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He was a mess, and he was so beautiful it stole her breath. He caught her eye and grinned at her, and her heart beat so fast she had to look away. She couldn’t blush at Blue Matthews. She couldn’t want to know how his hair felt, or his chapped lips. What was happening? Why was this happening, to her, in the middle of the Carrigan’s front hall, surrounded by both their families?
She could never tell him. Ever. This wasn’t really happening; she just wasn’t used to seeing him like this, now, when they were both in puberty. She could never let it become a crush. He was her staunchest ally, her rock. She needed him. She made herself look back at him and smile, and he picked her up in his arms and twirled her around and she almost fainted from the way he smelled.
“You’re here,” he grumbled into her hair. Oh noooooo. His voice, how was it the same comforting sound that had lulled her to sleep a thousand times and also so sexy?
She could never, ever tell him. If she ignored it, it would go away.
“I’m here,” she whispered back. Finally, all her plans were coming true.
“Now, Levi, take Hannah’s bags up to her room and let her get settled in with her family. You’ll have lots of time with her at school,” Cass interrupted them, and Hannah had never been more grateful for anything.
She needed breathing room. Her body needed to calm down.
Cass wrapped an arm around her tightly. “Did you get a chance to read the copy ofWomen Who Run with the Wolvesthat I sent you? We’re meeting with my Artist’s Way group in a couple of days and I want you to join.”
She had readWomen Who Run with the Wolves, and she’d hated it. She didn’t need to give up rational, logical thinking and listen to her intuition. She needed to make lists, then make plans from her lists, then systematically make those plans become reality through sheer organization and willpower. Which she’d just proven she could do.
Before she was whisked entirely away, Hannah smiled the little smirk she saved for Blue, and he rolled his eyes. They had a whole silent conversation in a moment.
I’ll find you later, she thought at him.
I’ll have food waiting for you, he thought back.
Chapter 7
Levi
Sleep wasn’t happening after the adrenaline of convincing Hannah to agree to this very ill-advised dating plan, so Levi wandered the back acreage until the sun came up. Kringle wandered with him, pushing his giant body against Levi’s legs every time Levi’s brain started to free-spiral into worst-case-scenario futures. How did the cat know?
He wanted to get on his bike and ride as far as he could go before he ran out of gas, but he’d promised Hannah he would go to the weekly staff meeting that morning to talk about the Davenport wedding. Levi walked in with his fists already up. He was ready to fight for his right to be here, ready to go toe to toe to stay in a place he’d been running from all his life. Mostly he was ready for any fight at all, because his heart was still so battered from Cass’s note.
Miriam and Noelle were in the big chairs facing Hannah’s desk, so he sprawled out on the couch at the back of the room, doing his best impression of an insouciant wastrel, because it was highly likely to get a rise out of someone. All three of them ignored him while Noelle updated them on saplings or something, and Miriam talked about the registration numbers for her painting classes. He wondered if she would let him join one; they sounded fun.
He waited for his turn on the agenda, which Hannah had written in perfect cursive on the whiteboard on one wall. There were no details, not even his full name. It said:
IV: LB
“So on to item four,” Hannah said.
This was it. Noelle was going to tell him to get out. Miriam was going to tell him that she loved him but he didn’t belong here. Finally, he was going to be able to get into a fight.
“I’m excited for our budget that we don’t have to hire anyone!” Miriam said. “We’re not paying you, right, Blue?”
“We’re definitely not,” Noelle said, not turning to look at him. “I’m excited that he has somewhere to be right after the wedding. Hannah, did you give him the binder?”
Hannah pulled a binder out from a drawer in her desk, setting it with a thump in front of her. Miriam reached over for it and handed it to him.
It was color coded, because Hannah. He loved her competence. It had the timeline in both visual and list form, a breakdown of what needed to be done, when, by whom, plus vendor contact info.
“This is much more thorough than Cass’s elaborate Post-it Note system,” he said, remembering trying to help his mom cook for events where they didn’t even have a full guest count.
“Yeah, Miriam decided maybe we shouldn’t be in deep shit if we got audited, so she redid the books,” Hannah said.
“And Hannah ran with actually having a calendar, like, on a calendar. Revolutionary!” Miriam said, blushing a little at the praise.
“The trees look healthier than I’ve ever seen them,” Levi said before he realized this would mean admitting he’d been infringing on Noelle’s territory.
Noelle glared at him, which was the first time she’d acknowledged his presence since he’d walked in. “What do you know about trees?” she asked him.
