Trailer Park Heart
Page 35
“Yeah, yeah,” I groaned. “You were flirting with me.”
“Let’s be friends.”
His words were so out of the blue, so from nowhere that it took me a second to fully process what he was asking. “Friends?”
He leaned closer and I inhaled him, whiskey and some kind of orange-scented body wash or deodorant or maybe he’d just eaten one or maybe I wanted to eat him or what was the question?
“Friends,” he repeated. “We’ve never tried it before. Could be fun?”
“This feels like a trap,” I murmured honestly.
“If it is, I’ll let you dump a can of paint on my head. Fair’s fair.”
I laughed, despite myself. “What reason would you have to trick me into being friends with you?” The smell of him and the feel of him so close and the utter enigma that was Levi Cole had me totally confused. But there were reasons, tickling the edges of my sanity.
Max, for one.
Did he suspect? Did he know? I wanted to believe that he couldn’t possibly have put the pieces together. He couldn’t suspect anything with zero information. Okay, fine. He could suspect if he wanted to. I mean, this was Levi we were talking about. Who knew what went on in that mysterious head of his? But my hopes remained. Max was still a secret. He and I were still safe.
He stood up, putting some space between us. “Exactly. No reason. Friends it is.”
My head cleared immediately. I sucked in a deep breath and took the paintbrush out of his hand. “We’ll see. We can be friends, but you’re on probation. I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Levi.”
He winked at me. “No funny business,” he promised. “We’ll be friends. It’ll be fun.”
Shaking my head at him, I couldn’t help the curling heat in my belly. Instinctively, I knew fun wasn’t what it would be. It might be a lot of things, but it would never be so innocent a thing to be called fun.
Jason and Jamie walked back into the kitchen laughing about something. Jason kissed his wife goodbye and then he headed back downstairs to the man cave with Levi.
Jamie watched them go. “I didn’t know you and Levi were such good friends,” she said.
“Me neither.” She raised her eyebrow curiously. I just shrugged. “We graduated together,” I finally explained. “I was always better friends with Logan though.”
“Jason and Logan were best friends in high school,” she said, suddenly somber. “Now… Levi and Jason… I think they just like to be around each other. They each remind the other of Logan.”
Sadness descended on our Halloween fun mood so quickly, I didn’t know how to navigate through it. Explaining my personal grief would only get me into trouble but dismissing the topic would be suspicious.
Thankfully, Jamie moved on before I had to. “Ready to put together the snacks? We’re going to make pumpkins out of mandarin oranges and bats out of pretzels and—”
Oh, god, I inwardly groaned. We were only halfway finished.
12
Tipping Point
I watched Levi Cole walk across the street five days later and wondered what he was up to. He’d been in the diner three other mornings this week and had played nice all three times.
He’d been consistently friendly and attentive, going out of his way to talk to me or say good morning. He hadn’t stayed long any of the times he’d visited yet, but he always made time for two cups of coffee and a healthy-ish breakfast.
After serving him egg whites and veggies all week, I was starting to feel guilty for the lack of greens in my diet. Clearly the man worked out. He had the muscles and Greek-god-like body to prove it. But did he also have to eat well?
I planted my hands on my hips, ignoring the slight cushion on either side, and tried to figure out his angle.
“Ruby,” I customer called from down the line. Abandoning my lookout post, I grabbed the pot of coffee and made my way down the counter.
“What can I help you with?” I smiled at Billy, one of my regulars. He was a man in his late fifties, built like the semi-trucks he’d spent his life driving, with a handlebar mustache and a ten-gallon cowboy hat that he only removed when he was eating. His shiny bald head gleamed beneath the fluorescent lights of the diner and I had to wonder how a man of his size and stature had ever been mistaken as a Billy. Bill? Maybe. William? It was better. But Billy? I could never reconcile the long-haul driver with the sweet, childish nickname.
He also smelled like an ashtray.
“Can I get a piece of that apple pie I see in the display?” His deep, throaty voice remained gentle and polite. This was how I imagined a vegetarian grizzly bear made friends with chipmunks.
“It’s caramel apple, is that all right?”
He grinned at me. “Now why on earth wouldn’t it be, honey? Caramel apple’s even better.”
I nodded toward the kitchen. “Reggie really outdid himself with it too. It’s perfection. Would you like it for here or to go?”
