Okay, she’s definitelysomewhatmad. Best to lie low and let her take it out on the snow, and then I think we’re going to be all right.
I let out the grin I’ve been fighting since she admitted to playing Whack-a-Mole with “crushes” on me over the years. I slide my hands into my jeans pockets and walk to the big window where I can see her trudging toward the tree line. High knee, stomp. High knee, stomp.
Yeah. Taylor Bixby is into me.
As into me as I’m into her.
Dang. I am one lucky guy.
High knee. Stomp.
Chapter Fourteen
Taylor
Levi...
Levi what? Loves me? He didn’t use that word.
Is wildly attracted to me?
Not a stretch given the heat coming off him if he’s within arm’s reach.
Wants to be . . . kissing friends?
Can’t be. I don’t believe that for two seconds. We may not have been as tight over the last four years as we were before that, but he values our friendship too much to risk it for something that . . . flimsy? Yeah. Flimsy.
I climb over a large branch that looks like it broke off in the storm last night and enter the woods. I’ll keep my promise not to lose sight of the house, but I need a different headspace, and that means a different physical space. A quiet forest qualifies.
So Levi . . . what?
Loves me.
Of course he does. He’s always loved me. I’ve always loved him. Except in middle school. But before and after, definitely. As I do now. As I always will.
We’ve said it before. Countless times. So many times, I’ve never stopped to think about it. “Bye, weirdo. Love you.”
Are there times where a part of me tried to imagine what it would mean if he’d meant it like “I love you, so be with me forever?”
No. Because that’s not what we were.Are. If I felt that bubbling up, thennip. Deadhead that stirring feeling like one of Miss Lily’s prize roses with a sucker and save that energy for growing other things. Like potentially a relationship with another guy who is not Levi. One who I like as well. One who I eventually know as well. But one I can fall for because he will fall for me too.
There have been contenders. Some almosts. Ethan at the pharmacy and I went out, but I couldn’t get past him being the guy who had to fill my antibiotic prescription for a UTI. I thought about that cute coach at the high school when he came into the café a few times, but then he went and fell madly in love with Grace Winters. Not that I can blame him. I’m straight, but I get it. She’s awesome.
Paige snapped up the cute professor who moved in last Christmas before the rest of us even knew there was a new guy in town. But he’s too old for me anyway. Or . . . that’s not right. He’s not that old. But he’s got an old soul vibe; put that with his endless V-neck sweaters, and he doesn’t feel young.
Anyway. Sometimes well-meaning friends will set me up. And sometimes, those setups even show some promise. But one way or another, they never end up beingright.
It always feels right being with Levi. But not likethat. We’re friends. Then we became friends who kissed once and talked way less after that.
I’ve missed the full Levi William Taft experience the last four years. I like that we’ve started to get our footing back.
Except with more kissing.
“Aaargh,” I growl at the tree in front of me.
It answers with a plop of snow on my head that slides down my face. I splutter and wipe it from my eyes and nose.
I give the tree my back and cross my arms. Well, kind of. It’s hard in a puffy coat. I stare down at the ground, which is covered with less snow because the trees filtered it.
