Page 101 of Between Never and Forever
I hold her gaze, and when I speak, my words come out angrier than I’d intended.
“I’ll worry about that.”
“You can’t do it on your own, Levi,” she replies, her voice lower and softer than before. “You should let me—”
“No.”
I cut her off firmly, and she doesn’t argue. I don’t want money from Sharon any more than I want it from the Larks. The business is in the clear now. I’ll pull ahead on the house soon. I don’t want Julianna’s life insurance money from her self-serving parents, and I won’t take Sharon’s rainy day fund. I don’t want any of it.
“Thank you,” I say more softly this time, “but no.”
Sharon nods reluctantly, and I shift my focus to the stairwell leading up to the second floor of my house, then shout up for Brynn.
“Boss, I’m heading out!”
I hear Brynn’s feet pattering across the ceiling and then down the stairs until she’s skidding to a halt in front of me. She’s already got her old backpack slung over her shoulder in preparation for the public library’s STEM summer camp. I’m glad she’s finally agreed to do something with kids her own age, but I’m not thrilled about the compromise I had to make. I managed to hold her off for a whole week, but she broke me down eventually.
“You promise you’ll ask her?” Brynn studies me suspiciously, eyes narrowed and ready to argue in case I go back on my word. I don’t know why she’s doubting me. I’ve not broken a promise yet. I don’t plan to start now.
“Yes.”
“Say you promise,” she insists, and I force a smile.
“I promise I will ask her.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Brynn wraps her arms around my legs in a hug. I reach down and run my open palm over her glossy brown curls.
“Remember, if you don’t finish out the week, then we don’t have a deal.”
She steps back from me and grins.
“Kay.”
I tell Sharon thank you once more for agreeing to take Brynn to and from the library this week, and then I head to my truck. My feet are heavy with each step, and my stomach churns with nerves. I’ve managed to avoid Savannah, and it hasn’t been hard. I think she’s been avoiding me, as well. But now, thanks to the promise I made to my daughter, I can’t avoid her any longer, and I can’t tell if I’m dreading this or excited for it. The entire drive to the studio, I have to fight off the urge to press harder on the gas. But do I want to speed to the studio, or turn the truck around and speed back home?
I’m just not sure.
I go through the gates and flash my badge, then drive through the lot and park in my designated spot. Then I just sit. I sit and stare at my dashboard. Am I working up courage? Am I calming my temper?
I don’t fucking know. It’s the most confusing form of edging.
“Fucking grow up,” I grumble to myself. “She’s just a fucking girl you used to know. She’s just a fucking girl.”
I take a deep breath, then climb out of the truck and slam the door.
Filming has already started, so instead of going by her trailer, I head to the set. My guys are finishing up the job turning the dirt lot into a nondescript New York City street corner, and despite the rush at which we needed to construct it, it looks good.
It’s crowded because we’re having to share the space with the painters and designers, but it looks like we’ve figured out a system that’s working. It also helps that we’re able to use existing exterior set buildings, so we just have to transform the look a bit. They’ll be able to start filming on it by the end of the week.
I inspect my guys’ work. I check the blueprints. I do some work of my own. I check the blueprints again. I talk to Jerry, the studio construction manager. I keep myself busy until I hear an announcement come through one of the radios that the actors are breaking for lunch soon. Then I put down my work and head to the sound studio.
They’re filming inside today, and right now, they’re wrapping up a scene in the kitchen.
The kitchen that I built to look like the one in my house, which I also built.
Savannah is perched atop my kitchen island wearing an oversized button-down, and her brown wig looks perfectly tousled. I step around one of the lighting guys to get a better look. There are coffee mugs sitting next to breakfast plates. A morning scene.
“I hate that you have to go in so early on a Saturday,” Savannah says dreamily, popping a piece of strawberry into her mouth. Then her co-star Paul comes into the room. He’s fixing his tie, wearing a button-down that looks just like the one hanging off Savannah’s body.