“I’ll take it to go,” he said. “I gotta get on the road. But it’ll be nice to have a little piece of home later.”
“Sure thing,” I told him, spinning around to cut a piece of the pie and pack it up for him.
An aggressively clearing throat had me looking over my shoulder immediately. Billy’s eyes lifted quickly from where he’d been staring at my ass. I pretended not to notice. Levi stood a few feet down, not pretending not to notice.
His entire body had gone stiff and he stood there staring at Billy like he was seconds away from launching himself at the poor man. Billy felt his stare and flicked a glance Levi’s way before turning back to me.
“You okay, Ruby? Is this man bothering you?” Levi asked in a gruff tone.
I smiled at Billy and then at Levi. “Who, Billy? Billy’s one of my favorites,” I told him. “I can count on him to always buy a piece of pie.”
Billy chuckled, not the least bit worried about Levi. “Yeah, me and the whole damn town. If I don’t grab a piece first thing in the morning, I’ll never get one.”
“I’ll always save one for you,” I told him honestly. “You let me know if you want one and can’t make it in and I’ll set one aside, yeah?”
His eyes glazed over with adoration. “Thanks, darlin’.”
“Anytime.” I handed him his pie and took his money.
“Keep the change,” he told me.
I winked at him and watched him leave, a smile never leaving my face. As soon as the bells had finished jingling and Billy was safely beyond hearing range, I leaned in front of Levi and snapped. “Don’t you ever get in the way of one of my tips again.”
God, it felt good to have a reason to be angry with him. The whole trying to be friends and polite and nice and normal between us didn’t feel right. I’d been unbalanced all week because of it.
I knew how to fight with Levi. And I knew how to ignore him. I had no clue how to be friends with him. So, no matter how hard I tried to treat him like I treated everyone else, I could never fully settle into this new role.
To be honest though, on a self-respect level, I appreciated Levi’s righteous anger. I did not love having my ass ogled for hours on end. And I really didn’t love sucking up to old men that thought they had the right to undress me with their eyes just because I was their waitress and happened to be female.
But it came with the territory. More than I wanted these old men to respect me, I wanted them to pay me well for the job I worked hard at. I wanted to be able to afford groceries and gas and the other hundred things Max needed daily.
“Let’s be friends.”
His words were so out of the blue, so from nowhere that it took me a second to fully process what he was asking. “Friends?”
He leaned closer and I inhaled him, whiskey and some kind of orange-scented body wash or deodorant or maybe he’d just eaten one or maybe I wanted to eat him or what was the question?
“Friends,” he repeated. “We’ve never tried it before. Could be fun?”
“This feels like a trap,” I murmured honestly.
“If it is, I’ll let you dump a can of paint on my head. Fair’s fair.”
I laughed, despite myself. “What reason would you have to trick me into being friends with you?” The smell of him and the feel of him so close and the utter enigma that was Levi Cole had me totally confused. But there were reasons, tickling the edges of my sanity.
Max, for one.
Did he suspect? Did he know? I wanted to believe that he couldn’t possibly have put the pieces together. He couldn’t suspect anything with zero information. Okay, fine. He could suspect if he wanted to. I mean, this was Levi we were talking about. Who knew what went on in that mysterious head of his? But my hopes remained. Max was still a secret. He and I were still safe.
He stood up, putting some space between us. “Exactly. No reason. Friends it is.”
My head cleared immediately. I sucked in a deep breath and took the paintbrush out of his hand. “We’ll see. We can be friends, but you’re on probation. I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Levi.”
He winked at me. “No funny business,” he promised. “We’ll be friends. It’ll be fun.”
Shaking my head at him, I couldn’t help the curling heat in my belly. Instinctively, I knew fun wasn’t what it would be. It might be a lot of things, but it would never be so innocent a thing to be called fun.
Jason and Jamie walked back into the kitchen laughing about something. Jason kissed his wife goodbye and then he headed back downstairs to the man cave with Levi.
Jamie watched them go. “I didn’t know you and Levi were such good friends,” she said.
“Me neither.” She raised her eyebrow curiously. I just shrugged. “We graduated together,” I finally explained. “I was always better friends with Logan though.”
“Jason and Logan were best friends in high school,” she said, suddenly somber. “Now… Levi and Jason… I think they just like to be around each other. They each remind the other of Logan.”
