Chapter 9 Levi
CHAPTER NINE
Levi
Austin led us down the sidewalk to a small blue two-story hotel with a handcrafted sign out front that said Whynot Stay. A wraparound porch with an abundance of flowers and wicker chairs made it feel more like a home than anything else.
Before we got to the gate, Mateo’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered it quickly and then winced. “I’ll head over. Thanks, Angie.” He clapped Austin’s shoulder. “Gotta go.”
“Everything okay?” Austin asked.
“Just a tiny fire to put out, but not the literal kind. Some kids being dipshits. I’ll catch up with you later.
Levi, don’t be a stranger. You don’t need to run over a cactus to get my attention.
” He winked at me, and that wink bolted straight to my cock.
“Get my number and address from this dumbass.”
Austin gave him a quick hug. “See you. Be careful.”
“Will do.”
“See you,” I croaked as Mateo took off down the sidewalk.
We watched him go, and then Austin cleared his throat. When I looked at him, all the bright energy that’d been radiating off him disappeared. He suddenly looked beyond exhausted—nothing like the always happy guy I’d known growing up.
Every summer I’d spent here had been full of everything good and everything bad. But, Austin had always been one of those good things.
The thing was, even though we’d catch up every month over the last few years, he’d kept a lot from me. I was still mad at him. Hurt, even.
“Avery told me about your dad,” I said bluntly. “Something you didn’t mention in the many phone calls we’ve had.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it.
“I was shocked,” I continued. “I still am. And I don’t understand why you wouldn’t have said anything to me. That man raised me during the summers, Austin.”
“I have things to explain. There’s a little restaurant inside the hotel. Are you okay with me multitasking while we eat and catch up?”
“Multitasking while you tell me what the fuck is wrong with you? Sure.”
Austin winced. “Great. I’m doing bookkeeping today and it’s been a nightmare.”
I sighed. I didn’t like walking on eggshells, but decided to indulge him. “Didn’t your mom used to do that?” I asked.
“Used to.”
Austin offered a grim smile as he led me through the tiny picket fence gate.
Water trickled from a three-tiered fountain, sun-warmed stones creating a path through yellow tufts of grass and bright pink flowers of the Texas sage.
With the rocky soil and dry climate, the grass here was rarely green, but there was an appeal in that.
It felt like home. I could almost feel the heat of the rocks through my soles, reminding me of when we’d run around barefoot chasing horned lizards.
I remembered this hotel, and they’d put in some work to make it look like this. It used to be rundown and dull, but the paint job, landscaping, and careful renovations had really turned it around.
“Did you do all this?” I asked.
“Yep. Broke my middle finger installing that damn fountain. It’s still slightly crooked.” He turned and secretly flipped me off. Sure enough, it was slightly bent. Barely noticeable unless pointed out.
I laughed and shook my head as we bounded up the steps. A couple sat at a small table enjoying brunch despite the midday heat.
“Howdy,” Austin called, putting on that mask again. “How’s the food?”
“Great!” the woman responded. “You’ve got something special here.”
“We sure do,” he said warmly. “Make sure you get some pie from Evie’s today before she runs out. It’s the best in town.”
They grinned. “We’re headed there right after.”
“Wonderful. You folks enjoy.”
As we walked through the front door, we were met with the warm scent of woodsy vanilla.
I breathed in deeply as I took in the space.
Wooden floors creaked beneath our boots as we walked through the front lobby to an adjoining space that belonged to the restaurant.
Large windows let in natural light, filling the brightly painted space with warmth.
It was small, but not too much so, with booths that were perfect to sit and work at.
Austin had left his laptop and things out on the corner booth in the back.
“Wow,” I said, looking around.
The walls were painted a deep forest green with acrylic paintings of Charros on horseback and women dancing in beautiful dresses framed in gold.
“From an artist a couple towns over,” Austin said, catching my gaze on the art. “Lucia Pérez. She’s really talented.”
“She is.”
A bar stretched around the space with velvet barstools, the scent of chorizo, bacon, and scrambled eggs wafting through the air. My stomach growled as we sat down in the booth. Austin pushed his laptop and papers aside.
I raised a brow. “You just leave your shit everywhere?”
“Everyone knows I work here often. And that I always sit at this booth. No one’s going to mess with my stuff, city boy.”
“Fair enough. I forget how trusting people are here.”
“Not the same up north?”
