Chapter 7
Levi
"Was that the girl from the photography studio?" Nash asks, poking me teasingly.
Turner, one of our newer ranch hands, sticks his head out from the kitchen area in the ranch house. "The hot blonde?"
My fist balls up. "Watch it, Turner."
It's bad enough that Lennie's friend Trisha was there when I brought her home.
Lennie had to stifle the questions, forcing her friend back inside the house after introducing me to her.
My only hope is that Trisha doesn't have a big mouth, and that word doesn't get around Copper Cove that me and Lennie are an item.
Regardless of whether or not Shelly lives here, she's likely coming for the town Hoedown next weekend, and she might find out.
"Yes. It looks like my little brother has a crush on her." Nash adds to the fire.
"Who wouldn't." Turner says. "She's a hot little number."
"How the hell do you know." I whine. "Since when do you hang out there?"
"Since word got around town that the hot little blonde is running it."
"She's been there for a while. Are you telling me that you've been chasing her for that long and did nothing about it?"
"Well, she's got a thing, see." Turner explains carefully.
"She's deaf. Yeah, I know." I bark. "What's your point?"
Turner lifts his hands in defense, and he backs off.
Nash scratches his nose before speaking. "Hey, if you've got a crush on this Lennie girl, what's going to happen when Shelly spits out that kid of yours?"
"This is beneath you, Nash." Is all I say, as I walk away from both of them.
Piper is inside the house, in the office, sitting with Jade.
Both of them do the books for Billy, but Jade also works for her mother's business.
"Levi, you hungry?" Piper asks. That seems to be the go-to line whenever she sees me.
You would think that I'm a little squirt or something, not the six foot two, two-hundred-and-twenty-pound dude that I am.
"No, I'm fine." I look at Jade. "How's Crystal doing? "
Jade and Piper exchange a look.
My voice is casual, almost apologetic. "It's okay to talk about it."
"You mean about Shelly's pregnancy?" Piper checks.
As I sit on the edge of the desk, I nod.
"Crystal's fine." Jade answers honestly. "How far along is Shelly, anyway?"
I shrug. "I don't know that yet."
"She can't be that far along. How long have you two been together?" Jade asks.
"I don't know. I wasn't really keeping track."
"More than a month?" Piper tries.
"Yeah, probably. We were sort of, um, having relations before we were actually a couple." Come to think of it, I'm not sure if we ever really had a formal start to our relationship. I just ended up at her house. She asked me to stay and I stayed.
"That's usually the way it works, Levi. Neither of us judge you for that." Piper clarifies.
"I'd like to meet her. Maybe we could invite her over for dinner tomorrow night or something." Jade suggests.
"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. We've got some things that we've still got to work out, and she gets upset really easily."
"I get that." Piper says through a snuffle. "She seems to get a loose tongue, too, from what I hear." Her smile says that it's a good-natured poke. She doesn't mean any harm. "I'd hate for her to say anything more incriminating under pressure."
I wink at her. She's right. "She's coming to the Hoedown next weekend, anyway. Y'all can see her then."
Both girls' faces light up. "Oh, is she?" Piper exclaims. "That'll be fun."
"What exact part of that will be fun." I say as more of a statement than as a question.
"What do you mean?" Jade asks. "I thought you loved the Annual Copper Cove Hoedowns."
"I do, but I just, I don't know."
"What's going on, Levi." Piper says, trying to level with me, as she closes the office door. Everyone knows to keep out if that door is closed, on account of the important business that goes on in here when it is closed.
I can't tell this to my brother, or to Billy, or to any male I know, anyway.
They'll razz me for it and make it so much fucking worse.
Piper and Jade are good people. There's a love between us that makes me feel like they're sisters I never had.
Jade pulls the extra chair up for me to sit on, and she grabs me a bottle of water from the small fridge next to the desk.
"I'm in deep shit."
Piper sits across from me, turning the guest chair around, and she takes my hand in hers. "Nothing that we can't help you get out of, Levi."
"I appreciate that, but I think I'm alone this time."
"Tell me what's wrong, Levi." Piper says so heavily, like she's making room for the weight of my burden.
"I don't love her."
"That's okay." Jade confirms. "It doesn't happen for all of us. Just the lucky ones. But you're a good man, and you'll do the right thing."
