Page 115 of Well Played

“Who?”

She smiled. “Levi.”

I sighed. “Am I that obvious?”

She bumped her shoulder with mine. “Well, you’re scanning the room better than a Secret Service agent waiting for the president to walk in.”

I smiled sadly. “And here I thought I was being so nonchalant. Thank you for telling me. I do feel like I can relax a little knowing I might not accidentally walk into him. At least now I can concentrate all my worry on leaving The Palm in the care of the woman we hired to clean only a few weeks ago.”

“Is she not working out?”

“No, no. I’m just teasing. She’s been great. Melinda is super organized and capable, but it still feels strange to be away.”

Shelby glanced over her shoulder. Tanner had taken the same flight from Beaufort, along with a few of his cousins, but he’d taken a different Uber from the airport, so he was a few people behind me in line to check in. She waved to her son and turned back.

“You also won’t have to worry about walking into my other son. I had the manager put you in a room at the opposite end of the hotel from Tanner. I figured if he wasn’t in the room next to you, it wouldn’t be so easy for him to make excuses to pop over.”

I blew out a jagged breath. “Thanks, Shelby. I really appreciate that.”

“And as far as Levi, he’s at practice now. But he will be at the dinner tonight.”

A bunch of Tanner’s and Levi’s dad’s old teammates were in town for the ceremony, in addition to their entire extended family. So tonight there was a dinner in a private room at a nearby restaurant to give everyone a chance to catch up before the ceremony tomorrow.

I nodded. “Okay. Thank you for the heads up.”

With no chance of running into Levi, and Tanner on the other end of the hotel, I had about three hours to try to relax—or to worry about how I was going to handle being in the same room with Levi again later. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure the latter was going to win out.

Once I was checked in, Alex and I went to our room. I spent a restless hour flicking through television channels before deciding the best thing to do to conquer my nerves was to take a hot shower and start to get ready. At least it would give me something to focus on. I’d brought a green silk dress that was casual, yet showed off a little cleavage and leg. And since I had time to spare, I put on more makeup than usual, creating a smoky-eye effect and contouring my cheekbones. When I was done, I looked in the full-length mirror and was really happy with what I saw. It had been a while since I’d gotten myself all done up, and it gave me just the confidence boost I needed to get through tonight.

Alex was still in the bedroom watching TV, and when he came out, his eyes widened. “Wow. You look pretty, Mom.”

I smiled. “Thank you. I have a hot date tonight, so I wanted to clean myself up.”

“Dad?”

“No, silly. I was referring toyou.”

“Oh.” Alex smiled.

But because of the way he’d assumed Tanner was my date, I thought it was a good time to set the record straight.

I sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to me. “Come sit for a minute, honey.”

“You’re not going to put stuff in my hair like you did for that wedding we went to last year, are you? I hate when my hair is hard.”

“No,” I chuckled. “I just want to talk for a minute.”

“Okay, Mom.”

I pushed a lock of hair from my son’s face and smiled. “I thought we should talk about Dad for a minute, about my relationship with him.”

“Are you guys getting married?”

My smile wilted. “No, honey. Your dad and I are just friends. That’s what I wanted to chat with you about.”

“But you’re dating, right? Don’t dating people get married?”

I shook my head. “We’re not dating. I know your dad has used that term at least once in the past when we went to dinner with some friends, but we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, and we weren’t on an actual date. He just kind of called it that. And I know it can be super confusing because Dad is staying at the inn right now while he gets settled, but that’s also not the same as me living with Dad. So he lives in the same house as us, but he doesn’t really livewithus.”

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