Page 18 of Choosing Happily Ever After

He smiled so wide, his eyes crinkled in the corners. “Well, I might have kissed you on the forehead.”

So she hadn’t dreamed it.

“I couldn’t help it,” Levi continued. “You just looked so sweet and—”

He was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. Tempted to hear how he finished that sentence, and then maybe the next, Hope almost let it go to voicemail. But she had a wedding in a few days, and as a rule, Hope never turned off her phone in the days leading up to a wedding. Brides were notoriously nervous, and it was her job to keep them calm. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

It wasn’t a bride.

“Excuse me for a minute.” She smiled apologetically, but Levi didn’t seem bothered. He got up and resumed setting tables as Hope moved far enough away to have her conversation in private. Because from her experience, when the doctor’s office called, it was rarely good news.

Levi

Levi pretended not to watch her while she took her phone call. He smoothed out the tablecloth slowly and then took his time with the steamer, moving at a fraction of the speed he’d used before Hope had joined him in the barn. It’s not that her presence made him nervous—well, maybe a little—but that was only because he was afraid he would forget himself, and their history, and pull her into his arms before he could stop himself. But that wasn’t why he was watching her closely.

Something was going on with her. He could feel it. There was once a time when Levi would have said that he knew her better than he knew himself. And maybe those feelings weren’t totally gone because he could feel it in his bones. Something was wrong with Hope.

Across the room, she held the phone to her ear. She wasn’t saying much, but he could see her nodding. She wasn’t smiling. Quite the opposite.

Who was she talking to?

If they were upsetting her, he would find them and—Hope hung up the call and tucked her phone back into her pocket. Quickly, Levi tried to look busy. As if he’d done something besides stand there and stare at her while she’d been on the phone. He obviously wasn’t very convincing because Hope shook her head as she walked back over to him and raised her eyebrow at the table he was working on.

He ignored the look. “Is everything okay?” He got right to the point. “The wedding isn’t canceled, is it?”

“No.” She shook her head and forced a smile. “It’s nothing. But we have so much to do here today, we should get moving.” As if a switch had been flipped, Hope grabbed napkins and a stack of metal rings that she shoved each cloth through.

“I can do this, Hope.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he was. Truthfully, he didn’t know the first thing about setting a table. He’d had to watch a YouTube video earlier on how to get the wrinkles out of the tablecloth because although he hadn’t known that detail, he did know enough to know that Hope wouldnotbe okay with wrinkles. But without more Googling, that was as far as his knowledge on setting tables went and he was pretty sure there weren’t any charts in her binder with the information he needed. He’d already looked.

“No.” She waved away his offer. “I got this in here. I appreciate it, but you can have the day off, Levi. I’m going to need you to come in tomorrow to accept some deliveries and be...well, just be here.” She ran her hands over her face and smoothed her hair back as she obviously tried to collect her thoughts. “I have to go into the city in the morning, and it’s the day before the wedding.” She shook her head and looked around, presumably to take stock of what still needed to be done. “I can’t leave the day before a wedding.” Levi didn’t respond because it was clear that she was talking to herself. “There’s just too much…” She shook her head again. “But I have to. It’s just going to have to—” She spun suddenly to face him, as if she’d just remembered he was there. “Can you be here tomorrow? Fridays are usually so chaotic, but there’s really nothing I can do about it and I’d really appreciate—”

“Of course. Don’t even worry about it. You tell me what you need, Hope. I’ve got it covered.”

She seemed to relax a little, but still there was so much tension in her shoulders and she looked as though she might burst out in tears at any moment. Whatever it was that was bothering her, Levi wished more than anything he could take it away from her. He’d happily carry her burden so she didn’t have to worry about whatever it was.

“Thank you.” She smiled a little then and he felt a surge of pride go through him that at least he’d done that. And it wouldn’t be the last time he made her smile. Not if he had anything to say about it. “Can you maybe get the ceremony site set up today? I don’t usually do it until Friday, but…well anyway, the weather should be good and then Saturday morning we can get the speakers out and put the finishing touches on the chairs and the…did you finish the arch?”

Levi smiled. “I did. It’s perfect. Do you want to see it?”

“No. I mean yes. Of course I do, but I just have…”

“You’ll see it later.” He hated seeing her so worked up and he knew he had no right to do it. In fact, he probably should have just kept his distance, but he could no longer stop himself. He crossed the short distance between them and pulled her into his arms.

She felt so good and at once his body responded to her familiar touch.

Caught off guard, Hope was tense at first, but it only took seconds for her to sink into the hug and let him hold her.

Levi inhaled deeply, letting the familiar scent of her fill his senses before he trusted himself enough to speak. “It’s going to be okay, Hope. I’ll be here for whatever you need. You take care of whatever it is you need to in the city, okay?”

She nodded against his chest but made no move to leave, which was fine with him. Because he had no plans to let her go.

“I’m here,” he murmured into her ear as he swept some stray strands of hair off her cheek. It was a tender and familiar gesture, but dammit, she was so familiar and being with her, it was just…it was just right.

“Levi?” She pulled back a little so she looked up at him. “Thank you.”

He couldn’t find words adequate to answer her. Instead, he cupped her cheek with one hand, bent his head, and pressed his lips to hers.

It was by a sheer act of will that his knees didn’t buckle at the sweet taste of her.

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