28. Levi
28
LEVI
“ H ow’s your house coming along?” Quinn asks as she stirs something on the stove. She relegated me to the sidelines of their kitchen when I tried to stir something that wasn’t supposed to be stirred yet.
Quinn invited Hope and me over for dinner tonight. When I stopped by Blooming Beautiful to pick her up after work, she was surrounded by a pile of greenery and was a little frazzled. There was a last-minute order for twenty centerpieces needing to be completed in only a couple of days. On top of that, she mentioned she was behind on her administrative tasks, so it was going to be a long night for her. She insisted I still come for dinner with the caveat that I must bring her leftovers when we’re done eating. It was an easy deal to agree to, even though I’d rather have her with me instead.
Since our conversation on the way home from the beach last week, Hope has been much more forthcoming with me than ever before. It’s as if once her story was out there, she felt free enough to fully be herself. There are no more secrets between us, which has allowed us to focus solely on each other instead of our pasts .
We spend most of our free time together now. When I’m done working, I pick Hope up at her shop, then we spend our evening at my house. Most of the time, she sits in the room and watches me work, but with some things, she’s able to help or give me an extra hand when I need it.
When I’m done working on renovations for the night, we go back to her house to sleep. Even though I could sleep at my house now, I don’t want Hope to have to rough it through the renovation mess. And there’s no way I want to sleep by myself. I’ve gotten so used to waking up next to her that sleeping alone sounds dreadful.
“The house is coming along nicely. A little slower than I originally planned, but I don’t mind.”
“I’m guessing because of a certain florist?” Quinn eyes me with a raised brow; her passive attempt at digging makes me grin at her. “You know your mother has been relentless at trying to get details out of me.”
A laugh bursts from me while I roll my eyes. I’m not surprised Mom has moved to bugging Quinn about my relationship. Since she wasn’t getting anything from me, she had to go to the next likely source.
“I’m sorry she’s been pestering you. I need time to establish our relationship before I let Mom get in the middle of it. Even when we are on more solid ground, I still probably won’t give her any details.”
“She just wants to know you’re happy, Levi, while also learning Hope’s entire background at the same time,” Quinn teases.
Cooper comes in from the backyard with Piper on his heels. She’s the sweetest mutt I’ve ever met. I’d love to have my own dog but have never had the time or the space to properly care for an animal.
Maybe when the house is done, Hope and I can look into getting a dog. I know she loves them as much as I do.
I mentally shake my head at my own thoughts. I swear I barely recognize myself now. The minute I met Hope, something inside me changed. For a long time, I’ve lived a carefree lifestyle. Settling down never felt within reach, so I leaned into the idea of playing up my bachelorhood. And it was fun. I loved it.
At the same time, I felt like something was wrong with me since it never seemed like women wanted to spend more than one night with me. What was it about me that made them think I was only good enough for a night of fun? Not for anything more substantial. Maybe I’d done it to myself. I’d played up this persona of a bachelor, living it up with no attachments, so maybe women stopped believing they could be the one to settle me down.
Then I walked into Hope’s shop and got completely turned onto my head. For the first time, I’d met a woman I couldn’t get out of my mind. Weeks had gone by, and my obsession had grown each time I saw her. After our lunch at the café, I knew she was different from any other woman I’d ever been with. From then on, I knew my life would never be the same again.
“Are we talking about Mom?” Cooper asks after filling up Piper’s water bowl.
“And her meddling ways,” I respond.
“It’s finally your turn!” Cooper laughs, rubbing his hands together with a look of straight glee on his face.
I flip him off when Quinn’s back is turned to the stove, but it only seems to make Cooper laugh harder. He grabs my outstretched finger, squeezing it tight enough to hurt. I jab him in the stomach with my free hand to make him let go. My hand hurts like a bitch, even though I don’t show it.
“Stop, you two. Just because my back is turned doesn’t mean I can’t hear you wrestling,” Quinn says with disappointment in her voice. Cooper and I freeze, dropping our hands.
“Sorry, Mom ,” I say teasingly .
“Brown noser,” Copper coughs. I punch him in the shoulder.
We both straighten up when Quinn turns around with a raised eyebrow. The small smirk she tries to keep under control gives her away as she instructs us to set the table. Cooper and I grin at each other while following through on the directions given. I love spending time with these two. I just wish Hope could’ve been here, too, but we’re all getting together this weekend.
The girls originally planned to hang out by themselves at Nat and Tucker’s house, but the guys didn’t want to be left out, so it turned into a whole group hangout. I told Hope to expect it to happen every time the girls get together. The guys can never seem to stay away for too long, even when we’re having a guys’ night.
Before Hope, I never understood why that was the case. It didn’t bother me when we crashed the girls’ nights, but their need to end the evening with them never made sense to me. Now, I understand their feelings a lot better. Even being away from her for a few hours tonight has me wanting to leave early to get back to her.
“How much longer do you have to go on the renovations?” Cooper asks as we sit down around the table. Quinn made chicken alfredo with homemade sauce.
“Probably a couple more months at a minimum. I was telling Quinn they’re going a little slower than I expected, but not too bad.”
“That’s how we got off on the topic of your mom prying into our lives,” Quinn adds.
“Ah. Makes sense.” Cooper pauses, glancing at me as if he wants to say something but isn’t sure how I’m going to take it. “How much do you know about Hope?” Both the look on Cooper’s face and his question have me on edge.
“Quite a bit. Why?”
After a quick glance at Quinn, Cooper looks back at me. “ I pulled her background like I do every time someone rents Quinn’s house.”
He pauses long enough to make my gut tighten. “And?”
“Well, there’s basically nothing in her background until she moved to Sonoma. She’s twenty-eight and has no history until a year ago? It’s a little weird, Levi.”
I grit my teeth to keep from yelling at my brother. I know he means well. He was looking out for his family. In fact, if I had dealt with a murdering lunatic who kidnapped my wife as Cooper did, I’d have done the same thing. It’s just that this is Hope. Her history is her own. People don’t need to know what she’s been through unless she deems it okay.
“She’s been through hell and back, Cooper. I’m not going to tell you anything else because it’s not my story to tell, but know there’s a good reason.”
Cooper stares at me for a minute. I can tell he doesn’t want to let it go. I keep eye contact with him, making sure he knows he won’t get anything else out of me.
Finally, after a long beat of silence, he nods his head. “I trust you, Levi. If you say things are fine, I believe you. I just wanted to make sure everyone was safe.”
“I know, but this isn’t something to dig further into. If she wants you to know the story, she’ll tell you.”
I get another nod, and Quinn moves the conversation on to something else. The best thing about my family is knowing they aren’t going to push Hope into telling them about her past. They respect that everyone has a story—backgrounds they don’t want to share with the world.
It took Tucker months before he told us about his horrible childhood. Having gone to school with him, we could hardly believe he lived in such an awful situation. It showed us that no matter what it may look like on the outside, you never know what someone has been through.
We finish dinner pretty quickly, and I make my excuses about having to pick Hope up at her shop. I’m ready to see my girl. Especially after what Cooper told me tonight. I know her history made it so having an online presence wasn’t likely, but if I’m being honest with myself… it doesn’t make sense that she wouldn’t show up at all.
She should’ve come up both from being in the system when her grandmother died and having worked full time for a florist. I don’t want to question what she went through, though, because I’ve seen the effect it’s had on her.
There are still times she flinches if I move too fast or sneak up on her accidentally. I know the abuse was real, so I have to trust that she doesn’t show up in the system for a good reason.
I just thought all our secrets were out in the open already.