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“You’re…. you’re Diana.TheDiana Winslow.” She slapped her hands on her pink stained cheeks. “Oh my god, you’re Diana Winslow!”
A relieved breath of laughter passed over my lips. “Yeah, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Stark.”
I offered my hand, but his mother ignored it completely. In the blink of an eye, her impressively powerful arms were around my ribs and squeezing the life out of me.
“We’re huggers in this family!” she proclaimed.
“Mom,” Levi grasped her shoulder and peeled her back, “you’re going to crush her.”
“There’s my boy,” a booming male voice called out. “How was your show tonight, son?” A man with dark as night hair and a full beard followed the sound of his chattering family.
His mother made flustered noises at her husband, mirroring a clucking chicken. Then she wheeled on Levi. “Diana Winslow is at my house. Why is Diana Winslow at my house?”
“Devin Johnson’s daughter?” Levi’s dad stopped in his tracks and rocked back on his heels when he saw me.
A flush of heat swept over my cheeks, and I wrung my hands together.
“Diana Winslow.” His sister’s awed whisper interrupted the excited tension.
I glanced down at the thirteen-year-old girl shaking in the doorway. Her eyes went as round as dinner plates. The front patio light sparkled within them like fireflies in a forest.
“Calm down, everyone. Take a chill pill.” Seeing a man dressed up like a freshly risen skeleton soothing a family was almost comical enough for me to laugh. He should have washed his face before we left, but I’m glad he didn’t.
Levi passed his mother and grabbed my hand. He pulled me under the cone of light in front of the door, tugging me intimately close to his side. Then he draped a heavy arm over my shoulder in a clearly possessive gesture.
He proudly stated, “Diana’s my girlfriend.”
My heart palpitated dangerously.
A half-second of shock passed over their faces, then his family erupted into chaos once more.
“No way! She’s too pretty for you, stinky!” His sister, Ginny, shouted.
“Good for you,” his dad breathed out, adding a sly, yet completely unsubtle, wink.
“Come in, come in. I can’t have Diana Winslow standing outside my house in the cold. You’re welcome inside.” Levi’s mother ushered us through the door with fluttering hands.
Levi kept his arm secure around me, supporting me through the first steps of his family home. My weak knees might have given out without him by my side.
I only had a quick glance over the house before his family swarmed around us like a tornado. Pale gray walls, various shades of blue and gold décor. Simple, elegant, and clear that his mom had decent taste.
Levi’s parents guided into a spacious kitchen open to a massive living room where a late-night game played on the flatscreen.
“So, how did you two meet?” His mom got right to the heart of what she yearned to ask.
“Christi, give them some room to breathe.” John moved in, placing his meaty hands on his wife’s shoulders, and steering her to the side. “You guys want some drinks? Wine? Beer?”
“I’ll have a beer,” Levi replied to his dad.
John gestured at me. “Diana, would you like a drink?”
Christi jumped in. “I have a brand-new bottle of peach Moscato!”
An unbidden chuckle breached my lips. “Sure, I’d love a glass.”
Levi addressed his mother again. “To answer your question, we’re working together and that’s how we met.”
“Diana, are you singing again?” His sister’s voice from the corner of the kitchen partially startled me, but her question hit harder.
