35. Levi
35
LEVI
T he garage door rattles as it closes behind me. Once it’s shut, I strip down to my underwear next to the kitchen door. My clothes are always a mess after working, so I take them off before going inside to keep the mess out of the house. Plus, Hope checks me out every time I walk into the kitchen, which is a huge boost to my ego.
When I step inside, she’s standing by the stove, cooking something that makes my mouth water. She turns, taking in my body as I stalk toward her. “Hi, love.”
She grins. “Hi there. How was your day?”
“Not bad. I keep feeling like we’re going to be done with the house soon, but then another list of projects comes up, and we’re adding another week.” I wrap my arms around her waist as she stirs a pot.
“That’s what you get for buying a ginormous Victorian house with a million rooms.”
“No kidding. What smells so good?”
“Spaghetti with homemade meatballs.”
“Damn, woman. I’m going to need to marry you so you can’t get away from me. ”
Hope tenses in my arms then huffs out a laugh. “You’re funny. I’m not going anywhere.”
Odd. I’m a little surprised by her reaction to me bringing up marriage. Maybe she’s not ready to talk about getting married yet. It’s understandable, given her history with men hasn’t been great.
I decide to let it go for now since we’re supposed to talk tonight about why she’s been struggling the last few days. I’d prefer to have one serious conversation at a time. “How was your day?”
“Great. Our new kid, Sam, is fantastic. He’s picked up on things quickly, even has a decent eye for arrangements.”
“Good, maybe you can take some time for yourself now. You haven’t read much in the last few weeks.”
“I know. I’d like to get back to a normal schedule again.”
“Maybe we can plan a trip back to the beach when you’re feeling caught up.”
Hope beams at me. “Yes! That would be perfect!”
We finish making dinner together, keeping up a constant stream of chatter the whole time. It feels as if things are finally getting back to normal again. We still need to talk, but for now, it’s nice not to have the lingering tension.
As we set the breakfast bar to eat, my phone rings, showing Cooper on the caller ID.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”
“Are you at home?” Cooper’s terse tone has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
“Yeah, why?”
“If Hope’s in the room, can you go somewhere else, please?”
I leave the dining room, moving out of earshot. “I’m in the library. Cooper, what’s going on?”
“Look... I’m sorry, but I had a buddy of mine do some digging on Hope. I couldn’t let it go, man. It was just too weird. ”
My blood drains as Cooper continues to tell me the sordid story.
It’s so much worse than I could have even imagined.
Every word he says makes my stomach drop further until he’s finally done. I hang up the phone, taking slow, deep breaths to keep from losing my mind.
When I feel like I have some semblance of control, I walk back to the kitchen where Hope is sitting at the counter, scrolling on her phone. She looks up, her eyebrows furrowed. “Everything okay?”
I shake my head. “Hope isn’t your real name, is it?”