Chapter Four
Levi
“Let me, let me, let me!” Krystal hops up and down like a little kid in front of me with a comb, a pair of scissors, and an electric shaver. The site is horrifying, especially since this is the third room in our home I’ve attempted to escape into, and now she’s got me cornered in the bathroom.
“Baby, you are not a hairdresser,” I tell her slowly, backing up until my back hits the marble sink.
Damn.
A devious smile creeps across her innocent face, so wide that it makes me laugh.
“Come onnnnnnnnnnn.” She bats her eyelashes. “How hard can it be? It’s not like you’re going to care if I mess up. You don’t care what anyone thinks. Besides, I’m the one who has to look at it.” She lowers her chin and raises a brow as if challenging me to tell her otherwise.
I laugh, a breathless wheeze, each inhale catching in my throat.
As my laughter subsides, I take in a deep breath, and a feeling of pure contentment settles over me.
It’s the way she’s always made me feel. Since the moment I saw her, I knew she was the peace I’d been chasing my whole life.
Also, she has a point, and by the look on her face now, she already knows she’s won.
“Fine.” I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling.
I can’t ever tell her no. She’s my Achilles heel. If we ever have a daughter and there are two of them, I’m in serious trouble. I pull my shirt off over my head, and her gaze drops with hunger and delight.
“Are you sure you’d rather cut my hair? I can think of something else we could be doing with our time that’s way more fun.”
She giggles, tucking her long brown hair behind her ears as her tan cheeks warm to a deep shade of pink.
The sound brings an easy smile to my face as she reaches out and traces the new robin tattoo that I got after she agreed to marry me.
I still can’t believe she said yes, but I’ve learned not to question good things.
“I love you,” she says softly before kissing my lips and sitting me down so she can start what will hopefully not be the worst haircut of my life. “We don’t want the team in Shasta Ridge thinking you’re some kind of neanderthal.”
With every snip of the scissors, I feel her absence, like a part of her is leaving me all over again.
The barber tries to make small talk, but with a few pointed looks, he quickly catches on that I’m not in the mood.
By the time the cape comes off, all I feel is numb.
Krystal’s words ring in my head as I step out of the barbershop, hair freshly cut and beard trimmed for the first time since the love of my life did it herself.
I hop back into the passenger seat of Tom’s truck when he arrives, images of Krystal smiling as she stood behind me in the mirror, proud of her work, flitting through my head.
I try to remember her, every detail, as best as I can.
Perhaps some part of me believes that maybe if I get the image of her just right, I’ll be able to conjure her beside me.
I reach to remember the way her lips were always tilted up with a small smile, how her big brown eyes looked like the canyons we visited a few years back and how they swirled with shades of brown and mahogany, or how the beating of her heart felt against my chest when the world was quiet and we’d wake up wrapped in each other before our day began.
As if he knows I’m not all here, Tom doesn’t say a word.
We head to the house in silence, where Callie and Sunny are waiting for us.
We pull up the winding road, and as we crest the hill, Tom’s A-frame style home comes into view.
It’s tucked snugly into the forest, sleek and modern with dark wood siding and blacked-out windows.
It blends into the Adirondack wilderness that surrounds it perfectly.
A lot of blood and sweat went into building this home.
I should know, it’s also my blood and sweat forever embedded into those floorboards.
The land belongs to his sister and her family, who live up the road.
She thought we were crazy for doing it ourselves, but when it was all done, no one could deny that the man had a vision.
“Your room is all set up and ready for you.” Tom puts the truck in park and hops out.
Callie greets him at the door with Sunny in her arms, and the image is suddenly all too much.
My heart aches something bad. How is it possible to be so happy for someone while, at the same time, being so incredibly jealous?
They look good together, and it’s all I’ve ever wanted for my best friend, my brother, but damn it.
I miss her.
I wanted this with her.
Breathing out roughly, I get out of the truck.
Callie’s face lights up when she sees me, and she hands Sunny off to Tom.
She skips down the steps and throws her arms around me in another hug.