“It’s the same in a lot of places,” I said. “Minnesota is great. Lot of trusting people there. Just maybe not leave your expensive laptop in a booth, leave the building, and walk down the street to see your friends and sister kind of trusting.”
“Fair enough.” Austin relaxed in the booth as he studied me, tilting his head slightly. “I saw the news.”
My stomach dropped. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
By this point though, everyone probably had. At least anyone who cared about hockey. Thankfully most people in Texas didn’t, so maybe I wouldn’t have to be asked a million questions by strangers.
“You didn’t mention anything to me about it last time we talked.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “Is that how we’re gonna do this?”
Austin’s cheeks reddened. “No.” He looked up as a woman with black hair braided into a bun came up to us and slid a menu in front of me. “Hey, Maria. How’s it going today?”
“Fine. Where’s my cousin? I thought after saving Frida he’d be sitting here with you.”
“That damn cat climbed up the tree again?”
She smiled. “Yeah. What can I say? She yearns for the wild.”
Austin chuckled. “She does. Maria, this is Levi. He used to visit in the summers when we were younger, and now he’s back in town. Levi, this is Maria. She works here sometimes, but otherwise, she’s Whynot’s best librarian.”
“A librarian? That’s really cool. I don’t even know how one becomes a librarian.”
“It’s harder than most people think,” she said casually. “But I love it. I love our library in particular because we’ve been able to expand some of the summer reading programs for kids. And we were able to add a library of things for folks to borrow, like power tools or ghost hunting kits.”
I grinned. “Ghost hunting kits?”
“Yep.” Maria beamed.
“Does the library have different hours on Wednesdays?” I asked curiously. “Or—”
“It opens later during the week,” she said. “I usually work a couple hours here and then head over. The tips fund my love for special edition books. What brings you to Whynot?”
“Just visiting for a few weeks,” I said. “Needed an escape.”
“Got it. And out of all places, you chose here—when it’s hotter than hell?”
“Yep,” I said. “How’d you end up in Whynot?”
Maria smiled. “Got family here, so it was an easy choice. I’ll bring y’all waters. Want anything else? Austin, your usual?”
“Yes, please.”
“What’s your usual?” I asked.
“We have peach cobbler pancakes that will probably be the death of me one day,” Austin groaned. “They’re fucking diabolical.”
“Sold.” I wasn’t even going to worry about my diet for the next few weeks. “I’ll take those too.”
“Great. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Thanks.” Austin said. He waited until Maria was out of earshot, then his expression grew serious. “All right, Rayburn. Spill.”
“I feel like I should tell you to go first.” I hesitated for a moment, and then continued. “I’m sorry about your dad.”
His shoulders deflated. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Honestly, our phone calls became a weird form of escape for me. And you had so many good things going on, I wanted to hear about those instead of telling you what a fucking disaster everything was here.”
“But I would have come to his funeral. I would have flown down to support you. We’ve been friends for decades and you not telling me feels like a fucking gut punch.”
“I’m sorry. I am. I should have told you. I just couldn’t bring myself to. There was so much happening when he passed that it was easier to just . . .”
“Suffer alone?” I shook my head. “I know how you are. You always put everything on yourself. You should have leaned on our friendship.”
“There’s a lot I should have done,” Austin said. “And truly, I am sorry. There’s not really an excuse. I didn’t tell you. And that was fucked up of me.”
“It was fucked up.” I leaned back in the booth and studied him. “I haven’t been a good friend.”
Austin’s brows drew together. “That’s not true.”
“It is true. A good friend would have noticed something was off in our phone calls, right? I don’t know.”
He smiled despite the heaviness of our conversation.
“It was bad, but easy to hide when talking with you. I think about him every day. I took on what I could. Avery ended up changing her entire life plan to come back here when she was supposed to be traveling the world painting and stuff. And Dallas . . . I don’t know. He won’t talk about it either.”
“Dallas never was much of a talker, if I remember correctly. Although, it seems he’s changed given that he’s a mechanic now.”
“Oh, don’t worry. He’s still a book nerd.” Austin leaned his head back against the booth. “Mom has gotten less social. We all go over for dinner on Sundays just to try to keep some sort of normal routine. But she’s pulled back from the community so much. I’ve tried pushing her out, but it’s hard.”
“You can’t do everything,” I said softly. “You’ve always tried to, but you can’t. You’re not Superman.”