Chapter 52

Levi walked me to the car and we said our goodbyes, repeating again how much fun we’d both had. As I backed out of the driveway, Leah and Hannah—aka the Hell Sisters—stormed out of the house and threw themselves at Levi, almost making him topple over. He hoisted them both up, one on each hip, and they all waved goodbye as I drove away. I didn’t take my eyes off them in the mirror, kept watching as they grew smaller until they disappeared completely.

I sighed. I couldn’t honestly remember if I’d ever had such a great afternoon. My heart clenched in my chest at the thought that I’d just left him without making plans to see him again or even exchanging phone numbers.

I guess I’d just have to wait until the next time Matt rescued him from his siblings. 4: Levi

Virgo (August 23—September 22)

Today is a day for recognizing patterns in your career as well as your personal life. Does working late make your partner grumpy and uncooperative? Has he refused to go down on you in months and months? In that case: the celestial bodies are in just the right positions to help you connect the dots. And for the gods’ sakes: leave the office early!

* * * *

I dragged my tired body up the stairs when I was finally able to escape to my room at seven thirty. It had been two long days. All I wanted was to curl up on my bed, hide under the covers, and sleep until next week.

Mom had caught a cold, and with Dad on a long haul and Esther pregnant with severe morning sickness, it had fallen on me to take care of everyone. On Sunday, I’d taken them all to church to get them out of Mom’s hair and then spent the rest of the day cooking and scrubbing the house from top to bottom while desperately hoping Mom would recover soon. No such luck. This morning she’d still had a fever. She’d insisted on getting up anyway, but when she’d almost fainted while making breakfast, I’d picked her up, carried her to bed, and ignored her faint objections that I needed to work.

She had been right, though. I had deadlines, but I couldn’t let the kids starve and the twins were a handful on a good day. But with an entire workday wasted, I had to catch up now. No sleeping for me.

With a drawn-out groan, I turned on my computer and checked my to-do list. Only one thing was urgent—a webshop I’d promised the client by Friday—the rest could wait a day or two.

But as I stared at the monitor, I couldn’t concentrate. Instead, my thoughts wandered back to Saturday. To Beckett’s quick smile and warm eyes that had sparkled every time he’d looked at me. How cute he’d been in that dorky beanie.

I loved how easy he was to talk to. How he genuinely cared. I was dying to get to know him better, on a deeper level. I wanted him to be my friend, too.

Scratch that. I wanted to be more than his friend.

I’d thought about asking him for his phone number, but then Mom had called and interrupted. And maybe he would have thought it would have been weird. He was Matt’s friend, and even though he’d said he’d had fun, it didn’t mean he wanted to do it again.

I should just put him out of my mind.

Easier said than done.

Too bad I didn’t have time for a yoga routine; no better way in the world to get my mind off things. I took a few deep breaths and did a couple stretching exercises at my desk before getting back to work.

But my mind wasn’t in it. I stared at my screen and everything blurred together. Coffee. I needed coffee. I jumped up and strode across the room to the kitchenette, but the first thing I saw was the empty can of instant coffee.

“Foxtrot-Uniform-Charlie-Kilo,” I muttered. How could I have forgotten that I’d finished it off that morning? This was notmy day.

With slumping shoulders, I shuffled back to my desk. After staring at my screen for another minute or two, I gave up and opened Facebook.

“Beckett Cooper,” I muttered as I typed his name into the search bar. He was the first result and I clicked it.

He looked adorable in his profile picture. A tiny smile played on his lips and he was formally dressed as if the photo had been taken for work. I missed the beanie though. Formal Becket was handsome. Casual Beckett was cute and sweet and snuggly and hot and…

I clicked the Add Friendbutton.

And swallowed.

No going back now.