“What should we do? I feel weird letting you help with this. I’m getting an apartment out of it. What do you get?”
Time with you.She took another step away, looking around the room, trying to picture what it could be like when it was cleaned up. She marveled at how much fit inside what had to be less than five hundred square feet.
There were boxes stacked higher than she was tall. Some hadMENUSscrawled along the side, others hadCOOKBOOKS.Standing in the center of the room, because the ceiling was pitched, was a ten-foot lamppost clock that looked vaguely familiar. The metal was battered by time and weather. It was amazing. There were tin signs, old barrels, wooden boxes, and pallets.
Levi picked up their lemonades, and passed her hers. She took another long sip, enjoying the taste puckering her tongue.
“Just as good as I remember,” Levi said. “This might be too much for just the two of us.”
He was right. “On it.”
Jilly pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Grayson, Beckett, and Presley in their group thread. “Gray was heading over to the mainland to grab some things but he should be back soon. I’ll see if he or Beckett can help.”
“I can’t ask everyone to drop what they’re doing and help with this.” He set his lemonade down and put his hands on his hips. They were narrow, but his chest was wide, and she wondered what he did, besides running, to stay in shape.Way to stay on topic, Jilly.
“Isn’t that part of why you’re home? To help your dad?” She put her lemonade on one of the boxes.
Levi turned to face her, his gaze cloudy. “That was part of the plan, but he’s too stubborn to take help from me.”
Jillian pursed her lips, fighting the urge to point out the irony.
Levi pointed a finger at her. “I see what you did there.”
“Beckett said you’re making dinner for all of us at the lodge. Consider this our way of working for our supper.”
Levi laughed and Jillian felt a little thrill rush through her. It was nice to be funny to someone other than a nine-year-old.
“Okay. If we can sort through some of it here,” he said, picking up a box and testing its weight before bringing it closer to the door, “we can decide what needs a more thorough look. Pete didn’t seem very discerning about what to keep.”
Jillian turned her body so she could slink between some of the boxes and see what else was hiding.
“What kinds of things do you want for the museum?”
Jillian smiled, an idea formulating. “Originally, I’d thought it would be great to take vintage pieces that represent Smile, but looking around,” she said as she did, “I think we can do more. Pete’s been feeding people in this community for thirty years. What if we put together a retrospective of sorts? A way to show him what he means to everyone.”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Checking it, she smiled and held it up before setting it down. “Help is on the way. Gray will be here in an hour. Beckett’s doing a tour so he’ll come by this afternoon, and Presley is headed over now for a little bit before her town council meeting.”
Levi walked closer, his gaze locked on hers. “You’re a problem solver.”
She huffed out a short laugh. “I guess so.” It wasn’t like there was someone else around to solve problems for her. She was used to seeing what was needed and putting a plan into action.
He stopped directly in front of her, and this time, reached out and stroked his thumb over her cheek.
“I have a problem,” he whispered.
Jilly swallowed past the dryness of her throat. “What’s that?”
“I really like this woman but she’s scared. How do I spend time with her without spooking her?”
Despite the fact that her heart was racing like a speedboat, she managed a laugh, and finally, her head and her heart merged into one being again. “Just be patient.”
His gaze flashed with understanding. His fingers curled around the nape of her neck.
“I can do that,” he whispered.
He didn’t move to kiss her or close the distance between them. She realized, as her breath caught in her throat, that she wanted him to. In this moment, right now. Not because of the past orbecause she’d always wondered. Simply because she still had a very real crush on the man in front of her.
Maybe it was reckless not to think this through. Or maybe it was time to stop overthinking every little thing. The space between them dwindled.
