins.”
Levi’s chuckle was also a sob. His arms wrapped around us, and we sank to the floor, a pile of tender words and tears and laughter andlove.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
It turned out the way tounbreak a heart was those three little words.
Levi
“I think we should start with a dog.”
Mateo and I were both sprawled out on the pavement in front of the fire station with towels beneath us and sunscreen spread generously over our bodies as we tanned. At any moment, we’d maybe need to hop up and get dressed in our gear, but I hoped we could soak up the sun a little longer.
“A dog?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ve always wanted one,” he said.
“What kind?”
“A big dog. The sloppy kind. Not one of those neurotic chipmunks people claim to be dogs.”
I grinned and pushed my sunglasses back up the bridge of my nose, turning my head. “Well. We’ve been together for a few months now. We’re already buying a big house.”
“Right. Why not get a dog?”
“Why not?”
“Don’t look,” Avery demanded.
