Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I think I was in some kind of fugue state when I agreed to an outdoor date,” Levi said as he tucked his scarf more firmly around his neck.
June, whose jacket wasn’t even zipped up, gave him an indulgent look.
“I didn’t believe we could have a warm snap like this so early in the year, but it’s practically springlike out today,” she informed him.
Levi was pretty certain that she was just teasing him. He was more than willing to play along.
“Sweetheart, if you tell me that this is what spring is like around here, I’m going to drag everybody in this town about three hundred miles south. I don’t care how long it takes me. This isn’t spring, and if you think it is, it’s only because you’ve never seen a proper Southern spring.”
She laughed, bright and warm, and he found that the chill affected him less after listening to it.
He moved the bag of takeout from Anchor Bistro, where they had just picked up sandwiches, to one hand, then looped his other arm through June’s, ignoring that he was wearing gloves and she wasn’t.
They just made these Northern folks differently, he decided.
Maybe they were part penguin. That would explain it.
“Well, before I freeze to death,” he said as they began moving down the sidewalk toward a park where June promised that they’d find a nice, sunny, non-freezing spot to have their lunches, “please let me brag about the logic behind this date request, so that you can marvel at my thoughtfulness.”
She chuckled again, shaking her head at him. Making her laugh was as thrilling as any onstage performance, he’d discovered.
“Please, astound me,” she invited.
“Well…” He paused as they crossed the street.
He put a hand on June’s back to guide her, even though there wasn’t any traffic to speak of at the moment, then slipped his arm around her shoulders when they got to the other side.
He was pleased to note that she seemed happy enough to lean into his side, and even happier to observe that she fit there perfectly.
“You mentioned that you have been off the dating scene for a while, so I thought that something low-key would make you feel a little more at ease.”
“Very thoughtful.” Her tone was playful, but he thought she meant it. He hoped so, at least. He wanted her to feel comfortable with him, wanted it more than he had expected.
“Yes, well, there’s more,” he said. “I also very considerately disregarded some of the more casual eateries in town, because I thought maybe the diner food might have lost some of its allure if you work there, and we could have stayed at Anchor Bistro, but I have already flirted with you there, so I wanted you to see that I can flirt with you in all kinds of settings.”
She laughed again, just as he’d intended. “Very clever. You want to make sure to show that you’re not only charming in certain locations.”
“Exactly,” he said approvingly. “After all, how can you know if you want to go out with me again if you’re busy worrying that I might be boring in some places.
Maybe you want to try a library next, but you’re thinking, ‘Can this guy hang in a library?’ The more places we go, the more I can reassure you that, yes, I can totally hang in a library. ”
She was cracking up now.
This was fun. Levi couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this kind of fun on a date.
He’d always been something of a ham; you didn’t end up as a professional performer without liking getting positive attention from an entertained audience.
But generally, when he’d gone out with a woman in Nashville, she’d wanted to talk music, music, and more music.
He’d been shoehorned into the role of the knowledgeable expert, and while he didn’t necessarily object to showing off his hard-won experience in the country music scene, it had come at the expense of just getting to have fun and be goofy with someone.
He hadn’t really recognized how long he had pushed this side of himself to the side.
“You know,” June said. “I’m so glad you brought it up. I always like to have dates at libraries. They just scream romance.”
“Especially in the romance section,” he said, which was possibly one of the worst jokes he could have made, but it made June stop her in her tracks and stare right at him.
“Really?” she asked. She was grinning, though.
“Just trying to set you at ease again,” he said. “With my laid-back style.”
“You,” she said pointing at him, “are a very silly man. You might have this whole fancy, celebrity thing going on, but you are secretly very, very silly.”
He held a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone.”
She mimed locking her lips, which showed that she had some silliness in her too, just waiting to come out.
“Your secret is safe with me,” she promised.
“Besides,” he said, offering his arm again, which she accepted. “I have one more piece of bragging to do. I also wanted to impress you with my manly courage in the face of what is clearly a deadly level of cold.”
