Chapter 12 Levi
Levi
It’d been two days, and yet I still hadn’t come up with something to save Luke. To save Tess.
The problem wasn’t proving she was a good mother.
That part was obvious to anyone after spending a few minutes with them.
The problem was optics. Jeremy could spin the circumstances he put her in just enough to make Tess’s life look like a storm waiting to happen.
And judges didn’t like that. They liked stability.
Structure. Security. A predictable environment that benefited the child.
Luke already had that with Tess; I just had to find a way to prove it so they wouldn’t blink twice at Jeremy’s claims.
I reached the point of frustration with myself that I ended up at the gym, which was a rarity. I wasn’t one of those guys who threw weights around or swung at punching bags.
Except today I was.
I took all my anger out on the bag, the sound of my gloves meeting it echoing through the gym. Anger at Tess’s situation, at our situation. The helplessness I felt Thursday when she collapsed in on herself at my feet, and the piercing cry she made that ripped my heart clean in two.
I’d felt like a failure that day. But it had lessened when I followed her upstairs to her childhood room, where she and Luke had been staying.
It felt like I’d pulled back another layer of her and been transported into a time capsule.
But what made me smile was that just about everything was purple.
I’d helped her get into bed and sat with her until she fell asleep, her hand tightly clasped in mine like she was afraid to let go.
And the second my foot landed on the ground floor, the interrogation began. Claire and Delilah alone were barely manageable, but the two of them together? With Savannah thrown into the mix? Forget it.
So I told them what Jeremy was planning.
Claire looked like she was going to combust, her face red with her anger.
Savannah was already strategizing different angles for me to use in court.
And Delilah…she stormed outside and came back with a loaded shotgun, demanding to know where Jeremy lived so she could kill him.
I told them I’d handle it, and I would…
I just didn’t know how yet.
“You hit the bag any harder and it’ll start swinging back,” someone said behind me. I turned, finding Weston glancing between me and the bag with an amused look.
“Just have a lot on my mind,” I murmured, placing a hand on the bag so it’d stop moving. “What are you doing here?”
“PT on my shoulder,” he replied, waving his left arm around in a large arc to warm it up. “Got cleared to lift weights finally.”
I nodded. “I bet you’re relieved.”
He grabbed a five-pound dumbbell and started doing lateral raises, watching his form in the mirror. “Yeah, gotta stay sexy for the wedding. I want Sav to spontaneously ovulate,” he said with a smirk. I choked out a laugh, having never heard that before. “Or that’s what Delilah called it, anyway.”
“She’s a piece of work,” I chuckled, shaking my head.
“No kidding. Whoever she ends up with needs to have the patience of a saint.” I nodded and grabbed the thirty-pound dumbbells, settling on a bench next to him while I did some overhead presses.
“This wedding stuff is testing mine, that’s for damn sure,” Weston said, wincing while he tried to lift a ten-pound dumbbell over his head.
“How so?” I grunted.
“You know Sav isn’t like the other girls, she’s bougie.
She wants the whole nine yards. But it can’t just be something simple like Colt and Britt’s, it’s gotta be big.
Totally not my style, but she’s got me wrapped so tight around her finger that I’ll say yes to whatever she wants.
” His eyes flick to mine in the mirror. “I guess that’s love, though, right?
If it were up to me, we’d just go down to the courthouse and sign a marriage license. ”
I was smiling, halfway distracted, when it hit me.
Marriage.
The thought landed so suddenly, I almost lost count of my reps.
It was insane. Absolutely insane. There was no way we could do that.
And yet…the more I thought about it, the better it sounded. Two loving, supportive parents and two incomes once Tess finished her course. It was a judge’s dream.
I nearly dropped the dumbbells on my head before I set them down. “I have to go,” I said suddenly, replacing the weights.
Weston eyed me warily. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I rushed out, barely able to stay in this conversation, too busy thinking about the one I was planning to have next. “Just forgot I had something to handle. I’ll see you later.”
Weston nodded, continuing with his workout, while I bolted out of the gym like it was on fire. I pulled out my phone, sending Tess a quick text before I headed towards the coffee shop.
I was practically vibrating in my seat when Tess walked into the coffee shop.
It was one of those places with broken-in leather couches, hardwood floors, alcoves for studying, and trendy coffees the diner didn’t offer.
