“Welcome!” Jamie squealed as she flung the front door open for us. “We’re so excited you’re here!” Harper half-hid behind her long legs, smiling at Max. She reached one hand out and waved at him and I decided she was maybe the cutest thing on the entire planet with her soft brown ringlet curls and perfectly pert nose—after Max, of course.

“Hi,” I said, distinctly less enthusiastically. True to her word, Jamie had invited us over to work on party favors and crafts for the Halloween party at the end of the month.

Jamie was taking her role as room mom seriously. She was determined to give the kids the “best party experience they’ll have their entire elementary career.” It felt a little extreme to me, but I wanted a fun party for Max and I was too much of a pushover to suggest putting on the brakes.

To be totally honest, I was also hunting for some gossip. It had been two weeks since Levi had come out to my neck of the woods looking for trouble. Okay, maybe he hadn’t been looking for trouble per se. But he’d caused plenty anyway.

I’d been so worked up over his unsaid accusations that I was having legitimate panic attacks by Monday. And then he’d strolled into the diner that morning, giving RJ and me the stink eye and his back. But all of that was apparently for naught. Chrissy, another waitress, had ended up waiting on him and he hadn’t bothered me once. Or since.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I had been doing my best to ignore him. But other than a few refills of coffee, he hadn’t suggested dinner or rekindling a stupid old nonexistent flame or Max’s middle name.

Two days ago, I nearly ran into him at the Piggly Wiggly, but I’d ducked into the frozen foods section and stocked up on corn and peas. When I left, I saw him sitting in his truck and as I walked by, I caught his eye. For a second it looked like he was going to jump down and come talk to me, but he didn’t.

I’d managed to load my groceries in my car and drive away. There had been a weird pain in my heart and a nauseous flip in my stomach, but I chalked up all those ridiculous emotions to fear.

Jamie had texted last night to ask if I’d like to get together this afternoon. It was Saturday and Max and I didn’t have any exciting plans, so I hoped this would take my mind off obsessing about Levi Cole and his silent allegations.

Or maybe Jamie would have something interesting to share.

God, I wanted to slap my hand to my forehead and groan. I was like an addict.

I blamed this town. And the environment I was brought up in. It wasn’t my fault I was like this.

I cleared my throat, annoyed at my internal self. “Thanks for having us over,” I told Jamie, pushing past the mental issue mountains in my head and focusing on the present.

“Of course!” she beamed. “Jason has a bunch of guys over for the game. Harper and I needed more estrogen to balance things out.”

“Oh, I hope we’re not interrupting.”

She waved me into her opulent foyer. Trendy tile and an iron chandelier overhead accented her soft gray walls decorated with a mixture of pictures of their beautiful family and interesting art pieces. It was like stepping into a magazine ad for Restoration Hardware. “Don’t even worry about them. They’re in the basement with all the finger foods they could want. We have a wet bar down there and Jason ordered a keg. I doubt any of them will surface before dark.”

I laughed. “That sounds amazing.”

She nodded somberly. “Oh, to be male and spoiled rotten.” She winked at me and I felt genuine kindness for this girl I had previously judged so hard. Maybe she wasn’t the faded beauty queen I’d pegged her as. She led me into the kitchen where a gigantic island was covered in orange and black Halloween supplies with fuzzy purple piles thrown in sporadically. It was such a shocking contradiction from her perfectly styled foyer that I tripped a little and kicked Max in his heel. “Sorry for the mess,” she murmured. “I went a little overboard.”

That was an understatement. It looked like Halloween had thrown up in here. I laughed nervously. “It’ll be good. Better to have too much.” Not that I had ever known what too much looked like. Or what we would do with all of the craft supplies. It was just one party, for one classroom. Unless she planned to decorate the entire school building, we wouldn’t need half of these things.

She gave me a wobbly smile. “Sure.” She turned to Harper and said, “Why don’t you take Max in the back yard and show him the playset.”

