Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
LEVI
“Look at his little face,” Louise gushes, tickling baby Dominic’s stomach.
Knox is holding his son, humoring our stepmother with one last tickle before nap time.
I’m not sure there’s going to be a nap time for my nephew. Dominic is blowing raspberries and giggling, or as close to baby giggles as it gets for a four-month-old.
We’re all gathered around the living room. Some of us are seated, some standing, enjoying the rest of our family get-together. The room smells faintly of roasted meat and something sweet from the kitchen, the warmth of it clinging to the air.
Louise’s playlist hums softly through hidden speakers in the background and the entire house carries that lived-in comfort money can’t buy no matter how much of it you have.
This is the most laid-back you’ll ever see the Vale family outside of Christmas.
We’re all busy people, but we meet once a month usually on Saturday or Sunday for a good old-fashioned family dinner. Dad picked Saturday this month because most of us are going to be away over the next few Sundays.
At times like these, I almost miss those simpler days when contracts and clients didn’t exist. We were just kids, thinking the world would be like this forever.
Now look at us.
Those four little boys are grown men. Their baby sister—Adeline—is no longer a baby. She’s now talking about dating.
Knox and Dorian are both very happily married. Their wives, Isla and Elodie, are here. Isla and Knox are already planning for more kids, and Elodie is carrying a set of twins. We’ve never had twins in our family, so of course, the excitement is real.
This is what you call growing up.
I used to think I’d have certain things by now.
Not the baby part. Christ, definitely not that yet.
But the rest of it. Like having a woman beside me, and the sense of finally arriving somewhere instead of constantly chasing the next thing.
I often wonder how you’re supposed to feel when life keeps moving in circles like it does with me.
Same clubs. Same clients. Same women who never stay long enough to matter.
I’m sitting near Locke by the two-seater. Adeline is curled up on it with a blanket around her shoulders. She claims it’s cold down here.
It’s not.
My first thought is that she’s trying to pretend she’s sick to get out of hanging out with us for too long. Within the next hour, she’ll make up some excuse, then she’ll head back upstairs, and she’ll be on the phone to either the new boyfriend or one of her friends.
I can’t act like I’m innocent of not wanting to get out of the group early. I’m not myself, and it’s quite noticeable. I’ve hardly said much since I’ve been here, which is different for me. I’m usually the life of any get-together.
Tonight, even forcing a smile feels like work, and every second leaves too much room for Piper to slip back into my mind with the question of what she’ll decide.
“He really needs to have his nap now,” Knox says, “or he’ll be up all night and grumpy.”
Louise holds her hands up, laughing. “Alright, alright. I’ll allow you to take the baby. If he wakes up, I’ll grab his bottle. Is that okay?”
She checks with Isla for permission as well.
“Of course,” Isla says, smiling.
It’s nice to see how Isla and Elodie have fit into the family. The two are sitting together. With the same hair color, they look like they could be sisters. I don’t know how my brothers managed to find two women who couldn’t be more alike and who got on straightaway.
It’s definitely better than the alternative, where they could have hated each other. That wouldn’t have gone down well because Knox and Dorian are like two peas in a pod. We’re all close as brothers, but those two are like the same person.
Knox carries Dominic out of the room and up the stairs. I hear him going up as Louise looks over at Locke and me, giving us that smile we’ve grown used to.
She’s about to impart some wisdom.
“It’s just you two left now.” She points at both of us.
“Us two for what, Lou?” Locke asks.
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m talking about marriage.”
“We’ll get married when we’re good and ready.”
“Well, don’t take too long. These are the best years.” She smiles wistfully.
“Yes. I agree.” Locke looks over at Adeline. “That goes for you, too, lil sis.”
Adeline straightens and smirks. “Like you said, I’ll do it when I’m good and ready. And that’s not anytime soon.”
“Hear, hear,” Dorian agrees from across the room. “I’d say you’d be ready in about a hundred years.”
