Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Everly
I’d never been more nervous for a date in my life.
Even when the hottest senior at Peace Falls High asked me out my freshman year.
I’d spent three hours getting ready to eat ice cream on Main Street.
That date ended with a peck on the cheek, and the realization that we had absolutely nothing in common.
I should hope for the same with Levi, yet despite all the reasons I shouldn’t want the date to go well, my stomach fluttered with excitement or nerves. Probably a hefty combo.
When I arrived at the trailhead, Levi was already parked, leaning against the side of his Jeep.
It took me a second to realize why it seemed unusual.
Instead of scrolling on his phone, he simply stood, looking off at the mountains, his shoulders relaxed, completely at ease.
Like me, he’d dressed for the hike, but he’d somehow pulled off looking put together and practical in his cargo pants and long-sleeve fleece, like some model in a sporting goods catalog.
I looked down at my law school sweatshirt and stretch-out leggings and considered going home to change.
I had workout clothes that made men do double takes at the gym.
Instead of wearing those, I’d dressed like I rolled out of bed, tossed my hair into a messy bun, and thrown on some clothes to run errands.
Perhaps I was trying to sabotage the date.
Though if we were really doing this, he’d have to accept me looking a mess on my days off.
As I walked toward him, he pulled his attention from the view and flashed me a smile that made the flutters in my stomach turn to somersaults.
“Hi,” he said, pushing off the side of his Jeep and walking to meet me.
Before the kiss, I’d always gotten the sense that I made him a little nervous. He’d take a second to answer whenever I spoke to him, his shoulders always a little tense. Now, he was the picture of calm, which was both unnerving and sexy as hell.
“How’d your talk go with Chief Fitzwilliam?” I asked instead of greeting him.
“I’m off the Wythers case,” he said. “Chief didn’t pry.” He took a step closer. “Can I kiss you hello?”
I shook my head. “I don’t kiss on the first date. It’s a rule.” Like I hadn’t already broken that one.
“Ready to hike then?” he asked.
I nodded, and he placed his hand on the small of my back as we started toward the trail. The simple touch felt like a brand, yet I couldn’t force myself to step away.
“I’ve never seen the falls this time of year,” he said. “I hiked here a couple times last summer.”
“The falls are a lot smaller then,” I said. “Unless we get a big storm.”
“I’ve seen that with the Falls of the James,” he said. “It might be the only part of the city I miss.”
“Really?” I asked. After going away for college and law school, I could understand why some people who grew up in Peace Falls preferred larger cities like Richmond or the suburbs of DC.
Levi shrugged. “It took a while to find all the ingredients for some of my recipes, but I eventually found everything I needed in Jericho or online.”
The mention of ingredients took my mind back to the kitchen kiss that rocked my world and the question I’d wanted to ask before I mauled him. “Where did you learn to cook?”
“My mom,” he said, his eyes going soft. “Her parents immigrated from Italy and somehow ended up in Richmond. Thankfully, they passed on all the family recipes to her, and she taught me. I’ve branched out to other cuisines, though her dishes are still my favorite.”
“I can understand that. Whenever I’m having a rough day, all I want is my dad’s homemade mac and cheese. My mom can’t cook worth a fig,” I said, laughing. “To be fair, she bakes better than anyone I know, except Rowan.”
“She and Poppy own the bakery in town, right?”
I nodded. “Oh, that reminds me. They don’t have any open positions to fill, but they’re donating cookies for the event.”
“That’s great,” he said, taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’d like a favor.”
Something about the gesture felt so reassuring. I nodded, curious what favor he could want so early in the date.
“I want to know everything about you,” he said, “outside of work. If we decide to give this a try, we have to keep our personal and professional lives separate. The event isn’t part of our jobs, but it could easily lead back there.
So, for now, let’s not talk about it or anything else to do with Counselor Hendricks and Officer Stafford.
We’re just Everly and Levi. Is that OK?”
“We can do that,” I said, my voice breathy.
“With one exception. I’d really like to know what made you leave Richmond.
I know the move set your career back, and I’m curious why you chose such a drastic change.
” If we only had one date, I wanted to skip the surface level getting-to-know-you questions.
