Page 62 of Finn's Solace

"Hey, Levi," Dad greeted cheerfully, and I shot him a glare as I pushed Padfoot back inside so I could shut the door in their faces.

"Hey, Raphael. Just here to pick Finn up for dinner."

"Have fun, you two," Dad said, then blinked as his eyes focused on me, lingering on my eyes. Had he just noticed I wasn't wearing my glasses? Before he could mention it or try to make a big deal of it, I spoke.

"We will," I assured him, then pulled the door shut with a sigh. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Levi and smiled. "Let's go."

He chuckled, then took my hand in his, leading me to his car.

We talked about our day on the drive over, and Levi parked in a lot near the food truck's current location. He'd left Greta home since it was better than leaving her in the car here, and we linked hands as we walked to the food truck.

Trick was at the window as usual, but Vo was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's your other half?" I asked as we placed our orders, and he chuckled.

"Lena conned him into treating her to some ice cream."

"That girl's going to be a worse troublemaker than Cam ever was, isn't she?" I asked, making Trick laugh. Trick had adopted Lena when she was just a baby, after her mom—Trick's sister—died, and he and Vo were doing a great job with her, even if they did spoil her rotten.

Once we got our food, Levi and I found a table in the corner, and he shook his head as we unwrapped our food.

"I really like how close you are with everyone in town."

"I wouldn't sayeveryone," I protested, and he smiled.

"Yeah, but still. You seem to know someone everywhere we go. It's nice."

"You will too, you know. Once you've lived here for a while. I've been here fourteen years, remember?"

"It doesn't feel like it, does it? That we were apart for fourteen years?" Levi asked as he took a bite of his salad, and I shook my head.

"It really doesn't."

Levi smiled, and we ate in silence for a while as I tried to find the courage to bring up the topic I wanted to discuss.

"What is it?"

"Huh?"

Levi gave me a worried look, his eyes roaming over my face. "Is something wrong? You looked...anxious."

I licked my lips, then swallowed hard. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay?" When I didn't speak, he reached out and took my hand in his. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Nodding, I took a breath, then said it in a single breath. "I was wondering if maybe you would want to move in together? As in I move into your place, not the other way around. Obviously."

Levi blinked, his eyes getting a little unfocused, probably because he was trying to make sense of my word-vomit.

I chewed on my lower lip as he pulled something out of his pocket and fiddled with it. I couldn't see what it was since his hands were under the table, but the tinkling sound was clue enough.

Hope filled my chest like a balloon, and just when it felt like my heart was going to explode, Levi slid a key across the table, a smile on his face.

"I've been carrying that around for a week now, trying to find the right moment to ask you," he said with a rueful laugh, and it was my turn to be dumbfounded.

I carefully picked up the key. It was nothing special, just a key to a lock, but it might as well have been made of gold for how precious it was to me.

"How about we move you in this weekend?" he suggested, and I frowned. I would've preferred to move right away, but it made sense to wait. He had a job to go to tomorrow, and I had quite a lot of stuff I would want to move.

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