From over her shoulder, Tom tilts his head to the side and smiles apologetically, but also with a look that says, “Don’t be a jerk. ”
“Stop, I’m obsessed.” She backs up and takes in the new haircut and beard trim. “Levi, you look so handsome.”
“Yeah,” I say flatly.
Tom’s eyes drop, so I continue in an attempt not to let my bad mood rub off on them.
“That’s me. Devilishly handsome thanks to the one and only, Miss Callie DuPonce.”
Callie laughs and takes a bow, pretending to wave to onlookers that aren’t there.
“Thank you, thank you. You’re all so welcome.
My contribution to society has been made.
” She turns her attention back to me, smirking and with an eyebrow raised.
“Now that you look pretty, maybe we can work on that dazzling personality.”
I forget how Callie doesn’t miss a thing, but she’s always quick to remind me.
“Good luck,” I mumble.
She knows better than anyone just how dazzling my personality has always been. Like a disco ball with knives sticking out of it. Shiny, but will probably stab your eyes out. Though now it’s a little less on the shiny side and more on the stabby one.
She hums before turning back toward the house, and I follow behind her. When she reaches Tom, she places a kiss on his cheek.
“He’s allowed to be a grump if he’s feeling grumpy.
We’re his safe place, and that means he doesn’t have to pretend with us.
Don’t you boys forget I’ve known you both before you even had to deal with facial hair.
” She shoots me a wink, then walks into the house, carrying Sunny and calling over her shoulder, “Dinner will be ready in an hour.”
Tom and I both chuckle at that. It’s true. We were just kids once upon a time, without a care in the world and no idea how anything worked. What I wouldn’t give to go back to simpler times. Tom looks at me, assessing, silently asking me with his eyes if I’m alright.
Before I can answer, Ellie walks out of the house to greet me, and suddenly, going in there to sit down and play house with my friends sounds about as appealing as sticking my head into a blender.
I had every intention of taking it easy after my long day and flight, but all I want right now is to move, to stay busy, and not slow down.
Allowing everything to catch up to me sounds about as appealing as a nail to the head, especially after the barbershop.
Tom’s gaze shifts, narrowing. He’s a cop after all, excuse me, the sergeant. Part of his job is to read a situation quickly, and right now I know he’s reading me. Already anticipating what it is I’m thinking and needing.
“So I was thinking,” he starts. “While you’re here and until you figure things out, use my truck. I have the police cruiser, so I’ll have a vehicle, and so will you.”
I huff out a quiet breath, an appreciative smirk tugging at my lips. “Thanks, man.”
He hands me the keys instead of waiting, and it feels like someone is giving me an oxygen mask instead of keys to a truck.
I take a deep breath, inhaling the sweet smell of pine and damp earth that floats through the breeze. “Let Callie know that I’ll be back in time for dinner. I’m going to stop by the fire station and see if the Chief is there. Might as well get my transfer started and get on the schedule.”
“You got it. Chief Garrett Mason is a good man. I think you’ll like him. The whole department is friends of ours, really,” he says, his hand squeezing the back of his neck like he’s only now realizing it.
“Don’t worry,” I tease him for the first time since being here. “I’ll do my best to make you look bad.”
Tom’s shoulders relax slightly, and he grins. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Captain Levi King,” Chief Mason says, surprised as he stands from behind his desk and extends his hand. “I had you on my schedule for later this week, but this works. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Chief Mason.” I nod and shake his outstretched hand before having a seat off to the side.
His office is in the back of the firehouse, but I found it easy enough.
The whole firehouse is in perfect order.
A ship ran right and kept tight. Like this office, it’s simple and clean.
There are signs on the walls and picture frames of him, presumably from his younger years, but it’s not cluttered.
By the looks of the younger man in the pictures, he’s been here for a long time.
Probably climbed his way up the ladder and earned every step.
“Just Chief is fine. It’s what the rest of the firehouse and volunteers call me.” He sits in his leather chair behind his dark oak wood desk.