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“Not this time. We’re headed out of town.”
I reach out a hand, snagging a fistful of his T-shirt. “Where?”
“Whoa,” he says through a chuckle. “Don’t get too excited. Post Falls. It’s just sixteen miles away. But they have what we need.”
“And that would be?”
Levi gives his head a shake. “Nope. Surprise.”
“What if I guess?”
We walk toward the truck and Levi opens up the passenger side door for me.
“Thrift store?”
“See, if you just go through the list, there are limited options. I’m not making it that easy on you.” He shuts the door, those thick brows bouncing as if he’s quite pleased with himself.
I mentally go through my list. We’ve covered a lot in the past few weeks. But there are still eleven items I haven’t checked off yet. Some he can’t help with. Some take time. I’ve had a couple of driving lessons—but I still don’t have a driver’s license yet. I’m not ready to get my own place—though I wouldn’t put it past Levi to hire a realtor to show me where the best apartments in town are. We could be singing karaoke, but it’s nine o’clock in the morning.
“Have you had breakfast?” he asks, interrupting my mental deliberation.
“No. You?”
He shakes his head. “Have you been to Penny’s Donuts? They have the best breakfast kolaches in town.”
“I don’t know what that is, but I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Somehow, Meredith,” he says, and his smile sort of makes me weak, “that doesn’t surprise me.”
We stop by the small shop and wait in line for more than ten minutes. Levi says—we wait for goodness. He gets three sausage kolaches and I get one, for the sake of trying something new, and a chocolate donut, for the sake of knowing I’ll be eating well. We come out smelling like crystalized sugar. It’s divine.
Then, we’re back on the road.
I bite into my sausage roll wrapped in sweet bread, and I don’t mean to moan—honestly, I don’t. But I’m regretting my chocolate donut at this point. The savory and sweet combined in one little roll is pretty much perfection.
“Here,” Levi says, shaking the little white bag my way.
“What?” I’ve got my donut in my own white bag.
“Here, there’s one left. Take it.”
“But it’s yours.”
“Nah,” he says, eyes on the road, “I only ever eat two. I knew you’d like it. This one is for you.”
“Really?” I laugh, and I can’t decide if the little acrobat in my tummy is over the kolache or Levi’s thoughtfulness. “Thanks.”
We eat and chat the rest of the way, a mere blink, as the drive to Post Falls flies by.
“Do I get to know now?” I ask when Levi takes the first city exit.
“Umm,” he says, as though he’s really pondering the question. “No.”
My palms start to sweat with the surprise. I never would have taken Levi for a man with surprises up his sleeves, but he’s good at this.
We pull into a wide parking lot that’s only a quarter of the way filled. There’s a brick building off to our right and a giant greenhouse at our left—err, at least I think it’s a greenhouse.
“What is this?” I say, my nose to the window. “Are we gathering vegetables?”
