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Ray shrugged and wrapped her arms around her middle. “I never know. He comes around when he wants to. Sometimes, months go by before he shows his face, and other times, only days. It really depends, I guess, on what else he has going on.”
My jaw clenched as the gears in my head squealed to life. What elsedidhe have going on? This was Seth we were talking about, and I didn't know much about him, other than that he was Levi’s buddy and what Ray had just told me.
“What does he do for a living?” I asked a little absentmindedly.
Ray's brow creased with uncertainty. “I … don't really know the details, to be honest. He doesn't tell me much. Just that hehas togo on the road sometimes and …” She lifted her hands, then dropped them helplessly. “I really have no idea.”
Levi's pals always helped him sell.
Without The Pit, where are they selling?
“Huh …” I nodded slowly, poking at my inner cheek with my tongue. “That's okay. Probably better you don't know.”
“Why?”
I twisted my lips and shook my head while the gears continued to turn and turn and turn.
“Just a feeling I have.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
FIRST DATES & FIRST FLOWERS
“Wow.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Ray standing on her porch in a fuzzy pink robe and matching slippers, a steaming cup of coffee clutched between her hands.
“What?” I asked, my lips lifting into a hesitant smile.
She studied me for a moment, wetting her lips with the tip of her tongue. “It’s just not every day I get to stand outside on a beautiful spring day and see something that looks like”—she gestured toward me with the mug—“that.”
I laughed, all too aware of the heat rising in my cheeks as I shook my head before returning my attention to the tiller in my hands, jabbing the blades into the ground, using my foot for leverage, and pressing on the handles to loosen the hardened soil. It was a small patch of land, roughly ten feet by ten feet, and the job of cultivating the soil would be done in no time. But it was hot for the beginning of May. The sun was beating down on me with its relentless rays, and even without my shirt, my back and brow glistened with sweat.
It was uncomfortable—I had never been a fan of the heat—but at least Ray seemed to be enjoying the show. And even if her compliments made me blush—I just wasn’t used to being admired, I guessed—it was nice.
“Have I ever told you that you have really nice arms?” she asked, and I glanced over my shoulder again to watch her slowly take a sip from her mug, her eyes never diverting from me and my apparentlynice arms.
“No, you’ve never mentioned that before,” I said. Resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t get much work done in her presence, I leaned against the tiller.
“Well, you do.”
Nobody had ever complimented me the way she did. Lust-filled but otherwise pure. I sometimes wondered what to say while my tongue fumbled stupidly around the words, but today, I thought maybe I could test the waters of my own flirting ability a little.
“How nice would you say they are?”
“Like”—she tipped her head back and pursed her lips with consideration—”they’reso nice that it is taking everything in me right now not to sayfuck this coffeeand enjoy you instead.”
I had to look away and chuckle, unable to fight my stupid grin. This thing between us was new—only a couple of weeks old, give or take—and it had started off nice, easy, and comfortable. No pressure. Not to mention, I didn’t want to push her into anything before she was ready. Especially knowing what I knew now about her life and history with the opposite sex. I wanted to keep everything on her terms. So, we flirted and kissed when the mood struck, exchanging little glances and soft touches every so often. And I was happy, genuinely content for maybe the first time in my life, and from what Ray repeatedly told me, she was too.
I wasn’t sure Noah had caught on yet or if he thought his mom and I had started to just spend a little more time together. But whichever it was, he seemed content, too, and for that, I was even happier.
“What’s the kid doing today?” I asked, turning my eyes back on the land to assess what I’d already accomplished.
Half of the yard had been tilled. Not bad for a little over an hour of work.
“Right now, checking out the new game my mom bought him.” She walked down her steps and came to stand closer to my little yard. “Do you need help? I can send him over.”
“No, I’m good.” I grunted as I jabbed the blades into the next tough spot in the row I was working on. “Just thought he’d like to get his hands dirty if he wasn’t doing anything else.”
