Chapter 12 #2
“He is,” June said, the words flying to her lips with ease. She didn’t doubt that Levi was wonderful, even with their rocky first introduction.
“But?” Cadence prodded.
June’s eyes slid over toward her son, not because she was worried that he was listening in, but because he was the center of her world and never far from her mind.
“But,” June admitted, “I’m not certain that this thing between us is destined for anything more than a few fun nights out, a few good conversations over dinner. I mean, he said himself that his career isn’t over.”
Cadence nodded, thoughtful and understanding.
“I get that, and music is one of those careers that means a lot of travel. But that doesn’t mean that Magnolia Shore can’t be his home base… that you can’t be part of that home base.”
“Maybe,” June allowed. “But he doesn’t know that yet, and that’s not the kind of decision I can make for him. It might not be the kind of decision I can even help him make. I don’t think it’s my place. And…”
She trailed off.
“And?” Cadence encouraged.
June popped a slice of salami into her mouth to give herself a moment to think through what she wanted to say.
“I guess I’m worried that, after his grand, exciting life, a small town like this one might prove to be a disappointment,” she said, feeling out the words as she said them and deciding that they were right.
“I get why you might feel that way,” Cadence said, “but I think you’re approaching that from the wrong perspective.”
“How so?”
“Well.” Cadence stacked a slice of cheese and salami on a cracker, but paused before eating it.
“I think you’re thinking of it as someone who has always lived here.
You might love our town, but it’s also all you’ve ever known.
So, to you, the city is this big, exciting place that only exists in your imagination. ”
“I’ve been to cities,” June protested.
“No, I know,” Cadence said reassuringly. “But you and I, we’ve experienced the city as tourists. We visit, we have some good meals, we see some sights. We don’t have to do the annoying stuff like lugging our laundry to the laundromat or sitting in traffic every time we need to run an errand.”
“So, what you’re saying is that, to Levi, the city probably doesn’t seem so mysterious.
And to him, small town stuff might seem kind of amazing.
The things we take for granted, the community, the fact that you can walk basically anywhere you need to go.
They might be exactly what Levi is looking for, given what you said about him being in the public eye so much. ”
June blew out a breath. This all made a great deal of sense, but just because it was possible didn’t mean it was what Levi was actually feeling.
“I guess that’s possible,” she said. “But there’s just no knowing, not until he decides for himself. And his career is still a factor.”
“It is.” Cadence popped her snack into her mouth. When she was done chewing, she grimaced. “Waiting stinks. Not being in control stinks!”
“Here’s to that,” June said, and they toasted again.
“Speaking of Levi’s career, though,” Cadence said after a few moments of contemplative silence, in which the two women picked at the charcuterie board sitting between them. “Have you ever heard any of his music?”
June scrunched up her nose. “No. I considered looking some up after our date, but I couldn’t decide if that was weird or not. Is it weird?”
Cadence reached out and smacked her arm. “No way! He’s a public figure. He put his music out in the world specifically so that people could listen to it. It’s not, like, spying.”
“I didn’t think it was spying until you said that!” June exclaimed.
“Oh my gosh.” Cadence scrambled over June, who laughingly protested, but ultimately let her friend grab for the television remote. “Give me that.”
“You don’t know how to work that,” June accused. “Nobody knows how to work that around here except Benjamin.”
“Benjamin!” Cadence called at once, causing June to roll her eyes at her obvious mistake. “Can you come pull up YouTube?”
“Sure!” The little boy hopped up away from his game cheerfully and pressed some complex series of buttons until the app’s logo appeared.
He paused, looking at June. “Mommy, am I allowed to open the grown-up side?” He looked sagely at Cadence.
“I’m only allowed to do the kid side by myself and only when Mommy says it’s okay to have screen time. ”
“That’s a great rule,” Cadence said, matching the little boy’s seriousness.
“Daddy and I sometimes watch building shows,” Izzy contributed, not to be left out. “They’re a little boring sometimes, but then Daddy tells me if he’s done the stuff they’re doing, and then it’s cool again.”
“Yeah, we never watch my mom’s job on TV,” Benjamin said, suitably impressed.
June suspected that if she tried to explain that there weren’t many television programs about cleaning houses or waiting tables that this conversation would rapidly get derailed, so she just answered Benjamin’s initial question.
“Yes, sweetheart, you can go to the grown-up side,” she confirmed.
Benjamin did so with the satisfied aura of a kid who got to show the adults how to do something for once, then returned the remote to Cadence.
She typed “Levi Hawkins live” into the search bar, then pulled up the first video.
June’s eyes nearly popped from her head when she saw that it had over a million views.
The video opened to show Levi seated on a stool in the middle of a stage, guitar positioned over his lap in a way that suggested that he was as comfortable with the instrument as he was with any part of his body.
“Evening, y’all,” he said into the microphone standing in front of him, its shape little more than a dark silhouette from the way the spotlight shone down on Levi. “Thanks for letting me come out and play for you tonight.”
There were whoops and cheers from an unseen audience.
“This isn’t even TV,” Benjamin murmured to Izzy. “This is just a guy.”
“Yeah, let’s go play our game,” Izzy said, and the two of them wandered away.
June scarcely paid them any mind. She was transfixed by Levi’s presence on the stage. He wasn’t even singing yet, and still he clearly commanded the space.
And then he did start to sing and she found herself breathless.
His voice was low and crooning, and while the part of her that was a performer could appreciate his technique and skill as he played and sang with a fluid sort of effortlessness, the woman in her was far more strongly struck by how beautiful he was, by how beautiful the song was under his care.
June didn’t know that much about country music.
She mostly knew the stereotypes: men singing about how much they loved their trucks, how heartbroken they were now that their girl was gone, or why the city was just no darn good.
She’d known that this understanding was limited, of course, but listening to Levi sing made her realize quite how limited.
He sang about music itself, about how having songs move through him was both a joy and a struggle.
His lyrics were poetry, and the mournful tone in his voice turned them into an elegy.
And just when June thought that the way he talked about music being his closest friend and companion would make her cry, something indefinable changed, and those same words became hopeful.
“Whoa,” Cadence said when the song ended, the last notes hanging in the air for a few moments of silence before the crowd erupted in clapping and cheers. “He’s… amazing.”
“Yeah,” June said, feeling the word as it nearly got caught in her throat. She took the remote from Cadence and turned off the television before the app could autoplay the next song. She wasn’t sure that her heart could take it. “He’s really incredible.”
Cadence looked over at June, her eyes wide and excited.
“Juney, that guy—” She gestured so emphatically at the now-dark television that June worried that she might hurt her arm. “That guy thinks that you are a good singer.”
June tried to muster up the same excitement that Cadence so obviously felt.
“Yeah, it’s really flattering,” she said, although her voice fell flat.
She could see that Cadence was going to press for more information about June’s mood, but just then, the kids chimed in, asking for some more food to eat while they played.
Cadence got up to refill their tray of veggies and hummus, leaving June to her thoughts.
Yes, Levi was amazing. But the excellence of his music, the gorgeousness of his lyrics?
All of it made her think that there was no way he could have a future with a small-town single mom like her.
Surely he was destined for bigger and better things, no matter how much she would have liked to think otherwise.