Max looked at me, making sure it was okay. In our neighborhood he wasn’t allowed to play outside unless I was with him. I ruffled his hair and smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay, buddy. Go ahead.”

Harper took Max’s hand and tugged him after her. “Come on!” she ordered.

I watched after him as he weaved his way through their nice house, afraid he was going to bump into a coffee table or something and I would have to figure out how to pay for a three-hundred-dollar knickknack.

“It’s fenced,” Jamie offered quickly, sensing my discomfort. “They can’t get out. Jason just finished building the playset. It’s a little extravagant if you ask me, but he got a deal on lumber and built it himself, so he wanted to do it right.” She rolled her eyes, but there was a sweetness to it. “He can’t help himself. When it comes to Harper, he wants to give her the entire world.”

A pain burst through my chest and I rubbed absently at the aching spot over my breastbone. I didn’t miss Logan in the obvious sense of the word. It wasn’t like I thought I’d lost this great love of my life. But for Max’s sake, sometimes it was hard to stomach his absence.

He would have been a good dad.

It wasn’t fair to Max that all he had was me. Logan could have given him things like backyard playsets and homes with fences. I would never be able to afford that stuff.

And at the same time I missed Logan, I was also glad he wasn’t in the picture. As hard as it was to be a single parent, I couldn’t imagine sharing Max with anyone. I couldn’t imagine losing him to the Cole world and having to explain why they lived like that and I lived like… I did.

It was another reason I’d never said anything, why I’d always held this secret so close to the vest.

What if Max went over to their side and never wanted to come back?

“That’s sweet,” I managed to say to Jamie.

She smiled dreamily beyond my head and then seemed to snap out of it. “Should we get started?”

I frowned at the mess on the kitchen island again. “I’m afraid.”

She tipped her head back and laughed at my joke. “Me too.”

Two hours later, my back hurt and my neck had a serious crick in it, but I’d managed to recreate cartoonish versions of Frankenstein, a witch, a pumpkin, a mummy, a ghost, a black cat and a zombie on thirty different soup cans. Plus, I’d painted a pumpkin pyramid on the bean bag toss board. They weren’t half bad.

“I didn’t know you were such an artist,” Jamie said, admiring my work. “These look awesome!”

I brushed hair out of my eyes with the back of my hand, still wielding my paintbrush. “Yeah, they turned out okay. I used to paint a lot in high school, I just haven’t had time since Max.”

I expected her to say something about my teen pregnancy, but she smiled in empathy instead. “I know what you mean. Harper is constant. I don’t even remember what I like to do that doesn’t involve Disney princesses or playing Barbies.”

“Right? Or apps. I think I spend half my life navigating all the different free games he downloads on my phone.”

“I was just saying that to Jason! I told him, we just need to hand over our credit card and let Harper pay for apps that aren’t crap. Anything to end the madness.”

A door opened somewhere nearby and socked feet padded our way. Jamie looked up and smiled that same dreamy smile again.

“What are you saying about me?” Jason demanded.

I half-turned around on my bar stool to wave awkwardly at him. Suddenly I felt like I’d been caught somewhere I didn’t belong. Like I was seventeen again and Jamie had invited me over to break into the liquor cabinet, but her parents had shown up mid-heist.

Logically, I knew it wasn’t the same thing, nor would I get into trouble for being in a house the owner had invited me into. But I couldn’t shake the vibe that I didn’t belong.

It was like when I was driving through town and the sheriff pulled up next to me. I always had to double check my seatbelt and turn down the radio. Like he was going to arrest me for being an irrationally paranoid person.

“Hey, Ruby,” Jason said, smiling kindly.

I was surprised he knew my name. “Hey.”

“You’re covered in paint,” a deeper voice said from behind him.

I turned fully around and found Levi standing just inside the kitchen, his shoulder perched against the wide arched entrance to the kitchen. Seeing him there, without shoes on, dressed in faded blue jeans and a worn Nebraska Cornhuskers t-shirt, he somehow managed to steal my breath and send my heart into a flurry of nervous skipping.

