Page 44 of Taken By Storm

Levi supposed that, prior to her death, Mrs. Mills would have added Levi to her honey-do list for her husband, insisting that Mr. Mills pull him aside to ask his intentions regarding their daughter. And she would have been right to do so because he’d been around a hell of a lot the past few days…and he hadn’t brought Kasi home last night.

“Yeah.”

“You been here all day?”

Levi nodded. “Keith and I have been trying to take a chunk out of that list Kasi made us.”

Mr. Mills smiled sadly. “Trina always made lists like that for me.”

“There are still quite a few things on there. We sure could use another pair of hands.”

Mr. Mills didn’t respond, but he also didn’t say no. Levi figured he’d planted the seed, so now he just had to hope it took root.

“Kasi, Keith, and I are doing dinner at my place tonight, and we’d love for you to come along. My brother Theo is cooking.”

Mr. Mills was silent for a few moments. “I’m not sure…” He glanced over his shoulder, back at the yard.

“Just going to be me and my brothers. Theo’s grilling a pile of hamburgers and hot dogs, and I’m sure he sweet-talked my mom into making us a big batch of her potato salad.”

That captured Mr. Mills’ attention. “The kind with the little red potatoes and bacon?”

“Yup,” Levi replied. Looked like food might be just the motivation Mr. Mills needed.

“I do like your mom’s potato salad,” the man admitted. “She always makes it for the annual yard party at the fire station.”

Levi grinned. “Every year she tries to sign up for something different, swearing she can make other things, but the ladies in the auxiliary have a fit, insisting people would stop coming if her potato salad wasn’t there.”

Mr. Mills chuckled. “That was probably Katrina’s doing. She knew it was my favorite. Trina always tried to replicate it, but she never quite got the recipe right.”

Levi noticed the sadness that always seemed present in the older man’s eyes lifted briefly as he recalled the happier memory. It convinced him that he was doing the right thing by pushing the Mills family out of this rut. “She should have asked Mom for the recipe. She would have shared it.”

Mr. Mills shook his head. “Trina liked making a game of it.”

“Kasi’s been working hard around here, so I thought it might be nice to give her the night off from cooking,” Levi added, notabove using a bit of manipulation. Because if Mr. Mills refused the invitation, he knew Kasi would too.

“She has,” Mr. Mills murmured. “I guess…I could…”

Levi got the sense Mr. Mills was giving himself some sort of internal pep talk, and it made him wonder when the man had last left the farm.

“It’ll only be an hour or so. We’ll have you back here in time forJeopardy,” Levi pressed, pulling out every card in his arsenal of tricks. They’d most likely be longer than an hour, but now that he’d gotten this far, he was determined he wasn’t leaving this room without the man.

Mr. Mills nodded slowly, his words scattered, as if he was struggling to gather his thoughts. “Okay. I…I’ll, um… For Kasi.”

Thank God.

Levi couldn’t wait to see Kasi’s face when he walked downstairs with her father. He waited as Mr. Mills put on his shoes and ran a comb through what little was left of his hair. He probably should have left the man alone to do those things, but he didn’t want to run the risk he would change his mind.

Together, they descended the stairs. Levi got a kick out of Keith and Kasi’s matching looks of sheer astonishment. Unfortunately, Kasi’s faded quickly, turning to something that looked a lot like guilt, which was not Levi’s intention.

“Ready to go?” Levi walked over to wrap his arm around Kasi’s shoulders.

She nodded. “Let me grab the pies.”

“I’ll get them,” he offered, picking one up to hand to Keith, who was still staring at his father like he expected the man to yell, “Psyche!” or something.

Grabbing the second pie, Levi headed for the front door. “We can all ride in my truck, and I’ll bring you back after.”

“It makes more sense for us to take our own car,” Kasi said. “That way you’re not running back and forth.”

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