Peyton stuck her head in the kitchen. She was in Wonder Woman pj’s, hair looking like an explosion in a mattress factory, her face pink as if she’d been sleeping on it. “Hi! I wanna have a drink too!”
His sister drew in a steadying breath. “Not now, baby.”
“Okay. Then can I have candy for breakfast?”
Levi went to the pantry and came out with a single-serving-size packet of natural fruit gummy bears and a to-go box of apple juice.
Peyton beamed her thanks. “Will you come to my tea party? I’m all set up in my room.”
He crouched in front of her, opened the gummy bears for her, and then ruffled her hair. “Give me a few minutes.”
“My mommy says that, but a few minutes never happens.”
“Have I ever not come to you when I said I would?”
She thought about that. Then shook her head.
“So I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said.
“Okay, but don’t forget to dress up as a girl superhero! Only girl superheroes can come into my room.”
He grimaced, but his sister pointed at the screen. “How long?” she whispered. “How long has this been going on?”
Shit. Levi really didn’t want to tell her this. He gave Peyton a kiss on the forehead and gently nudged her out of the kitchen. Then he rose to his full height and looked at his sister. “Two years.”
His mom grabbed the vodka bottle and refilled everyone’s glass. Minus the juice.
His dad jabbed a finger at the laptop. “You didn’t need this whole virtual presentation, or whatever you want to call it, to tell us our business is going under. You could’ve just called me into the office and had a meeting. Man-to-man.”
Levi’s mom whipped around to stare at him. “Why? So you could hide the fact that our company’s going under? And then what would happen, Hank? You’d shoulder all that responsibility on your own and keep it from us?”
“This is all my fault,” Tess moaned, dropping her forehead to the table and giving it a few hits. “Everyone needs to stop arguing. I’m the one who’s going to fix this mess.”
“Nonsense.” His dad’s fist hit the table and all the glasses did a little jump. Everyone grabbed theirs to keep them from spilling, and then, looking at one another, shrugged and drank again.
“I’m the one who gave that SOB a job,” his dad said. “Instead, I should’ve kicked his ass.”
Peyton poked her head in. “Uncle Levi? You’re taking too long!”
Levi went back to the pantry, grabbed a box of cereal, and handed it to her.
She squealed with delight and vanished again.
“Are you kidding me?” Tess asked him.
“Hey, it was crunchy granola, not Frosted Flakes.”
His mom pointed a spoon at her husband. “I need to know what you meant by your previous comment. Are you saying it’s my fault, since I was the one who told you to give Cal a chance?”
“I’m just saying I should have gone with my instincts. If I had, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Tess drew a shaky breath. “I’m the one who should never have given him a chance. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to bed and stay there until my life’s on a better track.”
“I want to go back to bed too,” Levi’s mom said.
Levi stood up. “No one’s going back to bed. We need to talk, so everyone just take a deep breath and—”
“And what,” his dad growled. “Stare at the stupid PowerPoint some more?”
“Hank!” This from his mom.
“Yes, I want you to look at the PowerPoint,” Levi said as calmly as he could. He clicked over to the next slide. “Here you’ll see I’ve created a five-step plan for how to get the store out of debt.”
Dad stood up. “No offense, son, but I’m not going to find the answers on how to get my store back on its feet by watching a slide show from a tech guy.”
“Dad, you know he’s more than a tech guy,” Tess said with censure in her voice. “He consults with businesses on how to manage their data, and—”
Their dad shook his head. “This isn’t about data either.”
“Hank, stop taking this out on Levi,” his mom snapped at her husband. “He’s just trying to help.”
His dad was quiet a moment. Ran a hand down his face. “You’re right.” He looked Levi in the eyes with sincere remorse. “We appreciate what you’ve done. I just need a minute.” He took another shot and walked out.
Levi let out a rough breath. This isn’t about you, he reminded himself. His dad was battling his own ego. Cal had stolen money out from beneath the guy’s nose, and that wasn’t going to sit well.
His mom patted him on the arm. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he loves you very much. We’re grateful for your help, but I better go check on him. When he gets worked up like this, it’s bad for his blood pressure.”
When they were alone, Levi turned to his sister. “Dad has blood pressure problems?”
“Dad’s got a lot of problems.” She got up and patted him like his mom had done. She left too, and a moment later he heard the shower go on in her bathroom.
Levi looked at his PowerPoint, which for the record still had ten pages left to go on the plan that would’ve shown them how he could help fix some of the most immediate problems.
Square peg, round hole.
He eyed the vodka. Tempting. But there was a cure far better than alcohol, and her name was Jane. He wanted nothing more than to go drown himself in her pretty green eyes and the smile that made him forget all the bad shit. But at the moment, he had another woman waiting, one he couldn’t disappoint.
Peyton beamed her welcome when he appeared in her doorway, and Levi felt a slight warming in the region of his cold heart. “I don’t have a superhero costume. May I still come in?”
“Yes! And here, I’ll help you.” She pulled off her sash and wrapped it around his head like a bandanna. “Sit!” she commanded.
So he sat at her tiny little table in a chair that barely fit half his ass. But he made it work and drank her pretend tea and ate her pretend cookies, and they plotted how Superwoman might save the world if she was real.
JUST AFTER NIGHTFALL, Levi was on a Zoom call with clients when his cell phone buzzed an incoming text from Jane.
JANE: I’m stuck and could use some help.
He immediately got out of his meeting and called her. “Jane.”
“Yep.”
She sounded not at all like herself. “Where are you?” he asked.
Silence.
“Jane?”
“I’ll text you the address.”
Yeah, definitely not herself, and maybe even tearful. His gut clenched. “Are you safe?”
But she’d disconnected.
He recognized the street name she’d given him, so he headed out. The night seemed to glow thanks to the reflection of moonlight bouncing off the snow. Just outside of Sunrise Cove, he turned and headed up a hill from the lake. Here the streets were narrow thanks to thick snow berms on either side, some single file only because they’d barely been snowplowed. He shifted into four-wheel drive and kept going.