Page 23 of Well Played

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play coy with me. I saw him give you his number.”

“To give me a recommendation for a plumber for The Palm Inn. We need some new pipes.”

“Uh-huh.”

I laughed. “No, really. That’s all it was.”

“Are you that oblivious? Coach wants to give you some pipe, alright.”

Alex walked over with two ice creams. “I could get two with the money you gave me!”

I ruffled my son’s hair. “Just because youcanget two, doesn’t mean you needed to.”

Alex shrugged. “You can have one, if you want.”

“Hmmm. A SpongeBob popsicle with gumball eyes. Tempting, but I think I’ll pass.”

“I gotta go.” Kat leaned in for a hug and whispered in my ear. “Hope his pipe is really long.”

I laughed. “You’re nuts.”

***

That night, Alex and I were getting ready to eat dinner when Levi walked in.

He sniffed. “Did you fry chicken or something? It smells great in here.”

I lifted the basket of golden brown chicken from the kitchen counter and tipped it so Levi could see inside before I set it in the middle of the table. “I did. It’s your grandmother’s recipe. I found a book of them when I was cleaning out room eight today. They’re all in her handwriting, too. Would you like to join us?”

He licked his lips, staring at the chicken. “You sure you have enough?”

“I learned from last time and made enough for a small army. Sit and eat.”

He pulled out a chair before I’d finished my sentence. It made me happy that he seemed to enjoy a home-cooked meal. I’d always loved to cook, but the only man I’d ever done it for was Tanner. While he liked southern cooking, he was always concerned about eating healthy and gaining too much weight. Levi, on the other hand, seemed less worried about that. I set out mashed potatoes and green beans, and he filled his plate to the brim.

“Do you always eat like that? Or is it just because it’s the off-season?”

Levi’s brows drew together. “Eat like what?”

“I don’t know. You seem to eat whatever you want.”

He bit into a drumstick and shrugged. “Food is fuel. I’ll burn it.”

I realized I’d forgotten to put out the butter for the mashed potatoes, so I grabbed it from the fridge. Walking back, I held up the stick. “You make it sound so easy. I might as well glue this thing to my hips, because that’s exactly where it will wind up.”

Levi’s eyes dropped to my hips and flickered back up to meet my eyes. He didn’t say a word, but bit into his drumstick a bit more aggressively.Oh my.

I cleared my throat as I sat and changed the topic. “I have someone coming tomorrow to give us an estimate on fixing the pipes upstairs.”

Levi had capped them after the flood, but they needed a permanent repair before we could turn the water in that part of the house back on. Luckily, we didn’t need use of the second-floor bathrooms.

“Oh yeah? Is it Morrow Plumbing? Pete Morrow’s father’s company?”

“No, actually. It’s called Universal.”

“Never heard of them. Are they local?”

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