“You are courageous beyond measure,” she reassured him with mock solemnity.
He sketched a courtly bow, then led them through the entrance of the park and past a playground filled with children who seemed untouched by the temperature and their parents, who were all huddled over cups of steaming coffee.
Levi was about to make another quip about how clearly he wasn’t the only one suffering from winter’s chill when June’s phone trilled loudly from her pocket.
“Sorry,” she said with an apologetic wince. “But this is my friend Miriam, who is watching Benjamin.”
“Please,” he said with an easy wave. “Answer, of course.”
He felt a little awkward, just standing there and trying to pretend he couldn’t hear anything while June answered her phone, but he didn’t wish to intrude on her personal family business, not when she hadn’t invited him to do so.
“Miriam, hey,” he heard her say. “What’s up?”
There was a long silence and then June murmured, “Oh, gosh. Is he… he’s okay?”
Levi felt a deep, uneasy tension coiling in his stomach. He could only imagine how June was feeling. He didn’t even know her son, but he didn’t like the idea of him being ill, nor did he like the smallness of June’s voice when she asked the question. He held his breath until she spoke again.
“Okay. Yeah, okay. Good. Tell him that I’ll be home right away, alright?” Another pause. “Yeah, thanks, Miriam. Bye.”
June turned back to face Levi, an apology sketched atop her worried expression, and he held up his hands to forestall any apology.
“No need to even say it,” he reassured her. “Your son comes first. Let’s go.”
A relieved breath whooshed out of her, but Levi couldn’t even find it in himself to feel good that he’d put her at ease. What did single moms have to put up with, that she had even considered that he might give her a hard time about this? It boggled the mind.
“Thanks,” she said. They immediately pivoted back toward the entrance to the park, this time walking far more quickly than they had previously done.
“Listen,” Levi said, not breaking his stride, “I don’t want to pry, I really don’t. But can I just ask, is everything okay?”
June shot him a tense, grateful smile.
“Yes. Or, yes and no. I was telling you about my son Benjamin? Well, he was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.”
“Oh my gosh,” Levi said, quickly trying to run through everything he knew about diabetes…
which was very little. He’d had a great-aunt who had the disease, but as he recalled, that was Type 2.
He didn’t really understand the difference, but he didn’t need to ask June for a medical lecture right now.
“And is he doing okay?” he asked. “I mean, in general?”
June huffed a rueful little laugh. “That’s another yes and no.
It’s an adjustment. Today, though, his blood sugar crashed.
Miriam knew what to do, and she got his blood sugar back up where it’s supposed to be, so we’re not rushing off to the hospital or anything.
But he’s scared. This hasn’t really happened before. ”
Levi could hear in June’s tone that Benjamin wasn’t the only one who was scared.
June’s distress awoke something in Levi, something protective and growly and not at all like him.
It made him flash back to his father, who would sit in the hard-backed kitchen chair, cross his arms, and grumble furiously whenever someone had irritated Levi’s mother.
Levi’s father was a big, teddy bear of a man otherwise, but when someone made his wife mad, he would sit and glower and make plans to get revenge that never came to fruition.
Growing up, Levi had always thought that this was silly.
Why had his father gotten so worked up over a patient giving his nurse mother a hard time?
But now, Levi felt weirdly like he wanted to punch… the concept of diabetes? He didn’t know. It definitely wasn’t rational. But it made him furious that he couldn’t protect June from this stress.
He noticed a slight trembling in June’s hands, though, and this gave him an idea of one way he could help.
“June, let me drive you, okay?” he said, the words pleading, as they approached the street in front of Anchor Bistro, where they had both parked. “You’re clearly stressed, and the last thing you need is to risk a car accident too. Just… let me drive you, and I’ll help you get your car later.”
For a second, he thought she was going to refuse, and he braced himself to resist insisting. But then he watched as she clearly dismissed the instinctive urge to reject the offer.
“Yeah,” she said. “That… thanks.”
“Thank you,” Levi countered. He felt just that little bit better, knowing he was helping, no matter how minimally.