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I walk closer and sit on the edge of the couch beside her. I offer her the sippy cup that’s on the end table behind her. She takes a sip of the mystery contents and hands it back.
“How did you know where Levi took me?”
“He told me. He tells me everything because I am his very best friend. Don’t tell Coco. Cuz I am her very best friend, too. They’ll just end up fighting over me.”
I grin but reign in my chuckle. “I won’t say a word.” I bite my inner lip. What else has Levi told his niece? “So, what did he say?”
“Just that he was going to take you to see a bunch of butterflies, and if you got lucky, you’d get to keep one.” She sighs and rubs at one of her eyes. “Or catch one, or feed one—something.”
“Are you tired, sweetie?”
“All I’ve done is sleep.” She shakes her head, like sleep is really putting her out. “Did he buy you breakfast? Because he said he’d take you to Penny’s, and Penny’s is my very favorite in all of the whole wide world. So I approved of that message.”
“Wow, he does tell you everything.”
“The man won’t stop talking these days.” She sighs, brushing a hand over her flushed brow.
I laugh. Alice is kind of the star of this Bailey family—and I can see why. “He did take me to Penny’s. I got a chocolate donut and a sausage kolache. So yummy.”
She nods, slipping her clammy little hand into mine and drumming her fingers on the palm of my hand. She’s warm and I run a hand over her brow, feeling for a fever.
“I like the watermelon donut,” she says. “It is divine. And Uncle Bear gets three sausage kolaches and a chocolate milk. That man never tries anything new.”
“He said he always gets two kolaches. He bought three, but said the extra was for me.” I don’t know why it’s important or why I attempt to correct the little girl. But I do.
“Nope. He always gets three.” She yawns and turns on her side. “He gave you one?” She blinks her tired eyes, then latches her gaze onto mine.
“He did.”
“The man likes you a lot, Mer.” My nickname makes this little person sound a decade older than she is. “One time Daddy dropped his kolache on the ground and Uncle Bear called him:Butterfingers Taylor. Whatever that means. Then he ate all three of his right in front of Daddy.” She lets out a huge yawn. “So rude.”
“You think that means he likes me?”
“Yeah. It’s a no-brainer.” She yawns again, her eyes flutter closed, but she isn’t done talking. “I am his favorite person in the whole wide world. He told me so. But he never took me to see the butterflies.”
I feel like a ping-pong ball being volleyed across Levi’s personal table again and again. One side is in favor of Meredith, and the other is against.
Levi likes me.
Wait, no, he doesn’t.
Levi likes me, a lot.
Oops. Wrong again. Just friends.
But from the mouth of babes—right? According to Alice…
LEVI LIKES ME.
Now, maybe he doesn’t want to like me—for some lame reason that’s only bull-headed enough for Levi—but the fact remains, hedoes. Coco’s right—what a dummy.
I kiss the top of Alice’s head. “Hey, tell Levi I’m waiting outside, will you?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I wait five more minutes, pacing on Coco’s front porch, forming a plan, and waiting for Levi to exit.
“Hey,” he says, shutting the front door behind him. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you needed to go and—”
