16
Elvira
THE GROUNDS WERE MUCH MORE magnificent than I expected.
Thompson had chosen well for a historical outing.
The hotel was a historical building—an old mansion owned by a general and used by Union soldiers during the war.
And it looked like it too. To preserve the mansion's historical character, the owners carefully maintained everything in its original state except for modern necessities such as electricity and Wi-Fi, even keeping the grounds in a style reminiscent of the nineteenth century.
Large trees surrounded the property like a hedge, offering privacy.
I strolled along the soft grass, stretching my legs.
The flight and then the drive had stiffened my muscles, and it felt good to feel blood rushing in my body.
The beautiful, well-landscaped grounds and the pretty flowers surrounding the little fountains did nothing to capture my attention away from my thoughts.
Today was different. It was one of those days that one tries not to think about, but no matter what you do, people remind you of it.
Unwittingly of course, but I was glad it did not happen today.
But sometimes… sometimes I wish I could celebrate it.
Sometimes I wish I could be happy on a day like this without…
I tried to do what I could to forget and not think about it. My thoughts instead went to Levi.
Levi was different. I couldn't pinpoint what exactly had changed about him, but there was something different.
He was disarming. Sometimes it made me wonder if I was seeing things.
He has been a new and improved person ever since the cafeteria event.
I could even go as far as to say a little before that.
I should guard myself against him. Ice Levi, I can deal with.
Hot Levi, on the other hand, was something else.
I still could not sleep without replaying each of our kisses in my head, and when I was alone in bed, I wanted more.
I might have made myself come from a fanfic of both of us I wrote in my head.
No matter what, imagining myself being with him for real was stupid and should end.
As much as he was kind and, dare I say, nice, he was out of my league.
Playing with men like him had left me burned.
If there was one lesson to take away from my time with Wyatt, it was that. Hotness be damned.
As I was strolling, I wandered off the path and lost my bearings, and when I tried to get back to the hotel, I could no longer tell where I was.
To add to the problem, in my rush to get out of the room, I left my phone in my purse.
Just my luck. I reached a small cottage and was still wondering how to get back or if I should check to see if there was anyone in the little building when Patty and Lily came across my path.
They didn't look as lost as I was, and Patty was pointing out items to Lily as they strolled.
Lily was the first to notice me, and her face brightened.
She nudged Patty, who was in the middle of pointing to a makeshift white-painted cannon in the center of the garden and waxing about it.
"Hi Elle!"
Lily waved at me, followed by Patty.
"Thank God I found you guys. I thought I was lost!"
Patty and Lily closed the distance between us. "Lovely place, isn't it?" Patty said.
"Our previous retreats haven't been this nice, so I have to thank you two," Lily added.
I shrugged. "I didn't do anything. I am only the wife who tagged along. Levi is the one you should thank."
"Yeah, and I don't think we would be here if he weren't married to you," Patty said. "By the way, I never said congratulations. I knew you two were the real deal."
She was the second person telling me this, and I was starting to wonder if they were confusing Wyatt with Levi. They were both the youngest professors in the history department, and I doubt these busy people had time to care about what the youth in their faculty were up to.
"Loved the jet by the way," Lily said, her voice animated, her eyes bright. "You two should be a permanent staple to the group. I could get used to this." She gestured around us. Patty subtly nudged her in the ribs.
"I was just thinking," Patty leaned in ever so slightly, "if your husband is into the study of ancient civilizations.
There's this place near Gobekli Tepe, where another site was discovered.
We were thinking—the anthropology department, that is—if it would be a good idea to make an expedition there.
The research alone would be life-defining.
If he's into that sort of thing, do you think he would be willing to have a talk with me? "
She tried to hide the plea in her voice, that was clear in her eyes.
Levi didn't care for anything older than ten sixty-six CE, and even then it was only if it had something to do with the medieval period.
I doubt he would give two shits about an archaeology or anthropology exercise of an ancient civilization possibly ten thousand years old.
But Patty looked like she really wanted a grant.
I had heard rumors that she had lost her previous grant after the organization that was funding it went bankrupt, halting any work they were doing.
I knew what she was asking me. She wanted me to plead on her behalf to get Levi or at least the Hawthorne Foundation to fund her grant.
"Sure. If he can find the time, he might talk to you, but I don't think I have that kind of influence on him."
Patty took this as an emphatic yes. She straightened and clenched her fists as though restraining herself from doing a celebratory jump. "Thank you so much. A simple talk is all I need from him."
