Chapter 15
Tab
Isidestep the man walking toward me, his head in his phone.
Man, I’m on fire today.
The two steaming cups of java from the café are safe, thank heavens. I slip through the opening in the revolving door and am let out inside the Wingate with its big, cathedral-like ceilings. The doorman calls out, “Good morning, Miss Riley.”
“Good morning.”
I remember only a few weeks ago when he looked at me as if he didn’t know me. Which he didn’t. I’d been holed up in the penthouse for so long, he didn’t have a chance to.
“Oh, Miss Riley.”
I spin, the aroma of mine and Raeann’s coffee filling my nostrils. “Yes, sir?”
“A few letters came for Mr. and Mrs. Freeman.” He gives the envelopes a wiggle, and I can’t help but chuckle. Micah’s been trying to put his last name on Raeann for a while, and clearly he has succeeded in some cases.
“I’ll take them up.” I reach one hand out, and keeping a few fingers wrapped around the drink, I offer up the last two. He slips the letters between them, and I clamp them closed. “Thank you.”
If he thinks Micah and Raeann are married, I wonder what he thinks I’m doing living with them. I’m sure people would come up with a bunch of crazy ideas…as long as they’d never heard about the fire.
I happy sigh. Fire-kissed. When Levi said that to me, I nearly lost my mind.
How he managed to turn something so damaging into something romantic is beyond me.
It’s his charm. He literally drowns in it, dripping off one-liners as the day progresses until he starts the next day, completely soaked again. He has a never-ending supply.
I’d actually been looking into getting a tattoo. Prove to the world the fire didn’t ruin me. Remind myself that I’m a survivor. Either way, I hadn’t decided on what to get…until Levi said that to me.
Now, I can’t think of anything else.
My biggest decision now is whether to get it in a pretty, cursive along my forearm. Or maybe disguise it somehow. Use emojis like fire and lips. Something Levi and I could keep what it means to ourselves.
The elevator dings, and I step inside, pushing the P button.
After a few moments, it closes, and I’m lifting upward.
I catch my reflection in the shiny steel in front of me.
There I go again. Planning as if Levi and I are going to be a long-term thing.
It was never supposed to be like that. I laid those rules.
Now I’m beginning to think I’m the one who had it wrong the whole time. Levi is sincere.
That doesn’t stop me from thinking why he would want someone like me. I come with baggage. Hell, I won’t have sex with him with all my clothes off. That can’t be any kind of healthy. Plus, he’s still recording his dating show.
I’ll admit that the circumstances aren’t great, but I still can’t deny the growing feelings between us.
The elevator dings again, and I walk into the apartment. “Housekeeping!”
Raeann chuckles from the kitchen. I walk in to her mixing up some waffle batter. “You were up early this morning.”
“I decided to go for a walk. Then my mom called, so it was a bit longer than I expected. Then, of course, I stopped into the café.”
She peeks up for the first time, her eyes zeroing in on the cups I’m carrying.
“Remind me to thank Micah again for picking out this place next to our new favorite coffee shop.”
“Will do.”
I place the envelopes on the island and then hand her the coffee. She eyes them. “What’s that?”
“Oh, the doorman told me they were for Mr. and Mrs. Freeman.” I laugh. “Micah has certainly claimed you. Don’t worry. I’m just jealous. A hottie pro football player sounds like a lot of fun right now.”
I should know.
Raeann gives me a weird smile and then takes the letters, flicking through them before putting them in a drawer.
I eye her, my spidey senses going off. Athena shows up, sitting next to Raeann, which is the final clue I needed. “Okay, what’s up? Did you guys get in a fight or something?”
“What? No,” she says immediately. “Micah doesn’t fight with me. You know that.”
That’s true. The only thing he will give her pushback on is if he thinks she’s going to hurt herself, worry herself, or have a negative experience in any way. Even then, he doesn’t yell. He dick-notizes her.
Holy hell. I think Levi has dick-notized me!
Raeann speaks, bringing me out of my reverie. “I’m…you know…” She shrugs.
“You’re being secretive right now. Is there something in the mail that bothered you?”
“No, I barely looked.”
She places a waffle in front of me and gives me an entirely too-fake smile. She’s never been good at keeping things from me. Ever.
I give her a good, blank stare, and she sighs, her shoulders caving in. “I just don’t want you to be mad at me.”
“Be mad at you? Yes, I’m mad that you’ve completely stepped up. Fed me, housed me, and took care of me for weeks. I’m livid. I demand recompense. In fact, I think I’ll punish you by asking you to adopt me so I can live this way forever.”
She shakes her head, her lips turning into a slight smile. “Ha. Ha.”
“Babe, say what it is.”
She gnaws on her lip. “Fine.”
Moments go by. My waffle is getting cold, and Raeann keeps looking at me, then peering away really quickly. “You have to actually speak. I’m not a mind reader.”
She groans. “Okay…” She takes a deep breath. “The reason the letters say Mr. and Mrs. Freeman is because I am Mrs. Freeman.”
I blink at her, and then it slowly sinks in. She’s Mrs. Freeman? They’re…married.
“Oh.” Oh. My. God. My best friend is married! My heart somersaults.
“Please don’t be mad. It all happened so fast after the fire. Micah wanted to be sure he could make healthcare decisions for me. Granny and Pawpaw were already here. He practically had me tied to the hospital bed, and you were still—”
“In the hospital,” I answer for her.
She nods. “I’m sorry, Tab.”
I tilt my head, staring at her. “Are you kidding me? What are you sorry for?”
