You okay?She mouthed the words.
He nodded, cleared his throat, and looked around the table. “What do you guys think?”
“I think the fries are awesome sauce,” Ollie proclaimed loudly.
“Me too,” Gramps said.
“This is the best grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever eaten,” Grayson said.
Lainey nodded even as she took the other half off of his plate. “Agreed.”
“Hey!” Gray said, shooting her a look that straddled the line of amused and irritated. “Get your own.”
“You took the last one.” Lainey took a large, exaggerated bite before making loudmmmsounds.
Mr. Keller met Levi’s gaze as he picked up a lemon-pepper-and-dill wing. “I’d say when adults fight over your food, you’re doing something right.”
“Definitely high praise.”
His mom used her fork and knife for her zucchini stick.
“You can just pick that up, Mom. Try it with the red chili jelly.” He picked up the small bowl and passed it to her. She beamed at him.
“I’m so proud of you, honey. The food is delicious.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry Dad couldn’t make it.”
“He acts tough but he knows he needs to rest. The surgery went well, but it’s still surgery.”
The conversation went from there, the Kellers and Gramps asking about his dad, the Kellers talking about their summer trip.
Jilly smiled at him, nudged his shoulder. She picked up a quarter of a grilled cheese. “Lainey’s right. This is my favorite of what I’ve tried.”
He wanted to cover her hand with his or slide his onto herthigh. He wanted the right to do that, the familiarity that Beckett had with Presley.Slow your roll. A date, remember?
“A food truck, huh? Was that your plan all along?” Gramps asked.
Levi nodded. “Other than getting home, yeah.” Gramps, being the mayor, would spread the word better than the chalkboard. And that was saying something.
Grayson grabbed a loaded baked potato. “I was wondering about extending the dock. Making it wider so more people could fish off it or sunbathe. Would that be something I need to talk to your dad about?”
Levi glanced over at his mom. She shrugged.
“Jilly mentioned that as well. On my way home tonight, I’ll drop my mom off and ask him about it.”
Because he wanted people to feel free to taste and share their thoughts, and because he needed another minute to catch his breath and just settle the thoughts in his head, he drifted back to the kitchen. Music from an old-school, probably vintage radio, with an actual antenna, came in bursts through the static as he cleaned up. He smiled, thinking the Kellers ought to invest in a Bluetooth speaker.
When the door to the dining area swung open, he turned, expecting, maybe hoping, to see Jill. Instead, it was his two oldest friends instead. Something about the way they walked in together, the set of their similar jaws, and the way they watched him, set him on alert. This wasn’t his friends coming back to congratulate him on the food. This was Jilly’s protective older brothers coming to give him the talk. He should have expected it. Hell, he should have talked to them first. But he’d been blindsided by the intensity of what he felt seeing her again. It shouldn’t have surprised him that they picked up on it. He didn’t mind them taking care of their sister. As long as they didn’t cross a line that wasn’t theirs to tiptoe over.
Grayson, just a touch shorter than his younger brother, had a year and a bit on Beckett and Levi. Both brothers had dark hair, wide shoulders, and the kind of facial structure that made them universally good-looking. God, they’d had some good times over the years.
“Coming to give your compliments to the chef?” Levi leaned his body against one of the back counters that housed all the baking dishes, crossed one foot over the other and his arms across his chest. Home field advantage.Except it’s technically their home field. Shit.
“For sure. Your food is delicious, man. Jilly said you guys nailed the meeting the other day, too. We’ll get a contract written up for that and of course, pay you a more than fair wage,” Grayson said.
They split up at the island in the center of the kitchen, each coming down one side of it. Levi would have laughed at the picture they made, like they’d choreographed the move, but he knew their sister had been hurt before.
“What’s going on with you and Jilly?” Apparently Beckett was taking the lead on their real reason for coming in.
