Chapter 34 – Brianna #2
I soften. “You’re not on the outside, Levi.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. Last time I came to Brookhaven, it got under my skin how distant he is. I talked to Boone, and he said that’s just how Seth is now but this small-town, it’s starting to grow on me.”
I pour a glass of water and nudge it toward him. “It does that. It’s a cute town. Would you ever consider trying to get traded to the Mayhem?”
He tugs at the back of his neck before scooping another forkful of food in his mouth. “I don’t know. It’d be nice to be closer to family.”
I smile, watching him eat like he hasn’t had a home-cooked meal in a month. After a beat, I push off the counter.
“Let me go make up the guest room for you.”
His fork pauses midair, and a big, goofy grin crosses his face. “That’s not where you’ve been sleeping?”
I glance over my shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He barks out a loud laugh. “I’m happy for him. Seth deserves someone as good as you.”
The words hit me deep in my chest. Maybe it’s because I don’t have siblings of my own and Levi’s become like a big brother to me the way we’ve texted over the las few months.
Or maybe it’s because other than Seth, Levi has always understood my heart.
He’s a romantic just like me though he may never admit it out loud.
“Thanks.” I brush hair behind my ear. “I feel like I’m the lucky one.
Sawyer’s amazing. I just…” I hesitate, the thought of my dad’s warning flickering at the edge of my tongue.
But I keep it to myself. Not because I’m afraid of Levi telling Seth, but because I know Seth trusts me and I don’t want to break his trust by telling his brother something I haven’t discussed with him yet.
Especially something this life changing.
He’s opened up so much over the last couple months, peeling back layers I know he’s kept sealed for years.
But there are still corners of him I haven’t reached; places he tucks away with careful silence.
Maybe he’s scared that if I see all of him, I’ll think the dark parts are too much, but that’s simply not possible.
He’s a good man, and I wish he could see himself the way I see him.
“He’s a bit of a tortured soul,” I say finally, almost to myself. “I think he beats himself up more than he should over his last marriage.”
Levi leans back in his chair, nodding. “That’s a good way to put it.” He studies me for a second longer, something thoughtful settling into his expression. “I knew both of Seth’s exes. Elena and…” His jaw ticks. “Rebecca.”
The way he says Sawyer’s mom’s name makes something in my chest still.
“They were good women,” he continues. “But I don’t think either of them ever really saw Seth.
Not the way that you do. You look at him differently.
Rebecca, well, she wasn’t ready to be a mom when she got pregnant.
She loved Sawyer with everything she had, but the pregnancy was unplanned, and I don’t think she would have married him if it weren’t for Sawyer. ”
Seth’s shared a little about his relationship with Sawyer’s mother and how young he was when she unexpectedly got pregnant, so this isn’t news to me.
“And Elena, well, she wanted nothing to do with any of it. She was halfway out the door from the moment they got together, I think.”
I exhale slowly. “I know what it’s like to grow up with someone missing. Sawyer deserves more than that. And she’s just so easy to love.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
I smile, then nudge his empty plate with a grin. “You say that now, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the food talking.”
He laughs. “Well, your cooking doesn’t hurt your case.”
“My mom taught me. She was an incredible cook and baker, too. That’s where I get most of the recipes that I make for Seth and Sawyer. Her angel food cake was unreal. I used to beg her for it on every birthday.”
His smile fades a little as he watches me. “I’m sorry you lost her.”
“Thanks.” I dig my fingers into the counter, feeling that familiar ache in my chest when she comes up. “She taught me everything I know about how to show love without words.”
Levi nods then stands and carries his plate to the sink. He washes it then sets it carefully in the drying rack before leaning against the counter beside me.
I hesitate. “Do you mind if I ask you about Sawyer’s mom. I know she died from cancer. I know the pregnancy was unexpected and that Seth and she weren’t that serious when she got pregnant and then married.”
“Yeah,” he says, after a beat. “I knew Rebecca.” And I can tell—instantly—that there’s a story behind those words. One that I’ll need to brace myself to hear.
“Seth doesn’t talk about her much,” I say gently.
Levi nods slowly. “Yeah.” A long silence stretches between us before he mutters, “Fuck it. You should hear this.”
He moves back to the stool, dragging it a little across the hardwood before settling in with a quiet breath. Then he looks at me, his brown eyes intense.
“Rebecca and I were high school sweethearts.”
I reel back. Levi and Rebecca, Sawyer’s mom, were high school sweethearts?
“What?” I whisper.
He nods slowly, not breaking eye contact.
“She grew up with us. Same tiny Alberta town, same dirt roads, same summers at the lake, same winter hockey games. We started dating my senior year. It was first love, all-consuming, you know? But when I graduated school and got drafted by a semi-pro hockey team down in Florida, I knew it wasn’t gonna last.” He sighs.
“I was moving to a different country, young, wild, going at a thousand miles an hour and always looking for the next thrill. She was younger, and I wanted to experience it all without anything holding me back.”
He shrugs, “She was a year older than Seth, but we were all close.”
“Okay.”
“I broke it off,” he says, leaning back against the counter, eyes distant.
“I still cared about her. Loved her, even. But not in the forever way. I needed to chase the life I’d been dreaming about since I was old enough to lace up skates and move around the pond on our family’s farm.
I moved to Florida, she was still in school back in Canada, and we didn’t really keep in touch after that.
There were other women, of course, and I just didn’t see the need to hold onto something I wasn’t interested in pursuing while I was out living my dreams.”
He exhales a slow breath, like he’s trying to let the past go all over again.
“Then, the year Seth graduated and got drafted to a team out in California, I found out Rebecca had followed him there. She and Seth had gotten closer after I left. Next thing I know, he’s calling me in a panic, saying she’s pregnant with his baby and he’s freaking out, not sure what to do.”
“Shit,” I whisper, thinking of how scared Seth must have been.
Levi gives a slow nod. “Yeah. You know he’d just been drafted and was still getting his footing there with the Suns, so it was a shock to both of them.
It wasn’t like he stole her from me or anything.
I was happy for them—surprised as hell—but happy.
But I knew my little brother wasn’t ready to be a dad.
And I didn’t know how he really felt about her.
Rebecca deserved someone who lit up every time she walked into a room, someone obsessed with the ground she walked on. And I told him that.”
A silence stretches between us, taut and sticky.
“He didn’t like hearing me say that because he thought I was trying to take his place. They eloped right after Sawyer was born. And we didn’t speak for almost three years until Rebecca got sick.”