“Nah. I promised Dad we’d be there to help unload, so we should probably hurry. Besides, it’s getting a bit late in the day for coffee.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Levi gave me a heated once-over that made me wish I was wearing something nicer than cargo shorts and a T-shirt advertising the senior center. “You might be up late. Very late.”
“Is that so?” I tried to sound indifferent, but I certainly hoped we would have a late night. I’d had some extra time at lunch and ducked into First-Rate Finishes, the upscale adult store, hunting something new and lacy for Levi. He still got uptight sometimes about me paying for things like dinner, but he usually was more than receptive to surprises like new panties. “Do you need to stop at your place after the festival? I’ve got something for you at mine.”
“For me?” Stopping near the exit, he gave me a fast kiss on the cheek. “I like it already.”
“It’s nothing much. But I think you’ll enjoy.” I hoped we both would. While I’d browsed, I’d also added a couple of interesting toys to my basket, daydreaming of new ways to torture Levi in the way both of us loved.
“I’m sure we both will.” He gave me a saucy wink before tugging me through the door and onto the sidewalk, where he didn’t drop my hand. “And in answer to your question… Yes, I need to stop by the condo to get clothes for work tomorrow and to water the plants. This heat has been hard on them, and the last thing I want is for them to be dead or wilted when the professor comes back.”
“Yeah.” My hand tightened on his, like that might be enough to stop the end of summer from arriving. Mainly, I coped by pretending that his sublease was forever, but that was far from the truth. “You want to have the place all shiny for her. When is that happening again?”
“Few weeks still. Before the start of the new term at the college.” Making a sour face, he puckered his mouth and looked off down the block.
He was making that face more and more often lately. He had to be worried about the future, about things like bills and places to live, but he never wanted to talk about it. I supposed I could have pressed him more, but I didn’t want to wreck the good thing we had going either.
And I cared about him on a level deeper than sexy presents and hotter-than-hell scenes. That was the scary part, the thing that kept me quieter than usual as well. I loved spending time with Levi: volunteering together, cooking for my dad, watching car-chase movies, hanging out in the hot tub, and talking about childhood memories. All of it added up to the best summer of my life. Scary though it was, I did need to speak up and tell him how I felt, and soon, before he made other plans that didn’t include me.
“You know, you could—” A group of laughing college students barreled down the sidewalk, cutting me off.
“Damn. If the town is this crowded in July, I can only imagine how bad it gets in September. And I could do what?” Levi asked when we’d resumed our walk. But the moment was gone, lost to his irritation over the interruption. This wasn’t the time to tell him how much I wanted him to be here with me to see September.
“Nothing. Only that you could bring two nights of clothes. If the plants can spare you,” I said lightly.
I shifted focus to getting us to the big city park hosting the festival. We met up with my dad and some of his senior center friends in the vendor parking lot. I made sure that Levi and I did most of the heavy lifting, but it didn’t take long to get all the supplies to their booth.
“He’s stronger than he looks,” my dad observed as he opened a plastic tub of brochures.
“He is.” I tried not to let out a wistful sigh. But he was. He kept impressing me with his strength, and not simply his ability to carry and paint, but the way he’d bounced back from the disappointment that had landed him at Bold Brew back in June. A lot of people would be in a funk for months, but not Levi. He’d bloomed, surely as one of my mom’s rose bushes, and even now, simply watching him joke around with Herb and another of Dad’s friends made my chest all warm.
“He’s lasted most of the summer too. Things getting…serious?”
“Dad.” The sigh I’d been holding finally escaped because that truly was the question. Were we serious? I hoped so. Neither of us was seeing anyone else. We spent several nights a week at one place or the other and talked on the phone the nights we didn’t get together. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think—”