The Art of Falling in Love with Your Fake Fiancé: A small town closed door romantic comedy (Sweetkis

6. Levi

SIX

“The sheriff delivered them himself?” I hold a pile of paperwork in my hands, waving it in the air. I know I must look like a madman, but I can’t help it. I’m furious. Spitting tacks angry. In the mood to burn something, or someone, down, and we’ll call her Lorna. “How could she do this?”

My mother and Austin have been listening to me rant for the past ten minutes. I’m pretty sure I’ve paced the floor of this converted barn to the point there’s a ditch beneath my feet.

“Levi, take a breath for a second—”

“It’s messed up, Ma,” Austin chimes in. “She agreed with him they should do Duncan’s custody this way.”

“It’s the way Tom and Katie wanted it to be,” I interject. The interrupter is now talking over the interrupter. “They asked me to be his godfather and they took that seriously enough they made me his guardian if anything ever happened to them. She has to see that in the eyes of the law, and her son, I’m the one he’s supposed to be with.”

“I’m not trying to argue the point with you, I just want to keep you from being so stressed out.” She walks over from where she’s been standing in the doorway of our renovated barn, keeping an eye out to make sure Duncan didn’t accidentally walk in on us discussing him or hear us talking about his grandmother.

Sighing as she collapses into one of the oversized and overstuffed bean bags we have scattered about, she closes her eyes and lays her head back, staring at a row of plants hanging from planters that swing on exposed beams above. “Why can’t we just have a smooth run of things? Why can’t we just raise that sweet boy in peace?”

“This is not the kind of thing that will help him. He barely speaks now,” Austin says as he gets up from behind his desk and walks over to the fridge, pulling out three bottles of beer. He flicks the tops off and walks around, handing one to my mother and me and keeping one for himself.

“Barely speaks to us. Or to his grandmother,” I say, taking a sip of the cold brew. “But, he talks to Georgie.”

“I’ve tried to bribe that boy with everything. Including my ice cream.” Mom crosses her arms and hones in on me. “What do they talk about—did you ask her?”

I nod. “Nothing, really. When I picked him up today she mentioned they’d chatted again, but since he was working at her store, you’d think he would.”

“He kind of spoke to me today,” Austin chimes in. “You were still inside the bookstore. When I asked if he’d like to go back to help Georgie sometime.”

I stare at Austin with disbelief. “And?”

Austin shrugs his shoulders. “He said yes.”

“That’s all?” I ask, fighting the instantaneous urge I have to roll my eyes. Putting the paperwork down, I rake my fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp in an attempt to keep the headache that’s sure to come at bay.

Austin nods, his eyes sliding over to my mother and exchanging a look. Like a silent request for permission. Judging by the glare my mother is giving him, the answer is no, but that doesn’t stop my brother.

“What’s that look for?” I ask, pointing to the two of them, my finger swaying back and forth in the wind. “That. That look.”

“Well, maybe raising a ten-year-old isn’t the thing you should be doing right now, Levi,” Austin says, his voice low.

A bubble of irritation wells in my chest, followed by a crack of pain so sharp I’m pretty sure I am about to have a heart attack. It passes quickly, but I’m certain it’s added fuel to my fire.

“That is so easy for you to say, isn’t it?” I take another swig of my beer, placing the bottle on the ping-pong table before I lean on it to stabilize myself. I feel like a kite without a string and I don’t want to come unhinged right now. “You’re not the one who was asked to take care of him, Austin. I was.”

Austin holds his hands up in surrender. “Dude. I’m not against you; I simply want to remind you that life could be different. Maybe you don’t have to be a stand-in father for Duncan. It could be better if he goes to live with his grandmother, you know?”

He angles himself to look at my mother, raising his hands in the air even higher. “Please back me up here and tell him I have a point?”

“Of course you do,” she acquiesces. “However, that’s your opinion. This is up to Levi, honey, not us.”

“It’s not even up to Levi anymore, is it?” I say, talking about myself in the third person and standing up tall and swiping at the paper again, whipping it off the table to scan it once more. “It’s up to the courts to decide if I’m going to be a good enough—what do you call it, Austin? Stand-in parent?—to take care of Duncan.”

“I didn’t mean it to upset you,” he says, rising from his seat. Austin’s tone is apologetic, but I’m looking for a scapegoat. “I’m playing devil’s advocate. I wish I could unsay it.”