He’s not as bad as Knox when it comes to being protective over our sister, but he’s bad enough.
Adeline frowns. “I’m not waiting a hundred years.”
“We’ll see about that.” Dorian points at her. “Your husband-to-be will have to pass my test if he hopes to be good enough for you. That may take a hundred years.”
“Dad, please tell him to stop,” Adeline pleads, looking at Dad, mortified.
Dad smiles, taking it all in. Sometimes I think he likes watching us, whether we’re arguing or graveyard silent. There’s pride in his expression. Real pride. The sort that comes from seeing your family together after spending years wondering if it would survive at all.
“Dorian, leave your sister alone.” He shakes his head at the two of them.
“Just doing my job.” Dorian smirks.
“How about we cross that bridge when we get there.”
“In the meantime,” Louise cuts in, “I’ll grab some more dessert and we play that trivia game again.”
She claps her hands, summoning us like we’re twelve years old again.
“Good idea, sweetheart,” Dad agrees, standing to retrieve the game pack.
He puts it on the coffee table, then looks across at me with concern when I don’t move.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, fine.”
“You’re really quiet. That’s not like you.”
A dull pressure builds behind my eyes, like the tension I’m hiding is pushing in too close, but I wave him off. “No, no, I’m just listening. Enjoying the peace.”
“Alright, if you say so.” He doesn’t believe me.
Locke cuts me a hard stare, knowing I’m talking shit, too.
Neither will press while we’re around everyone else. Especially my father. He hates talking business on family days. It’s forbidden.
It’s a great way to draw the line, but sometimes you need to talk.
Though, what could I really say to him?
Hey, Dad, I just hired myself a fake girlfriend to secure the Lockwood contract. I’m just waiting to hear back from her.
Yeah. That would never go over well.
He’d go crazy. So, I pray he never finds out the truth. And I pray even harder that Piper agrees to my little proposal.
Even I think it’s far-fetched.
I was the one who came up with the idea of the fake girlfriend, and I even thought I could just get someone to pose as the said girlfriend when I needed, but Arthur Lockwood pulled a fast one on me.
The universe did the rest when it shoved him into the restaurant at the same moment I was there with Piper.
I never saw that coming.
The worst thing is I can’t even regret it properly.
When I remember Piper sitting across from me at that restaurant, smiling at Arthur, greed settles in me and I want those moments again. Not to please Arthur. I want it for myself.
We gather around to play the game, and the next clue that I’m completely off my game presents itself when I lose in the first round.
Feeling sorry for me, Louise gives me another chance.
But I fail miserably the next two rounds. I decide to take myself out of the game so they can enjoy it. I’m not in the mood.
Instead, I wander upstairs back to my old bedroom.
The silence up here carries that stale trace of the past, like the room’s been holding its breath for years, always waiting for me to return. Sometimes that’s at Thanksgiving or Christmas.
The faint scent of cedar still clings to the furniture from when I was last in here.
Dad and Louise kept everything the same, so the room is pretty much just as I left it when I moved out for college. I left a few things here to make it look as if I could slip back into my old life.
There are a couple of books on the shelf. The bed is neatly spread. My clothes and shoes are in the wardrobe, all waiting in case I ever need them.
This room has always been a refuge for me, a place I would escape to, especially when my mother was on the warpath.
After my parents’ divorce, the room felt lighter. Still a solace but something more soothing.
The divorce was so horrendous, Dad sent us to England to live with our grandparents for a couple of years. When we returned, he was already married to Louise and they had Adeline.
I call it the missing years.
We didn’t see Dad much during that time, but I felt it was how it needed to be. My mother did so much damage to us that we all needed the break. And it was the kind of move where we didn’t just need to change things around. We needed to get out of the country.
So, when Piper says she wants to focus on her fresh start, I get it. You can always recognize someone trying to outrun a version of their life that hurt them.
In my case, I was just a kid when I needed my fresh start.