Sadness descended on our Halloween fun mood so quickly, I didn’t know how to navigate through it. Explaining my personal grief would only get me into trouble but dismissing the topic would be suspicious.
Thankfully, Jamie moved on before I had to. “Ready to put together the snacks? We’re going to make pumpkins out of mandarin oranges and bats out of pretzels and—”
Oh, god, I inwardly groaned. We were only halfway finished.
12
Tipping Point
I watched Levi Cole walk across the street five days later and wondered what he was up to. He’d been in the diner three other mornings this week and had played nice all three times.
He’d been consistently friendly and attentive, going out of his way to talk to me or say good morning. He hadn’t stayed long any of the times he’d visited yet, but he always made time for two cups of coffee and a healthy-ish breakfast.
After serving him egg whites and veggies all week, I was starting to feel guilty for the lack of greens in my diet. Clearly the man worked out. He had the muscles and Greek-god-like body to prove it. But did he also have to eat well?
I planted my hands on my hips, ignoring the slight cushion on either side, and tried to figure out his angle.
“Ruby,” I customer called from down the line. Abandoning my lookout post, I grabbed the pot of coffee and made my way down the counter.
“What can I help you with?” I smiled at Billy, one of my regulars. He was a man in his late fifties, built like the semi-trucks he’d spent his life driving, with a handlebar mustache and a ten-gallon cowboy hat that he only removed when he was eating. His shiny bald head gleamed beneath the fluorescent lights of the diner and I had to wonder how a man of his size and stature had ever been mistaken as a Billy. Bill? Maybe. William? It was better. But Billy? I could never reconcile the long-haul driver with the sweet, childish nickname.
He also smelled like an ashtray.
“Can I get a piece of that apple pie I see in the display?” His deep, throaty voice remained gentle and polite. This was how I imagined a vegetarian grizzly bear made friends with chipmunks.
“It’s caramel apple, is that all right?”
He grinned at me. “Now why on earth wouldn’t it be, honey? Caramel apple’s even better.”
I nodded toward the kitchen. “Reggie really outdid himself with it too. It’s perfection. Would you like it for here or to go?”
“I’ll take it to go,” he said. “I gotta get on the road. But it’ll be nice to have a little piece of home later.”
“Sure thing,” I told him, spinning around to cut a piece of the pie and pack it up for him.
An aggressively clearing throat had me looking over my shoulder immediately. Billy’s eyes lifted quickly from where he’d been staring at my ass. I pretended not to notice. Levi stood a few feet down, not pretending not to notice.
His entire body had gone stiff and he stood there staring at Billy like he was seconds away from launching himself at the poor man. Billy felt his stare and flicked a glance Levi’s way before turning back to me.
“You okay, Ruby? Is this man bothering you?” Levi asked in a gruff tone.
I smiled at Billy and then at Levi. “Who, Billy? Billy’s one of my favorites,” I told him. “I can count on him to always buy a piece of pie.”
Billy chuckled, not the least bit worried about Levi. “Yeah, me and the whole damn town. If I don’t grab a piece first thing in the morning, I’ll never get one.”
“I’ll always save one for you,” I told him honestly. “You let me know if you want one and can’t make it in and I’ll set one aside, yeah?”
His eyes glazed over with adoration. “Thanks, darlin’.”
“Anytime.” I handed him his pie and took his money.
“Keep the change,” he told me.
I winked at him and watched him leave, a smile never leaving my face. As soon as the bells had finished jingling and Billy was safely beyond hearing range, I leaned in front of Levi and snapped. “Don’t you ever get in the way of one of my tips again.”
God, it felt good to have a reason to be angry with him. The whole trying to be friends and polite and nice and normal between us didn’t feel right. I’d been unbalanced all week because of it.
I knew how to fight with Levi. And I knew how to ignore him. I had no clue how to be friends with him. So, no matter how hard I tried to treat him like I treated everyone else, I could never fully settle into this new role.
To be honest though, on a self-respect level, I appreciated Levi’s righteous anger. I did not love having my ass ogled for hours on end. And I really didn’t love sucking up to old men that thought they had the right to undress me with their eyes just because I was their waitress and happened to be female.
But it came with the territory. More than I wanted these old men to respect me, I wanted them to pay me well for the job I worked hard at. I wanted to be able to afford groceries and gas and the other hundred things Max needed daily.