Before I could tell her to temper her expectations, she launched into giving me directions back to the hotel.
Lily suggested we go back together, and after that, the topic went back to the retreats' activities.
There was going to be a special supper tonight and a ghost tour.
If Patty was anything to go by, the dinner was going to be insufferable.
I don't think I could stomach a bunch of academics slobbering over Levi in hopes of gaining a grant.
Or worse, slobbering over me hoping I could talk to Levi. As for the tour, I fucking hate ghosts.
Levi was in the lobby, speaking to the concierge when we arrived. He smiled when he saw me, and my stomach wobbled as he closed the distance between us, placed a peck on my cheek, looking like he could not be happier to see anyone else. Fuck. He was good at this pretending-to-be-a-husband thing.
"Where were you?" he asked.
"Poor thing got lost!" Lily said, giggling. "We found her wandering in the gardens."
"It's a beautiful place," Patty added.
Levi slid his arm around my waist as though it was the natural thing to do and said to the women. "Thanks for finding her. I don't know what I would do without my Elle."
Patty and Lily cooed. When our backs were to them as Levi and I climbed the stairs, I rolled my eyes. "You are layering it a little too thick, don't you think?"
Levi's mouth curved slightly at the corner. "We are newlyweds. We're allowed to be too into each other."
"I heard there's supper and a ghost tour in the evening."
"Yes," he said without looking at me. We had reached the top of the red-carpeted stairs and were now making our way to our room. Our footfalls echoed in the corridor as they landed on the carpeted wooden floorboards.
"Don't worry," he said, sliding the key card into the hotel room door. The lock made a clicking sound, the red light on the handle turned green, and Levi opened the door. "I have other ideas."
"Oh." I followed him in, a couple of steps behind.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder at me. "Unless you want to join them."
"Hell, the fuck no."
Levi smiled. "Great."
◆◆◆
WE WENT TO AN old movie theater that only showed twentieth-century war movies.
Luckily, they were showing one of my favorites, the nineteen forty-four classic, To Have and to Have Not.
Levi had gotten middle seats, but I guess it wasn't that hard to get good ones since the theater was half empty.
Before the movie started, a couple a few seats down from us were talking about the film schedule, the woman saying, "I thought you said they were showing nothing but civil war movies this week? "
"That's what I thought," the other woman said, "but I guess they made a change for the locals."
"We're lucky," I whispered to Levi as he came back with two popcorn buckets. "We could be watching a civil war movie right now instead of To Have and to Have Not ."
"Really. How do you know?"
"Overheard those two." I pointed at the lesbian couple. "Must be locals."
Levi handed me my bucket, and the lights dimmed, and the movie started.
Even though I have seen it multiple times alone at home on a laptop or a TV, seeing it on a big screen like this was wonderful.
I felt as though I had been transported back to the year of the movie's release and, just like they used to do it back in the day, there was an intermission.
I got up to refill our drinks, despite Levi's protestations.
He wanted to be the one to do it, but I wanted to straighten my legs after sitting in one position for too long.
The confection area was mostly empty, and as I waited for my order, two theater workers were talking to each other.
"Matt," said the guy who was pouring the drinks. "Shouldn't you be in the booth?"
"Hey!" Matt said, rubbing his belly over his black t-shirt. "Movie projection is hard work. I need to take a breather sometimes."
The other guy chuckled, shaking his head. "I thought you said you'd be showing The Horse Soldiers , in four?"
Matt shrugged. "Some rich guy paid us a huge chunk of change to show To Have and to Have Not . Probably wants to impress some girl. Who am I to refuse? And it turned out for the better, it looks like. There's more people in there than there would have been for Horse ."
I took my drinks back to the theater on shaky legs. My heart swelling. It has to be Levi who requested the change. "Thank you," I said to him as I gave him his drink.
He frowned. "Shouldn't I be the one saying thanks?"
"For this." I nodded at the screen as the movie began again.
"I was lucky," he whispered. "I saw they were showing it, and I knew you'd like it."
"How did you know I liked this movie?" I frowned. Levi and I had never had a conversation that involved movies. Heck, he's never cared what I did with my social life.
Levi put a finger on his lips to shush me and dug into his popcorn, his attention back on the screen. I tried to concentrate on the movie after that, but my gaze still could not stop wandering back to the man sitting next to me. He was a bucket of surprises.