“What’s up, Cole?” Jamie chirped. “How are the boys doing?”

She meant the Huskers. Both Jason and Levi grumbled something unhappily without giving an actual answer. I wondered what kind of husband Jason was when it came to the pride and joy of Nebraska. Did he shrug off a loss like a rational thinking human being? Or did he sulk and pout about it for the entire week?

He walked around the island and rubbed Jamie’s shoulders, kissing her temple tenderly. He seemed like one of the good ones.

“Where are the kids?” he asked.

“Watching a movie,” Jamie answered. “Sufficiently sugared.”

“Max is probably passed out by now,” I murmured, brushing at my forehead again, self-conscious about the paint now. “He’s not used to so many snacks.”

“Oh, god,” Jason groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those gluten-free, non-dairy, granola moms.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I think granola has gluten.”

Jason made a face. “You know what I mean.” Taking a few backward steps, he added, “I’m going to go check on the kids. Make sure that Max kid has his hands where I can see them.” He winked at me, letting me know he was kidding.

“See, I told you he was completely unmanageable when it comes to Harper.” Jamie laughed, following after him.

Levi and I were left alone and suddenly the gigantic open space of their house felt tiny. This kitchen, that was the same size as my entire home, felt too small to take a breath, let alone hold both Levi and me.

“Did you do those?” he asked before I could jump down from my stool and flee. Sorry Max, find your own way home!

I glanced at the painted soup cans and shrugged. “Jamie wants to make it the most epic first grade Halloween party of all time. I’m just her minion.”

His mouth split into a grin. “Do you mean you’re the only person still willing to help her?”

Shrugging, I wondered if that was true. Did all the other moms know better? Was it less about real friendship and more that I was the lone remaining sucker? “I had fun,” I admitted honestly.

“Looks like it,” he said, walking toward me. “You have some…” Reaching around me, he grabbed a paper towel from the counter and folded it over the side I’d used to clean the edges of my cans. He wiped it along my nose. His smile ticked wider. “It’s kind of everywhere.”

He stood close, his muscular thighs pushing into the side of my softer, squishier one. I decided I should do some squats this week. And maybe go for a run. Or take up yoga or something—anything. He should not get to look like that, while my tummy had never quite recovered from having a baby. I mean, what was that pooch? And how did I get it to go away? Besides doing sit-ups. What I meant was, how did I get it to go away without really sweating or putting in a strong effort?

Not that I was so much bigger than when I was in high school. Less gangly and more filled out for sure. But my hips had widened after Max. And the baby pooch that didn’t want to disappear. My thighs were thicker, but I blamed standing for hours on end at the diner. And my boobs were definitely bigger. Which would have been awesome if I hadn’t nursed Max. Now they were a voluptuous DD, but also weirdly flat on the top. And wrinkly. And stretch-marked.

Levi rested his hand on my shoulder to get a better grip on my paint-covered nose. “This reminds me of high school,” he chuckled. “I used to find you in the art room like this. Paint in your hair and on your face.” He brushed the back of his fingers against my cheek, demonstrating the exact spot I would habitually rest my paintbrush. “What I wouldn’t have given for you to let me do this back then.”

I rolled my eyes and yet remained completely still. “The only times you set foot in the art room were to torture me. Remember that one time you drew boobs on my self-portrait? Or the other time you replaced my art show entry with one of your originals?” It had been a ridiculous attempt at impressionism. Thankfully, Mrs. Perry had realized right away that it wasn’t mine and had given me time to track down my piece and replace it for the competition.

“I was flirting with you, Dawson.” I snorted and he added, “Okay, I admit, they were pretty bad attempts, but I was seventeen. I just wanted your attention.”

“You always had a girlfriend,” I pointed out.

His hand with the paper towel dropped to my other shoulder and he hit me with those serious, intense, sparkling green eyes of his. “Because you wanted nothing to do with me.”

