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Ha. She wished.
Yes, she did wish. And wish. And wish.
Her gaze sought where he stood with the older version of himself. Physically at any rate. She hadn’t spent much time in Jonathan Fielding’s company, but she hadn’t decided if she liked the man or not. On the surface, sure, he was a charmer and had certainly flirted outrageously with her at the center one evening when Levi had grudgingly introduced them. Grudgingly because he’d almost immediately called his father’s attention away from her and both men had left the center.
As if he sensed her attention, Levi’s gaze met hers from across the room. He didn’t smile, though, just looked tense, as if he didn’t want to be there, as if he’d like to leave.
She smiled and his eyes flickered with surprise, then a slow smile spread across his face. Her heart beat wildly behind her ribcage, pounding fanatically in a rhythm as old as time.
Yes, she really did wish Levi loved her.
Because, foolish woman that she was, she loved him.
“Isn’t the little blonde you brought here tonight the same one you had helping with this?” Jonathan asked, taking a sip of what smelled like whiskey and soda.
Still watching Madison, wondering at her smile and just what it had meant, Levi grew more annoyed with his father. “You know her name is Madison. I introduced you a few weeks ago at the center.”
His father eyed him curiously. “I got the impression you’d had her and dumped her.”
Levi took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched his fingers. Had her and dumped her.
Was that what had happened between him and Madison?
If so, had him and dumped him was probably a more accurate accounting since she’d been the one to leave his office, to drive away when he’d wanted to talk.
Yet she acted as if he’d been the one to shut her out.
Hell, he had shut her out. Because he’d been too confused by what had happened between them, too disgusted by his inability to keep his hands off her, by his lack of using protection.
“You think I’m incapable of maintaining a relationship for more than a month?”
“Why would any man want to maintain a relationship for more than a month?” His father laughed, downing the remains of his glass, then glanced back to where Madison stood, his gaze raking over her assessingly. “She is a pretty little thing, though, isn’t she?”
Levi’s gaze narrowed. “Be careful what you say.”
His father glanced at him, then laughed again. “Or what? She’s just a piece of tail.”
A throb pounded at Levi’s temples. “She’s much more than that.”
His father motioned to a waiter, gave an order for another drink. “What? You planning to keep her around for a while just to prove me wrong?” His father snorted. “You think I didn’t realize how upset you were when I called you a chip off the ole block? I’m not blind, son. I knew why you had her helping with this despite the fact it was over between the two of you.”
“Since she’s my date for the evening, it’s obviously not over between the two of us.” Levi let his father digest his words. “Besides, I don’t need Madison to prove you wrong. I’m nothing like you.”
“If you were nothing like me, my words wouldn’t have gotten to you.”
He hated it when his father was right. Then again…
“Tell me, how often did you cheat on my mother?”
Clearly taken aback, Jonathan frowned. “I never cheated on Margaret. Did she tell you that I did?”
Levi shook his head. “No, she didn’t. Then again, she never told me you hit her either.”
“I never cheated on your mother. As for the other…” Jonathan’s face paled and he practically knocked the waiter down to grab the fresh glass of alcohol. He downed half the glass’s contents. “If I could have changed that night, I would have. I thought I could hold onto her through you, but even when I got custody she refused to forgive me. Just held that against me, too.”
He and his father had never discussed what had happened that night. Levi’s memory only that of hearing his parents screaming at each other, of hearing a resounding hit, hearing his mother’s tears, wanting to stop what was happening, and being unable to.
“I got smart after that,” his father continued. “Realized women are interchangeable, only good for one thing and one thing only.”