“But you said it.” I grab a stray ping-pong ball and start bouncing it on the table. “And that’s something we can’t do while there’s a ten-year-old kid running around here, is it? We can’t go off and say what we think.”

“We’ve always had an open convo policy in our family,” my mother intervenes, her eyes focused on me, watching as I bounce this silly ball. It sounds somewhat soothing. Patink, patink, patink. There’s a cadence as I let it go, watch it connect with the table, and then grab it again out of the air. Patink, patink, patink.

“Your brother only wanted to tell you what he thinks, Levi, so don’t silence him because it’s not what you want to hear,” she continues, her eyes following the ball. “Right now, you need to be open to all options because it’s kind of out of your hands.”

“I’m going to get a lawyer.” Patink, patink, patink.

“Of course you will, and I’ll help you find them. In fact…” Austin scurries to the other side of his desk, opening his laptop. “I’ll pull up some names now.”

“I can do it myself.” Patink, patink, patink.

There’s a rustling sound as my mother attempts to rise from the beanbag. It’s over-stuffed and oversized, remember, so it likes to eat those who even dare to rest on it. I watch her struggle in my periphery for only a moment before I finally chuck the stinking ball against the wall on the other side of the room, vindicated by the smack it makes when it hits, and offer my hand to pull her out of what must feel like bean-filled quicksand.

“I was wondering if either one of you would come help me,” she says with a chuckle, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Look, you need to calm down. I don’t know what you have to do to find some solace right now, but I’m going to kick you out of here while you find it.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You’re in shock from being served, we all are, and it stings. The past year has been one shock after another, one life change too many in my opinion, but we’ll handle it.” She makes a sweeping motion with her hands that encompasses the room. “All of us—Duncan, too—we’ll handle it as a family. But you need to calm down fast. You’re the father figure now. That boy”—she points toward the barn door—“the one playing video games and not engaging with us, needs an adult who has got his back, okay? He needs someone who is gonna show him how to be a good man. A strong and patient and kind man. I cannot think of anyone else who is better for that job, in the absence of Tom, than you.”

I let her words wash over me, letting them sink in fully. Slowly I nod my head. “You’re right.”

“Did I hear you correctly? Is my son admitting his mother is right?” she asks, teasing back in her tone and a slight smile beginning to play on her lips.

“Yes. I’m admitting you’re right. You’re a mom after all; I think you’ve got an idea of what this job entails.”

“Good point,” she says, kissing my cheek. “Now, go. I don’t care where it is, just go to it and come back later. After dinner, preferably.”

“But, Duncan…”

“Can hang out with me,” Austin calls out. “I want to run the dogs, so we’ll go out in the fields and down to the river. There’s something peaceful about that place and he may dig it.”

“When you’re back, I’ll make us ice cream sundaes,” Mom begins, then sees Austin and me catch each other’s eye and make faces. “Stop that. I see you. You’ll eat my ice cream and you’ll enjoy every bite of it. Then, we’ll talk about a lawyer and next steps, but that doesn’t have to be tonight. We can do it tomorrow.” Mom points to where my keys still sit on the desk where I’d tossed them when I came in earlier. “Go.”

Nodding, I do as I’m told, if for no other reason than to stop her from talking about her ice cream. We’re a mere mention away from her opening her own ice cream parlor.

I cross the barn floor in a few long strides, turning around as I slide the giant door open to go. Mom’s already standing behind Austin, peering over his shoulder at the laptop and pointing to what he sees.

“That’s a good list. Bring that thing down to the house where we’ll be closer to Duncan,” she commands.

“Yeah, he’s been playing that video game long enough,” I add, but my offering is met by the glare of two sets of eyes.

“Go,” my mother repeats, pointing to the world beyond the barn door. “Now.”

Austin can’t hide his delight at my being scolded, and even though I’m madder than I’ve been in a long time, it makes me grin. This is family. Coming together for a common goal. I love them, they love me. I want to give this to Duncan. Tom saw something in me, in my family, that he trusted me enough to give this to his son. I have to honor that.

Climbing into my SUV, my mind is blank and whirling all at the same time. Turning the keys in the ignition, I let the car warm up as I let out a giant breath of air.

I don’t know where to go, yet there’s only one place I can think of that I want to be right now and only one person I really want to talk to.

However, there’s someone else I need to go see first.