And the nosiest woman on Earth didn’t own it, which was desperately needed for this conversation.
“Hi,” she said, smiling softly down at me.
Seeing her standing in front of me with that tiny, sweet smile, her hair falling over her bare shoulders in a sheet of black silk, it hit me just how much I had missed her. We had gone from texting all the time to virtually nothing, and I wanted that closeness with her back. I craved it. Needed it.
I just hoped what I asked her to come here to talk about wouldn’t push her away even more.
“Hi,” I replied after a moment. The word was hardly more than a breath of relief at having her near again. I gestured to my cinnamon bun latte. “I would’ve gotten you one, but I wasn’t sure what you’d want.” In all the times we saw each other, we’d never come here, so I didn’t know her order.
She tucked her hair behind her ear, glancing at the menu behind me. “Oh, I always get the cinnamon bun latte. It’s my favorite.”
I loved coincidences like that. “Mine too.”
She giggled, her nose scrunching. “Really? I pictured you as an Americano kind of guy, or something classic like that.”
I stood, laughing. “No, if the option is there, I’m as girly as it gets when it comes to my coffee. The more absurd, the better.”
“I guess that makes sense given the drinks you got us at the Bull Pen,” she said while we got in line.
Flashes of that night blew through my mind like a freight train. Her laugh. Her dancing under the lights. The stain from the drinks on her lips. I couldn’t help but look at them now. Pouty and full and right there, taunting me by staying just out of reach.
My mouth went dry, thinking of kissing her until neither one of us could breathe.
My gaze slid up her face slowly before meeting hers.
Her pupils were large, her cheeks a little flushed.
It felt like there was pure electricity simmering in the air between us the longer I got lost in her eyes.
I wasn’t certain that if I reached out and touched her now, it wouldn’t jolt through me and rewire me completely.
I was tempted to find out, professional boundaries be damned.
But then someone cleared their throat behind us.
I murmured an apology, heat crawling up my neck. Tess rocked on her heels, looking anywhere but me. “Do you”—she cleared her throat—“Do you want to split a muffin or something?”
“Sure. You pick.”
She ordered her latte and a piece of coffee cake instead, another mutual favorite that I planned to file away for later.
We carried our drinks and cake back to the table, and she sat across from me, the hem of her navy dress brushing against her knees. She looked better than she had in days, refreshed, even. And for one selfish second, I let myself just look at her.
“So,” she cleared her throat, “what’s this idea you have?”
I wanted to stay in this moment with her, but I had to tell her why I’d brought her here. I traced a fingertip along the side of my cup, searching for the right words. There weren’t any, so I just said it. “Marry me.”
She choked. She straight-up choked. She slammed her cup down on the table, eyes watering, a hand clutched to her chest. “What…what the hell did you just say? You want me to marry you?”
I think that just might’ve been the first time I’d heard her curse.
I hated how much I loved it.
“It’d be on paper, only,” I clarified, so she didn’t think I was some psycho obsessed with her. “Married parents look stable to a judge. It means Luke has two people on the same side fighting for him. No way Jeremy wins against that, especially with your DVRO against him.”
I leaned forward, bracing my arms on the table. “I know it’s…out there, but trust me, it will work. Jeremy’s whole argument is that you’re unstable and unfit to parent Luke on your own. This is a surefire way to guarantee no judge will side with him.”
“That’s no reason to marry someone, Levi.
Are you crazy?” She glanced around the shop before leaning in towards me, her voice hushed.
Worry seeped into her features. “Wouldn’t this be really risky for you and your job?
” Her words tumbled out faster now, panic creeping in.
“And what happens when people find out it’s not real?
That we lied?What if the judge sees right through it?
What if Luke sees through it? God, Levi, what happens if this blows up in our faces?
I can’t—” Her voice broke, and she pressed her lips together, like she was fighting against herself to keep her thoughts in her head.
“No one will find out, Tess.” I took her hand in mine. “We’ll act like any other couple in public and sign a waiver stating that it won’t be a conflict of interest to handle the legal part.”
She palmed her forehead, shaking her head. “This is insane,” she murmured. “We can’t do this, Levi. I can’t let you do this for me. It’s too much of a risk to you.”