Plain Jayne (36 page)

“Levi!” I called from the top of the stairs.

The racket stopped. “You're awake?”

“This relationship isn't going to work!”

“Oh?”

“What are you doing?”

“Fixing your mom's shelf.”

“Why?”

“It was falling down. Do you want to come the rest of the way down the stairs?”

“If I come down, I might be angry with you for waking me up.”

“It's almost eleven.”

“You woke me up.”

“I helped you go to sleep.”

“Hammer!”

“Jayne—” my mother's voice floated up the stairs. “Would you like to come down for some breakfast?”

“Hammer!” I ignored the petulant, four-year-old tone to my voice.

“I made caramel-pecan rolls.”

Oh. I thought about it. Weighed my options.

Weighed my options until I was in the kitchen, smelling the rolls.

“Hi.” Levi's face creased into a wide smile. “How'd you sleep?”

“Fine, until you woke me up.”

“Eat a roll, Jayne.” My mom handed me a plate with an oozy, gooey roll, a fork sticking out of the top.

“You knew I'd come down.”

She patted my shoulder. “It's not rocket science.”

I pulled the fork out and cut a bite. The caramel melted in my mouth the way I'd remembered. “Mm-mm-hm-mm-hmhm.”

“I thought it was good too. Did you sleep all right until your boyfriend helped your mother with a shelf that nearly fell and crushed the rolls?”

I clutched my plate, horrified that my yummy, yummy caramel-pecan roll had nearly met with a certain, flattened end. I swallowed my bite and looked to Levi. “Boyfriend?”

“I'm sorry.” Mom's forehead creased and her face flushed. “Are you not…”

“We are,” Levi interrupted. He snagged a pecan off the side of my plate.

I didn't look at him. “My boyfriend has courage.” Boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend. The word rolled around my head. I tried it again, to see how it felt on my tongue. “Boyfriend.”

“Want to sit with me?”

I nodded, hair falling in my face and dangerously close to the caramel residue on my lips. He reached over and tucked it behind my ear before kissing a bit of the caramel off.

I looked around. Mom had disappeared from the kitchen.

Sneaky.

“I didn't mean for you to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but your mom said these were your favorites.”

“They are.”

“I didn't think it was that loud.”

“Sound carries in this house.”

“I'll remember that.”

“If you're my boyfriend, does that make me…”

“My girlfriend? I think that's the way it works. I don't know. I never went to a traditional high school.”

I wove my fingers through his. “I really…” I sighed. “I want this to work.”

“Me too.”

Looking into his eyes I felt hope. “If this is going to work…” I locked eyes with him. “You have to keep away from my pecans.”

M
y sister was a shopping machine. I think even Gemma would have been impressed by her skills. My original intention for the trip to the outlet malls was to pick up some nice pieces that would allow me to create decent-looking outfits without much effort in the morning.

Beth created a “wardrobe scheme,” finding me a pile of clothes that all seemed to coordinate and yet not look like a bad mix-and-match puzzle. She managed to do all that
and
keep me under budget.

“I do it for myself all the time,” Beth said while we stopped for lunch in the deli section of Sip Wine & Bistro. “It's not like I can spend a lot of time figuring out what to wear these days.” She glanced at Emilee. “The goal is that I can pick up four things from the floor, and at least two should go together.”

I reached over and tugged on Emilee's blond braid. “You're a very good shopper's assistant.”

She pulled her thumb from her mouth. “I get two cookies when we get home.”

“And you will have earned both of them.”

Mom pointed at her bowl. “This potato salad is really good.”

“Speaking of very good,” Beth said, leaning toward me, “when are you going to talk to us about Levi?”

“What about?”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jayne, the last time you came, you brought Shane. Now it's Levi. At some point we need to lean in, whisper, and giggle. Where did you guys meet?”

I didn't point out that Beth and I had never been whisper-and-giggle sisters. But in the interest of improving our relationship, I lowered my voice and answered. “His woodshop. He was a source for the Amish story I wrote.”

“Were you instantly attracted to him?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry. Trumpets weren't playing, and I didn't see an armed Cupid in my peripheral vision.”

“Well, what changed? Something must have happened.”

“I stayed with his family for a week and a half. I interviewed him a couple times. We just kept seeing each other. After a while…”

Let's face it. After a while, I was gone. Embarrassingly gone.

“After Shane and I broke up, we had an opportunity to explore things,” I finished.

“Nothing happened while you were with Shane?”

Define nothing… I bit my lip.

Beth snapped her fingers and pointed at me. “You're doing it. You're hiding something.”

I batted at her pointed finger. “Put that away.”

“You get that look on your face when you don't want to tell. What did you do?”

Pined for Levi until Shane and I ended.

“We met. I really liked him, but we didn't start having a relationship until after Shane. Shane ended, and Levi and I got together.”

“Just like that?”