Yes, I knew he reported members of his team to internal affairs, but that alone wouldn’t be reason enough to uproot his entire life, especially if he had other friends and family in the area.
“That’s fair,” he said quietly.
Instead of answering right away, we continued down the trail holding hands.
A million emotions flickered across his face, and part of me regretted asking the question.
It felt necessary, though, an essential part of him that would help me decide if being together was worth the risk.
We walked on with only the sounds of the forest and our footsteps.
“I appreciate you giving me time to put my thoughts together,” he said after a while. “I’ve never really talked about it before.”
I gave his hand a squeeze. “We’re almost to the falls. Why don’t we find a place to sit while I can still hear you?”
The faint sound of rushing water undercut the chirps and scurries in the trees and grew with every step we took. The path curved, and the falls came into view, arresting even from a distance.
“Wow,” Levi said, coming to a stop. “You weren’t kidding.”
“Mind sitting on a log?” I asked, pointing to a fallen tree.
“As long as there aren’t any snakes.”
I picked up a rock, threw it at the log, and waited. When nothing slithered away, I stepped closer and looked around it. “I think you’re safe.”
He laughed and took my hand again. “I was half kidding, but then I remembered all the rattlesnakes y’all have here that winter together in dens.”
“That’s right,” I said, eyeing the log closer.
“Hold on a second,” he said and gave the log a more throughout inspection, even rolling it to the side a few inches to check beneath. “We’re good.”
We settled on the log, facing each other, our hands entwined.
“I was a narcotics detective in my dad’s old precinct,” he said, all the warmth in his voice gone.
He looked past me into the forest, and something heavy settled over his features.
“Richmond is smack in the middle of the I-95 drug corridor from Miami to the Northeast. It’s also at the intersection of highways going west and to the coast, so the volume of narcotics passing through is significant.
Lower-level dealers pick up shipments for the rest of the state and beyond.
Our job was to confiscate as much as we could and uncover the dealer networks. ”
He finally looked at me, and I nodded. None of this was new information to me. However, I got the sense Levi needed to talk his way into the reason he left it all behind.
“I saw the impact all those drugs had on the community. The violence. The ODs.” He blew out a breath, and I had to stop myself from hugging him. “It’s poison,” he said, “and I celebrated every bust we made because I knew it’d save lives. I thought the rest of my team felt the same.”
My stomach sank, and I held Levi’s hand tighter.
He gripped my hand back, and when he spoke again, it sounded like he was pushing the words past a lump in his throat. “I found out several guys in my unit were keeping portions of the drugs we confiscated and selling them back into the market. I knew I had to report them to IA.”
Reporting his colleagues was exactly what should have happened. The shadows in his eyes told me the story didn’t end there.
“Learning the people I trusted with my life were working against the system was devastating, but it’s how I found out that crushed me.” He paused and shook his head. “I ended up talking with my dad since he’d worked with several of the guys before I joined. He told me to keep quiet.”
“What?” I said, louder than I intended. I didn’t miss that he’d glossed over how he found out his coworkers were corrupt. Perhaps it wasn’t public knowledge, or he simply couldn’t talk about it. What he’d shared was heartbreaking enough.
Levi nodded. “I couldn’t believe it either.
My dad worried it’d hurt my career somehow.
Like making chief was more important than doing the job I had.
He said he was trying to protect me, but it made me wonder if he was really trying to protect some of the guys he worked with, maybe even himself.
We haven’t spoken since. I reported my colleagues to IA, stayed long enough to help with the investigation, then left. ”
“And your dad never reached out?” I asked, my heart breaking for him.
Levi cleared his throat. “We’d lost Mom a year before. If she were still alive, she’d have done everything in her power to reconcile us, and maybe I would have tried for her.”
Though he didn’t say it, I had a feeling his father had reached out, perhaps still did, and Levi had chosen not to speak to him.
“My dad was the reason I became a cop,” he said. “Protect and serve was basically our family motto. I’m proud of the work I do.” He stopped and shook his head.
“But?”
The pain in his eyes made my breath catch. “If I’m being completely honest, some things I’ve seen haunt me.”