Levi did owe him, big-time. And he’d missed him. “I was a dick.”
Mateo stopped, glanced back. “They say recognizing the problem is half the solution.”
Levi let out a low laugh, and then a groan because damn, his head.
“You need to take it easy. You scrambled your brain good.”
“Could be worse.”
Mateo, eyes still serious, nodded. “Yeah. You could’ve been on the gondola in front of you.”
True story. And then he’d be dead, without ever having this conversation. “I meant it. I’m sor—”
Mateo gave him the hand. “You’re injured. We’re not doing this now.”
“I need to,” Levi said. “I shouldn’t have vanished.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. It wasn’t your fault, what happened to Amy.”
“I hurt her.”
“Because you didn’t let her drag you down the aisle?” Mateo shook his head. “You weren’t ready.”
“We’d been together all our lives, I should’ve been ready. A wedding was all she ever wanted, and I didn’t give it to her before . . . before it was too late.”
Mateo looked down at his bootee-covered shoes for a long beat. Then he sighed and came back to Levi’s bedside. “Is that what kept you away? Guilt? You think any of my family blamed you for not marrying her when she wanted you to? We didn’t, Levi. What we blamed you for was leaving and not looking back. Like none of us ever meant a damn thing to you.”
Levi felt his throat tighten, and the ache was now in his heart, not his head. “You did mean something to me. You all did. You deserved better from me.”
“Damn straight,” Mateo said, voice not quite as cool as it’d been.
Levi took a deep breath and was grateful he didn’t throw up. “I need one more favor,” he said quietly.
“You’re racking them up.”
“Actually, two favors.”
Mateo just raised a brow.
“I want a do-over.”
They’d started the do-over thing in middle school. When one of them did something incredibly stupid—which happened a lot—the other could choose to give a do-over. Or not.
But they’d never not given each other a second chance.
Mateo took his sweet-ass time answering. “Okay,” he finally said. “You get a do-over. I’ll take it in the form of pizza and beer when you’re cleared to drink.”
Levi let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. That was more than he deserved. “Deal.”
“And the other favor?”
“I was brought in with a woman named Jane. Do you know if she’s okay?”
Again, Mateo looked at Levi for a long moment, eyes solemn, arms crossed over his chest. “I do.”
“And?”
“And she’s in far better shape than you.” With that, Mateo walked out, sliding the curtain shut behind him.
Levi blew out a breath, and to stave off all the memories piling onto memories inside his aching head, he opened his palm and looked down at the dainty gold locket in his hands. An old friend on the local search-and-rescue had shown up in his ER cubicle after they’d found it on the gondola. Levi had promised to get it back to the owner. He flicked it open now and found a smile. The tiny pic on the right was a little girl of around eight with wild dark red curls exploding around her head like a halo. Jane, dressed like a sugar plum fairy. The older woman in the opposite picture could be anyone, but he’d guess a grandmother. As for how he was going to get the locket back to her when he didn’t even know her last name . . . well, he’d figure that out when he was released.
A commotion sounded on the other side of the curtains, and then came a shrill, nervous woman’s voice. “Where is he, where’s my son?”
“They said the third room on the left, Shirl,” a man said. Levi’s dad. “One more room down.”
“I can count, Hank. Why are you walking so slow?”
Levi stared up at the ceiling, not ready for this. Not that it mattered, as ready or not, his mom, dad, sister, and niece all crowded into his room.
“Honey!” his mom cried, rushing to his side. She was dressed up, hair and makeup in place, no sight of her always present bright blue glasses, which meant she was wearing her contacts. Which she hated. This was all unusual enough to have him taking a second look at her.
Worry lines were etched into her face. “Mom, I’m okay.”
Not satisfied, she looked him over carefully. Levi was, and always had been, the odd man out in his family. His parents ran a sporting goods store, and if there wasn’t a ball or a kayak or a tent involved, they weren’t interested. Levi had grown up outdoors and loved it, but what he loved more was books, science: taking things apart and putting them back together in a better way; gathering data and then creating ways to manage that data.
Bottom line—his brain worked differently from the rest of the Cutlers, and while he had no doubt they loved him, they’d never really understood him.
And yet here they were, ready to smother him with love in the only way they knew how. “Really, I’m fine.”
“You sure?” his mom asked.
“Very.”
“Okay then. Tell us everything.”
“You already know everything,” he said. “Mateo told me he called you.”
“He said you were okay and that visiting hours started at nine A.M. The end. Honestly, both you boys need phone manners.”
Levi glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes before nine.
“Your nurse let us in early,” she said.
Translation: she’d badgered the front desk until they’d caved. No one, and he meant no one, had ever been able to tell Shirley Cutler what to do.
“She said you have a concussion,” she said. “No one would tell us anything about Jane.”
He felt a twitch begin behind his eye. Could one feel a vessel bleed? And if it was bad enough, could he pass out and miss the rest of this visit? “Who’s manning the store?” he asked.
“We’re opening an hour late,” his mom said.
This was a shock. The store his family owned and operated was called Cutler Sporting Goods, located in the Tahoe area. It was closed for Easter and Christmas, and nothing else ever. The store had its ebbs and flows like anything else, but it was largely successful. Mostly because Hank Cutler was so tight with money he squeaked when he walked.
“So,” his mom said. “Where’s Jane?” She looked around like maybe Levi was hiding her somewhere in the tiny room.
“I’m probably going to be discharged soon,” he said, hoping to distract from the fact that the girlfriend he’d made up last night had never really existed. “You guys didn’t have to all come check on me.”
“Oh, we didn’t,” his sister, Tess, said. “We came to meet your girlfriend.”
“Where’s Mateo?” his mom asked. “He’ll give me a straight answer.”
“Shirl, listen to the boy,” his dad said. “Everyone’s fine, and he would know otherwise.”
“Uncle Levi!” Peyton yelled, jumping up and down. “Grandma said you might be getting married soon. Can I be the flower girl?”