“He took me out for a really nice lunch.”

“You like him.”

“He's my boyfriend. I'm supposed to.”

“You really, really like him. You didn't look at Shane the way you look at Levi.”

“Beth, you only saw me with Shane over one weekend. We were together for ages. You don't know how we did or did not look at each other.”

Mom patted Beth's arm. “Are you ready to get back to the shops? I'd like to hit Kitchen Collection.”

Mom was distracting Beth. I knew it. Beth knew it, but no one except Emilee said anything, and Emilee only announced her need to use the ladies' room.

We returned home, arms full. I couldn't remember the last time I'd
shopped and returned with so many logo-emblazoned bags. I felt like a character in a chick flick during the scene when she gets a makeover and goes on a shopping spree. Hadn't felt like that before. I was more likely to return with yoga clothes I'd wear to the gym for a week before using them mainly in front of the TV, utilitarian work pieces, pants I bought because they were long enough for my legs and didn't pucker oddly in the back.

Not inspiring stuff. But for the first time I was kind of excited about my purchases.

Gary and Levi were still working on the car when we returned. Emilee ran to her dad, but Gary lifted his hands out of the way. “Careful there, sweetie. Daddy's messy.”

Beth closed the car door. “How'd you both manage to get so greasy? I thought you were just changing out the brake pads.”

“This is just brake dust,” Gary answered.

I tilted my head, waiting for the full answer. There were undeniable grease spots on Levi's face.

“We decided to change the oil while we were at it,” Levi said, his eyes charged with unreleased laughter. “I dropped the oil plug in the drain pan.” He held his own hands out. “And I got brake dust.”

I smiled. “See you inside?”

“Only if you agree to walk on the beach with me. It's dry right now.”

“We'll see.” I gave my best attempt at coyness. From Levi's expression, I guessed that it worked.

Thirty minutes later, Levi was grease free and we were walking along the beach at Road's End. The wind whipped at our clothes; Levi held my hand inside his jacket pocket.

“I like your family,” he said, avoiding a crab shell in the sand. “They're very…”

“Defiant of classification?”

“Fun. Talkative. Protective of you.”

“They are not.”

“Gary threatened me with bodily injury if I didn't treat you right.”

“Oh. Wow” Impressive, considering I'd seen him maybe four or five times since he and Beth married.

“He was pretty specific about his methodology.”

“Sorry about that.” I wondered if Shane had received that speech. But then, Shane had never participated in a one-on-one activity with Gary. Poor Levi. No good deed went unpunished, I guess.

“I don't mind.” He squeezed my hand. “I'm glad you have people who care about you.”

“They're different than I thought they were. I wish I hadn't missed out on so much time.”

“You're here now.”

I took a breath. “Your parents aren't going to be happy if we…stay together.” I didn't think I should bring up marriage this soon, but I knew I had a point. “They want you to go home and marry Rachel.” I hated myself as soon as I said the words, but the thoughts had been worrying me for too long.

Levi didn't seem perturbed. “I've been worshipping a personal, gracious God for too long. I can't go back. I like the drums in my church service too much.”

“You don't miss Rachel?”

“How did you know about Rachel?”

“Ida.”

He sighed. “No, I don't miss Rachel. She wanted the life her parents had. I didn't. In fact…now's as good a time as any to bring this up.”

“What?”

“I'm thinking about selling the shop.”

I pulled my hand away in shock. “Honestly? Why?”

“I bought it and built up the business to be near my family. Near my siblings if any of them wanted to be like me. Sara's the only one who's expressed any interest…I don't know. I worked so hard to leave and learn and do something different. Now I'm building furniture.”

He ran his hand through his hair, an ineffective gesture since the wind restyled his hair moments later. “I've been looking around at some other jobs. I've even thought about maybe starting my own firm.”

“Would you stay in Albany?”

“I…don't think so.”

I felt my heart twinge. “Don't do this on account of me, Levi. What would Spencer and Grady do?”

“I'd offer to sell them the business first.” He shrugged. “I haven't figured everything out yet. I just wanted you to know what I was thinking.”

“What about Samuel? And Leah and Elizabeth?”

“If they need me, there is a phone on the farm. And they've got Grandma.”

“You're okay not having contact with them?”

“I don't have contact with them as it is, Jayne. From what I hear from Sara, my dad's home all the time now. I couldn't visit if I wanted to.”

There had to be something else. “Why would you voluntarily choose to return to corporate life?”

“I was never a workaholic corporate guy. I took vacations. Sure, I wasn't traveling up the ladder at the speed of sound, but I liked my job and felt good about what I did during the day.”

“And you don't at the shop?”

“I feel like I've done my brain a disservice.”

“You feel like that because of the shop, and not because you're overdosing on coffee?”

“Hey now!” He reached out to tickle me, but I was too fast. I sprinted ahead, my feet digging into the sand.