I get up and move around the island. Raeann’s eyes are filling with tears fast. She wipes at her face. “For keeping this from you. For doing it while you couldn’t be here. For being happy when you were still so hurt.”
Her voice breaks, and it kills me. She’s been carrying this weight around.
“Rae-bae…” I smile. “I’m so happy for you, and whenever you and Micah chose to get married is none of my business, and honestly, it makes so much sense that you would do it then. I’d rather something beautiful come out of this than both of us be miserable.”
“I wanted you there,” she says, catching tears with her fingers. “You’re the reason why my life has changed so drastically from a few years ago.”
“We changed each other’s lives.” I give her a hug. Not a second later, Athena jumps up, places her paws on our shoulders, and starts licking every available slip of skin for both of us. “Aww, you changed our lives, too, Athena.”
We break apart so Athena can give us more kisses easier.
I gasp. “Tell me you dressed her up.”
Raeann laughs. “There wasn’t time. I got married from a hospital bed in the middle of Micah’s living room.”
“Wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“Micah had a holy person on speed dial. I had no idea.”
I chuckle, then it turns into a full-blown laugh because I can see it playing out in my head.
“We’re going to have a legit wedding ceremony in the off-season. And…I want you to be my maid of honor.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” I singsong. “Does that mean we can go wedding dress shopping? I’ve always wanted to go wedding dress shopping!”
“Yes!”
Raeann and I jump in place, then give each other another hug for good measure.
When we break apart, it dawns on me that though Raeann has spilled her guts to me, I’ve been holding back something important from her, too.
A nugget of guilt starts to form. If I don’t tell her about Levi now, when she finally does find out, it’s going to hurt more.
I sigh. “Well, I have something, too.”
“Is this about the mysterious flowers you keep getting?”
“Yep.”
I steel myself. Raeann waits for me to say something, and I nearly break out in a cold sweat. She won’t judge me, but she has warned me off him before for being a player. I mean, he is currently also taping a dating show, for crying out loud. The timing couldn’t be worse.
“It’s casual,” I start, even though that’s a lie. I really need to start being honest with myself. I’ve fallen for Levi.
“I’ve been dying to know how you met someone. Do they work at the hospital?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Well?”
I fret over my lip.
Raeann grins. “I’m not a mind reader.”
“t’s Levi Soucy.”
“What?” Her voice goes up an octave. “But he’s on a dating show!”
“I know!”
She shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
“One day, I was sick of being in bed, so I went to The Daily Perk. After I ordered, I realized I had no idea where my ID and cards were, and Levi appeared out of thin air and bailed me out. We sat and talked, and he said he’d been wondering how I was doing, but Micah was Fort Knox, and—”
“The cell phone!” Raeann interrupts. “I was wondering where you got one when you didn’t even know where your wallet was. I thought maybe your parents sent it to you.”
“It was Levi,” I tell her. “Later that day, he sent me a basket filled with stuff. All this cell phone gear, plus snacks. It was so sweet, and then he basically inserted himself into my life.”
“I understand how that is.”
We give each other a similar look. She keeps staring at me after that, her facial features shifting every few seconds like she’s trying to process everything. “It’s casual?”
“He says a lot of charming things…”
“Like what?”
“Like things you might say if you were really into someone.”
“Do you— Do you believe him?”
“I think I’m starting to.”
Raeann takes her waffle out of the maker. “So, are you a thing? Or are you only having fun?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “It started off as hanging out, but he says so many perfect things. And he’s definitely the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“I can tell. You’re glowing when you talk about him. If you don’t want things to be casual anymore, maybe you should tell him.”
“He’s about to film the last episode of his dating show.”
“Are you worried about that?”
“No, not at all. He’s showed me some of the texts from the women.
It’s clear they’re just there to give everyone a show.
They don’t actually care about him, and he doesn’t either.
He’s been putting off production for weeks, telling them it’s impacting football, but he received a nasty email last night basically saying if he doesn’t continue shooting, they’re going to sue him. ”
“Jesus. I had no idea.”
“Because of that, he needs to finish filming the last episode, and then they have him on the hook for an update episode where they’ll announce they’re broken up.”
“Tab, if you’re interested in Levi, that’s a lot to take in. You’re saying it so casually, though.”
“I’m not happy about it, but it’s not really his fault either. He agreed to it before he saw me again.”
My phone pings, and Raeann and I both stare at it. “Is that him?”
“Yep.”
She squeals. “I have to see what he texts.” She grabs my phone and opens it, pressing on the text that sure enough, is from Levi. She reads out. “Good morning, beautiful.” Peering at me, she sighs dreamily, then turns her attention back toward the phone. “Can I see you today?”
I smile, itching to get the phone back so I can write him.
“That’s really sweet. I don’t know what I expected it to say.”
“What did Micah text you this morning?”
“Oh,” she laughs. “That was X-rated.”
I laugh. “I was worried Levi’s was, too. If I’m ever blushing at my phone, you know why.”
She hands me the phone, and I sit in front of my waffle.
“Hey, if you’re happy, I’m happy,” Raeann offers. “Just be careful with your heart.”
My phone buzzes again, and I look down.
Levi: Put me out of my misery.
I flash the screen at Raeann, and she says, “Aww.”
Relief I hadn’t known I’d been searching for fills me when Raeann starts grilling me with all sorts of questions about Levi. Deep down, I knew she wouldn’t care, but I also knew she would be protective over me. She wouldn’t be a good friend if she wasn’t.
Levi: I’m
Levi: Slowly
Levi: Dying.
Me: Let me guess, I’m the antidote?
Levi: You’re everything.