I leaned forward, a teasing smile dancing in the corners of my mouth. “Maybe because you were always messing with my art.”

His smile was slower this time, wicked in the way it took its time lifting his mouth. “Maybe I still want your attention.” Just when my breath caught in my throat and I was convinced I would pass out before I remembered how to breathe again, he added, “Maybe I’m stilling messing with your art.”

His gaze moved to the counter and I followed it, noticing his poised fingers holding a paintbrush gloppy with black paint. His hand hovered near my freshly finished ghost.

“Levi…” I warned, my hand sliding down his warm forearm so as not to spook him. I circled his wrist with my hand, not able to touch my fingers together. “Don’t you dare.”

His rumbly chuckle vibrated through him. “Or what?”

“Or I’ll dump a can of paint over your head just like I did junior year.”

His gaze flashed back to mine. “You wouldn’t dare.”

I sat up straighter, letting him know I was serious. “Oh, I would.”

“You know I’m the one that got a detention for that paint stunt, right? You had the faculty wrapped around your finger back then.”

I rolled my eyes again. “I think they all felt sorry for me.” My words rang true, but I hated the way they sounded inside this wealthy home, across from this wealthy, spoiled rotten man. So, I quickly added, “Because I had to deal with your bullying.”

He shook his head, calling BS. “I wasn’t bullying you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I groaned. “You were flirting with me.”

“Let’s be friends.”

His words were so out of the blue, so from nowhere that it took me a second to fully process what he was asking. “Friends?”

He leaned closer and I inhaled him, whiskey and some kind of orange-scented body wash or deodorant or maybe he’d just eaten one or maybe I wanted to eat him or what was the question?

“Friends,” he repeated. “We’ve never tried it before. Could be fun?”

“This feels like a trap,” I murmured honestly.

“If it is, I’ll let you dump a can of paint on my head. Fair’s fair.”

I laughed, despite myself. “What reason would you have to trick me into being friends with you?” The smell of him and the feel of him so close and the utter enigma that was Levi Cole had me totally confused. But there were reasons, tickling the edges of my sanity.

Max, for one.

Did he suspect? Did he know? I wanted to believe that he couldn’t possibly have put the pieces together. He couldn’t suspect anything with zero information. Okay, fine. He could suspect if he wanted to. I mean, this was Levi we were talking about. Who knew what went on in that mysterious head of his? But my hopes remained. Max was still a secret. He and I were still safe.

He stood up, putting some space between us. “Exactly. No reason. Friends it is.”

My head cleared immediately. I sucked in a deep breath and took the paintbrush out of his hand. “We’ll see. We can be friends, but you’re on probation. I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Levi.”

He winked at me. “No funny business,” he promised. “We’ll be friends. It’ll be fun.”

Shaking my head at him, I couldn’t help the curling heat in my belly. Instinctively, I knew fun wasn’t what it would be. It might be a lot of things, but it would never be so innocent a thing to be called fun.

Jason and Jamie walked back into the kitchen laughing about something. Jason kissed his wife goodbye and then he headed back downstairs to the man cave with Levi.

Jamie watched them go. “I didn’t know you and Levi were such good friends,” she said.

“Me neither.” She raised her eyebrow curiously. I just shrugged. “We graduated together,” I finally explained. “I was always better friends with Logan though.”

“Jason and Logan were best friends in high school,” she said, suddenly somber. “Now… Levi and Jason… I think they just like to be around each other. They each remind the other of Logan.”

Sadness descended on our Halloween fun mood so quickly, I didn’t know how to navigate through it. Explaining my personal grief would only get me into trouble but dismissing the topic would be suspicious.

Thankfully, Jamie moved on before I had to. “Ready to put together the snacks? We’re going to make pumpkins out of mandarin oranges and bats out of pretzels and—”

Oh, god, I inwardly groaned. We were only halfway finished.