“You’re on.”
Levi chuckled. “Give me your camera. I want to capture my little buddy beating you.”
I squinted and stuck out my tongue. But I also passed him the camera and showed him how to use it.
Once we were ready, Levi put his hands out, keeping us behind an imaginary line. “On a count of three. One. Two. Three!”
I took off down the bleachers and turned up the first set of stairs. My son might be fast, but my legs were still longer than Alex’s, so my strides had me in the lead until I got halfway up the bleachers. I started to get a little winded as I reached the top, but Alex seemed to grow momentum. The little brat overtook my lead and made it back down and to the finish line a full fifteen feet ahead of me. And I hadn’t even let him win.
Levi fist-bumped Alex, and the two of them gloated.
“Mom’s doing the dishes,” my son sang. “Mom’s doing the dishes.”
I bent over to catch my breath. Apparently I needed to get my butt to the gym more often. “Fine. But I said the loser loads the dishwasher. I didn’t say I was cooking or that there would be any dishes. I think tonight we’re having takeout—and Uncle Levi is paying.”
Levi laughed. “I’ll do you one better. How about I take you both out somewhere?”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But I’m picking the most expensive thing on the menu since the two of you seem to be ganging up on me.”
Dinner turned out to be appetizers, a main course, dessert, and another impromptu autograph signing outside the restaurant when some people recognized Levi. By the time we got home, it was pretty late. Alex asked Levi to write down some of the plays he’d run this afternoon, and Levi said he would walk him through them while he put him to bed.
So I sat in the kitchen by myself, having a glass of wine while I waited for the photos I’d taken today to download to my laptop. I’d gotten a ton of great shots of Levi with the high school kids. But when the ones he’d taken of Alex and me running up the bleachers started to populate on my screen, they really caught my attention. Levi had zoomed in and taken some close-ups of me laughing. I studied my face. Typically I always had the same smile in photos. It was practiced and posed—didn’t show too many teeth or wrinkle my face too much. But in these photos, nothing was faked. My entire face was smiling; I looked so freaking happy. Staring down, I realized it wasn’t that I looked happy. I was happy—for the first time in a very long time. And much of that had to do with the man behind the camera lens.
I was still looking at the photos Levi had taken when he strolled into the kitchen. He walked up behind me and began to rub my shoulders. “I think he’ll be out cold in five minutes. He was yawning while I was showing him the plays.”
I closed my laptop. “He had an amazing time today. Thank you for inviting him.”
“Of course. He’s a great kid.”
“Thank you.” I let my head drop as Levi dug his thumb into the muscle where my shoulder and neck met. “I got some great shots today. I think your agent and publicist will be happy. Tomorrow morning after I drop Alex off at camp, I’ll stop at CVS and print them out so you can see which ones you want me to send them.”
“Thanks.”
I groaned as he dug his fingers in deeper. “God, that feels so good.”
Levi leaned down with his mouth next to my ear and lowered his voice. “Anything else I can make feel good for you?”
God, that was a seriously tempting offer, but Alex had just gone to bed, and I still needed to go up and say goodnight. It was safest to do that now before what little willpower I had near this man completely disappeared.
I stood sort of abruptly. “I’m going to go say goodnight to Alex.”
Levi nodded.
I took a few steps but stopped at the doorway and turned back. “Levi?”
“Yeah?”
“Alex wasn’t the only one who had a great time today.”
He smiled. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded. “I’m glad I came. Goodnight, Levi.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”
***
The next morning, my new boss called to ask if I could possibly stop up at the school today to get my picture taken for my identification card. I’d been scheduled to go in next week, but apparently there had been some mix up. So after I picked up the photos from CVS, I needed to jump in the shower and make myself look halfway presentable.
Levi was in the kitchen when I arrived home.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” I smiled. “Here are the photos from yesterday. I was going to sort through them and just give you the best ones to choose from, but I have to take a quick shower and run up to my new job to get an ID card. Do you mind if I leave you all of them to pick your favorites? I know your agent needed them by this afternoon. Maybe you can just make me a pile of the ones you like best, and I’ll send those over to your agent electronically when I get home?”
“Yeah, of course. No problem.”
“Thanks. Sorry I don’t have time to chat. I’m in a rush.”
“Do what you gotta do.”
I jumped in the shower, dried my hair, and put on makeup. On my way out, Levi was still going through the photos.
“These really came out incredible,” he said. “It’s hard to narrow it down.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you mind if I keep a few of them?”
“No, not at all.” I grabbed my car keys from the hook. “Take as many as you want.”
“Will you be around later?”
“I have some errands to run. But I’ll be done in time to pick up Alex and his friend from camp. Alex is staying over at Kyle’s tonight, but his mom works late. So I’m going to pick the boys up and feed them, and then drop them over there afterward for their sleepover.”
“So you’re free after that? I told a few friends I’d go to that new bar that just opened over on Main Street. They have line dancing tonight. Why don’t you come? You know most of the people going.”
A night out line dancing actually sounded like fun. Lord knows, I didn’t do it often. So I shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
Levi smiled. “Excellent. I have a couple of meetings this afternoon, but I’ll probably head out around eight.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you back here sometime before that.”
***
Later that evening, after I dropped Alex and Kyle at Kyle’s house, I came back and straightened up the common areas of The Palm while I waited for Levi. He’d left a windbreaker on the kitchen chair, so I thought I’d hang it in the closet. As I picked it up, something fell from the pocket. Or rather a bunch of things—photos. I bent to collect them. They must’ve been the ones he’d decided to keep. There were probably about a dozen in total, but the one on top of the pile was a close-up of me that he’d taken on the bleachers. When he’d asked if he could keep a few, I’d assumed he meant some action shots of himself. But as I shuffled through the pile, I realized he’d chosen five different pictures of just me. Me laughing. Me running. Me looking directly at the camera and smiling.
And five pictures of Alex playing. Alex celebrating in the end zone. Alex getting ready to throw the football. Alex smiling from the sidelines.