You’re not supposed to need a fresh start at nine years old. You’re supposed to have happy memories. And even if your parents aren’t getting along, it shouldn’t come back on you.
That part was separate, though.
My mother and father got on just fine, but my mother hated her children, and she didn’t hesitate to show us her hand.
Knox used to take the punishments for us. Dorian used to take the punishments for him. I was the one who saw things no one else saw.
I was the one who kept things quiet so my older brothers could protect all of us, especially Locke, being the youngest.
Perhaps that’s why I’m so good at pretending now and making things look easier than they really are. I had practice.
One good quality about us is how we’ve each looked out for the other as the years have gone by. Even when it hurt.
“Thought I’d find you up here,” Locke says from behind me.
I face him. He fills the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
“Just needed a moment to think,” I explain.
He walks into the room and looks around.
“From the look of things, you’ve been thinking all evening. Does Arthur Lockwood have anything to do with this?”
“If I said yes, would you start chewing me out?”
Locke frowns. “Only if there’s something to be said. What’s going on, Levi? This is so unlike you. Have you figured things out yet?”
That’s just the question I didn’t want him to ask me.
“You know I haven’t.”
I didn’t want to tell anybody about Piper, but of all the people I could speak to, Locke is probably the best fit. Everyone else would be at my throat telling me how much of a mistake I made and how I blew it. As if I don’t know.
“I kind of need to be in the loop with this, don’t you think? You told the man you have a girlfriend, and he’s still not signing the contract. What’s the hold-up? Has anything changed?”
I shift my weight from one foot to the other. “Something’s changed, all right,” I mutter. “I’ve just made things worse.”
“How?”
“I ran into Arthur at a restaurant the other night while I was on a date, and he thought the girl I was with is the girlfriend I was telling him about.”
Locke straightens. “Okay, so he saw that you have a real girl. Did he agree to sign the contract?”
“Not without stipulations.”
“What are they?”
I’m silent for a moment. Then I tell him everything. How I met Piper and the offer I made her.
As expected, he looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind.
To be fair, I’ve been looking at myself the same way since the moment I made her that offer.
Locke continues glaring, but at least he doesn’t look like he’s judging me.
“If she says yes, then this is sorted, right?” he finally asks in a low, uncertain voice.
I nod. “Technically, yes, but… I’m still waiting on her to say yes. She may say no.”
“If she says no, what then?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
His shoulders slump. “That’s what you keep saying.”
“And I mean it,” I assure him. “I always figure shit out. This is just one of those complicated incidents where I need to think harder. Whatever happens, we’ll know where we stand with Arthur Lockwood next week.” One way or the other.
Locke releases a sigh and nods. “Try not to worry about it. At least you now have a plan. If Piper agrees, that contract will be in the bag.”
“And I can move on.”
“Exactly, so don’t worry about it until you have to.” He smirks. “Worry doesn’t look good on you, bro.”
I chuckle. “Doesn’t feel good either.”
“Come on, let’s go back downstairs.” He cocks his head toward the door. “You look like you need the time-out.”
I nod, and we head back downstairs.
I stay for another hour, then I make the journey home.
It’s a long drive, longer in the traffic.
Rainwater from earlier still streaks the roads, reflecting headlights in blurred ribbons of color. The closer I get home, the tighter the anticipation winds in my chest.
I make it within the hour, and the only spark of hope I get is when I see a little blue Miata parked on my driveway.
I don’t know anyone with a car like that, but I can sure as hell guess who it might be.
I don’t even bother to park in my garage. I roll the car to a stop next to the Miata and rush into the house. There, I find Piper Andrews in the living room, standing by the long windows, gazing out at the sea.
You can’t quite see much from this side of the house, but it’s a good enough view to get lost in.
She turns to face me. I know from the moment I look at her pretty face, tight with nerves and uncertainty, that she’s going to say yes.
The butterfly is going to choose me again.