"Yes, and Nash had a point, too. Y'all shouldn't accept full responsibility for that child until you have confirmation that it's yours."
I don't say anything. I'm not sure how that will be received, and frankly, it kind of scares me. It makes it real. Too real. Especially for someone that doesn't make my heart go flip flop. Especially when there's someone else that is starting to make my heart go flip flop.
"You really need to talk this out with Shelly." Jade adds. "That's the only way to keep things honest. It's the only way to make sure that you put your best foot forward for you and for your unborn child."
My eyes are on a spot on the floor. "That's not it."
"What's not it?" Piper says, with her eyes scrunched together.
"Levi, you said that you were in some kind of trouble. What sort of trouble outside of this are you in?" Jade asks, hitting the nail on the head.
"I said I'm not in love with her."
They both nod their understanding. I feel like a fucking heal. I feel like I should be burned at the goddamn stake. Fed to the lions. "I think, I think I'm in falling in love with someone else."
"The girl at the photography studio?" Piper asks.
My eyes shoot to hers and then I lay my head in my hands. "Jesus Christ. Everyone fucking knows now, don't they."
"No." Piper places a hand on my shoulder. "We just knew because of the picture Billy told us about. We had no idea it was true."
I lift my head up. "What do I do? Shelly already knows about the picture. If she finds out that I've got feelings for the maker of it, she's going to flip out and deny me rights to my kid."
Jade lifts a hand. "Wait, hold on a minute. How did Shelly find out about the picture?" I explain quickly. "So, she looked at the receipt? Isn't there some unspoken code about snooping at someone else's receipt or someone else's business? What right did she have to do that?"
"It's semantics, Jade." I huff.
"No, it's not." Piper argues. "That woman knows how much you spent on that picture now, Levi. Even though it's not her business, she may put that in her toolbox, if you get my drift."
"Yeah, we're just looking out for you, doll." Jade adds. "Y'all need to talk to her."
"I don't even know where to start. What do I say?
" All I can think of are words that I would say to Lennie.
I'd love to tell her that she's beautiful and smart, and so talented it makes my head spin.
It really does. It's very selfish and immature to say this, but I'd so much rather spend time with Lennie than with Shelly.
Even if there wasn't the growing problem of a baby in the mix, either.
If she wasn't with my child, I would have dumped her by now, and that's the truth, but I'm not telling the girls that.
They'll think that I'm exactly that. Selfish and immature.
I got us into this mess, and I'm not about to skulk my way out of it, just because I've got eyes for someone else.
"You start by asking her what she wants to do with this child." Piper states clearly.
"Yeah, and you also need to let her know that you may or may not want to stay with her, Levi. You lead her on while she's pregnant and that will be the start of fresh hell for you once that baby arrives." Jade adds.
"Exactly. And you need to let her know that you're here for her on all fronts, baby-wise, but she needs to respect your boundaries. Like no snooping at receipts or through your wallet, because that's what people that look at other people's receipts do." Piper says with a pat on my hand.
"And what do I do about Lennie? I mean, she already gave me a lecture about becoming a parent and being honest. She finds out I've got feelings for her and she's going to reject me. She'll think I'm one of those dudes that jumps from bed to bed."
"That's a tough one, I'm afraid." Piper says.
"Yeah, you might want to keep that one under your hat for now, just until things are settled with Shelly." Jade concurs.
"That won't be hard. I told her that we're just friends, anyway. I hate it that I lied to her, but I didn't really know how I felt about her until now."
"Then you didn't lie to her." Jade informs. "If you didn't know then, that is. And sometimes, especially in delicate situations like this, it's best to keep that to yourself. You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot."
I draw in a deep breath and let it out. "Maybe Shelly feels the same, you know. We're not exactly close."
"How do you mean?" Piper asks.
"Well, I stay over at her house and all, but it's like there's no connection between us.
Like, when I'm with Lennie, I feel as light as air, and I feel like I can tell her anything.
Plus, she's got this voice. It's so soft and honest. I could listen to her all day and night.
But with Shelly, sure, in the beginning there was heat, but there was never any connection.
She's very guarded and she doesn't like me knowing anything. "
"You find out about that ring?" Piper asks.
"She, um, she actually put it away. So, I don't have a clue what that means."
Jade smirks. "It means that she's onto you."