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“I murdered Francine!” I wailed. “And I broke my promise to you. I wanted to prove to you that there is no curse and now I’ve done the exact opposite.”

“Don’t worry about Francine, she’s been through a lot already. She’s tough.” His hands ran over my wet, scraggly hair. He was touching me and looking at me like I was some secret treasure he’d just discovered. “Indy, Indy,” He peppered my face with little kisses and I cried some more because I felt awful for making him worry. “Why did you run away?”

“I saw you with Ashleigh and it reminded me of the day you first saw her and how you chose her, and I wanted you to choose me. But she was perfect . . . and I was just . . .Just Indy.”

“Yeah, exactly,” he said, tears in his eyes. “You are Just Indy. Just Indy, the most brilliant and generous person I’ve ever met, and the most fun. Just Indy, the first and last person I think about every day. Just Indy. Then and now. You’re all I think about and all I want. Just you. No one else.”

He cupped my face, tilting it up to his. “I love you, Indy. I always have and I always will.”

“I know that now. I do,” I sobbed. “I love you too. I was coming to tell you that when I took out Francine.”

“See, there was a reason I never wanted you to drive my car,” he teased, kissing me all over again. Rain and tears wet us both until we looked like two drowned cats.

Somewhere in all the kissing and the confessions of love my Italian friend cleared his throat. “Si sente meglio?”

Levi shook his hand and thanked him, and Giacomo drove off with a friendly honk and wave. We walked over to the pickup.

“We’re just going to leave Francine here?” I hated seeing her like that, battered and alone in a ditch.

“She’ll be okay for the night,” Levi said, fastening the seat belt around me. “I’m going to do what I should have done with you in the first place. Snuggle up with you in my bed until this cursed day is over.”

Chapter 38

Diana

Levi kept his promise.

As soon as we got back to his place, he ran a hot bath for me and slid in behind me, gently checking my body for bruises. He washed my back, then my head, his strong fingers massaging frothy shampoo into my scalp and then rinsing slowly with intention. Everything became about that moment.

Afterward he dried me off and wrapped me in a clean white T-shirt and a pair of his sweatpants. He sat on the bed, admiring his handiwork and laughed while I tied the waistband as tight as possible to keep the pants from turning into a puddle of gray fabric at my feet.

“I look like a clown in these clothes!” I wailed.

Levi stood and took me in his arms. “You do have the curly red hair to go with it. Should I call you Bozo instead of Indy now?”

I elbowed him in the ribs. “If you want to get under these oversized clothes later, you better stick with Indy.”

“All right. Just Indy then.” He smiled that devastating smile and took my hand in his, leading me to the couch where he wrapped me up in a warm blanket and let me watch as he made me chocolate banana pancakes. I suppose this was our meal now. It wasn’t fancy but it was us.

We ate our pancakes curled up on the couch, legs entwined, sharing good memories of Josh. This was also something I needed—to sit with Levi and talk about Josh, not the accident that stole his life, but all the little details I’d forgotten, like how he finished every sentence with “ya know?” or how hot sauce made him sneeze. We were completing each other’s memories, like the friezes on an Etruscan tomb, bringing him back to life.

Levi couldn’t stop touching me and I couldn’t stop touching him. It was as if we wanted to verify that we were really here. We were surrounded by ghosts, and memories, but we were here now and we loved each other and we could start again. We’d do it for them, but most of all for us. There was still a hint of sadness for all we’d lost, but it felt more like a celebration of what we’d been given.

As he held me against him, his cheek against my still damp hair, Levi started humming that familiar tune.

I put my hand on his knee. “I have an idea.”

***

I always called my parents on the anniversary of Josh’s accident. And tonight I had a special treat for them.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Levi asked again, twirling me around in the middle of the floor. “You don’t have a concussion? I don’t need to take you to the hospital?”

“Levi, I’m fine.” Miraculously I only had a couple bruises starting to form on my knee and my chest from when I’d hit the steering wheel, but most of the damage to poor Francine had been to the passenger side, and my blackout had just been caused by stress and shock. I’d convinced him not to take me to the hospital like he wanted to.

“You seem a little off-balance.” He studied me. “Then again you always did get a little dizzy after that lift.”

“Can you blame me?” I laughed remembering the first time he’d ever set his hands around my waist and lifted me into the air.