Chapter 16 Levi
SIXTEEN
LEVI
CLOSURE
I stood staring down at her unable to comprehend what was happening.
She agreed to closure with me. She agreed to closure with me. If I’d told her what I really wanted, I’m pretty sure there’d be a Allie-sized hole in the wall. While I didn’t know how this thing would play out, the obsession I’d had for her never left.
I owe you, Dr. Phil.
I carried her to the kitchen over my shoulder and a lightness I hadn’t had in an eternity settled in my chest.
Best. Idea. Ever.
I set her feet on the floor, and she looked up at me. My hand went to her cheek, and her silky skin was begging to be touched. I’d been her person, her home back then, but I’d burned the bridge to Allie when I left. I was alive with hope for the first time in as long as I could remember.
“I believe it’s holiday treat time.” She walked to the stove.
After four dozen baked sugar cookies, I found out symmetrical sprinkles was a thing. Who knew?
I grabbed the bottle of tiny green Christmas trees. “Does it really matter if these candies aren’t perfect?”
Her cheeks were a warm pink as her mouth dropped open. “Of course it does. Nonsymmetrical cookie decorating could actually ruin a holiday.”
“That makes no sense, Langley.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t want it to be this way, but it is. I mean if I’m opening Christmas gifts, and I know the cookies on the table are all wonky and stupid, it would take away from the Christmas spirit.”
I poured a thick layer of sprinkles on one side of the frosted sugar cookie. “So this would make you crazy?”
“I’d like to say no, but that’s all wrong.”
I grabbed one from the cookie sheet on the stove. “So if I just put a blob of frosting here.” I dropped a dollop in the corner. “And nothing more, would Allison motherfuckin’ Langley lose sleep over this?”
Her eyes rolled. “No, Levi motherfuckin’ Dawson, I would not.” Her eyes dropped to the table. “Because I would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to correct the problem.” Her finger pointed. “And I think you’d be in trouble.”
“I like trouble.”
A giggle escaped her, and she remembered she liked it when they used to call us that. Teachers, parents, grandparents, along with the farmer at the edge of town who chased my truck out of his fields more than once because they were the perfect place for us to sneak off to.
She stirred some green food coloring into the frosting can.
“So tell me about your career.” I used my knife to spread red frosting across my cookie. I’d gotten off Instagram years ago. I’d done some ‘research’ and saw her face in one post, and it sent me into a spiral that lasted weeks.
Her brow arched. “That’s against the closure rules. We can’t talk about our lives now.”
“I think work talk is acceptable, don’t you?”
“Fine. I’m a Biomedical Engineer.”
“Wow. I knew from day one that brain of yours would take you everywhere.”
She batted her eyelashes. “Yes, I’m still flirty, nerdy, and a little dirty.”
Oh, this one could kill me. “I can see that. So what are you crazy biomed kids working on these days?”
“Artificial organ development.”
“Whoa. So I don’t need to worry about the crap I did when I was younger? You’ll be able to replace all that stuff?”
She bit into a cookie. “You’d need like a whole new interior. Sorry to say you’ll likely just die early.”
“I knew all that fun would bite me in the ass eventually.” She passed me the green frosting. “So for the smarter people who didn’t ruin their body as a teenager, what are you doing for them?”
“It’s kind of mind blowing actually. Artificial organs are one of the most groundbreaking innovations in biomed engineering.
The devices are engineered to replicated a failing organ or assist in its function.
It provides an alternative for patients who can’t receive a natural organ transplant, or because of the severe shortage of donor organs. ”
“It’s hard to believe any of this is possible.”
“I know, it’s amazing. But there are a lot of challenges with it also. The body’s natural tendency is to reject foreign objects. The whole process of the immune system and rejection can result in the failure of the artificial organ.” She passed over the sprinkles.
“It makes me think of your grandma Dee.”
She gasped. “I think of her all the time when I’m working on projects.”
“If only this had been a possibility back then.”
“I know, right? So many of the problems they couldn’t fix even five years ago have possible solutions now.”
I poured some sprinkles on my cookie. “She was the one who gave me a chance back then.”
“Well, you were the one who’d come with me to her house and watch The Young and the Restless. Anyone who thought that was cool was an automatic favorite of hers.” Giggles. “She made me promise to never tell my mother, but she thought you were incredibly sweet.”
She hopped up, turned off the stove, and grabbed more cookies from the counter when I stood and pulled her to me. Her eyes sparkled and something in my gut squeezed tight when her arms wrapped around my waist.
“I think I’m digging closure, Langley.”
She pulled me closer and our bodies were flush. There was a low murmur that buzzed through me, and I physically ached for her.
Her phone on the counter pinged and she grabbed it with a smile. “Looks like my gang will be here tomorrow late morning.” She set the phone back down and her hands cupped my face. “So it’s one day of closure.”
I’ve never stopped loving you.
I shoved the thoughts of Rachel and Lexi and what their reaction to me would be out of my mind as she pulled me down and kissed my cheek. I lifted her and those legs wrapped around my waist without missing a beat.
When our mouths joined, it wasn’t just a kiss. It was raw emotion and adrenaline that tore at everything in me. I barely survived this girl, could I make it out the other side of closure in one piece?